Hans Christian Anderson Unit Study & Lapbook (Free download)

Source for book title Image

The theme for the Second month of the Poppin's Book Nook is Wizards!  Our "Magical' book this month was 'The Perfect Wizard' by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Dennis Nolan. 

This whimsical picture book is a biography of story telling Wizard, Hans Christian Andersen. It introduces us to a young, awkward and eccentric Hans and describes how he overcomes the odds to become one of the best known children's fairy tale authors. Small excepts from his stories throughout the book cleverly highlights how much of his inspiration was drawn from his own experiences. Dennis Nolan's beautiful illustrations are whimsical and dream like. To see them for your selves you can click on the book cover to see inside the book on Amazon (affiliate link).

Miss K and I read the book together because it does contain some themes that she would have questions about. (eg.Losing loved ones, Mental health and Poverty). This book is full of life lessons like not giving up and believing in your dreams. I am still surprised the library wasn't keeping it for their collection!

I had planned a craft to go with this book. However, after reading the book, Miss K  read some of the other fairy tales quoted in the book. Our project become a Lap book and Unit study. The Mini books I made for the Lap book focused on five topics. I have included the links do you can download them too.

1. Timeline: We used the picture book to create a Time line for many of the Major events in Hans Christian Andersen's life. Download time line 

2. Paper Art: To amuse his audience Han Christian Anderson made his 'Paper cuts'. We read about this on several websites (see below for links) and Miss K is practicing so she can add one to this mini book. Download Mini Book.

3. Reading Log: In side this flap Miss K listed the stories she read and the year they were first published. Download Mini Book

4. HCA's Legacy: Andersen's stories have been adapted into new versions and inspired Stage, Ballet and Movies productions. Miss K investigated this further and found examples. Download Tri fold book

5. Fairy tales: Miss K chose her six favorite HCA Fairy tales. For each of these I made a Mini Book which used to summarize the story or write about the Main Character (s). Download Mini books
  

To make our lap book we used some of beautiful vintage images from The Graphics Fairy.

All our online resources can be found on our Hans Christian Andersen Pinterest board

The Poppins Book Nook is hosted by The Enchanted Homeschooling Mom. 

Here are the participating bloggers: 

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Royal Baloo - 3 Dinosaurs - Monsters Ed - Chestnut Grove Academy - Growing in God's Grace - Royal Little Lambs - Life with Moore Babies - Teach Beside Me - The Usual Mayhem - Mum Central - Fantastic Fun and Learning - Kathys Cluttered Mind - Play Create Explore - Toddler Approved - Growing Book by Book - Adventures in Mommydom - B-Inspired Mama - The Fairy and The Frog - Edventures with Kids - Learning & Growing the Piwi way - A Gluten Free Journey - Rainy Day Mum - Mom to Crazy Monkeys - No Doubt Learning

George Washington unit & Sculpting Mt Rushmore

Just in time for Presidents day, George Washington was the focus of this week's literature link in Miss K's Language arts curriculum.
The readings in the work book included a simple biography and the legend of Washington and the cherry tree. Miss K really enjoyed several days of timeline comprehension activities that tested her comprehension.

To extend our lessons the Piwi's explored some of art that Washington inspired.
The first piece was Mt Rushmore. We visited the Mt Rushmore National memorial website and took a virtual tour. We also downloaded the student guide. Miss K wasnt too sure it could be considered a piece of art so we checked out the definition.

Macmillian dictionary defines a 'Work of art' (noun) as:

1. something such as a painting or sculpture that is of very high quality
2. something that is made or done in a skilful or attractive way

Although the sculpting techniques were on a very large (and explosive) scale we all agreed that it met the definition of a Work of Art.

The Piwi's made their own Mt Rushmore Paper Sculptures from paper bags. This is Miss K's art work.  I will post Mini Piwi's separately as she did a few different activities.

 Miss K colored in pictures of the Presidents carved into Mt Rushmore. She glued them in the correct order on to a large paper bag.

She scrunched and folded, and held parts in place with staples. Here is the finished product!

Along with the readings in the Student workbook, here are the books we used for this unit...

 

 

Encouraging Letter writing

Since she could pick up a crayon, Miss K has always loved making cards and pictures to give to everyone. These days she loves to write letters on her own handmade stationery.  In early December she had learnt all about the components of a letter.  We got hands on practice by writing to Santa Claus. The letters the Piwi’s got in return got Miss K thinking about who else she could write to. Getting mail is fun!

It is more than fun though, the Piwi's learn a lot from writing all these letters. For example:

• Formal letter writing requires planning and following a set formula.  It is a good contrast to the creative writing and poetry Miss K also enjoys. The planning and writing of a ‘rough copy’ first has also allowed her to take more responsibility for proofreading her work.

• Miss K really takes pride in the ‘good copy’ of her letters, her handwriting is getting neater and she is expressing an interest in starting lessons in cursive.

• The Piwi’s are also practicing patience (waiting for replies), caring (writing a note to brighten someone’s day), and gratitude.

With the uncertainty of the US Postal service in the news lately and the prevalence of e-communication, the art of letter writing may seem obsolete to many. I will continue to encourage my children to write letters and send letters.  Eventually they may not be sending them in the post but they will still need to be writing letters in some format. It is also a starting point for teaching other writing formats such as reports and essays.

 Here are some of the ideas we have on our list to send  letters to (or have written already)

• Writing to the President about their concerns address 
• Asking questions about a PBS kids show they like address
• Write to a favorite author and tell them what you like about their books -we have found most of the author's have postal address on their website (usually for their publisher).
• Write to local fire station, Police station thanking them for their service
• Thank our Service people at Adopt a platoon and carepackageproject.com
•  Write to Queen Elizabeth II -Miss K thinks this is really cool! address 
• Send a greeting to a Disney Character -we just did last month and Miss K received an autographed Postcard. Couponing to Disney has two addresses you can write to. We are going to try the second one soon.

Language Arts: Piwi style

After 2.5 years of homeschooling, I still consider myself a rookie. Two of these years were with a virtual school. This school year, Second grade, is the first time we have made our own curriculum choices. For a longer version of our how we came to Homeschool see our Piwi classroom page.

By chance, I came across the Virtual Homeschool curriculum fair this weekend. A first I didn't even think I had a lot to offer in advice about curriculum. I began blogging so that our spread-out family could see what the kids were doing. Later it became more about our Homeschooling. However, I feel compelled to give back by trying to follow in the footsteps of some of the great bloggers out there who have unknowingly helped us in our Homeschool journey.



Our workbox planner

This week we are posting about Language arts. I was just outlining what we are doing this year for second grade. That was the plan until I realized (while folding laundry) that that wasn't really helpful unless I also included how we got to this point. I will try to keep it short. I come from a family who are notorious for making a short story long.

How we got to 2nd grade.

The curriculum for Miss K's Kindergarten and First grade year was sent to us our virtual school. Initially this was what we needed. I was freaking out about whether I could teach her. My DH  reminded me that in our current school district the Kindergarten teacher to student ratio was 28:1. Yes, I agreed, I could do better than that. The virtual school had a totally scripted program, what could go wrong?

Math went great, Social studies, Science, Language arts... and then we got to Phonics. After the first week, I called our support teacher, Ms. L, for help. It was not pretty, Miss K was upset she couldn't read yet.  All the lessons were about phonetic sounds and she was over it. Just bringing out the magnets caused a melt down. I was worried that maybe she wasn't ready. After a visit with Miss K,  Ms. L assured me that if we could just get through this first short unit, we would get to the sight words next and then Miss K would be fine. I was skeptical, but sure enough, once Miss K started memorizing sight words, she quickly started reading. Phonics have remained something she really disliked through first grade. Online programs like Time 4 learning helped. More recently Phonics have made a sneaky appearance back into her LA curriculum. The curriculum we use includes it in a very natural way. We are also working in Test prep guides which are making her think more phonetically. Whether we need to go back and revise phonics will become apparent soon.

Language arts in Second grade

Prior to this year, I had not heard of  Learning Language Arts Through Literature.  It is actually an entire LA curriculum. It sounded too good to be true but it definitely works for us. We supplement it with creative writing (Miss K writes has an ongoing series about the secret identity of our cat) and additional book studies. It would be fine to use alone but there is always something Miss K wants to explore further. This is one of the blessings of Homeschooling on your own (as opposed to virtual schooling). You are free to follow interests. There is a sense of peace in knowing things aren't set in stone. Of course the peace comes after a near panic attack about choosing the right curriculum (instead of having it arrive pre-packaged in a 5 big boxes).

Saints Note booking pages

We use unit studies, lap books and note booking to study Science, History and Geography. Along with everything she learns about the subject, the process has really helped her Grammar & Spelling.  Handwriting had been something I had relaxed about after being reminded how bad mine was as a kid. Our more Classical friends suggested Copy work. Recently we found the Catechism copy work at St. Annes Helper.  Catechism review and handwriting practice in one! Miss K is taking a lot of pride in her work.

 

 

We don't use an actual curriculum for spelling. We have a list of words to know by the end of second and third grade. Each week we have a list of 15 words to learn. She uses the See/say/spell/write method to learn new words. These words come from the list and from words that Miss K wrote incorrectly during creative writing or any other writing she did during the week from  unit studies, lap books or even math word problem answers. This was how we did it growing up in New Zealand and it works for Miss K.

The one thing that has remained the same throughout our journey, is our love of books. Most weeks we  return one mountain of books to the Library and check out another.

So that's a summary of our LA journey with Miss K, now 7. We are now beginning the amazing journey again with Mini Piwi, 3. Thankfully, this time around I have a head start. I know that kids learn in their own way, and in their own time. It also helps if they are enjoying the experience.

visit the other bloggers participating in this week’s edition of the Virtual Curriculum Fair:

 

Building Blocks of Education--Learning to Read  by Kristi Kerr @ The Potter's Hand Academy Finding Our Way Through Language Arts by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

How Does a Unit Study Teach Language Arts? by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun 

Our Language Arts Adventure by Linda @ Homeschooling6 2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words:  The Language Arts by Leah Courtney @ As We Walk Along the Road Virtual Curriculum Fair-Playing with Words by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Language Arts by Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool Writing Help in a Critical Thinking book? by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings

Virtual Curriculum Fair: Foreign Language Immersion in the Homeschool by Tonia @ The Sunny Patch

Formula for Reading by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness

Words and Learning by Annette @ A Net In Time

A Custom Designed High School English Credit by Tech Wife @ A Playground of Words

Virtual Curriculum Fair 2013: Still Loving Language Arts by Pam @ Everyday Snapshots

Word Play by Lisa @ Golden Grasses

Loving Language Arts by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset

Learning Language Arts ~ 2012-2013 School Year by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World

Virtual Curriculum Fair - The Language Arts Department by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Playing with Words:  The Language Arts by Christa Darr @ Fairfield Corner Academy: The Story of Our Life

Playing with Words:  Language Arts by April @ Coffee, Cobwebs and Curriculum

What Language Arts looks like in our house - Are we doing it right? by Hillary M @ Our Homeschool Studio

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The Wonderful wizard of Oz literature unit

Miss K enjoyed watching the original MGM wizard of OZ movie last year. This week we began reading the book by L. Frank Baum. It is amazing that kids and adults alike have been enjoying this story for over 100 years.

Within minutes of starting the book Miss K spotted a difference. Dorothy is given silver shoes not ruby red ones. Later, after bedtime I did a quick google check. Somehow, I missed the 70 year old memo that the MGM movie screenplay was very different to Baum's book. Miss K is enjoying the story but is pretty much convinced the book is wrong. Her skepticism is in part because she recalls we bought the book on clearance and is convinced  it was on sale because it is not the real version.I showed her the google article and Miss k pointed out that i had told her that not everything you see on TV or the computer is true. Wow I suppose I should have anticipated that one. I tried to explain again but (as i felt gray hairs growing) decided sometimes you need to learn something for yourself and no amount of convincing is going to help.

For now we are reading the book and then at the end we will watch the movie and compare and contrast the two.
Thankfully I didn't even need to come up with the Venn Diagram template. Walking by the way has included one in their Wizard of oz pack

I am working on the rest of the notebook pages for this unit.
Included are:

• A mini unit on Tornadoes -an extension of our weather science unit
• A shoe themed language mini unit
• Wizard of oz pack: create your own Oz character, word find, comprehension questions and copy work
• Character studies
• Lessons from the story
• Book report: Chapter timeline, Setting and ending

So far the links I have found for my printables:
Book sequencing template for chapter summary Free @TpT

Story retelling cards @ First grade parade

Home school Creations also have a Wizard of OZ tot pack I was thinking of using since Mini Piwi has been enjoying the story and cute illustrations too. The characters in the tot pack are so cute that Miss K would probably like them in her notebook too.

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Halloween Songs/ Poetry

Yesterday we went and picked out Halloween Costumes and now Miss K is on a Halloween party mission. She convinced Piwi Daddy to take her to the dollar store for decorations this afternoon and tonight she was busy making some more. We have learn t not to interrupt the 'party process'. I was supposed to be helping her write a Halloween song but my ideas weren't up to par so I just sat on the couch being supportive (and writing up what we achieved today).
Eventually the song was declared finished, to my surprise the song had morphed into a pretty impressive poem! Again I learn a lesson, sometimes you need to just sit there, be there for spelling help and your awesome kid can work their own writing magic. However, don't make my mistake and call it a poem...it's a Halloween song people!

Miss K's Song:

Get Ready for Halloween

By Miss K. Grade 2

Halloween, Halloween,

Halloween, Halloween,

Let’s celebrate Halloween.

The Monster Mash and other songs,

Notes and spooky sounds,

From Monsters inside your head.

They come to you again and again.

Let’s put our costumes on,

And trick or treat all day long

Pumpkins are glowing

And Skeletons are moving

The black cats are meowing

Let’s get ready for Halloween

Charlie and the Chocolate factory Unit update

Instead of going with the spooky or pumpkin theme for Halloween this year, we are going with candy. We have been reading Charlie and the chocolate factory together and working on a lap book from Confessions of a homeschooler.
Here it is all finished:

Lap book cover

The reallife wonka candy factoy in IL, the factorie's rooms in the book, vocab definitions from the book,

Candy math, Time  line and book report

Miss K's candy invention, character outlines, how and where Charlie lived.

We just finished the book and the Piwis both loved it. (I suspect the amount of candy involved in the story is helped keep their attention!). 

Miss K was disappointed that we couldn't meet Willy Wonka or visit his amazing factory. However when I showed her the real life Wonka candy brand online she seemed feel better. Of this meant we needed to find some of the chocolate to try. To date we haven't found any of the chocolate bars in store but the kids did get a box of everlasting gobstoppers which seemed to to live up to their expectations.

These are the Unit activities I have planned (Along with the lap book).

• Make an Ad for your new Candy invention: Lately we have been talking a lot about advertising so we are going to work on making an ad for the candy Miss K has invented as part of her lapbook. There is a printable here but I made up a simpler template.

• Chocolate science from Candy experiments: Separating the ingredients of chocolate...I found a cool experiment to create and find out about 'chocolate bloom' -you know when the chocolate goes white and gross looking...

• Make a Dio-rama of your favorite room in the factory

• Poetry    Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Perplexed Poetry

• Character cause and effect

• Write your own Ommpa loompa song 

• Watch the Movie & compare it to the book using a Venn Diagram

Other great links I found

Real life Wonka candies

Use the Wonka imaginator to create a piece of art and post it in the Gallery

Leaping into 5th grade's Charlie and the Chocolate factory Unit has some great Literature resources

Drawing Pilgrim threw an amazing Willy wonka themed party that has some cool pics that inspired me to make some candy themed halloween decorations...did I mention I was over the spooky Halloween theme?

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