This isn’t the first time we’ve studied Katy and the Big Snow, but we were MORE than excited to start rowing this book!
The boys and I gathered our Melissa and Doug Town blocks along with white pom-poms for snow! With the help of two eager little boys, our story sensory box would magically transform into Geoppolis!
BIBLE:
We decided to memorize I Peter 4:11 since it was about helping others just like Katy!
I created a Bible verse printable pack for this row. You can purchase it at our TPT store.
We’ve also included this tracer FREEbie in the Preview! Click here to download!
We created a Bible verse printable to use.
The boys traced their Bible verse one day. We cut them apart like a puzzle and added them to their lapbooks on another day.
Jordan continued to work on the puzzle throughout our time rowing this book.
S.S. & HISTORY:
City Life:
Since Katy%20and the Big Snow
We talked about how cities are called urban communities. We brought out our community cards and sorted through our stack of pictures.
We sifted through urban, suburban, and rural pictures and identified all of the city pictures.
The boys added some inserts in their lapbooks.
Jordan decided to place our story disk on New York, because he said “everyone loves New York!”
My House:
Building Paper Houses:
We read 
The kids worked on a paper house craft (Build a City) activities on education.com.
After coloring their houses, they cut them up and taped them together. They turned out really cute!
My Home Craft:
The following week, Parker was learning about houses and homes around the world in his Sonlight Core A History lessons. I LOVE when our Sonlight and FIAR compliment eachother!
We folded a white sheet of paper into a house shape (idea from picklebums) and glued it to construction paper (1/2 light blue, 1/2 green, 1/2 brown).
The boys added windows, doors, and other details.
During science, Parker learned about atoms and molecules and when they are combined they make other materials (wood, glass, plastic, etc.). Our Sonlight history and FIAR craft quickly included some of our science lesson too. Can it get any better?
The boys labeled what their windows, walls, and roofs were made of to incorporate the materials we were learning about in science.
Lastly, the boys added their address at the bottom using a personal information printable I found on Pinterest. This was good practice talking about our street, city, state, and zip code!
They turned out really cute too!
My Town:
We read Map My Neighborhood (First Step Nonfiction – Map It Out)
I gave each boy a large sheet of white paper and a roll of race car track tape I found in the dollar bin at Target!
First, they created their town map by laying down street tape.
Next, they used the dot paints to make dirt, cement, and grassy areas on their map.
Parker used some town printable pictures to add buildings on his town map.
We added foam stickers to spell out “My Town” and waited for the dot paint to dry.
After his map was dry, Jordan and I talked about map keys. He and I worked on making a key for his map and he drew the icons and building on his town.
They turned out really adorable! This was a fun, educational, and VERY colorful CRAFTivity that the boys enjoyed making!
Setting Up Geoppolis:
The boys sifted through our Melissa & Doug Wooden Town Play Set With Storage Tray (32 pcs)
The boys referred to the map of Geoppolis to make sure we had everything we needed to set up our city.
They neatly organized the city, working as a team.
Then the snow fell….until Geoppolis was covered in a white blanket of snow (using our imagination, because our “snow” (pom-poms) weren’t enough), but the boys had fun on this activity too!
Transportation:
We started our morning with a transportation inspired breakfast (bagel “wheels” with nutella, bananas, and heart shaped strawberries!
This was a morning that could stop traffic! Everyone was SUPER excited about the transportation theme!
We read Red Light, Green Light while the kids ate breakfast.
We even played a few rounds of Road Trip Bingo. The kids had so much fun we played it again and again!
I made zucchini brownies and added m&ms as the traffic lights for a sweet treat that night! The kids LOVED them…they were SUPER healthy AND tasty!
LANG ARTS:
Vocabulary:
Jordan added some Katie and the Big Snow lapbook inserts (homeschool share) as well as the vocabulary words from our FIAR Fold and Learn packet.
Spelling:
I wrote his spelling words on some construction paper shapes (Katy and her heart-shaped snow plow) along with some extra polar bear fishing cards I printed.
We went over the list of spelling words, then I asked him to spell each word out loud. Then I asked him to put the words in alphabetical order. He did a great job!
The following day I made a quick spelling worksheet and asked him to match the Roman numerals to the correct spelling word using my version of the teacher’s helper block blocks as a guide.
Vowels & Consonants:
This week Parker needed to sort through the stack of letters we’ve learned so far, separating the vowels from the consonants.
As we sorted through the stack, we sang our vowel song.
He did a great job sorting through the stack of letters.
Phonics:
Beginning & Ending Sound:
I brought out our snowflake picture cards and magnetic letters.
He added the starting and ending letters to each picture card.
There were several difficult words, but he used his skills of deduction to figure out.
MATH:
Maps – Compass Rose:
We did quite a bit of map work during this row. We started with a quick review of the compass rose.
Jordan was able to fill out the points on the compass rose without any help from me.
Maps – Following Directions:
Then I printed a few town worksheets so they can apply their knowledge of directions.
Both boys did an excellent job with this activity.
Maps – Grid Work:
I wanted Jordan to continue his map work. This time we focused on map coordinates.
I printed some great map worksheets (education.com) that that introduced the x and y axes.
Maps – Scale:
Lastly, I found a few worksheets that focused on scale (education.com). This was something Jordan could really benefit from and use in the future.
He did a really good job with learning and applying the new map skills.
Counting:
I checked out Winter Visitors from the local library and found it was a wonderful winter and woodland creature themed counting picture book.
We used the illustrations to practice our skip counting by twos, fives, tens, and even sevens!
The turkeys helped us skip count by tens.
The squirrels helped Jordan skip count by sevens and the birds helped Parker skip count by twos, using their two feet!
Paper Houses:
I found a really cute printable house craft for the kids to work on.
They colored their houses, cut them apart, and taped them together.
They turned out so cute!
SCIENCE:
Snow Study:
We took an afternoon walk and sat on a bench to read a book about snow.
We couldn’t believe we were reading about snow in 70 degree weather (the pictures on the left and our view reading the book on the right)….we laughed and remembered our trip to the snow last year!
We read Snow by Marion Dane Bauer which was just the right amount of information to keep both boys’ attention. Afterwards, we read Let it Snow just for fun!
Snow Experiment:
When you don’t have snow, a frosty freezer will do!
We collected our “snow” (frost from a freezer that needs defrosting) and marked our snow line.
I created a simple Snow Line Experiment Booklet that you can download here for FREE!
The boys marked their estimated water line and waited for the snow to melt.
After the snow melted, we checked our water line and it was half-way down the jar!
The boys marked the actual water line and compared it with their estimates then added the booklet to their lapbooks.
Winter:
I brought out our beautiful winter picture cards from The Helpful Garden.
We took our time sorting through the cards and looking at the beautiful pictures.
Then I brought out our Montessori Seasons Circle Sorting activity (I Believe in Montessori).
We put the season circle together and reviewed the three months of winter since we were rowing Katy and the Big Snow in winter.
ARTS, CRAFTS, & FUN:
Katy Pancakes:
We ended our row on a sweet note with a Saturday morning Katy-inspired breakfast.
I tried to make Katy pancakes free-hand, but my children guessed it was a crab (LOL)…they LOVED the breakfast once they realized it was Katy!
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