READY TO ROW:

This was the first row of our school year!  Parker and I were the only ones excited to start back to school, but I think our enthusiasm might be contagious (fingers crossed).

I decorated the table with a cute Back to School printable I pinned from my friend Kate.

The Kissing Hand:

It’s been our family tradition to read The Kissing Hand (The Kissing Hand Series)The Kissing Hand on our first day of school. After reading the book, I kiss each hand and give everyone a heart sticker.

The Kissing Hand Sudoku Puzzle:

I created a Kissing Hand Sudoku puzzle for the kids to work on after breakfast.

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

Everyone worked on their sudoku puzzles then started their individual lessons.

We even ate pizza at the end of our first day of school!  It wasn’t homemade, but it was delicious!

BIBLE:

I created a Bible Verse printable for this book.

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

First, Bub traced his verse.  Later, we cut the tracer apart and he added it to his FIAR Notebook.

He worked on his FIAR puzzle the rest of our time rowing this book.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

For this row, we planned to study Italy, because that’s the birthplace of pizza!  I also chose to study Philadelphia since it’s the city of brotherly love and home to “pizza pie”.

Italy:

We read Maya’s World: Angelina of Italy (Pictureback(R))Maya’s World Angelina of Italy. This was a fun

Philadelphia:

We read about Philadelphia in Travelin’ the Northeast (Travels With Charlie)Travels with Charlie – Travelin’ the Northeast and Bub worked on a Philadelphia state insert for his lapbook.

I added little clocks so Bub could mark the time in Italy, Philadelphia, and where we live.

Father & Son:

Since this story is about a father and son relationship, we read a couple of books about dads.

Handling our Emotions:

Little Tony was disappointed and sad, but he didn’t lash out at his dad.  In time, things returned to normal and discussed the need to talk about our feelings.

We read about our feelings and working out our differences and disagreements in a healthy way.

Helping Others:

We read about helping others who are in need.  God created us to help those who are in need.

Our family decided to adopt a cat from our local animal shelter.  She’s a garden cat and we hope she’ll be happy at our home!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Homonyms:

I created a Pizza Homonym worksheet for Jordan.

You can download your free copy here at our TPT store.

Bub used his crayons to match and color his crayons.

Pizza Verbs:

Jordan was learning about verbs in his Sonlight Language Arts program.

We made a traffic signal, coordinating with our Red Light, Green Light unit on nutrition.

We even played Pizza Making Verb Charades.

Action Drawing:

Since Jordan was studying verbs, we incorporated language arts into our art lesson.

I found a cartoon of a man tossing pizza with lines to show action.  Jordan sketched the man, adding lines to show action.

It turned out really great.  He did a great job!

MATH:

Fractions:

I created a Pizza Fraction Pack for the kids to work on.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

This was a great review of fractions for everyone.  I made extra worksheets for the older kids.

Parker had a bit more difficult time “seeing” the equivalents, so we brought out our Learning Resources Fraction Pizzas and cut out some pizza manipulatives.

I had him work through the worksheet first, then we corrected errors and used our manipulatives to “see” how 2/4 is the same 1/2 and 6/8 is the same as 3/4, etc.

Measuring:

I created a Red Light, Green Light Eat Right! Nutritional printable for this unit.

This pack was made for older kids, but there’s still activities younger kids can benefit from too.  You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

The night before, I set up a dry measuring station with our sensory bin, scales, measuring cups and spoons.  I printed copies of the Plating Perfect Portions worksheet.

First, I had Jordan complete the plating perfect portions worksheet from our Red Light, Green Light Eat Right pack.  We used the book as reference for finding out the appropriate serving size.  There’s also a Food Booklet that contains many food choices too!

After completing his worksheet, he used the sensory bins to practice measuring, serving, and seeing what appropriate serving sizes look like.  This gave him an opportunity to measure using cups, grams, ounces, and the like.

SCIENCE:

Healthy Habits:

We started our Healthy Habits unit with an old BFIAR friend, Jesse Bear!  It’s always fun to revisit a book we rowed when they were younger.

We also read a few books about healthy habits and making good choices.

Food Groups:

I filled a box full of healthy choices and placed it in the center of the table.  We read What’s%20on My Plate?: Choosing from the Five Food Groups (Lightning Bolt Books ® ― Healthy Eating)My Plate Choosing from the Five Good Groups.

I handed everyone a Color By Code worksheet so the could guess what foods are “green” (eat daily), “yellow” (eat some of the time), “red” (eat twice a week). and “free fuel” (eat anytime).

The kids talked about the various foods choices while they colored using their best guesses.  Afterwards, we reviewed what each food was categorized as.  They were surprised to find how many foods are “FREE FUEL” and considered “Green” choices!

We read all the food group books from Acorn books Healthy Eating series.

Next I had the boys used their dot paints to color the foods that coordinate with the Making Healthy Choices lapbook insert.

Later, we put our stacked book together and they added the foods to their correct page.

Healthy Snacks:

We also talked about how snacking between meals should be healthy choices too!

We read Healthy Snacks on My Plate and I gave the boys the Making Healthy Choices lapbook insert.

After reading about healthy snacks, Bub felt inspired to surprise us with a healthy snack.

He came back with carrots and a low-fat ranch dip.  Great snack Bub!

Healthy Lifestyle:

We also read other books about being healthy, being active, and drinking water.

Afterwards, the kids went outside and road bikes together.

Cooking:

Making Poolish:

Bub wanted to call his Uncle Charles, because he’s a chef and he always has great ideas and recipes.  He talked about making homemade pizza using a starter called poolish.

Bub measured and mixed the poolish, following the recipe from King Arthur Flour.

Bub made the poolish recipe early in the day and we set it aside until evening.

When it was time for Bub to make the dough, he had fun trying to toss it in the air.

Everyone had fun making their own pizza and waiting for it to cook in the oven.

The kids ate their fruits and veggies while their pizza was baking.  Once done, we sliced it up and they gobbled their delicious!

We made pizza dough again and even fixed a salad on the side.  Bub took the opportunity to try tossing the dough again!

By the end of this row, we made homemade pizzas about three times.

Pizza:

In addition to eating pizza, we read so many fun picture and non-fiction books about pizza while rowing this book.

We also read about growing the ingredients to make pizza.

The boys went on an herb hunt and we talked about what herbs are in “italian seasoning”.

I brought out our MakeAPizza Sticker Scenes (makes 12) by Fun ExpressMake a Pizza sticker scenes so the boys could build and name their own pizzas.

They had fun with this simple activity.  Later on we decided to make pizzas using Sally’s recipe.

Haley helped chopped the tomatoes since she finished her school work early.

I used the tomatoes along with olive oil and herbs to make our own sauce.

Bub helped grate the mozzarella cheese.

I’m not sure, but I think some of it was missing from the pile 😉

I set out the ingredients and waited for our little chef to help make the dough.

Parker was on dough duty today.

He helped me measure the ingredients while we mixed it in our Kitchen Aid.  We set it aside to rest and rise.

Bub punched it down and we divided it so everyone could make their own pizza.

Bub took another moment to practice tossing the pizza dough.  He’s getting better and better each time!

Everyone made their pizzas, we baked them, and enjoyed our final pizza night while rowing this book!  We had a lot of fun while we studied Little%20Nino’s PizzeriaLittle Nino’s Pizzeria.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Little Nino’s Pizzeria Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created a Little Nino’s Pizzeria playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other clips.