BIBLE:
Memory Verse:
I created a Bible Verse pack for Truman’s Aunt Farm
You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store. There’s a bonus FREEbie in the Preview!
Jordan traced his Bible verse the first day.
We cut apart his Bible verse and he glued it together in his FIAR notebook.
Jordan worked on the Bible verse puzzle the rest of the time we rowed this book.
Valentine’s Day:
I wanted to row this book during February, specifically near Valentine’s Day since our Bible verse was about love.
I made a special Pancake Love breakfast breakfast for the kids.
We read Love Is My Favorite Thing
We made special Valentine’s Day cupcakes and the kids decorated their own.
I read Valentine’s Day books aloud while the kids gobbled up their cupcakes.
Making Valentines:
That night we were having a Valentine’s Day dinner with our family. Making Valentines was the creative writing assignment that week!
What is Love?:
We started our Love character lessons by reading What is Love? in Happy Day Books Family Treasury: 50 Popular Stories
The boys colored our Love is wheel from Crafting the Word of God.
Love is Patient:
While covering patience, we read “Be Patient” from the Buzzy Bee Story Book
We also watched a Character Quest with Clive & Ian about patience on Minno Kids.
We also read Teddy Bear Tears, which was a sweet story about a little boy who was very patient as he worked through the fears of each of his stuffed teddy bears.
Love is Kind:
We read What Does It Mean to Be Kind?
We also read Do Unto Otters: A Book About Manners
The Jelly Donut Difference:
The Jelly Donut Difference: Sharing Kindness with the World
We decided to make our own jelly donuts. I found a recipe online and Jordan took the lead in whipping up a batch.
We left the dough to rise and went on with our studies.
Later, I divided the dough into small balls and let them rise again.
We used our new Instapot Air Fryer and cooked them to golden brown. Then we injected jam into each ball and dusted them with powdered sugar. They were pretty good!
After our lesson on kindness we added a “kind” heart to our “Love Grows” tree.
It Does Not Envy:
“Love does not envy….”
We read Miggy and Tiggy A Story About Overcoming Jealousy from our Helpful Hal’s Treasury of Christian Virtues (Building Christian Character Series)
It Does Not Boast:
Love does not boast…
We read The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights)
Later, we added a “Does not Brag” heart to our “Love Grows” tree.
The boys colored in this section on their “Love Is…” wheel.
It Is Not Rude:
Love is not rude….
We read Being Nice to Others: A Book about Rudeness (Growing God’s Kids)
The boys colored in that section of their “Love is…” wheel.
It Is Not Selfish:
Love is not selfish…
We read The Berenstain Bears Play a Good Game (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights)
Afterwards, we added a “Is Not Selfish” heart to our “Love Grows” tree.
Is Not Easily Angered:
Love is not easily angered…
We started talking about not being a “hot head” and losing our self control by readingWhen Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really Angry… (Scholastic Bookshelf) and Parker recognized Molly Bang, the author of Yellow Ball from our BFIAR days.
This lesson was a great reminder to have self control. It’s okay to get upset, but it’s not okay to lose our temper.
This was another great faith-based book that covered the topic of losing our temper. This book teaches kids how to handle their feelings of anger in ways that are both pleasing to God and mindful of others.
Jordan colored this portion of his “Love is…” wheel.
Forgives:
Love forgives….
We read The Berenstain Bears and the Forgiving Tree (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights)
Never Fails:
Love Never Fails….
We ended our Love unit by reading about God’s love since His love NEVER FAILS!!! We read “Jesus Goes to Heaven” in our Jesus Calling Bible Storybook
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Character:
We talked about Truman’s character and made a list of all the attributes that best describe Truman.
I sketched Truman on the board then Jordan and I thought about all the things Truman did in the story.
Aunts:
We read several books about Aunts to cover this topic. Next, I pulled out blank cards and sketched his Aunt’s name and a little character to represent each.
Jordan colored the characters to match the characteristics of each aunt. We also wrote the things they loved on each card. This was a really simple, yet fun activity.
Lastly, we ended with Smile for Auntie. This little board book was hilarious! We loved it so much, we bought a copy!
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Homonyms:
Let’s face it, teaching English can be down-right confusing at times!!! Did you ever see the I Love Lucy episode with Ricky reading bedtime stories with the “ough” letter combination?
It’s both humorous AND true!!! Well teaching homonyms, homophones, and homographs can be just as confusing, depending on who you’re listening to. * Here’s a quick breakdown:
- Homographs – words that are spelled the same BUT sound different.
- lead (e.g. His mechanical pencil ran out of lead.)
- lead (e.g. Please lead the class outside for recess.)
- Homophones – words that are spelled differently BUT sound the same.
- sale (e.g. Everything I bought was on sale.)
- sail (e.g. The captain mended the sail on his boat.)
- Homonyms – words that are spelled the same AND sound the same.
- rose (e.g. The farmer rose early to milk the cows.)
- rose (e.g. The rose bush was bursting with red blooms.)
* Note – there are some exceptions to the rules above.
We read If You Were a Homonym or a Homophone which was the PERFECT book to visually reinforce the difference between the two.
Teddy Bear Picnic – Homophone, Homograph
I created a Homograph, Homonym, & Homophone Grammar-to-Go Pack for Jordan to work on during this row.
You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store. There’s a bonus FREEbie in the Preview!
First, Jordan sorted through the stack of word cards.
Next, he worked on the Color the Matching Homophones (FREEbie in the Preview!).
We also read A Chocolate Moose for Dinner
MATH:
Postage:
I decided to explore postage stamps as well as the post office.
First, we watched several clips about the postal service from our Truman’s Aunt Farm playlist.
We also read Gail Gibbons’ The Post Office Book: Mail and How It Moves
I drew a quick Post Office Math worksheet for the boys to complete. I had the boys figure out four ways to make $0.55, the current value of the stamp.
Afterwards, they created their own stamp design.
Minecraft sheep made their way into this activity too!
Later, we read Millie in the Snow
Clocks & Time:
I checked out Gail Gibbons’ Clocks and how they go
Afterwards, I had Jordan complete a Telling Time Word Problem worksheet (The Mailbox).
Tally Marks:
I was Dr. Seuss’ birthday while we rowed this book. So we covered tally marks with a Suesstastic Read and Do!
I created a Suesstastic Fun Pack you can download for FREE (limited time only) here at our TPT Store.. I printed the Count & Tally Truffula Treats pages for this activity.
I counted out the treats the night before and placed them in a ziplock bag. The kids counted, tallied, and graphed their results. Afterwards, they munched ont heir treats!
SCIENCE:
The Moon:
For this unit, I printed a copy of our I See the Moon Science Pack.
You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.
I gathered our moon books, printables, and supplies. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blast Off!
We read On the Moon
Jordan and I read The Moon Book on our Epic app.
The boys took turns reading Moon Zoom (1.0 Very First Reading)
Both boys completed the entire science pack . They used the Painting the Moon page for our Oreo Moon Phase activity.
Oreo Moon Phases:
I gave the boys a non-washable white crayon and watercolors to create the moon phases. First, they used the white crayon to color in the part of the moon that would appear in the sky.
Next, they used their watercolors to paint the night sky, which also magically made their moons appear!
Since Haley wasn’t joining us for our moon unit, I printed the Coloring the Phases of the Moon worksheet (the FREEbie in the pack) instead.
After their watercolor paintings dried. I set out mini oreo cookies, a spoon and knife. I instructed the kids to carve the center out to match the moon phase.
This is always a fun activity in our house! The mini Oreos were the perfect fit for both worksheets!
It’s always fun having Haley join us. Plus, painting the night sky and eating the moon phases is a fun brain break!
Stars & Constellations:
I set out several constellation activities on our Learning Lane.
The kids made constellations with the geoboard, adding little white pom-poms on black felt, and drawing constellations using scratch pads. This was everyone’s favorite constellation activity!
We read several books about the stars and constellations, but Our Stars
Parker also read Asleep Under the Stars (Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear) (Festival Reader)
Ants:
I set out an ant-inspired breakfast with mini chocolate chips trailing onto the kid’s breakfast.
They were so excited to see the ants go marching by!
Bub and I read Ant and the Grasshopper
Afterwards, Jordan and I read Ant Cities which was a wonderful book about ants.
Afterwards, Jordan completed the Ant City worksheet I found online.
Lastly, we read Ants and Their Nests (Animal Homes)
Afterwards, I had Jordan put together an Ant Life Cycle worksheet (Trillium Montessori) for his FIAR notebook.
We finished our ant reading with The Magic School Bus Gets Ants in Its Pants: A Book about Ants
Afterwards, he color coded the parts of the ant using our Parts of the Ant definition cards (Montessori Print Shop).
ART & OTHER FUN STUFF:
Sketch Technique:
Jordan added some sketches to his FIAR Art book, based on the drawings by Jama Kim Rattigan.
Picnic:
First, we had a special picnic style dinner with Daddy. I made kosher hot dogs, organic tater tots, and picnic style veggies and fruit.
Everyone loved having this special dinner, especially since Daddy was a part of the festivities.
Picnic in the Playroom:
At the end of the week I planned a special picnic. Unfortunately, we were all still under the weather, but we had our picnic anyway.
I set out our tablecloth on the floor in the playroom and set out our special picnic lunch.
I also set out some jam sandwiches, ants on a log, extra picnic fruit, and rice pudding!
The kids ate their lunch while I read aloud.
We read We’re Going on a Picnic!
Later, I brought out ant cookies and some Picnic themed Mad Libs (education.com). The kids had fun filling them out and reading them aloud!
Parker also read Mother Bear’s Picnic (Maurice Sendak’s Little Bear) (Festival Reader)
HELPFUL LINKS:
Truman’s Aunt Farm Playlist:
As with our other rows, we created Truman’s Ant Farm 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 Truman’s Aunt Farm Pinterest Board.