We started Rowing Katy No-Pocket in September.  The kids instantly fell in love with this adorable story.  There weren’t many printables available for this book, so I created a printable pack with artwork inspired by H.A. Ray.

I laminated the vocabulary cards and used them in our Sensory Story Box.  You can purchase just the Vocabulary & Writing Packet or the entire pack from our TPT store here.

Parker worked on the vocabulary cards all throughout this row.  First, he matched the figures to each picture card.

Next, he matched the picture cards with the picture and lables.

By the end of the row, he was able to read and match each printed label with either the picture card or the figures.  I was so proud of him!

The purpose of the cards is primarily to build his vocabulary; however, his reading skills grew at the same time from repetition.

Bible Lessons

We started using Kids of Integrity as our new Bible program this year.  It’s a free program with downloadable study packets that include crafts and other fun activities.  This was just what we needed to enhance our Bible time, making God’s word come to life.

Generosity Kick-Off Craft

Katy No-Pocket inspired us to study generosity as our first Bible unit.  The man generously gave Katy his apron.  We talked about how giving to others is laying up treasures in heaven.

I gave the kids a picture of a treasure chest to color and foam letters to spell “Treasures in Heaven”.

 

Bible Memory Verse

We chose to memorize Numbers 10:32, so I created a Bible verse printable to add to Learning Lane.  Click here to download your FREE copy!

Parker worked on his verse every day and was able to recite it from memory by the end of this unit.

Treasure Boxes

We started to keep track of the little acts of kindness and generosity around the house.  We started adding coins to a mason jar and decided to create one for each child.

The kids each received Melissa and Doug’s Decorate-Your-Own Treasure Chests, so we brought those out and they started painting them.

Once dry, they embellished with glitter, jewels, and stickers.  They turned out so adorable and the kids LOVED seeing deposits made in each chest!

Sharing & Kindness

Aprons & The Gift of Giving

The man in the story was so kind to offer Katy his only apron.  What a wonderful act of kindness!  I wanted to make aprons with the kids, but I needed a story to pair with the activity.

I found The Quilt maker’s Gift and The Quilt Maker’s Journey.  What a wonderful story about the gift of giving!

After reading the story, we wanted to add quilt designs to our aprons.  I let the kids thumb through the pages and find their favorite design.

The kids sketched their designs and even made a pattern of their own.  I bought some fabric squares and had the kids pick out several patterns for pockets.

I traced their sketches with an iron-transfer pen and they helped iron the quilt patterns to their aprons.

The kids used fabric pens to color their quilt patterns.  Parker didn’t participate in the quilt activity, but his apron turned out adorable!

In addition, we found several other great picture books about giving, sharing, and kindness.

Social Studies

Australia

Since this story took place in Australia, we took the opportunity to study all about this continent.  Learning Lane was decked out with our world puzzle, oceans, and Match the Continent File Folder.

Some days Parkie would match the continents from the puzzle to the file folder and other times he would just put the world puzzle together and we would point out Australia.

The older kids added several inserts about Australia in their BFIAR lapbooks.

Mommy & Me

Since Katy No-Pocket was about a mommy and her baby kangaroo, we took a morning to read about mommies and their babies.

Afterwards, we brought out our Baby and Mommy Animal Cards from 1+1+1=1.  The older kids worked on matching them together.

Fairy Bread

I’m not sure where we learned about Fairy Bread, but it’s a hit with my daughter. Anything adorned in sprinkles is right up her alley!

We read Robert Louis Stevenson’s Fairy Bread and enjoyed our sweet treat!

Tools, Tools, Tools

We read so many cute tool books in honor of the man who dumped out all of his tools to give his apron to Katy.

The kids worked on a tool worksheet and I added some phonics activities to our Learning Lane from Our Little Monkey’s tool pack.

Language Arts

Writing

I try to create packets for each book we row in order to keep the kids busy between subjects.  I add math, science, art, and other activities to fun-it-up.  I created letter and word tracing pages.  You can grab a FREE copy at our TPT store.

Phonics

I created several phonics activities and switched them out in our Learning Lane.  You can access them here from our TPT store.

Reading

I created a CVC roll, read, and cover activity with some of the Katy No-Pocket clipart. Parker enjoyed rolling the dice and reading his CVC words.  This was a great addition to Learning Lane.  You can grab your FREE copy here.

Aprons – Creative Writing CRAFTivity

I added a creative writing activity in our Katy No-Pocket Printable Pack.

The kids colored the Katy cut-outs and wrote what they would fill their apron with if they were her.

We cut out the pieces and attached them to the creative writing section.

They selected the color of their apron and sketched details on them.  We glued everything together.  They looked great!

Math

Since we started rowing Katy No-Pocket in September, we added some apple and fall themed activities into Learning Lane.

We read several books about sharing, kindness, and helping others.  We read Good Job, Rob! from our Happy Day Books Family Treasury.  Later, we read Curious George Apple Harvest and played a fun “apple picking” math dice game at the table.

The kids rolled the dice and “picked” the number of apples off the tree.  This was similar to the “blueberry picking” we did while rowing Blueberries for Sal.

We even made apple smiles with the recipe at the end of the book!

Fun with Fractions

We started our morning with edible fractions for breakfast.  I used frosting to pipe various fractions on our mini pancakes.  We read Mary Clare Likes to Share and ate each fraction as we read through the story.  The kids LOVED this lesson!

The kids found the matching fraction pancakes and gobbled them up.  Edible math is SUPER fun!

I continued working on fractions with the older kids.  I created various circle and square fractions, laid them out on the table, and let the kids work with them to identify equivalent fractions.

Math Fun & Games

I created several math activities for this unit.  I added many of them to our Learning Lane each day.  You can download most of them for FREE in our TPT store here.  The rest are available in our Katy No-Pocket Printable Pack for purchase here.

I also created several math puzzles and games to spice up our Learning Lane.

The kids loved working on the sudoku puzzles, which one is different, and shadow match activities.

I even created a Katy No-Pocket Bingo game.  You can download your FREE copy here.

The kids enjoyed playing this game as a family.  We seem to be on a bingo kick lately 🙂

Science

Katy’s Habitat

We started our morning watching an animated version of Katy No-Pocket and reading Eric Carle’s My Very First Book of Animal Homes.  We talked about Katy’s habitat and looked at all the various animals found in the book.

I created a “My Go-Along Animals” insert for this row.  The kids colored the various animals and pasted them in their habitat book.

Visit our TPT store to download your FREE insert and purchase a copy of the Habitat Book.

Animals of Australia

We read several books about the various animals of Australia.  We also added some Australian animal activities to Learning Lane and our lapbooks.  You can find them on my Katy No-Pocket Pinterest Board.

Kangaroo Life Cycle

We started our Kangaroo science unit with the lifecycle of kangaroos.  We read a few books and brought out our kangaroo lifecycle cards by The Pinay Homeschooler.

We read each card and placed them in the correct order using the control strip.

Afterwards, the kids completed a Life Cycle of a Kangaroo worksheet from education.com and placed them in their Katy lapbooks.

We also read quite a few adorable books about baby kangaroos.  Parker asked me to read Pouch by David Ezra Stein over and over again.  I think everyone loved that book the most.

Parts of the Kangaroo

I created a Kangaroo Science Pack especially for this unit.    You can purchase your copy here.

After reading our books, we used our definition cards to go over the various parts of the kangaroo in greater detail.  The older kids completed their kangaroo booklet and placed it in their lapbooks.

I set out the definition cards with a copy of the kangaroo booklet in our Learning Lane.   Parker and I read through the various parts as he colored them in.   There were many parts to read through, so we took our time on this activity.

I included a Label the Kangaroo worksheet as another activity to do on our Learning Lane.  This worksheet is included in our Kangaroo Science Pack available for purchase here!

Arts, Crafts, & Special Treats

Aboriginal Art

I printed a kangaroo template for each of the kids to paint.

The kids painted the kangaroo with tempura paint and we let them dry.  Once dry, we cut them out and glued them to the center of their construction paper.

They chose 3 tempura paint colors and used q-tips to outline the kangaroo with paints dots.  They continued to outline their kangaroo, alternating each color from their paint palette.

Their art projects turned out really beautiful!

Katy Inspired Treats

Since Katy didn’t have a pocket, pockets became the theme of our special treats during this row.

We had pita “pocket” sandwiches (Katy in a pocket drawn with edible ink).

We made “pocket” scones with “Katy” sausages.

We ate peanut butter/nutella toast pockets piped with pink frosting stitches, and heart shaped strawberries.  We had fun with this row and look forward to our next book!

Katy No-Pocket Resources

Most of the ideas, printables, and activities can be found on my Katy No-Pocket Pinterest board.

As with our other posts, I created a Katy No-Pocket youtube playlist.

Lastly, many of the printables I created for this unit are FREE, but there are some available for purchase at our Little Learning Lane TPT Store.  We hope you enjoy this book as much as we did!