Learning About Careers in The Theatre

It was tough to decide which direction to take this month with the Poppins Book Nook theme: What will I be when I grow up? It was exciting to look through books about careers in our community.

The girls both had different types of ideas and so I decided not to cram it all into one project. The post today will focus on career in dance and theatre. Miss K (8) began taking Musical theatre classes, and she is 'hooked'.  They are studying 'Broadway Musicals by the decade, from the 30's to the 90s' to go along with this we are working on a unit study based on this amazing book I found on Amazon.

How Does the Show Go On: An Introduction to the Theatre  It gives kids a great view into how a modern Broadway show is produced. Its split cover opens up like a red curtain and begins at the front of the house and then takes you to the stage and behind. At each point, there are detailed explanations of the many roles of the people working and acting in the theatre. The book is extremely interactive, and there are playbills and tickets to take out and look at. There are also parts of scripts and directors production sketches and of course a lot of photos from many well known Disney Broadway Musicals.


We went through it quickly exploring all the pieces but now have started at the beginning again to study each role and part of the production in a unit study. I am making notebook and lapbook type components as we go through this book. With luck, I can soon share them on the website for you to use with your theatre fans and budding actors and actresses!

In the meantime here are some we have already found...

• The Notebooking fairy has pages to use after seeing a performance
• Jimmies's Collage has several Shakespeare themed mini books that would be great to include with the history of theatre.

• My new favorite Drama resource is Dramanotebook.com. It had given me the confidence to begin playing Drama games with the girls and we may even try script writing soon thanks to some great lesson plans they share.

Thanks for taking the time to join us this month, be sure to check out all the inspiration from all the other Poppins Book Nook Bloggers!

An InLinkz Link-up

The Nutcracker Ballet Unit Study (Make your own from more that 60 free web resources)

In a few weeks, the girls will be auditioning for their parts in their ballet school's Christmas production of 'The Nutcracker.' Miss K, especially, has been excitedly reading and learning all about the characters and their dances. It seemed like great great opportunity to add a Nutcracker Ballet unit study! 

Below you will find all the links to the free web resources we will be using. I have listed them by subject rather than by the order we will be using them. Including nine study guides from different Ballet Companies all over North America might seem a bit over the top but they are all different.  Be sure to check out each guide as they all have unique suggestions for activities, puzzles and games. Each guide also outlines the theatre, cast and crew for their performance. Some of the photographs of the dancers and theatre alone are worth pouring over with your kids! We hope you have as much fun as we will studying the Nutcracker! 

History 

Timeline history of the Nutcracker Ballet and some great photos -Ballet Minnesota

The History of the Nutcracker (the tool/ornament) at Magicofnutcrackers.com

Study Guides


San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker Study Guide -PDF Printable

National Canadian Ballet Nutcracker Study Guide PDF Printable

Inland Pacific Ballet Nutcracker Study Guide- PDF Printable

Milwaukee Ballet Nutcracker Study Guide- PDF Printable

Boston Ballet Nutcracker Study Guide -PDF Printable

Lancaster Performing Arts Center -PDF Printable 

Houston Ballet Nutcracker Study Guide -PDF Printable

Reif's Performing Arts Center Nutcracker Study Guide -PDF Printable

East Alabama Community Ballet Nutcracker Curriculum Guide -PDF


Language Arts Nutcracker activities

5 Nutcracker Language arts based activities from the Union City Youth Ballet

Nutcracker themed Handwriting Practice Pages from TwistyNoodle.com

The Nutcracker Reading Comprehension Worksheet from ESLprintables

Drama, Theater and Dance activities

Exploring international dance styles, design a ballet and pantomime 

A short play based on the Nutcracker Story from coreknowledge.org

The Dance of the Flute activity lesson plan from Lesson Planet

Comparing Smooth and Sharp movements of Dance from Lesson Planet

Analyzing two Dances from the Nutcracker and creating a Dance Map from Lesson Planet

Watch Elmo and Jamie Foxx sing a 'The Nutcracker Mash' -You Tube: Sesame St 

Math Based NutcrackerActivities

2 Math activities for Pre K - 1 from the Union City Youth Ballet

Compare Nutcrackers with a Venn Diagram printable from Teach123

Symmetrical Nutcracker Activity from A Faithful Attempt


Science Based Nutcracker Activities

4 different areas of science to explore from Union City Ballet 

Learn about Clarks's Nutcracker bird at Allaboutbirds.org

Hands on activity to explore different kinds of bird beaks from Utah Education Network

Hands on activity to explore Levers in everyday use (incl. worksheets) from ingridscience.org

Hands on Activity exploring the basic Dance element of Force from Lesson Planet 

A video about how snow is formed from crystals  

Make your own crystal snow flake -an experiment from Science Kids New Zealand

Social Studies & History Activities 


Ideas about studying the history of Ballet and the Country of Russia (the origin of the story)

Timeline history of the Nutcracker Ballet and some great photos -Ballet Minnesota

The History of the Nutcracker (the tool/ornament) at Magicofnutcrackers.com

How Nutcrackers are handmade in Germany (video)-YouTube

Music 


Learning about Tchaikovsky

Active Listening to different dances in the Nutcracker -From Elementary Music Methods

Play along music for Dance of the Sugar Plum fairy from Teaching Music

Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra -An interactive online book/game from the Carnegie Hall site

Hey Kids, Meet Tchaikovsky at Making Music Fun

A great collection of Musical instrument worksheets can be found at Enchanted Learning

Free 60 Pg Musical Lapbook Printable  from 123Homeschoolf4me.com

Music Coloring Pages from Coloring.ws

Bay Area Little Symphony Coloring Book

Active listening and Discussion worksheet for 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy' at Lesson Planet

Listen & watch how Bike Parts were used to play the Nutcracker Suite at creativedigitalmusic.com

Art and Crafts

Oil Pastel on Black Paper Nutcracker Lesson from Art Projects for Kids

Printable Nutcracker Character Puppets to Make from Printables 4 Kids

Nutcracker Paperbag Puppet Printable from Jim Gamble Puppets

Make Nutcracker & Clara puppets with this printable from Lesson Planet

Recipe for Sparkly Sugar Plums from the Cupcakeproject.com

Recipe for Sugar Plum Fairy Cupcakes from the Cupcake Project

Instructions to Build your own Lego Nutcracker from Lego my Mamma

Ballet

Ballet Lap n Note from Homeschool share: 

Topics Incl.: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker, history of ballet, creative writing, positions, tutu 

Preschool Nutcracker Ideas and Activities

Christmas Theme: The Nutcracker Pre K Printables from PreschoolMom.com

Lesson Plan and crafts for The Nutcracker Ballet from funlessonplans.com

Nutcracker Cut & Paste Activity from Makinglearingfun.com

Nutcracker Montessori 3 Part Card Printables from Laura's Place

Nutcracker Number Match Game Printable from Prekinders

Ballerina Preschool Printable Pack from 1+1+1=1

Nutcracker Coloring Pages from Supercoloring.com

2 Math activities for Pre K - 1 from the Union City Youth Ballet

Free Clipart and images to add to your project

Free Music Themed Black and White GIFs at ClipArt etc

Free Dance Themed B & W GIFs at ClipArt etc

Free Theatre Themed B & W GIFS at Clipart etc

Color Nutcracker image at Phillip Martin Clipart

Male Ballet Dancer Image at Phillip Martin Clipart

Openclipart.com has a lot of ballet themed images

Candy and Gingerbread Clipart at Mycutegraphics.com

Free iOS Apps

Nutcraker -Ballet School Stores iOS

Tchaikovsky. The Rhythm Game iOS

Christmas Stories: Nutcracker Puzzle Game iOS

Homer's 'The Odyssey': Making an Epic Kid Friendly!

Welcome to our first Poppins Book Nook for 2014!

We are excited to be joining an awesome group of bloggers for this month's theme, Greek Myths. As always the end of our post you will find a great giveaway sponsored by +E.H.M. Member's Only Website . Please also be sure to check out all the other great books and activities from the that went on in the group this month.

Our eldest daughter has become a real fan of history and loves the Greek Myths we are studying this year. By chance I discovered that Mary Pope Osborne (Magic Tree house series) had written an abridged version of Homer's The Odyssey. It is in two volumes Tales from the Odyssey, Part 1 and Tales from the Odyssey, Part 2. Ms. Osborne does an amazing job to make it exciting and readable for 8-12 year olds while still staying true to the story.

Miss K, 8, sat glued to the first book for most of the day. By the evening she was trying to convince me to download the second book, in ebook format, so she wouldn't have to wait for the library to open.

Thankfully I saved $4.50 by diverting her attention to thinking about a project she might like to do about the Odyssey. Apparently the audio book is really good too so hopefully we can borrow that from the library soon!

The next day Miss K began working on a pop-up book to retell her favorite parts of book.

I asked her if maybe she could summarize the plot for other kids.

An 8 year old summarizes Homer's Odyssey

 'It is about a man named Odysseus who is trying to sail him to his family. He goes to sleep a lot and leaves his friends in charge. These men are not clever and they cause them to get shipwrecked a lot'  when prompted a little more she went on to describe lots of mythical creatures and all the things that Odysseus has to do to get past them alive'. It is really exciting and kind of gross!

 She worked on each page and then added the captions later to explain which part of the story it was from.

We hope you get a chance to read these titles if you have a Greek myth or history fan in your house!

EHM's Johnny Appleseed Unit study review and Giveaway!

This post contains affiliate links. The opinions in this review are my own.

Last week we were learning all about the man who helped spread the love of apples around the USA. The Johnny Appleseed unit study is one of the new offerings from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom Members only website. If you are a member, it is free to download right now! If you have not yet signed up, be sure to enter our giveaway to win a lifetime membership.

This was a unit study we all enjoyed. The girls listened to the story of Johnny Appleseed provided in the 30 page printable unit. As I read it aloud they were the making a cute pan hat craft.

Our 7 yr old loved the writing and reading activities. This year she is really showing a love for creative writing and history. Our 3 yr old glue stick fan loved the craft and labeling the apples. We completed the apple investigations together. The girls cut up quite a few apple to check if different colored apples had the same number of seeds! All those apple slices reminded me that I still had some empanada wrappers in the freezer. There was only one thing left to make...



Image from EHM website

Last year we purchased a lifetime membership from EHM to take advantage of all of the amazing Christmas printables. It was probably one of the most cost effective curriculum purchases I have made. To do we have used using over 25 units and printables from Jill's collection. Take a look at all the resources Click here for all the details

 For $15 you get lifetime access to  all the printable goodies on the Members only website.

As an affiliate of the E.H.M. Member's Only Website, I have been given the opportunity to give away one free lifetime membership to one lucky reader. PLUS one other reader will win a free copy of the Johnny Appleseed Unit Study.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wizard of Oz unit inspired by Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Our preschooler has been a Mickey Mouse fan for a long time. This week Disney Junior is premiering the Wizard of Oz themed episode and Mini Piwi is excited! She begged for the DVD but we knew it would be on TV soon enough.

Now that it is here, I am surprising her with a Wizard of Oz theme. I am sharing our plans now so you can use these resources with your Mickey fans. We will be incorporating the following into our fun this week.

The Wizard of Oz (Anniversary Ed. for Young readers) adapted by Beth Bracken. In celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Wizard of Oz film release, Capstone younger readers have released a condensed and illustrated version. The title is filled with amazing stills from the movie and Beth Bracken does a great job at squeezing the film into 30 pages. It gives younger kids a taste of the story without the aspects that scared me as a kid (... the flying monkeys still kind of creep me out).

Last year we used some of the printables from the Wizard of Oz preschool Pack from Homeschool creations. I have pulled this out again and the scare free book the unit is based on The Wizard of Oz (Keepsake Stories).


From Homeschool Creations

I will also be including a few activities from Mickey Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1.


From 1+1+1=1

Here are two trays I prepared to begin the unit with.They both use printables from the Wizard of Oz preschool Pack from Homeschool creations.

Beginning letter match! A while back I picked up two sets of these Magnetic letters at the Dollar Store. We often match with them on the fridge! After the letter Matching activity we will follow up with the letter tracing sheet included in the pack.

Measure the Yellow brick Road. We are going to use several types of Math manipulatives to measure the distance between Dorothy and the emerald city on this sheet. You could also use coins, beans, beans etc.


Our crafts will be based on what each character is asking the Wizard for:

• Dorothy is asking to go home so we will make a cute 'Home is where the Heart is craft' at Think Craft Blog.

From Think Crafts Blog

• The Scarecrow hopes for a brain so we will be 'using our noodles' to string up some pasta pattern jewellery.

• The Tin man wishes for a heart and so we are going to make one using our hands as I found at Hand and Footprint Art. The poem, to go with it, is too cute!

From Hand and Footprint Art

• The Lion needs courage and so we are going to make a list of ways we can show courage and then create a bravery award.

Update: I have also found a link for the Printables from Disney to promote the original DVD release. You can find it here









I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for this unit as well. If they go as planned then I will have pictures and more ideas ready to share soon!

This post contains affiliate links to the titles of the books and DVDs.

Exploring the Ballad of Mulan through cooking

This year Miss K is using Reading Rewards, Level 3 . Last week's Literature Unit was centered around the retelling of Ancient poem The Ballad of Mulan* by Author Song Nan Zhang. As well as the activities in the lesson plan we decided to try and cook something that went with our theme.

Miss K asked to try Crab Ragoons. While not traditional Chinese cuisine that are on the Menu at many Asian style Restaurants. Piwi Daddy  had just watched an America's Test Kitchen episode about deep frying and decided to give it a go.

I made the filling and assembled the ragoons and then handed them over to be fried...
If you want to make this as an additional to your China Unit study then this is what you will need...

Ingredients:

• 20 wonton wrappers
• 1 brick of cream cheese (we used reduced fat)
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• Pinch of black pepper
• 4oz Flaked 'Krab'
• A cup of water for 'sealing the wrappers'
• Canola oil for deep frying

Add the cream cheese, Krab, sugar, onion powder, black pepper to a bowl and mix to combine.
Place a teaspoon of the mixture in the middle of each wonton wrapper. I made purse shaped Ragoons but you could make triangle shapes if you prefer. Either way just seal the edges by brushing a little water on the edges of the wrapper before folding it around the filling.

I wish I had a great tutorial for the frying part. I asked my husband how he did it and he said 'Keep the oil at 350 degrees and cook them until they turn golden, about 2 minutes'. If that makes as much sense to you as it did to me, I would suggest visiting a link at Americas' test Kitchen that explains how to deep fry a similar snack.

They turned out looking like 'real ones'. More Miss K and Piwi Daddy were pretty happy with the results.

* The Disney Movie 'Mulan' was loosely based on the Ancient Poem of Mulan by an unknown Author. We found several other books that had more information about Mulan.

Butterfly Unit Study & Lap Book

Our Earth day inspired project focused on helping local Monarch butterflies. If you haven't seen all the fun and learning we have been having then please go and check out Our Save the Monarchs posts and Pinterest board.

Miss K wanted to know more about all the local butterflies not just the Monarchs. All her reading and observations culminated into a colorful lap book.

The final product contains the printables from two free lap book as well as some of our own mini books.

Free Butterfly Mini Helper lap book by Home school bits

Butterfly Lap book from Home school Share

Title Page

We had just finished with a Hans Christian Andersen unit so Miss K added this quote from 'The Butterfly' to her title page.

The Lifespan tri-fold book was for Miss K to record the number days 6 different species spend in each stage of their life cycle. The Host plant flap book listed 20 different plants and the Caterpillars that use them as food sources.

Life cycle, Host Plants, Life span

Anatomy, Anatomy Glossary

The Anatomy of the Butterfly had us all amazed. Miss K would have happily spent several weeks learning about each species. A trip to Butterfly house got everyone even more excited!

Butterfly feeding

Butterfly or Moth, Wingspan, Texas Butterfly species.

Miss K is on the look out now for a pocket Butterfly Identification guide (and a flower guide...and one for trees). At the moment I am trying to decide between the Caterpillars, Bugs and Butterflies: Take Along Guide for younger kids or get one that will be good for years to come like the Peterson First Guide to Butterflies and Moths.

Mini Piwi had a week of Butterflies too!

Preschool Butterfly science and Food art

We have been seeing a lot of Monarchs and Painted Ladies in the park this week. What Butterflies have you noticed near you?