We love to row circus themed books this time of year to align with our Church Harvest Festival. Since we rowed Andy and the Circus last year, we chose Andy and the Lion this year.

READY TO ROW:

I made lion paw pancakes to kick off Andy and the Lion (Picture Puffin Books).

Cover Art:

The boys created cover pages in their FIAR notebooks.

Sensory Bin:

I brought out our new Playmobil farm set, which paired perfectly with the country setting of this book.

Jordan was such a big help. He put the entire farm together by himself. He worked on it a little at a time.

Story Disk:

Jordan colored our story disk and we set it on Wisconsin.

BIBLE:

Memory Verse:

I created an Andy and the Lion Bible verse pack for this book.

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

The boys traced the verse on their worksheet.

I cut apart their tracers and the boys glued them together in their Bible notebook.

They continued to practice their Bible verse together.

The boys used the Bible verse puzzle to practice their verse until they were ready to recite it by heart.

Kindness:

Andy showed kindness to the Lion and the Lion remembered him. We took an opportunity to read about kindness. This is always a relevant lesson with siblings.

We read The Lion and the Mouse (First Reading) and talked about the similarities between this story and Andy and the Lion (Picture Puffin Books).

We read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? and I handed the boys a Buckets of Kindness worksheet.

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

The boys drew some of the kind things that were done for them and they thought about all the things they could do for others.

We also watched a few clips about kindness on our playlist.

Our Sonlight Bible reading aligned with our kindness theme as we read The Story of the Good Samaritan our daily Bible reading.

Lastly, Jordan and I read What Does It Mean to Be Kind?This book gave practical ways to show kindness in everyday situations.

Courage:

Andy showed courage as he faced the lion. So we read a few books about being brave and courageous.

Parker and I read Bear Feels Scared (The Bear Books) together. When Bear needed help, his friends came to his aid. Everyone needs encouraging friends who are willing to go the extra mile to show kindness.

We also read Brave Enough for Two: A Hoot & Olive Story which is a really sweet story about a little girl and her stuffed owl, a treasured tale of friendship and courage.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Rural Setting:

Andy and the lion takes place in the country, so we took a moment to study rural communities and life on a farm.

Jordan and I read Living in Rural Communities (First Step Nonfiction ― Communities).

Then we read On the Farm (Picture Books) together. I love Anna Milbourne’s science books, because they read more like storybooks. This book highlights her soft writing style that provides just enough facts about life on a farm.

The following week, Jordan and I read the complete set of books from the World of Farming series.

After several days, Jordan finished putting together the farm. We added some pumpkins and a circus bunting background. It looked awesome!

Wisconsin:

Since we decided to make Wisconsin our story state, Jordan and I read Wisconsin (Rookie Read-About Geography).

Afterwards, he completed a state fact sheet that we inserted in his FIAR notebook.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Opening & Closing Words:

I brought down several adventure books that I knew Jordan would find exciting.

I read the first few sentences from each book and asked if it sounded exciting enough to read. He LOVED all of them! He LOVED Andy and the Lion, but he actually thought Andy and the Lion’s opening remark wasn’t as exciting as the chapter books!

Foreshadow:

To cover foreshadowing, we watched a clip on our Andy and the Lion playlist.

MATH:

Coin Counting:

I brought out our Circus Counting game we played while rowing Andy and the Circus.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

First, we reviewed coin names and values. Then we read our cards to see whether we were earning money (adding coins to our mat) or spending money (removing coins from our mat).

Near the end, we had to get creative by exchanging from one coin to another. This game is a fun way to review coin counting!

Circus Math Facts:

I brought out our Circus Multiplication Math Fact cards for a game of memory.

You can purchase the Circus Multiplication pack here at our TPT Store.

Parker and I played a fun game of memory. This is a great way to practice math facts.

Circus Shapes:

We read Circus Shapes together.

Later, I set out a fun “make something from the circus” with shapes.

I made a lion’s head while Parks made the big top!

SCIENCE:

Lions:

Since this story featured s lion, we HAD to dedicate one day for the king of the jungle.

I made special lion waffles to start our studies about lions. The mouth looked a little messy, but the kids LOVED them anyway!

Then we read Daniel and the Lions, a favorite Bible story.

The boys sketched a lion using a drawing tutorial (Art Projects for Kids).

Jordan and I read several books about lions on our Epic app.

Afterwards, Jordan used his lion sketch to color-code the parts of the lion (Montessori Print Shop).

We read two wonderful picture books the lions that sit outside

Farm Seasons:

Jordan and I also read Farming (New & Updated Edition) by Gail Gibbons. This book took us through what farmers do in each season.

Pumpkin Farming:

I printed the pumpkin lifecycle from our From Seed to Pumpkin Little Science Pack.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

We read The Pumpkin Patch Parable: Special Edition (Parable Series) book to pair with this activity.

The boys colored, cut, and pasted their lifecycle worksheets.

Pumpkin Exploration:

I set out our sugar pumpkins, a copy of our Harvest Explorations worksheet, and tools to measure our pumpkins.

Everyone had a pencil and crayons to fill out their worksheets.

Everyone sketched, measured, and weighed their pumpkins.

After writing their predictions, everyone dropped their pumpkins in the sink to see if they would sink or float.

Then we cut open our pumpkins and explored the pulp, seeds, and flesh.

Then I cut up our pumpkins, roasted them in the oven, and pureed them in the good processor.

I used some of our cooked pumpkin to make a low-fat pumpkin bread.

Dreams:

We introduced the subject of dreams after reading about Josepth interpreting the wine taster and baker’s dreams.

We talked about how Andy’s grandpa inspired his dreams about lions.

We watched a Dreamworks educational clip about dreams on our Epic app.

Then we watched an animated reading of The Paperboy on our Epic app. This was a sweet story about a little boy waking up early to deliver papers and returning home to sleep. It ended with a sweet dream.

ARTS, CRAFTS, & FUN:

Lines of Design:

We talked about diagonal line of design as Daugherty drew on the front cover.

Jordan sketched his own diagonal line of design as well as the curved lines to give dimension to everyday objects.

He made his own “s” line of design and sketched stick people similar to Daugherty’s illustrations.

Circus Fun:

We read The Berenstain Bears’ Harvest Festival (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights: A Faith Story) since it was the weekend of our church’s annual Harvest Festival.

The kids colored a wooden circus kit to add to our sensory bin. The kids were super excited for the holiday weekend!

Haley and Parker worked on another “Bitty’ Show” using their stop-motion app. This time Bitty crashes the circus. I love their playful imaginations.

Promotional poster:

While his brother and sister worked on the film, Jordan handled advertising. He created the promotional poster.

We also read The Circus Ship and the “circus came to town”!

Dress Up & Zoom:

We usually attend our church’s annual harvest festival, but under the “shelter in place” mandate, our church hosted it on zoom. Everyone dressed up, showed off their costumes, participated in a scavenger hunt, watched a puppet show, and received a special candy bag delivery! It was awesome!

Parker dressed as a bear, one that learned to stay FAR AWAY from David’s flock.

Haley dressed like a fox, her species was created on Day 6.

The kids had a blast seeing all their friends online!

HELPFUL LINKS:

Pinterest Board:

You can find most of the activities, ideas, and printables from this post on our Andy and the Lion Pinterest board.

Youtube Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created Andy and the Lion playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other clips.