We were slowly getting back into the swing of things.  Three Names was the second book of the year and we were excited to be on the prairie.

We started our row with a Little House love.  We read Prairie Day and ate molasses toast like Laura and Mary.

Ready to Row:

We updated our Sensory Story Box with a farm setting for Three Names.  This was perfect for both boys, because Parker was reading Charlotte’s Web in his Sonlight Language Arts program.

I bought a Playmobile wagon for this book!  Jordan was excited to build it!

Jordan created a cover page in his lapbook with a big red barn.  Now we were ready to begin our prairie exploration!

Bible:

I created a Three Names Bible Verse Pack for this row.

You can download the FREEbie tracer in the preview or purchase the pack here at our TPT Store.

Social Studies:

The Prairie:

We rented many prairie themed books from the library.  Some were really text heavy, but they were still VERY interesting.

Out on the Prairie was a great book for mixed ages.  The pages were beautifully illustrated with just enough information.  It also included loads of prairie facts outside the story line for older students.

Jordan added our story disk on one of the prairie states of our world map.

I made a big batch of chocolate pudding and presented it as the base for our “prairie dessert”.  Everyone had blue kettle corn (slough), green tinted coconut (grass), and crushed Oreos (dirt).  It was devoured quickly!

One Room Schoolhouse:

After reading about grandfather’s experience going to school on the prairie, we read several school-themed books.

We loved Going to School from the Comparing Past and Present series.  This book presented factual information along with coordinating past and present pictures.

We did a hunt using pictures from the Past or Present Center(Teaching in Second Grade).  Afterwards, the kids sorted them under the Past or Present cards.  This was a GREAT follow up to our reading.

Prairie Music:

We talked about the culture and music you would hear on the prairie.  The kids have watched many episodes of Little House on the Prairie and have seen Pa playing the fiddler.

I found Hog Music at our library.  EVERYONE loved this book!  It was funny and VERY entertaining.

We watched several clips from our Three Names playlist.  The one above I found on Spark and All’s Three Names post.

Marbles:

I added a couple of marble clips to our Three Names playlist so everyone would know how to play the game.

Jordan and I created a circle in the classroom and played a game of marbles.  Haley played a game after reading about marbles in her poetry book.

Language Arts:

Hyperbole:

I purchased The Know-Nonsense Guide to Grammar on amazon.

This is an excellent book to help explain various literary devices with fun illustrations.

We read about Hyperbole and the kids kept bringing it up EVERY time they would hear a hyperbole.  I was SUPER proud of them for retaining this grammar fact!

Similes:

We also read the page about similes.  The “sweet as candy” picture was HARD to forget!

Fall Similes:

I created a Fall Similes Pack for the kids to work on.

You can purchase this pack at our TPT Store.  There’s also a two-page FREEbie in the Preview.

We started our Fall similes lesson by reading The Apple Pie that Papa Baked.  Though this book was more about adjectives, we used it as a springboard to help us think of  adjectives, words to describe fall.

Everyone loved this activity.  It got us in the mood for all things fall!

This was Haley’s Fall Simile worksheet.  She did such a great job!  We love it when she joins us on our seasonal activities.

Math:

Ordinal Numbers:

I created an Ordinal Number Mouse Math pack for the boys to work on.

You can purchase it here at our TPT Store.  There’s a FREEbie in the Preview.

First we read Albert the Muffin-Maker on our Epic app.

Jordan LOVED the Albert Mouth Math series!

Jordan took the quiz at the end of the book.  The kids get SUPER excited any time there’s a quiz.

Jordan worked on placing the ingredients on the math mat.

Science:

Prairie Habitat:

It was so cool that Jordan was reading Prairie School when we started this row.  It paired perfectly with Three Names.

We also read Plant a Pocket of Prairie and I thought it would be fun to make flower seed bombs.

Jordan and I went outside to collect seeds from the garden.  I added a seed bomb tutorial to our Three Names Playlist.

Jordan watched the tutorial and I gathered our supplies.

We ripped any large piece of paper and Bub added them to a large mixing bowl.

He added hot water and made sure all the paper was wet.  We set it aside to soak while we ate lunch.

After lunch we blended our paper mixture and I added a dash of pumpkin spice.

It smelled really good, but it wasn’t pretty.  Thankfully, it dried a better color.

Jordan helped squeeze out the water using an old rag.

We pressed the mixture into our pumpkin mold and set it aside to dry.  Ours took a few days and was a bit crumbly.

Well Water:

I couldn’t find a good science book about wells, but I added a great video with a simple science project to our Three Names Playlist.  Bub watched the clip and I gathered the supplies we needed.

First we filled a mason jar with rocks, symbolizing the layers of earth.

Jordan added the water….deep within the layers of the earth ;).

Next, he “primed the pump” which the science clip was VERY clear explaining.

Last, he pumped his well water.  This was a GREAT activity to teach kids about wells and pumping well water.

Shadows:

We read My Shadow, a picture book version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s poem.

We also read What Makes a Shadow? from the Let’s Read and Find Out Science series.

I thought it would be fun for Jordan to memorize My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Jordan worked on tracing and illustrating the pages of the booklet.

Twins:

We read several cute books about twins.  Twins by Elaine Scott was a great science book for young kids.

Afterwards, we talked about both identical and fraternal twins.

Horses:

We read Horses by Gail Gibbons and the boys color-coded the parts of the horse (The Helpful Garden).

Afterwards, they brought “popcorn” (Bub’s stuffed horse) downstairs and acted like cowboys all weekend.

Dogs:

We started our day with a prairie cornmeal mush breakfast adorned with a puppy pancake, because today we were learning about dogs.

We read several fun dog-themed picture books.

I bought a set of dog definition cards from Montessori Print Shop and sketched a dog for Jordan to label.

We read through Gail Gibbon’s Dogs.

Jordan color coded the parts of the dog and we looked at various dog breeds online.

This guy was one of our favorites!

Tornados:

We read Tornados By Gail Gibbons. I decided to explore tornados, because Jordan has always been fascinated with extreme weather.

We also read Otis and I made a batch of chocolate pudding and placed some farm animals in everyone’s dish!

I wanted to read Otis and the Tornado, but we ran out of time.

Prairie Food Chain:

We read Who Eats What? Prairie Food Chains on our Epic app.

I created a Prairie Food Chain CRAFTitivity. that you can purchase from our TPT Store.  There’s a bonus FREEbie in the Preview!

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.  Or simply click the Preview for the FREE simple prairie food chain CRAFTivity!

The kids colored their prairie animals, cut them out, snd we glued them to cardboard.

Last, they hot glued their animals to the red ribbon.

Arts, Crafts, & Fun:

Vanishing Point:

Parker illustrates his Bible verse each week and wasn’t sure what to do for his Psalm 1:6 passage.  The theme was “the path of the righteous” and I talked about “vanishing points” during our Bible lesson.

Parker illustrated a path with a vanishing point for “the path of the righteous” and it turned out really nice.  I love how this lesson just flowed naturally on it’s own.

Later Jordan and I sat down to review vanishing point.  I opened up Three Names and showed him the vanishing point illustration.  He also found a vanishing point in our Little Blue Truck book.

Jordan completely understood the concept and wanted to create his own Minecraft-inspired “vanishing point”.

He did a great job!

Pioneer Food:

We skimmed through the recipes in Pioneer Farm Cooking and REALLY wanted to make the taffy at the end of the book.

We never made the taffy, but we found some at Sprouts. The kids picked every flavor to try at home!

Baked Potatoes:

We couldn’t row this book without making baked potatoes, right?  We planned a chicken, and baked potato dinner one night.

There’s nothing quite like a baked potato.

Jordan asked to clean the potatoes.  Perfect skill builder and it freed me to work on the other “fixings”.

The boys buttered the potatoes and we popped them back into the oven to finish cooking.  They were the highlight of everyone’s dinner!

Helpful Links:

Three Names Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created a Three Names Playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other animated clips.

Pinterest Board:

You can find most of the activities, ideas, and printables from this post on our Three Names Pinterest board.