Viking Unit Study

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share with you what we've been up to in our homeschool. The boys have been fascinated with Vikings so we started a mini unit study. Here are just some of the activities we did so far. I'll share more as we complete them.

The boys did a fun directed drawing of a Viking. We followed this video here. 

Once their drawing was complete they wrote down their narration. 

The boys also completed a map of the viking world you can grab this map here. 

completed map and narration

This was their favorite activity making the viking paper dolls. I got the printable from 

here. 

They gave their dolls traditional Viking names

We have been reading aloud from Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert. 

The boys have been turning each chapter into a diary entry. 

We write from the point of view of one of the main characters. We talked about 1st person

vs. 3rd person. We go over all the main events in the chapter and the boys write their diary entry. 

For the diaries we're using blank books I got from Michael's along time ago.

Resources:

The Usborne books are our main spines.

We've been having so much fun learning all about these warriors. I'll share more activities once we complete them.

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Weekly Wrap Up

Wilson 'Snowflake' Bentley Biography Study

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share with you our biography research study on Wilson 'Snowflake' Bentley. I chose to start with him for several reasons. First, we love this book and it's a classic. Second, it worked perfect with the season we're in currently. Also, it's a quick read so it's easy to take notes on. And last, the subject of snow always fascinates kids. We started off by talking about how and why we do research. The boys helped me make a list.

1. Pick your topic/Subject
2. Collect your resources (books, internet, videos, newspaper, etc.)
3. Ask questions (this will help determine what to look for)
4. Organize your research

Here are the 3 books we used. Our main text for the research was Snowflake Bentley. The other two were just fun reads. 

We also used these QR codes that I put together for the boys. You can grab your free copy here.

We talked about the importance of citing your source. The boys used index cards to do their research.

Authors Last name, first name.Title. Where it was published:Publishing company, date of publication.

Research Portion:

The research part was new to both boys. They wanted to copy everything word for word so I had to do a lot of modeling. I used this resource here to guide me and how to teach them. 

The boys had 3 index cards with three questions to lead their research. We focused on his childhood, adulthood, accomplishments, fun facts, and quotes. 

Here he is looking for some fun facts.

Turning Their Notes into Paragraphs:

After the research portion was over the boys had to turn their notes into full sentences and write each of their paragraphs. 

One thing I loved about the resource we used is after each paragraph was written the boys had

to go back and highlight their 3 must haves. They did this for each of their 5 paragraphs. 

Writing his introduction paragraph.

Final Draft:

The boys edited and chose to type out their biography report. 

Art:

We always try to incorporate some art into all our units. The boys made snowflake paper cut outs. 

The boys wrote down four character traits of Wilson Bentley around the snowflake.

The boys really loved learning all about Wilson Bentley we can't wait to learn about all the other great people we have lined up.

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Montessori Mondays

Stone Fox Activities

Hi guys! Today I wanted to share with you some of the activities that we did to go along with the book Stone Fox. My son really enjoyed this book and all the activities we worked on.

He worked on character traits about the main character. He had to pick three traits and provide evidence from the book. 

He wrote an advice letter to Willy. He was so sweet he wrote "believe in yourself and you can do it! Your grandfather is counting on you now hurry and win that race."

He compared the chores he does at home to all of Willy's responsibility on the farm 

We also compared Stone Fox and Little Willy 

Using information in the book he created a dogsled race poster. 

After doing some research online we discovered that the first race in Jackson, Wyoming was in 1932 and evidence from the book we came up with February 1, 1952 as the race date. The rest of the information is on chapter 5 and 6. 

As he read the story we added to the story map. This really helped him in writing his story summary. 

We worked on a lot more but this is what I managed to capture. Have you or your kids ever read this book?

What We Read In December

Hi guys! I can't believe December is over already, we are starting our second half of homeschool (eeek). I wanted to share with you some of the books the boys enjoyed in December.

3rd grader 

Required Reading

For his required reading he read The One and Only Ivan. He really enjoyed this book and we worked 

on some activities to go along with the book here. He also read the picture book of Ivan which is a non-fiction and a book on gorillas. 

Fun Read:

Along with the books above he also read Battle Bugs, Dinosaur Cove, and The Notebook of Doom. I shared these on my Instagram.

Ist Grader

Required Reading

For his required reading he finished reading Stone Fox

Fun Read:

To go along with Stone Fox he also listened to Balto of the Blue Dawn on audio and read Akiak

Group Reading/Read Alouds

 We worked on a biography of Snowflake Bentley and enjoyed The Story of Snow

and Curious About Snow

We also finished listening to The Mysterious Benedict Society. The boys really enjoyed this book.

We are just about to finish The Silver Balloon. 

January Reading:

Both boys have already started on their assigned reading for January.

My 3rd grader will be reading Sarah, Plain and Tall. Even though this is below his reading level I don't want him to miss this classic. 

 He will also be starting a biography study on Jacques Cousteau.

My first grader had a choice between James and the Giant Peach or Chocolate Fever. 

He went with Chocolate Fever, which he is really enjoying. 

Preschooler:

My preschooler and I read a lot more books but these two were his favorite by far, and the only ones I manage to take a picture of before returning them to the library. 

I also have not chosen a read aloud for January I'll share over on Instagram once I decide. What books have you enjoyed?

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Literacy Monday