Two weeks of Collies

The past two weeks our literature books have been about Border Collies. The first week we read,  Floss, by Kim Lewis and then this past week we read Calico Dorsey, by Susan Lendroth.  Both of these stories were about loyalty, hard work, and the friendship between dogs and people.
Floss is set in Scotland and in the story, Floss transitions from being a pet in town to working as a sheep dog on a farm.
Vocabulary from Floss: drifting, travelled, herd, heather.
For Social Studies/Geography we learned about Scotland and balancing work and play.We also had opportunity this week to learn about Soccer.
In Science we learned about Border Collies and memory.
In Art we practiced Drawing Border Collies using a drawing book about dogs and cats to help us, and we made our own soccer balls out of whatever we could find around the house. They didn't last long, but it was fun to challenge the children's industrious and creative side.
We learned a handful of Spanish vocabulary words for Soccer/futbol. And we were able to have a Latin lesson with friends.
Our core subjects, Math, Reading and Language ground us and we are enjoying Saxon Math Lessons, McGuffey's First New Eclectic Reader and First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind, by Jesse Wise.
We also began our traditional Advent Calendar. I enjoy the verses every day that teach us about Jesus and the circumstances surrounding His birth.

Books we enjoyed along with Floss:
Soccer, Cynthia Amoroso and Robert Noyed
Goal, Sean Taylor
B is For Bagpipes: A Scottish Alphabet, Eve Begley Kiehm
Scotland in Pictures, Lerner Publications
Christmas in Scotland, Worldbook
Nancy Knows, Cybele Young
Yesterday and the Letter Y, by Cynthia Klingel and Robert Noyed
Lass, Roland Gebauer
Only One Woof, James Herriot (We own this book)
Border Collie, Rebecca Stromstad Glaser
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas (The Great Illustrated Classics)

Calico Dorsey is a story set in California around 1851. It is based on the true story of a Border Collie that carried U.S. Mail between two small mining towns. We enjoyed this story immensely, and we enjoyed learning about California!
Vocabulary Words for Calico Dorsey: Wistful, Stagecoach, Creosote, Prospector
Social Studies/Geography: California: Gold Rush, Mexican Americans, Father Junipero Serra, US Mail and the Pony Express.
Science: Prairie animals and Gold (the mining camp in the story is a silver mining camp, but I went with Gold, because it worked better with California History that's the book the library had)
Art Appreciation: A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, Georges Seurat. The children also practiced sewing and they each made a little puffy fabric heart ornament. We attempted to draw California's state flag. Neat!

Other Stories we enjoyed with Calico Dorsey:
Long and Short, Lisa Bullard
The Pony Express, Williams
The Roadrunner Runs, Gail Hartman
The California Gold Rush, Graphic History
Gold, Ron Edwards, James Gladstone
Little Burro, Jim Arnosky
Jackrabbit and the Prairie Fire, Susan Saunders
Pedro's Burro, Alyssa Satin Capucilli(Tristan read this one to me)
California, Teresa Kennedy
Calling the Doves, Juan Felipe Hererra (nice one because it is in English and Spanish)
The Song of the Swallows,  Leo Politi (we own this one)
The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas (The Great Illustrated Classics, we finished this one)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No other gods

Exodus 20:2-3 I am the Lord thy God which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. As much as idolatry is pooh-poohed  and I really know better, I still struggle to keep my adoration on Christ. I realized this week that there are certain people on earth that I idolize, put on pedestals and look at as "super". I do this with Navy Seals, and Olympians (and let's not forget Olympians who used to be Navy seals!). Anyway, the news this week about Oscar Pistorius really shook me up. I have been so inspired by his story and his determination and physical prowess. I have put him up on a "superhuman" pedestal and now I am shattered. This has made me realize that Jesus Christ is the only "superman" (thank you Cadet for pointing that out so eloquently 12 years ago) and that no human can stand up to any perfection on their own. Yes, we can achieve physical prowess, super intelligence, we ca...
Read more

Catoctin Mountain Park, Thurmont MD

Image
I'm back, after a long break. I wanted to share this awesome park with you. Catoctin Mountain Park in Thurmont, Maryland. Located right off of Route 15 this park is just down the Highway from Gettysburg and is worth the trip! The park offers hiking for various skill levels and is free admission. The kids had a lovely time creek walking along the Blue Blazes Whiskey Still trail, which is accessible from the visitor center parking lot. They were all able to become junior rangers as well. The visitor center has a history and nature display. I've never seen a beaver that close, even if it was stuffed, it was cool!  Catoctin Mountain park borders Cunningham falls state park . Cunningham falls state park charges a small fee for parking, but has great hiking,- yes to a waterfall- a playground/picnic area by the lake; it is really lovely.  Before I end this post, I must share a picture book recommendation.  We enjoyed The Wild Woods, by Simon James this week. This sto...
Read more

Lewis and Clark

Image
" Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from its direction " Thomas Jefferson of Merriweather Lewis This summer the kids and I have studied the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It began with our being half-way through the book on the Louisiana purchase on the last day of school. Our interest was peaked and I hated to skip the books about Lewis and Clark that we did not have time to read during last school year, so... The book about the Louisiana Purchase is titled: What's the Deal Jefferson and Napoleon and the Louisiana Purchase , by Rhoda Blumberg. I would classify this book as a textbook. We read it in small portions each day. Then we read a few chapter books about Lewis and Clark and some of the other characters in the Corps of Discovery, namely, Seaman, Meriweather Lewis' Newfoundland dog. Patricia Reader Eubank's book, Seaman's Journal: On the Trail with Lewis and Clark is a beautifully...
Read more