Mr. Popper's Penguins Literature Study

 

Last month we read Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.  We had just wrapped up a study on Antarctica and this book was the perfect culminating activity!  And, of course, we planned to watch the movie upon completion of the book - which everyone was looking forward to, even though we had seen it before. 

Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler has put together several Literature Study lapbooks.  And Mr. Popper's Penguins just happened to be one of them!  So, I thought we would try our hand at some lapbooking!


The kids thoroughly enjoyed the book!  Begging for "just one more chapter!"  And the lit study was a great addition.  We did one lapbook together, with each of the kids working on a different element.  I love the way it turned out!

Fun Schooling

I tend to be a task oriented person.  I always feel as if certain things need to be done before the "fun" can begin.  I'm working on this a lot right now.  With a new baby in our family, we don't always have time to get those certain things done.  So, what?  Are we going to never have fun?!  Well, that won't work! 

 

I feel like the Lord is really teaching me to make some adjustments in my life.  To learn to calm down about some things.  Even simple, small things can make a big difference. 

 

As I prepared to go to the hospital to have my little Snuggle Bunny, I put together an activity bag for my other children.  One item I included in that bag was a Mad Lib book.  We hadn't done these yet with our kids (I guess I forgot about them). 

 

 

What a hit!  The kids love them!  We like to do them together as a family - it's so much more fun to laugh together! 

 

Summer Reading Kit

I love playing summer reading games with my children.  I think it is so much to track our reading - especially since we do so much!  And it's a great way to spend a rainy summer day!  We usually participate in the summer reading game at our local library.  But this year we also signed up for one through Journey Forth:

http://www.bjupress.com/books/summer-reading/

It's from BJU Press, some of you might be familiar with their homeschool products.  It's worth checking into, since they are offering a Kindle Fire as a Grand Prize for the game.  Plus, they have a wonderful list of great books to read, divided by age groups.

I poked around online (I love pinterest for this) and found some great resources for tracking your summer reading.  I pinned my favorite here.  I was only able to get the printable to open in my picture viewer and since I'm not all that computer savvy, I decided to make a few adjustments and make my own version.  I love how it turned out!  And today is the day we are going to get started on it!  (It really helps that it's a rainy day, too.)

Here is the Summer Reading Kits my kids are receiving today. 

I placed their logs inside library pockets (the same ones I used for our Tricky Tic Tac Toe game).

The logs are made to look like the old fashioned library cards!

Book Report

My Little Buddy was due to write a book report this week.  The example in the book seemed boring to me, so I scoured the web looking for other ideas.  But alas, I ended up making up my own.  So, I thought I would share it with all of you!

The book he read was Secret in the Maple Tree by Matilda Nordtvedt.  It was a charming little book that he and I both enjoyed reading together each day.  I can't wait to see how he fills out his book report on it.  Reading with him has become such a treasured time of the day for me.  And it's the one subject that he never puts off; he's always eager to get started on the next chapter.  We even finished this book a few days early, because I couldn't resist his plea to just read the last 3 chapters all at once.  I love to watch his passion for reading grow!

Word Family Books

I was reviewing my Curly Girlie's spelling list with her today.  She's in 1st grade.  I noticed that all the words, except for 2 sight words, ended in "ay".  And it occurred to me that we could make a Word Family Book! 

I love ideas that have us doing something different than workbooks.  Especially when it's a quick and easy project to pull together on a moments notice.  I always get my best ideas at the last minute, so if it's not quick and easy - or I don't have all the necessary supplies - it just doesn't happen around here.  But this project was doable -

b or d?

Deciphering lower case b's and d's can be difficult.  We've had struggles in our house.  I've tried a few hints here and there, but nothing seemed to do the trick.  So I thought I would try to create mini posters to go with b and d.  Something visual that they could remember when they approach one of these two familiar letters.

While coming up with my idea for the posters I also came up with a little slogan for each: