CHAPTER 1

READY TO ROW:

We’re excited to start Parker’s first chapter book! We’ll be weaving a few picture books throughout the year, especially around the holidays.

Cover Art:

Parker chose to draw the prairie home as his cover art.

He fid such a great job. It looked beautiful.

BIBLE:

FIAR Bible Supplement:

We split up the FIAR Bible lessons for Chapter 1 over two days – one about marriage snd the other about family.

Bible Verse:

We chose to memorize Psalm 146:9 as our Bible verse for this chapter.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Geography – Main and the Eastern United States:

After reading through the lessons in the manual, Parker and I read Maine, Surrounded by Sea and Obadiah the Bold. They put us in an Eastern U.S. state of mind.

Geography – Prairies:

We combined our social studies and science by reading Let’s Visit The Grassland on our Epic app. Then we read Prairie Day and A Little Prairie House just for fun.

LIFE SKILLS:

Memories:

My mother-in-law passed away near the end of summer. She was a remarkable woman – a devoted Bible teacher, a wonderful counselor and an even better friend. She led me to the Lord when I was 18 years old, bought me a Bible pocket book of promises and mentored me for many years. She taught me to be a strong woman of God. In fact, I wouldn’t be who I am today without her.

Her passing was a deep loss for our family, but recalling our favorite memories of her helped ease the pain. Our kids were blessed to have a grandmother like her. She was the ultimate example and spoiled her grandkids with undivided attention, her unconditional love and spirit of generosity. We will continue to remember her with joy and recall all the wonderful memories until we see her again in Heaven.

Singing – A Family Activity:

I love putting up our Christmas trees early. Nothing is better than a real tree, but we opted for artificial trees. The best part is being able to put them up early.

Parker and I sang Christmas songs while decorating our classroom Christmas tree. we love pulling out our Hallmark Children’s Book ornaments and our home-made FIAR ornaments. ❤️

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Writing & Discussion Question:

Parker answered the discussion question in his FIAR Notebook.

Continuing Symbols – Singing:

Our family loves music and singing. We recently sang together at church while Jordan played guitar and Parker played eukele.

Letter Writing – P.S. & R.S.V.P.:

After reading about writing letters and what P.S. (post script) and R.S.V.P. (répondez s’il vous plaît), he crafted his own crazy letter to a friend.

Writing a Personal Introduction:

After reading the manual, I asked Parker to write a personal introduction to a fictitious long-lost relative. He chose to be related to one of his favorite Padres baseball players. He made it quirky and fun.

SCIENCE:

Babies and Human Development:

In addition to the manual, Parker read “Conception and Birth” from the Usborne Complete Book of the Human Body.

Rocks – Three Types:

Parker read both Learning About Rocks and a more in-depth study of rocks in The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth.

I found some great printables from Scholastic Teachables. We made edible igneous rock “bark”. We took turns adding “minerals” into our magna chamber and watching them melt together.

You can watch our molten lava pour onto the foil.

We placed our igneous bark in the freezer. The kids LOVED it! They said it tasted like chocolate caramel.

Afterwards, Parker put together a simple rock wheel to keep in his FIAR notebook.

It was geared to younger students, but it served as a reminder of the three types of rocks.

FINE ARTS:

Composition in Drawing:

I wrote MacLaughlan’s words on the top of the page in Parker’s FIAR Art Sketchbook. he painted the vision from his mind’s eye.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Chapter Book GRAB BAG:

We created a GRAB BAG for the Sarah, Plain and Tall Chapter Book Unit. The Grab Bag series is a collection of worksheets and/or activities that I create while studying the FIAR Chapter Book units with my children.

You can purchase your copy HERE at our TPT Store.

*NOTE: Please be aware that any printable from the Grab Bag series may have worksheets that are similar and/or the same as those available in our other printables. We try to include anything that could enhance your student(s) learning experience as you row the chapter book series.

Pinterest Board:

You can find most of the activities, ideas, and printables from this post on our Sarah, Plain and Tall Pinterest Board.

Youtube Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created a Sarah, Plain and Tall Playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other clips.