Poetry Journal

Back when I taught 5th grade, poetry was used frequently in our classroom. We used poetry as a way for students to work on their fluency. Students would answer comprehension questions, act out the poems with peers, or draw imagery from it daily. When I home-schooled "A" for a short while I knew I wanted to give him the same exposure, but at a primary level. At Just 4 Teachers I found what I was looking for, a poetry journal where kinder kids can highlight sight words, work on their reading, and do an art project for each poem. 

Now that "A" is older and no longer home-schooled I still wanted to introduce him to amazing poetry. We still work in the journal but we do more comprehension type questions rather than look for sight words. I also pick harder poems for him to read. 

 Here is his most current page for All Things Bright and Beautiful by Cecil Frances Alexander

I am loving this artwork. We used our Easter colored egg shells as a mosaic for the flowers.

This page is for the poem At the Seaside by Robert Louis Stevenson. The sandcastle is made on sandpaper.

 Primary Page (see highlighted sight words): My Robot Does My Homework by Kenn Nesbitt 

(robot made with markers, aluminum foil & buttons)

 Primary Page: Thanksgiving (great way to tie in seasonal poems). 

Art made with lunch sack & construction paper. 

 1492 Poem with a color pencil drawing he made from step-by-step instructions

 Primary Page: Another seasonal/holiday poem called Trick or Treat. 

He made a trick-or-treat house from his leftover trick-or-treat candy loot.

 Primary Page:  Poem titled I Talk With The Moon with and handprint painted owl

 Primary Page: Scarecrow poem with cut construction paper art

 Primary Page: Leaves poem with abstract marker art

First one we ever did:  Poem is called Harvest time with apple print art. 

Check out the link above because she has the cover and some of the primary poems (like Harvest Time above) available as a free printable to get you started if you have younger kids. For older kids just search websites for popular kid poems. I will make sure to show you if we do any cool ones in the future.To read more about the importance of reading poetry to your child and tips to get started I recommend this quick article titled Celebrating Poetry, from PBS.

How to Make an Apple Pie (FIAR)

A little fun with lots of learning-1st try at apple bopping 

So we have finished our first week of homeschool and my first book of Five in a Row: How to Make an Apple Pie and Travel the World by Marjorie Priceman. It is a cute book about a girl who travels the world to get the ingredients to make apple pie. So here is our row:

Math:

Various farm theme math sheets for cheap Grade 1 workbooks 

3 part apple math cards from 1st Grade Parade 

Measuring Trees printable from 2 Teaching Mommies

Odd & Even Apple Trees from 1st Grade Parade

Ripe Math was also a printable from 1st Grade Parade. 

We asked 25 people what their favorite type of fruit pie is and then made a pie graph. We also did a lot of introduction to fractions as well. 

Social Studies:

This idea came from Delightful Learning. We took the manipulatives from our sensory bin (you can see that here) and placed them on our world map.

Paper Plate Globe from Mrs. T's First Grade 

We did all the maps from the How to Make an Apple Pie lapbook from homeschoolshare and the Vermont coloring sheet from Crayola

We love this song on Youtube to teach the names of the continents

We also studied about Johnny Appleseed (John Chapman). What a truly amazing American. Here "A" is writing about how he would throw a party for Johnny Appleseed. He had to know some of his likes to answer the questions. 

We also filled out this Look Who is Famous informational sheet. I think we will use this sheet for all amazing people we learn about. You can find it at homeschool creations.

Literacy:

This is our poetry journal which I will do a complete post about in awhile. He highlights high frequency words and illustrates it. Here is with apple paint prints. 

Our apple picking sight word game. I took the idea of my popcorn game and wrote our high frequency words on apple prints and wrote the word Rot for the word to send the apples back. Check out my popcorn post on how to play.

We had a vocabulary word each day that he wrote on apples and defined: harvest, acquaintance, crop, coax 

I love this KWL chart from 1st Grade Parade

Sequence Cards from Fiarcircle

We did a comparison of the All in Just One Cookie to How to Make an Apple Pie and mapped where the books got their ingredients. 

This isn't the best picture but he had to write an alternate ending to How to Make an Apple Pie. What if he really wanted vanilla ice-cream. What would he need and where would he go. The only thing extra is vanilla which in All for one Cookie we learn he could go to Madagascar if he wanted-s that is what he did.

Science:

He labeled the parts of an apple. This printable is from here 

I got this idea from Mrs. T's First Grade. I love the art component. 

This is a salt evaporation experiment that is in the Five in a Row Volume 1 book. The worksheet is part of the lapbook at HomeschoolShare.

This experiment I read on Pinterest and can't find the owner. Let me know if it is you. Take one clean apple slice and then drop another, rub your hands on it, etc and see which molds fastest. Great way to discuss germs!

Of course we made an apple pie! This is part science and math. We also made homemade applesauce because I love it! 

We also had to do an apple tasting. This is great to do for once for everyone. "A" loved the sour and hated the sweet-me complete opposite!

Art:

We studied still life paintings. Did you know that apples symbolized knowledge and in religious paintings it represented temptation? Here is our set up-we ran out of red apples so we had to imagine.

Here is"A's" finished piece using watercolor pastels. 

Here is my still life. I love how this is something we can learn to do together. We are both students. 

Other Resources we used:

Encouraging the Writer Within

My five-year-old LOVES to write stories. Always has! Even at a young age he would dictate his made-up tales. Once he hit Kindergarten he started to write for himself. His love of drawing has given him dreams of being a author and illustrator. In school he would write daily during Writer's Workshop, but I have pulled him out of school early due to the move. In the craziness, I have been slow to supplement his education at home-mainly because we don't have any of our belongings. Yesterday his Draw & Write Journal from Lakeshore Learning arrived (only $3.50) and he was so excited to get writing again. However, when he sat down to write he had writer's block-he had been out of practice. Here are some things I did to help encourage his writer within...


After "A" doodled in his books we talked about what stories may be needed to be told. Here are some of the pages:

Aren't these just begging to have stories written about them? I know I want to know more about the haunted mine and the incredible flying machine-don't you?

All writers should also create a heart map. "A" made on the backside of the title page right in his Draw & Write Journal. Some choose to section of the map into different coordinates and add color, but he didn't want that. Ideas to put in your heart map: people who you hold close in your heart, dreams & desires, special memories, secrets, passions you have, etc. Some of the things in his heart map include memories of going on a cruise and the state fair, his family, a cross of God, dreaming of becoming a scientist, an easel for art, things-that-go (a passion of his), and more. 

I also picked up a Spelling Reference Guide at his old school before we moved. His old school district used these for grades K-2nd. You could certainly make one of your own though. You put high frequency words in order like a dictionary. In the back they also have sections like Days of the Week, People, Places, Months, Colors, and Numbers. In each section there are lines for you to add words. For example, in the People section you would write the name of siblings and/or pets, in Places you would write your city and state or a favorite vacation spot, As you can see on the D page I added dinosaur for him. At this age I want to encourage him to phonetically sound out his words but also use a dictionary. It is about balance!

By the time we were done with the heart map he had ideas flying. He chose to write about a secret location he found with his dad at our new place (a secret on his heart map). He quietly wrote for about 30 mins about gold and treasure chests and more. This is probably the longest story he has written entirely himself (and that includes stories he has written in school). I am excited for some writing time set aside each day!