READY TO ROW:

I created a fun ocean themed basket filled with yummy snacks for the kids during this row.

 

 

As with our other books, the kids created a cover page in their FIAR notebooks with some representation of the artwork from our book.

BIBLE:

Memory Verse:

Without pressing hard on the topic of obedience, I still created a Bible verse pack about children obeying their parents.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.  There’s a bonus FREEbie in the Preview!

Most of our Bible lessons were topical and are scattered throughout this post.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Virginia:

 

 

 

We read Celebrating%20Virginia and Washington, D.C.: 50 States to Celebrate (Green Light Readers Level 3)Celebrating Virginia and Washington, D.C. and the kids worked on the Virginia page from our dollar bin U.S. Workbook.

Chesapeak Bay:

We read Sweet Dreams Chesapeake Bay on our Epic app.

We also scanned through the Chesapeake Bay Wetlands book on our Epic app.

I made a fun little sea snack using our seaweed and our Trader Joe Scandinavian Swimmers (gummy candy).

I created a “Chesapeake Bay” page in their FIAR notebooks and used sand to trench colors in the title.

Haley made little “greasy rings” around the letters 🙂

They ate their snack and sketched the Chesapeake Bay.

I set out a tray of sea creature stickers and the kids used them to decorate their drawings.

They did a great job creating the bay with sand and sea grasses.

They turned out really beautiful!  I love their artwork.  They really put a great deal of effort into the detail of this page.  Having water fowl, sand creatures, fish, etc.

I set out our Melissa and Doug Reusable Ocean stickers for the kids to decorate the windows of the classroom.

Time of War:

We just celebrated Memorial Day, so we started our unit reading about this holiday.

We read Celebrating Holidays Memorial Day on our Epic app.

There was a poppy craft in our Memorial Day book.  Haley helped me set out the various parts to make our tissue paper poppies.

Everyone was able to follow the steps to create their poppies.  They looked really cute too!

We read The%20Poppy Lady: Moina Belle Michael and Her Tribute to VeteransThe Poppy Lady by Barbara Elizabeth Walsh.  This was a wonderful and very touching story.

We also read In Flanders Fields – The Story of the Poem.  There was a great deal of side text, but we just read through the poem.  This would be a great book for older kids to read on their own.

We had purchased a bag of Shirley Poppies from a field trip to the Botanical Gardens.

Haley sowed some in honor of Flander’s Fields.  I also planted some seeds and placed them in our greenhouse.

American Soldiers:

We talked about our soldiers and the sacrifices they made.  We also talked about the many men and women who risked their lives for our freedom.

 

 

I printed an American Soldier worksheet (Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station – Subscriber FREEbie) for the kids to color and put in their FIAR notebooks.

Branches of the Military:

I found a Branches of the Military cut and paste worksheet (Penguin Educational Iceburg) for the kids to work on.

The boys cut and pasted the seals of the five branches of our military.

 

 

We read Rolling ThunderRolling Thunder, a story about a girl and her veteran grandfather, and Hero DadHero Dad, a little boy whose father is an active solder.  They both were beautiful stories and really complimented this unit.

We watched a wonderful Sesame Street Military episode from our All Those Secrets of the World playlist.  Everyone LOVED it….oh how I love sunny days that sweep the clouds away.

 

 

I checked out additional war stories from the library and gave them to Haley to read on her own.  She loved them all, but her favorite was Jars%20of Hope: How One Woman Helped Save 2,500 Children During the Holocaust (Encounter: Narrative Nonfiction Picture Books)Jars of Hope.

The Tuba & Brass Family:

I asked my husband if he could think of a clip that featured the tuba and he suggested the Veggie Tales introduction.  That was perfect, so I added it to our playlist.  We listened to to together.

We were reading Brain Power from our Indescribable:%20100 Devotions for Kids About God and ScienceIndescribable devotional and it mentioned the sense of hearing.  I took a took a brief detour to play a mystery sound game.

I played the lunacreciente’s Musical Instruments game from our playlist.  The kids love these.

Then we read Never%20Play Music Right Next to the ZooNever Play Music Right Next to the Zoo and I handed out a Meet the Orchestra worksheet I found online.

They tested their knowledge of instruments by trying the match up the picture and words.

I then challenged them to color code the member of each family (brass, woodwinds, string, etc.).  That was tough!

We also watched a classic Tubby the Tuba from our playlist.

Family:

We talked about different types of families.  In our church, we know single parents, families who live with a grandparent or another part of their extended family.  Families come in all shapes and sizes, but they are all precious.  I thought it would be fun to make a family tree, but it would all start with a VERY short man climbing a tree to see Jesus.

Zacchaeus & God’s Family:

The story of Zacchaeus comes to mind when we talk about trees, especially God’s family tree.  Jesus came to his house, spent time with Zacchaeus, and he was forever changed.  In fact, Jesus said, “today, salvation has come to your house” (Luke 19:9).  Zacchaeus became part of God’s family tree.  The same is for any born-again believer, the minute we accept Christ, we become part of God’s family tree too!

We read Zacchaeus together and talked about how he changed after spending time with Jesus.  He became part of God’s family.  This morning we focused our attention on spending time with Jesus.  Spending time with the Lord changes us, or it should.  If we wake up grumpy, reading our devotion and praying can really make a difference.

Family Tree:

I thought it would be fun to make family trees.  You can’t read the story of Zacchaeus without thinking of that Sycamore tree he climbed.

 

 

I brought out large pieces of paper, brown tempura paint, and large brushes.  I taught the kids how to create trees using “y’ and “v” shaped strokes.

We listened to a read-aloud of Me%20and My Family TreeMe and My Family Tree on our playlist.

We set them aside to dry.  I chose the story of Zacchaeus, because he climbed the SYCAMORE tree.  At this point, we covered families, especially God’s family, and now we’re going to include a quick science lesson on the Sycamore tree!

I read quite a bit about the Sycamore tree and gave the kids a brief overview.  We also watched several sycamore tree clips on our playlist.  I thought it would be fun to use sycamore shaped leaves for our family tree craft.

I cut out green construction paper leaves and gave everyone eight leaves, glue, and a black Sharpie.

 

 

Haley gave everyone foam letters to spell out “My Family Tree” on top.

 

 

They turned out really cute!

We took a long walk outside earlier and the boys enjoyed climbing their own tree!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Vocabulary:

I created an All Those Secrets of the World Vocabulary Word worksheet for the kids to work on.

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

I asked the kids to match the word with the correct definition.  They decided to writem them in rather than cut and pasting the labels.  When they were done, we reviewed their answers together.

Opposites:

I created an Opposites Attract worksheet for the kids to work on.

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

MATH:

Math Wars:

I created a quick hand-drawn Math Wars worksheet with almost ALL of our U.S. Wars.

Click HERE link to grab your FREE copy.

We grabbed our dates from Roswell Remembers.  I had the kids plug in the dates, solve each problem, and total the number of years.  This was a really fun idea from the manual.

*Note – the wars are not in chronological order and I didn’t include the Spanish American War (only months), the Iraq War (ran out of space), or the War on Terrorism (still ongoing).

Counting by Twos:

I created a Beach Stars Skip Counting by TWOs pack last year.

You can purchase you copy here at our TPT Store.  There’s a bonus FREEbie in the Preview!

I presented the number cards with the counting mat.  He can count by twos proficiently, so I challenged him to start with a random number and continue counting by two.

Next, I gave him the ending number and had him count by twos backwards.  This was challenging, but he was spot on!

Afterwards, I used the skip counting worksheets and plugged in a random number in the middle and had him fill out the numbers before and after.

Lastly, I wrote multiplication by twos in random order and had him solve them.  He did awesome with everything.  Great job Parks!

Calendar:

I created a House for Hermit pack last year.  You can purchase it here at our TPT store.

You can download the FREEbie here by clicking on the Preview!  This year I created a new A House for Hermit Crab Story Review pack.

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

You can download the FREEbie here by clicking on the Preview!

First, we read A%20House for Hermit Crab – 3.9 x 0.3 x 5.5 inchesA House for Hermit Crab.

 

 

Next, I asked the kids to use their memories to match and color the object Hermit added/changed with the month it happened.  This was challenging, but still fun!

SCIENCE:

Ice Cream:

I thought it would be fun to make ice cream using their Ice Cream Magic Cups.

 

 

Jordan read Ice%20Cream: The Full ScoopIce Cream The Full Scoop aloud for us.  A little science knowledge to accompany the fun and yummy treat!

We gathered our ingredients and were ready to begin making our home-made ice cream.

Everyone wanted vanilla, so we veered from the book a little and followed our vanilla recipe.

They shook, shook, shook, and shook some more….

 

 

Everyone enjoyed their ice cream with chocolate jimmies on top!  Jordan added a cherry to his….mmmm, eating our way through science!

Ocean Zones:

We started our annual ocean zones project while rowing The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge.

The Abyss:

We started rowing All Those Secrets of the WorldAll Those Secrets of the World while ending our lesson in the Abyssal zone.  I thought it would be fun to do a glow-in-the-dark bioluminescent art project.

 

 

First they sketched their creatures with light colored pencils.

 

 

Next, they added foam letters to spell out “The Abyss” at the top.

Lastly, we added bioluminescent paint to only the places the abyssal creatures would illuminate.

They each had fun painting their monsters of the deep.

They turned out really cool!

Midnight Zone:

We took an imaginary submarine ride up to the midnight zone.  I decided to focus on Sperm whales and the colossal squid.

We read Brain Power from our Indescribable devotional and it featured a sperm whale.

We watched whale clips from our playlist.  The kids loved the Wild Kratts clips best!

 

 

The kids took some time sketching creatures from the midnight zone.

They also colored the midnight zone on their Oceanic Zones worksheet (Natural Beach Living).

They added their creatures to their ocean zone charts.

Everyone drew at least a sperm whale and a colossal squid.

Twilight:

Going up a zone!  We were now in the twilight zone of the ocean.

We read Under%20the Sea (Picture Books)Under the Sea by Anna Milbourne.  I love her picture books.  They are non-fiction books that provide enough science while still feeling like a picture book.

I challenged the kids to color midnight zone creatures and have an example of something near and far away.

They did a great job.  The boys even wrote “new” and “far” thought bubbles for the sea creatures.

 

 

They turned out beautifully!

Since we were going to the sunlit zone, we decided to make our bottle the night before.  Parker helped tint the water with light blue.

They looked so beautiful lined up together.

We took the bottles back to the playroom, turned off the lights, and used our flashlight to shine through.  It was beautiful!

Sunlit Zone:

We started our journey to the sunlit zone reading A Tool for God from our Indescribable devotional.

Ocean Currents:

I printed an Ocean Currents worksheet (Layers of Learning) for the kids to color.

I turned on Bill Nye’s Ocean Current episode from our playlist.   We also read about ocean currents from our The%20Magic School Bus on the Ocean FloorMagic School Bus on the Ocean Floor.

Jordan and I worked on his worksheet using an ocean current map I printed from Wikipedia.  I added a few arrows to match wikipedia’s map.

Using the wikipedia map, Haley colored her worksheet on her own.

Using Jordan worksheet as a guide, Parker colored his currents and used his dot paints to color the water and land.

They colored the sunlight zone on their lapbook insert too.

I gathered some supplies and called the kids to the kitchen for an ocean current experiment.

We added blue food coloring to an ice cold water cup and red food coloring to a hot water cup.  I poked a push pin in each and placed them in a tub with room temperature water.  I took out the pin and watched the red food coloring float out.

You can see the hot water rise to the top and the cold water fall to the bottom.  This represents the ocean currents.

You can see the mixing of currents.  This was a really cool and exciting experiment!

Shark Attack:

While in the sunlit zone, I thought it would be fun to do a shark art project.  I saw a cool under the sea stained glass idea from Mrs. Plemon’s Kindergarten.  I mixed it up a bit and made it SHARK ATTACK stained glass!

I paired this activity with a read-aloud of our Wild%20Sea Creatures: Sharks, Whales and Dolphins! (Wild Kratts) (Step into Reading)Wild Kratts Wild Sea Creatures, Sharks, Whales, and Dolphins! book.

I find setting up this activity the night before is the best route.  I printed and cut out shark silhouettes, 1/2 sheet back construction paper squares, and brought out our Lakeshore Tissue Paper Squares and clear contact paper.  I taped down the contact paper (sticky side up), placed the frame on top, and set out the tissue paper and book in the center of the table.

The kids were excited about this and started choosing their sharks.  If you print shark silhouettes, you should place them white side up, because you’ll want to use the side facing the table.

I instructed them to use the blue hues for this art project.  The boys used all the blue tissue colors.

Haley decided to use just the lighter blue and turquoise squares on her project so it appeared more like surface waters.

We taped them up to the window and they looked awesome!

We continued reading Life at the Top in our 3D Explorer Ocean book.

We also read Aliki’s My%20Visit to the Aquarium (Trophy Picture Books (Paperback))My Visit to the Aquarium.  This is one of our favorite books to read while studying the sunlit zone.  It reminds us of our favorite Monterey Bay Aquarium!

I loved this picture!  Watching him read the book silently with his back against the window!

Surface Waters:

We took another imaginary submarine ride up to the surface waters.  It’s getting warmer and we’re ready for summer break!  Today is our last day studying our ocean zone unit.

We started our morning reading A Mind to See from our Indescribable devotional featuring the sea star.  Haley and I set the table with our last day of school printables.

 

 

We bought a special box of Love Grown Sea Stars for our time studying the ocean.  We’re always looking for healthy and fun ways to add to our learning adventure!

 

 

Parker found this cool Coral Reef quiz in their Highlights magazine.  I made copies for everyone.

The kids worked on their Coral Reef quiz after gobbling their sea star breakfast!

We read Jump Into Science: Coral ReefsJump into Science Coral Reefs and afterwards I handed out world maps to everyone.

The kids used the book as a guide, as they colored the coral reefs around the world.  I also had them use a light blue for the coral reef waters around the world too.

They used water color to paint the rest of the oceans around the world.  They looked beautiful.  We set them aside to dry and added them to their FIAR notebooks.

Coral Reef Watercolors:

After lunch, the kids spent some time painting their coral reefs with their water colors.

 

 

They looked so pretty and colorful!

Coral REEF-Krispies:

It’s become tradition that we make our coral REEFkrispies each year.  Normally, the older kids like to mold marzipan into various sea creatures, but this year we would use all the sea creature gummies we bought.

I gathered our ingredients and called the kids into the kitchen.  This year I was going to try to make 3 different colors with only one batch of rice krispy treats.

After melting the butter then the marshmallows, I divided the liquidy mixture between three bowls.  I added pink to one, purple to another, and green to the third.  I gave Haley the first batch to mix up.

I handed Jordan the purple mix and he did his best to mix them up quickly before they set.

I took the green and had to tweak the color a bit.  Parker was still feeling under the weather, so he just watched and waited to taste the end result.

I sprayed my hands with non-stick spray and grabbed a little of each color and placed them in a silicone cupcake pan.  They actually looked like little coral reefs!

I gave everyone a coral reef along with a bowl full of gummy sea creatures.

They decorated their corals however they liked.  They looked pretty AND delicious!

 

 

Everyone enjoyed their edible coral reef!

Intertidal Zone:

 

 

We ended our ocean zone journey with the intertidal zone.  We didn’t have much time left, but we read a few books and watched a few sea clips on our Epic app.

We read On%20the Seashore (Picture Books)On the Seashore, our final Anna Milbourne ocean book for the school year.

I created an Intertidal Zone last year while rowing Very Last First Time.  I printed a copy and had the kids use their watercolors to paint them.  Today was a day FULL of art and fun!

 

 

 

We set them aside to dry.

 

 

The kids glued their tide pools together in their FIAR notebooks.

 

 

I set up an intertidal zone sensory bin for the kids to play in.  They created two tide pools, shells, rocks, and many little sea creatures!

Oil Spills:

First, we sat around our bin and read Oil%20Spill! (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science)Oil Spill! together.

The kids set up their own little Chesapeake Bay.  The water was a pretty blue and the little guys were happy.

Along comes an oil tanker with a massive leak.  We watched the oil spread over the beautiful bay.

 

 

I gave them gloves and they fished out the little creatures and I asked them to look at them carefully to see how the oily mess sticks to them.

After they saw the oil stick to the sea creatures, we talked about how much more the oily mess would stick to creatures with feathers and fur.  They grabbed a feather and stirred it into the oily bay.

They saw and felt the grease on their feathers.

We tried rinsing our feathers and found them slightly better, but the grease was still coating the surface.

We then filled our tub with sudsy water.  This became a complete soapy sensory heaven!  The kids cleaned the creatures and their feathers!

I set out some fun cookies, one with an oil spill (Nutella) and one representing a healthy body of water.  The kids had to rescue the sea creatures and place them in the clean habitat.

 

 

No problem there!  They watched a few Dawn oil spill clean up clips on our playlist.

ARTS, CRAFTS, & FUN:

Distance Perspective:

While out for a walk, I decided to take some pictures of the kids at various distances to illustrate distance perspective.

Our first snapshot was up close and personal.  Such cuties!  I asked them to stay on the path and stop when I tell them.

At this point, I could hold up my hand and they appear in my hand.  I asked them to keep walking until I told them to stop.

At this point, they appear the size of my finger nail.  Once again, I asked them to keep walking until I told them to stop.

Where are they?  Did they fall of the edge of the earth?  Nope, if you look closely, they are under their favorite tree.  Later, I showed them the pictures and they got it!

Here’s their artistic impression of distance perspective.  They are so cute to add the thought bubbles!

Viewpoint:

For viewpoint, we brought out Yellow%20BallYellow Ball, another BFIAR book.  I still remember the various viewpoints while rowing Yellow Ball two years ago.

We started this morning with a Yellow Ball pancake breakfast with cottage cheese clouds, and fresh fruit.

I placed a little lime ball in a glass of water.  I then had the kids sketch the ball from above, directly at, and below.

Everyone took turns using the jar to look at and sketch each viewpoint.

Flag Day:

We used our watercolors throughout this row, but we did create watercolor flags too!

 

 

We set them aside to dry. I added skewer sticks, and we brought them out on Flag day for our own patriotic parade.

The kids ate a red, white, and blue breakfast while I read I’m%20Your Flag So Please Treat Me RightI’m Your Flag, So Please Treat Me Right!.  This was a great and very informative book!

Last Day of School Celebration:

My kids love traditions.  Some are old and others are added each year.  Last year we ended our school year rowing Night of the MoonJellies and eating a special sushi dinner.

We wanted to take them out for dinner, but they insisted on eating in and ordering sushi!

 

 

Before we could eat dinner, Jordan asked if I could read Night of the Moonjellies just like last year.  I was MORE than happy to!  We had So many wonderful memories of that row.

We had a fantastic dinner and the kids opened up some end of year prizes.  My husband started this tradition when my daughter finished her very first year of Kindergarten!  Such sweet memories 🙂

HELPFUL LINKS:

All Those Secrets of the World Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created All Those Secrets of the World playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other clips.

Pinterest Board:

You can find most of the activities, ideas, and printables from this post on our All Those Secrets of the World Pinterest Board.