READY TO ROW:

Kick-off Breakfast:

We kicked off this row with multi-grain chocolate chip heart pancakes and fresh fruit.

Cover Art:

Parker chose to feature Mr. Whiskers has his cover art for this row.

Story Disk:

Parker colored the story disk and placed it on the North East region of America.

BIBLE:

Bible Verse:

I created a Cranberry Valentine Bible verse printable for this row.

You can purchase your copy HERE at our TPT Store.

Parker wrote his Bible verse using the copywork page. Later, he glued it into his FIAR notebook.

Valentine’s Day:

Earlier in the year, Parker read about Saint Valentine in his Mystery of History Volume 2 textbook.

Parker read Tomie’s Little Book of Love, Helga’s Dowry, and Things to Make and Do for Valentine’s Day.

We finished the row by doing lessons from The Names of God and The Power of Words.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

New England States:

To begin this unit, Parker read Regions of the United States Explore New England.

Afterwards, he completed the New England states worksheet from our Story Review.

Maine

The following day, Parker read Exploring the States Maine.

New Hampshire:

The following day, Parker read Exploring the States New Hampshire.

Vermont:

The following day, Parker read Exploring the States Vermont.

Massachusetts:

The following day, Parker read Exploring the Sates Massachusetts.

Connecticut:

The following day, Parker read Exploring the Sates Connecticut.

Rhode Island:

The following day, Parker read Exploring the Sates Rhode Island.

Topographical Map of the New England States:

Parker used his watercolors to paint the New England states on his BFB U.S. Map.

Working in Social Settings:

Barn Raising

Last Year, Parker red The Hundred-Year Barn by Patricia MacLachlan. This was a wonderful book that really detailed how raising a barn was a community effort.

Quilting Bee:

First, Parker read The Quilting Bee by Gail Gibbons.

Next, he read The Quilt Story on our EPIC app. We have really enjoyed reading Tomie dePaola’s books this school year.

I bought the same stitch kit for Parker that I bought for Jordan. He has not used it yet, but we have it on hand.

Social Media and Anonymity:

Years ago, we took the kids to a movie. While waiting in the lobby, we observed all the teens mindlessly on their phones. That was something we didn’t want our kids to emulate. My husband is a software architect and we both see the value in electronics, but it’s important to find a balance. Our kids would love to be on their phones all the time, but we remind them to keep their phones down in social settings. As for social media, we really limit explosure to what they see. The teen years are tough enough to navigate without online pressure.

History – U.S. Post Office:

First, Parker read about the history of the postal service in They’re Off! The Story of the Pony Express by Cheryl Harness.

Parker read The Post Office Book Mail and How It Moves by Gail Gibbons.

Lastly, Parker read Owney the Mail-Pouch Pooch. This was a delightful and true historical book!

I included a set of Sending Valentines Postal Abbreviations in our Story Review.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Vocabulary:

Parker also completed the vocabulary worksheet from our Story Review.

MATH:

Mystery Math – Algebra:

Algebra is not a new concept for Parker. He has continued working on Algebra in his Singapore Math lessons for 7th grade. Sometimes the math concepts we study in FIAR don’t align with whatever chapter he’s working on. As a result, it’s always fun to bring out a mathematical picture book to remind him of the basic elements.

We love David Adler’s books. For this unit, Parker read Mystery Math. Adler’s books are a fun way to renew most scientific and mathematical concepts.

As suggested by the FIAR guide, Parker also read Math-terpieces.

I found this instruction video by Mathantics. It may be more suitable for an older student, but it’s definitely worth watching.

SCIENCE:

WEATHER:

Cloudy or Sunny – Month by Month:

We started our weather unit reading Oh Say Can You See (Suess weather book) and What Will the Weather Be?

Parker colored a Weather Tree (The Hidden Way) to keep track of the weather while rowing this book.

Sunny:

We looked closely at the sun by reading Sun Up, Sun Down.

Just for fun, Parker read Sun Bread, an old favorite.

We made sun bread after reading this book two years ago.

Cloudy:

First, Parker read The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola. This book was as cute as it was informative.

We ended our cloud unit with Margaret Wise Brown’s The Cloud Song.

Parker has done many cloud activities through the years. We’ve enjoyed illustrating clouds in many different types of mediums.

After reading Clouds by Anne Rockwell, Parker used paint on construction paper to recreate the various types of clouds in the book.

While Jordan rowed When I was Young in the Mountains, both boys used watercolors to paint “partial skies”, leaving white spaces as clouds.

The boys used cotton balls and glue to recreate various types of clouds while rowing Storm in the Night.

I still think my favorite cloud CRAFTivity is still “Cloud People” an idea from Abby Mullins from The Inspired Apple. Parker and his siblings created them while we were studying Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco. That’s still one of our favorite books to this date.

For this row, I created a Science in the Sky – Sketching Clouds worksheet set in our Story Review. I originally created this activity for our Sarah, Plain and Tall Beyond FIAR Grab Bag. Students can read a book about clouds or research the various types of clouds online. They can sketch, paint or even use cotton balls and paint to create the various clouds listed on this worksheet set.

Foggy:

To begin our fog unit, Parker read Foggy on our EPIC app.

Afterwards, he read Footsteps Through the Fog.

Ocean Life:

I thought it might be fun to explore some of the creatures we might see on the coast.

Sea Birds:

Parker explored the various birds that dwell near the seashore by reading Sea Birds by Joe Fermin.

Clams:

First, Parker read Discovering Clams on our EPIC app.

Just for fun, he read Clams All Year, an endearing story about a grandfather taking his grandkids clam digging.

Afterwards, Parker color-coded the parts of the clam using an Animal Anatomy worksheet from our Story Review.

FINE ARTS:

Hand-Sewn Valentine Cards:

Parker followed along with a fun sewing card Valentine on our Cranberry Valentine playlist.

Afterwards, he created an envelope and decorated it. It was a special Valentine for his aunt and uncle for Valentine’s Day.

I created several practice sewing pages in our Story Review. They can be laminated for extra durability.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Pinterest Board:

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

Youtube Playlist:

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