READY TO ROW:
Cover Art:
The boys created their cover art page in their FIAR notebook.
BIBLE:
My daughter helped me create the artwork for our The Old Woman Who Named Things Bible Verse pack.
You can purchase your copy here. There’s a FREEbie tracer in the preview!
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Character:
The old woman was kind and compassionate. Though she didn’t want to get attached to the dog, she still gave him food every day. Bub and I talked about her character and he decided to name her Grace.
Kindness:
The old woman felt compassion for the hungry puppy. She showed kindness by giving him food every day. We took some time to talk about character, especially kindness.
We love watching Clive and Ian on Minno kids. They have a quick “Values” devotional, so we watched the episode on kindness.
We also read Charlie’s “Be Kind” Day. It’s geared for younger kids, but the story resonates with older kids too.
Jordan read Try a Little Kindness on his own. You can NEVER read too many books about being kind!
Character – Compassion:
We also watched Clive and Ian’s Compassion devotional on Minno Kids.
History Through Objects:
We discussed this lesson, thumbing through illustrations. Jordan is very observant and instantly caught on to the era by objects in the story.
Though not related to this story, we read The Hundred-Year Barn and talked about how things chane over time (i.e. Clothing and vehicles).
Geography:
Since the old woman was wearing cowboy boots, we chose Texas as the location for our story disk.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
Story Review:
I created The Old Woman Who Named Things Story Review.
You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.
I had the boys work on their story retention skills using the first two worksheets in the pack.
Personification:
The Old Woman Who Named Things beautifully portrays the use of personification, both in text and illustrations.
Jordan and I also read The Little House while discussing this literary concept. This book also shows the progression of time, the good and bad historical changes.
Afterwards, Jordan completed the personification worksheet in our Story Review. Later we did an art and creative writing assignment using personification.
Make it Personal:
Jordan and I talked about the things we’ve named ourselves.
With a friend’s recommendation, we recently added “Smokey” to the dinner crew. Bub and Daddy are having such fun trying out new recipes.
We also have a water fountain that Grandpa affectionately named, “Leo”. Ellie, our rescue kitty, seems very fond of him.
MATH:
Calendar Math:
We read Measuring Time: The Calendar on our Epic app.
Parker and I read September on our Epic app.
Months of the Year:
Since we rowed this book in September, we completed our calendar sheets for the month of September.
You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.
The boys added their dates, holidays, and answered the related questions.
Jordan also completed the months of the year worksheet from our story review.
Months of the Year Pack:
I printed the months of the year cards and sorting mats from our Months of the Year printable pack.
You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.
Parker matched the months of the year to the respected ordinal numbers.
Days of the Week:
Jordan practiced spelling the days of the week in order. Though these are skills he’s already mastered, it’s a great review.
Jordan completed the days of the week from our story review.
Seasons of the Year:
Parker and I read Circle of Seasons and enjoyed all the beautiful pictures together.
He sorted the months of the year by season using the “start of the season” (e.g. Fall starts in mid-September, so we assign September to that season even though it’s partially in the summer season).
SCIENCE:
Dogs:
Jordan loves our neighbor’s dog, Kody. He’s a pomsky, part Pomeranian and part husky. We decided to study this particular breed.
We read Siberian Huskies and Dog Breeds Pomeranians on our Epic app.
Jordan filled out his pet report from our story review pack.
We also thumbed through Cutest Puppies Ever!
We saw some adorable puppies and commented on our favorites. The puli pup made us laugh, because it looked striking similar to our play mop, giving him the “mop dog” name!
Parker and I also read Berner Bane, a wonderful puppy adoption story.
Botany:
Though not mentioned in the manual, I decided to add a little botany unit. The old woman was such a wonderful gardener as her garden burst with beautiful flowers. Bub and I love gardening too.
My kids have been digging in the garden since they were toddlers. I will jump at the chance to include gardening as part of our homeschool any day!
Flowers:
The old woman had many beautiful flowers in her garden. Jordan and I thumbed through the pages trying to name them all. We noticed that the trees were just starting to bloom, so we concluded the story was set in spring. We also determined that the purple flowering hedge was probably lilac since it blooms in the springtime. The discoveries we make, snuggling on the couch, are so much fun, but it was time to take our botany lesson outside.
Jordan and I walked in our own garden trying to find some of the same flowers growing in the old woman’s garden. We identified morning glories, hollyhocks, lilac, and foxglove.
Carrots:
He planted so many vegetables in spring and has been harvesting them all summer long.
We read Food on Farms together. Bub was on a carrot kick, so I followed him down that road.
We read Carrots and he watched a Come Outside episode about carrots.
We went outside and harvested some of his carrots.
Later, he came inside to dissect and label one of his carrots.
Then he color-coded our parts of the carrot lapbook insert. It was a simplified version, so we added to it.
ART, CRAFTS, & OTHER FUN:
Biscuits:
Bub was on baking duty as he prepared a new drop biscuits recipe.
They didn’t look beautiful, but they were delicious.
We served them with fruit, eggs, and bacon. This was our “ode to the old woman” breakfast!
Personification in Art:
We celebrated the first day of fall while rowing this book. I decided to use Leaf Man as our personification art inspiration.
First, we read Leaf Man together. Ideally, I would have liked to walk outside and gather leaves, but it was too hot and not many leaves were on the ground. So, I brought out our paper leaves instead.
The boys created their own leaf creatures and created back-stories for them. I decided to weave this craft into our weekly creative writing assignment.
Bub wrote a narrative piece while Parker chose to write a Haiku. It was a wonderful way to welcome the fall season!
Paisley:
First, we looked at the Old Woman’s clothing in the story and we talked about the history of paisley.
We read Jane Brocket’s Clever Concepts Spotty, Stripy, Swirly What Are Patterns? book together. Her books are always illustrated with vivid pictures that beautifully illustrate the point and please the eye.
I handed Bub a piece of paper to create his own paisley pattern, but that idea quickly fizzled. He’s more of a build-it-kind-of-kid, so we headed to the sandbox and created patterns and paisley using tools and colored stones.
I created my own paisley patterns too! It’s so fun playing with our kinetic sand. The kids love when I play with them. It’s hard to slow down and play, but I really do need to do this more!
Autumn Party:
It was the first week of fall and everyone wanted a fall party. We bought some festive treats and readied the room.
The kids had such a blast munching on snacks, telling stories and playing games. It was a great break in the action.
I set out a sensory bin to celebrate the fall season.
The kids had such a blast playing together. Their imaginations amaze me. They made my day as I heard them playing together and telling stories. I’m treasuring these moments, because one day I’ll turn around to find them all grown up.
HELPFUL LINKS:
Pinterest Board:
You can find most of the activities, ideas, and printables from this post on our The Old Woman Who Named Things Pinterest Board.
Youtube Playlist:
As with our other rows, we created a The Old Woman Who Named Things playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other clips.