Henry the Castaway

READY TO ROW:

I made a fun Castaway breakfast with a thunder cloud, a red canoe, and a bacon shelter on a fruit island!

The boys created their title pages and we were ready to begin our adventure!

BIBLE:

Memory Verse:

I created a Bible Verse Pack for this book.

You can purchase your copy here. There’s a bonus FREEbie in the preview!

Jordan traced his Bible verse the first day.

The next day, we cut the verse apart and he glued it together in his FIAR notebook.

He used the Bible verse puzzle to practice his verse until he could recite it from memory.

Courage:

We read about many heroes of the faith who trusted God and showed great courage and strength of character.

We read The Story of Joshua, a man who had big shoes to fill. He was tasked to lead the Israelites into the promised land.

We also watched Daniel from Heroes of the Old Testament on Minno Kids. Imagine how he felt being trapped in a den with hungry lions.

We also read The Story of David, a young shepherd boy, faced a giant, an experienced warrior, armed with a slingshot and an unshakable trust in God. I love David’s faith!

Lastly, we read about Esther. She was chosen to be queen, because God had a bigger plan. She showed great courage as she put her life on the line to save her people.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Explorers:

We read several books about explorers on our Epic app.

We talked about the routes each explorer took.

Parker and I reviewed the seven continents and located some of the countries mentioned in our explorer books.

Bub located the various countries explored by Leaf, Columbus, and Magellan. Afterwards, he completed an explorer worksheet (The Mailbox).

We also read the Henry the Explorer, Henry Explores the Jungle, and Henry Explores the Mountains. There’s one for each season and they’re all great! The boys REALLY enjoyed every minute of our time rowing this book!

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Vocabulary:

I created a Story Review that included the vocabulary worksheet for this book.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

Jordan completed the vocabulary word worksheet.

Drama:

Our Sonlight science lesson was a game of weather Pictionary. I added some drama cards from our Henry story to kill two birds with one stone!

I told the boys they could choose to draw or act out the card they played.

This was a fun way to cover science and our “drama” unit.

Grammar Ace:

Prefix, Suffix, & Root Words:

While rowing this book, we studied prefixes, suffixes, and root words in our Grammar Ace book.

I created little canoes with definitions sails and had Jordan match them.

He matched the word flags and we reviewed example prefixes, suffixes, and root words. I even used “uncharted” and “unadventurous” to show prefix (un), root word (chart), and suffix (ed). words, and suffi

Commas:

The following week we learned about commas, the most common punctuation. I created a thundercloud and cut out rain drops.

I wrote all the reasons for using commas on raindrops. Jordan added them to the page as we reviewed them.

We also covered homophones, sound sorting, and types of sentences.

MATH:

Count & Tally:

We celebrated our 100th day of school while rowing this book. What better way to celebrate this day than with a counting activity, right?

I made a 100 days-inspired breakfast featuring a sausage and two stacks of mini pancakes.

While the kids ate breakfast I read Celebrations in My World 100th Day of School on our Epic app.

The kids colored their 100th Days Brighter hats (My Kindergarten Obsession) after breakfast. Doesn’t Parkie look cute?

We read Tally O’Malley (MathStart 2) and I gave everyone their 100 days snack mix and sorting mat (A Dab of Glue Will Do).

They sorted…

They counted…

They tallied…

All the way to 100! Happy 100th Day of school kiddos!

Counting:

I added a counting and graphing activity in our Story Review pack.

Jordan counted, tallied, and totaled the various animals he saw as we read through the story.

After counting and totaling, Jordan graphed his results.

SCIENCE:

Survival Skills:

We talked about survival skills, especially the ones Henry demonstrated in the book.

Jordan read Survive in the Woods On our Epic app.

Kingfisher:

I set out some fun bird trays on Learning Lane.

We read about kingfisher birds in our National Geographic Kids Bird Guide of North America, Second Edition.

Afterwards, we brought out our bird nest tray. We read about the kingfisher’s nest. Then Bub built a replica out of play-doh.

Afterwards, we color-coded the parts of the kingfisher using our bird nomenclature cards (The Helpful Garden).

Water Cycle:

We started our river adventure at the beginning of the water cycle.

We read The Water Cycle (Earth and Space Science) and I gave Jordan a water cycle wheel (The Mailbox) to color.

He used his dot paints to color the water cycle.

Then he labeled each part of the water cycle. And we added it to his FIAR notebook.

Thunder Storms:

Next, we tackled the spring thunderstorm. We read Thunder and Lightning (Weather Wise).

Jordan has always enjoyed learning about extreme weather. I don’t blame him, because seeing God’s handiwork in even the scariest storms is amazing!

We also read Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You : Dr. Seuss’s Book of Wonderful Noises (Bright and Early Board Books) just for fun. Afterwards, we did a thunder experiment from our Sonlight Level C weather unit.

We blew air into our paper bag to simulate unstable air pressure in a cloud. We twisted the top and popped it creating our own thunder boom!

It was such a simple and fun activity. Jordan wanted to repeat it a bunch of times.

Rivers:

From Brook to Ocean:

With the water cycle fresh on our minds, we focused our attention on the “run off”. We climbed to the top of the mountain to explore the source of a river in The Brook Book.

I love Jim Arnosky’s books. The illustrations are beautiful and the books bring nature to life! Bub was inspired to plan a river expedition with his uncle, but the “Shelter in Place” put those plans on hold.

Next, we read Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2). This was another great read for studying rivers!

Lastly, we read Trout Are Made of Trees. This book was a living example of the food chain in a woodland river habitat. I LOVED this book! I checked out this book from our library. I loved it so much, I bought a copy to keep!

Parts of the River:

I brought out our Parts of the River cards (Montessori Print Shop) and created a Parts of the River worksheet as the FREEbie for our Story Review pack.

You can download for FREE here at our TPT Store!

We read Rivers and I brought out a Parts of the River worksheet and our River Definition cards.

Jordan color-coded the parts of the river as I read each definition aloud.

River System Cookie Map:

Both Haley and Jordan were learning about river ecosystems in their studies. I thought it would be fun to make cookie river maps.

I had gingerbread dough in the freezer. I rolled out two large rectangular cookies for Haley and Jordan. I made little cookie squares for Parker to made landforms.

The kids frosted their maps and landforms.

They did a great job!

We were having such s wonderful time towing this book. We added Mr. Gumpy’s Outing

Scottish Terrier:

We read Scottish Terriers on our Epic app. I created a Scottish Terrier worksheet (in the pack) for Bub to color-code.

We brought out our Parts of a Dog definition cards (Montessori Print Shop) and Jordan color-coded the parts of the Scottish Terrier.

ART & FUN STUFF:

Sketching Expressions:

I printed our Sketching Emotions worksheet from our Story Review pack.

As we read through Henry the Castaway, we looked for emotions to label and sketch.

Mixed Medium:

Since all three kids were learning about bodies of water, I decided to make our River art a group project.

Haley was learning about ecosystems, so she decided to paint a local river.

Parker was reviewing continents, so he painted an ocean background.

Jordan also chose to paint a local river. I opened up a river page from our book.

After painting the river scene, Jordan used pen to add movement to the water and bark to the trees.

Lastly, he wrote a river haiku as his creative writing piece.

HELPFUL LINKS: