READY TO ROW:

Fall was in the air. Though the weather was hot, the leaves were crunching under foot. We were dreaming of apples, pumpkins, and spiced treats.

Cover Art:

Jordan decided to go black and white with his cover art this time.

Jordan added our story disk to Wyoming.

BIBLE:

Memory Verse:

I created a Bible Memory Verse Pack for this book.

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

I used the Bible verse poster to dictate the verse while Jordan wrote it on the lapbook insert for

Friendship:

Friendship is a wonderful gift and the Bible certainly has great examples.

First, we read Be a Friend from the Character Education series (Christianbook.com).

We also read David and His Friend Jonathan – Arch Books, because that’s a wonderful example of a great friendship.

Determination:

We talked about determination, tenacity, perseverance, and working hard to reach our goals.

We watched a clip about Perseverance on our Minno Kids app.

Jordan and I read Pennies in a Jar which was a wonderful story about the determination of a young boy to face his personal fears in order to give his father a special gift.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Setting:

The book informed us that the illustrator probably patterned the mountain illustrations from his personal experience living in both Wyoming and Utah.

Jordan and I read Wisconsin (Rookie Read-About Geography) together since we chose this to be the location we chose for this book.

Jordan completed his Wyoming lapbook insert.

Living in the Mountains:

First, we read a Rocky Mountains excerpt from our National Parks of the USA book.

We also read Living in the Mountains (Rookie Read-About Geography) from the Rookie Geography series.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Vocabulary Words:

I created an Amber on the Mountain Vocabulary Words worksheet.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store. Jordan and I reviewed them when we first started the row. He glued the finished worksheet in his FIAR Notebook.

Similes:

Fall Similes:

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

Since we were enjoying the fall season, I printed copies of our Fall Similes pack.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store. The printable we used was the FREEbie in the download.

I brewed some spiced apple cider for the kids to enjoy while completing their packets.

Silly Similes:

I created a Scarecrow’s Silly Similes pack.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

We read Stubborn as a Mule and Other Silly Similes (Ways to Say It) together.

The boys LOVED the humor in this book. After reading, the boys completed their worksheets.

Parker and I read The Falling Leaves and the Scarecrow. We love reading this book!

Fairy Tales:

Jordan and I read Rumpelstiltskin from our Usborne Illustrated Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Parker read the Usborne Rumpelstilskin reader.

Parallelism:

I thought the Aesops Fable about a town mouse and a country mouse would be perfect for this unit.

I chose The Town Mouse & the Country Mouse (Picture Books) from the Usborne First Reading series.

I created a Town and the Country Mouse printable for this row. You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

We split up the story element cut-outs and the boys colored them while I read-aloud.

I glued our country house and city scene to our paper bags. I also glued our town and country mice to jumbo craft sticks.

The boys sorted the cards by placing story elements specific to the town mouse in the city scene bag, cards specific to the country mouse in the country house bag, and finally story cards common to both in a separate pile. We reviewed the venn diagram too, but we didn’t use it this time.

MATH:

The boys both use the Singapore Dimensions Math Program, but we also like to weave thematic math activities into our rows.

Calendar:

I printed copies of our October calendar for the boys to complete.

They wrote in the numbers, holidays, and birthdays of friends and family members.

Apple Picking Math:

I created an Apple Picking Multiplication Math Pack for this row.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

We paired Apple Farmer Annie with this math activity.

I printed the mixed equation worksheets as a fun math facts practice. Staggering the start times of the kids, they raced through to finish first.

SCIENCE:

Jordan put together a log cabin while I read aloud.

We also read The Rocky Mountains (Wonders of America) from the Wonders of America series.

You can purchase your copy of our Rocky Mountain States lapbook insert here at our TPT Store..

Jordan read How High Up The Mountain on our Epic app.

I printed our Mountain Zones CRAFTivity labels and followed the instructions to create our mountain levels out of construction paper.

Jordan labeled the various mountain zones and added the animal cut-outs to their zone.

We also read How Mountains Are Made (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) together. Jordan and I talked about how God created the mountains since the book addressed evolution as the origin of mountains. We talked about how mountains can change today. Some mountains change shape due to shifting plates, eruptions, and erosion.

Jordan grabbed a towel and pushed it together like the folded mountains shown in the book.

Mountain Air:

Jordan and I read Air Is All Around You (Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science 1) and discussed how mountain air was described in the story.

Air Pollution Experiment:

Jordan and I also talked about Louis Pasteur’s science experiment on microbes. He found many in the city and almost none at the top of the mountain. The higher the altitude, the cleaner the air.

I found an air pollution experiment online (education.com). I set out the supples.

Jordan punched holes in our paper plates and strung each with yarn.

He spread vaseline on each plate and we took them outside.

The boys helped hang them in three different locations outside.

Several days later, we inspected the paper plates and found that the surface was scattered with grime, and the edges were really dirty, probably with ash from the wildfires.

Building a Road:

I prepared a special layered overnight oats, because we were learning about building roads.

I read New Road!while the kids ate their breakfast.

I created a “Build a Road” tray for Jordan to use after our reading.

First, Jordan rolled out the Play dough.

He added a layer of pebbles on the dough.

Then he added small stones and a final layer of smooth rocks on top. This activity reminded me of the “Build a Roman Road” activity we did during our Sonlight World History unit.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Pinterest Board:

You can find most of the activities, ideas, and printables from this post on our Amber on the Mountain Pinterest Board.

Youtube Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created Amber on the Mountain playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other clips.