We started this row unfamiliar with the story, but we were pleasantly pleased! There were so many wonderful topics to explore!

Bible:

We chose to memorize Psalm 27:1, because it addressed fear and the Lord being our light.  This was a subject we could all relate to and relevant to this story.

I created a Bible verse printable pack to go with this book.  You can purchase it at our TPT store.

There’s also a FREEbie tracer in the Preview!

Jordan worked on the tracer and added it to his lapbook.  He also worked on the Bible puzzle several times.

S.S. & History:

We read quite a few books about Canada and they were all very good.  Not too text heavy which engaged both boys!

But our absolute favorite was Carson Crosses Canada, about a little old lady and her dog crossing Canada to visit her sister.

The illustrations were bright and whimsical.  I only wish they had more countries in this series.

Later that afternoon, the boys found and colored Ungava Bay and colored the Canadian Flag.  They added both to their lapbooks.

We also added a Canada country box, our Children’s World Atlas, and our Canada Montessori map to Learning Lane.  The boys enjoyed putting the Canadian flag and puzzle together.

Bannock:

I found a recipe for Canadian bannock bread. Jordan helped measure all the ingredients.

We poured it in a greased pan and baked it in the oven.

It baked golden and delicious.

Everyone enjoyed it at breakfast along with our Eva-inspired breakfast (see the Corn Flakes box in the illustrations….checking for details in the artwork!).

Inuit Culture:

One morning we spent quite a bit of time learning about the Inuit culture.

The kids watched several clips from our Very Last First Time playlist about the Inuit culture.

Inuit Paper Dolls:

I found a really cute Inuit paper doll printable online and copied it on cardstock for each kid.

We read I Is for Inuksuk: An Arctic CelebrationI is for Inuksuk which was a fabulous book for all three of the kids.

The kids colored their Inuit paper dolls.

They cut out the pieces and used brads to connect the arms, legs, and head.

They turned out adorable!

I added an Inuksuk file folder game (filefolderfun.com) in our Learning Lane too.  The boys took turns matching them up.

Relationships – Mommy & Me:

We don’t know much about Eva’s family background, but we do know Eva and her mother are close.

We took a little time to read about Mommies and their kids.

Language Arts:

Since we were studying the Arctic Tundra, we created an ice fishing bin to use for all our grammar activities during this row.

Ice Fishing for Antonyms:

I created a Polar Bear Ice Fishing – Fishing for Antonyms pack for the boys to use.  I printed the fish word cards, paper clipped them, and scattered them in our bin.

The kids took turns using our magnet fishing pole and marking the matching synonyms on their worksheet.

Ice Fishing for Letters:

Parker used the bin for a letter match activity.   I set up uppercase fish cards, paper clipped them, and placed them in the ice fishing bin.

Parker fished for the letters and matched them to the lowercase letters.

Spelling:

I cut out some construction paper mussels and used them for our spelling words.

First we went through the list and identified the root words.

As the IG suggested, Jordan wrote a couple of rhyming words for each root word.

We brought out our mussels the next day and played a matching game so Jordan could practice spelling his words.

I used roman numerals and letter boxes for him to fill in the correct letters.

Phonics:

I brought out our Arctic Toob and magnetic letters.

Parker worked on matching both the starting and ending sounds.

Math:

In addition to our Horizon Math lessons, we added a few thematic activities.

Ordinal Numbers:

I created an ordinal number and story sequence worksheet for the boys to work on.

First, they cut apart the number words and story sequencing strips.

Next, they matched the ordinal number words with numbers.

Last, they pieced the story sequencing strips in order from memory. They both did a great job!

Coin Counting:

Jordan reviewed his coin cards (Imagineourlife) and calculating groups of coins using our Melissa and Doug play money.

Perimeter:

Parker continued his work on perimeter.  This time we measured our Eric Carle book with gems.

Word Problems:

Jordan worked on the Math Word Problems in our Very Last First Time lapbook (homeschoolshare).

Science:

Salty Sea Air:

We talked about what the sea smells like.  Normally we would smell fish like when we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Eva smelled the salty air and we went to the kitchen to figure out what she meant.

I poured salt in a glass dish and had the boys smell it. The boys claimed to smell something, but I think it was a phantom scent…I could barely smell soap 🙂

Then we added boiling water and smelled it again. THIS time the reaction was much stronger.  You really could smell the salt!

Winter:

Temperature – Freezing & Boiling Points:

We read Winter%20Days in the Big Woods (My First Little House Books)Winter in the Big Woods and talked about the freezing and boiling points.

They wrote the freezing and boiling points and colored in the thermometers.

We practiced moving our pipe cleaner to the freezing point.

Dressing For the Weather:

We read Froggy Gets Dressed and Jordan watched several winter clips on our Very Last First Time playlist.

I added a few dressing for the weather activities to our Learning Lane.  I brought out our My First Colorforms – Miss Weather Dress up Set and a file folder dressing for the weather game.

The kids took turns working on the activities.

Biomes – Tide Pools:

We started our study of tide pools by reading What Do You Find in a Tide Pool?

Afterwards, we sorted through our Toob sea creatures to find just those animals we would see in the intertidal zone.

The next day I set out a “Make a Tide Pool” worksheet for the kids to make and put in their lapbooks.

We read On the Seashore (Picture Books)On the Seashore and the kids colored their tide pools.

Mussels:

We read The%20Seaside SwitchThe Seaside Switch and skimmed through an ebook about mussels.

We went over the parts of the mussel and the boys color-coded their mussel diagrams.

We watched The Magic School Bus Series 4 – GOES TO MUSSEL BEACH (Vol 2)The Magic School Bus Mussel Beach episode.

Later in the week, Jordan and I made mussels for lunch.

Haley and Jordan both loved them!

Simple Machines:

We brought out our Simple Machines kit and read Ice Fishing and Let’s Read and Find Out Simple Machines.

We talked about levers, wedges, and screws. Jordan created both the lever and wedge.

The boys LOVED this kit and played with it throughout the day.

Polar Bears:

We started our morning with bear toast and a few polar bear books.

We read both bear stories and bear science books.

The boys added some polar bear inserts in their lapbooks.

We even watched the Kratt Brother’s Polar Bears Don’t Dance episode on our Very Last First Time playlist.

The next day we continued our arctic adventure with “Polar Bears in the Snow” (bagels with cream cheese and gummy bears on top).

We read The Polar Bear Son and Arctic Son and even had a couple of “beary fun” treats during this row (teddy bear snack and ice fishing).

 

Arts, Crafts, & More:

Igloos:

We watched several videos about building igloos in our Very Last First Time Playlist.

They worked on the igloo craft while I read Living in the Arctic.

They turned out so adorable!

Pointillism:

We read Katie and the Bathers which was a wonderful picture book to introduce the kids to George Seurat and pointillism.

I set out a variety of warm and cool pastel paints, keeping with an arctic theme.

The kids found it difficult to paint an entire picture with just dots, but it’s another art skill in their repertoire.

Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis):

We read Arctic White which was a wonderful picture book about an Inuit girl and her grandfather watching the colorful Northern Lights contrasting the everyday white of life in the Arctic.

The kids watched a Northern Lights watercolor tutorial and a time-lapse video of the Northern Lights for inspiration.

First the kids sketched their skyline and colored it in with sharpies.

They painted with their new watercolor sets.

They layered color after color, adding in splashes of water and black paint to mimic the Northern Lights.

They turned out beautiful!