READY TO ROW:

Kick-off Breakfast:

We had MANY fun breakfasts during this row, but the snowman pancakes were the first!

Homemade cinnamon rolls and cranberry hootenannies were some delicious honorary mentions.

Story Disk:

Parker colored the story disk and placed it somewhere on the East Coast. The coats are getting crowded, we need to venture somewhere in the middle.

Cover Art:

Parker decided to copy the silhouette page as his cover art for this row. It looked beautiful!

BIBLE:

For this row, our Bible unit consisted of note-booking Christmas Love Letters from God and reading aloud excerpts from Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas and Cosmic Christmas (An Angel’s Story).

Christmas Love Letters from God:

For this row, I decided to read through Christmas Love Letters from God.

I picked Christmas carols that paired with each Bible lesson. After he read each lesson, he wrote the key verse and sketched an illustration.

Memory Verse:

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Christmas in New England:

Though I started reading this book with Jordan, the first time we rowed Cranberry Christmas, we never actually finished it. This time around, Parker and I read it completely. He wasn’t a big fan, but I found it rather nostalgic.

I printed copies of the New England States Crack-the-Code worksheets.

Parker completed each state as I read from The Twelve Days of Christmas in New England.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Story Review:

I used the Cranberry Christmas Story Review while rowing Cranberry Christmas Mini Unit.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

Character Comparison:

Though this was listed as a social studies unit, we used it as a language arts component.

Parker used his Venn diagram to help compare and contrast Mr. Horace and Cyrus Grape.

Books & Sequels:

This lesson explained itself as we just finished rowing the Cranberry Thanksgiving Mini Unit.

We also started reading The Magician’s Nephew, a prequel to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

History – Currier & Ives:

We talked about the snowy scenes being likened to the artwork of Currier and Ives. We watch a few clips from our playlist and Parker perused through our Currier and Ives books.

MATH:

Applied Math – Doubling a Recipe:

Parker used the Cranberry cookie recipe to practice doubling fractions.

SCIENCE:

Fresh Water vs. Salt Water:

Fresh Water:

We headed into the kitchen to conduct our fresh water experiment. Parker completed the worksheet and I set out all the supplies.

I used a paper cup, but it was a huge mistake as it absorbed some of the water which caused our experiment to fail. we are continually reminded to keep trying.

Salt Water:

Next, we started our salt water experiment. This experiment helps us visually see the difference in density between salt water and fresh water.

First, we set up our fresh water cup and added blue food dye. Next, he helped me pour the hot water and add salt and red food dye in our salt water cup.

We set our cups aside until they were both room temperature. Parker also wrote his prediction.

We slowly added our salt water in our fresh water cup, using a syringe. The salt water accumulated at the bottom while the fresh water remained on top. This experiment demonstrated that salt water, denser than fresh water, sinks to the bottom.

Here you can see Parker adding our salt water and explaining a real-life example where fresh and salt water coexist.

Christmas on an Island:

Since we were studying salt water, we decided to hang around the sea and read Christmas on an Island.

While we were near the sea, we read The Lighthouse Keeper’s Christmas.

Christmas Trees:

We read about the history of trees in The Christmas Tree Book.

We read The Lifecycle of a Pine Tree and completed the History of the Christmas Tree worksheet from our Cranberry Christmas Story Review.

We read several other Christmas tree books since we were studying the subject matter.

Candles:

We read a little bit about the history of the Christmas candle in Christmas Past.

We also readhear-warming stories like Lucia Morning in Sweden and A Candle in the Window.

Parker read about the science behind candles in Burn and How it’s Made From Wax to Candle.

Ice Skating:

Parker watched several clips, from our playlist, about the science behind ice skating. It was really interesting for older students.

Afterwards, Parker used the “Skating with Mr. Wiskers” worksheet to design his own pair of ice skates.

The Moon:

Astronauts:

We watched and online reading of Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11.

We also watched an online reading of The Astronaut Who Painted the Moon: The True Story of Alan Bean.

ARTS, CRAFTS & FUN:

Themed Christmas Ornaments:

I continued to create more FIAR-inspired ornaments for our classroom tree. 

I made one for Stopping in the Woods on a Snowy Evening, Snowflake Bentley Pumpkin Runner and Harold and the Purple Crayon.

Moon Illustrations:

I thought it might be fun to do another mixed media art project based on the crescent moon, a special star and a silhouetted nativity in front of the little town of Bethlehem.

First, Parker used watercolors to create the beautiful blue night sky. We used the silhouette page from our story. Next, he used chalk pastels to create the sandy hills of the desert. Last, we used construction paper to cut out our silhouettes.

This was a really fun and cool art project, which took several days to complete. Each layer needed some time to dry. In the end, it really looked beautiful.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Pinterest Board:

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

Youtube Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created a Cranberry Christmas playlist with read-alouds, music, art, science, and other clips.