Poppins Book Nook- The Great Outdoors

The theme for June for Poppins Book Nook was the great outdoors.  There is so much that can be done with this theme that it was hard to know where to start!  I had several library books about spring and summer and had planned to go with one of those.  But, Hunter didn’t want anything to do with those books.  Instead- he was interested in this one:

Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond.  Hunter loved this book!!  (Our dog, Dottie, just so happens to look just like Charlie.)

So, we talked about what it would be like to live on a ranch or a farm and all the planting and work that would be done outside.

Hunter planted some (actually, A LOT of) grass seed in a cup.

Hailey also planted some grass seed.

They each also planted some beans.  We watered and made sure they got some sunlight.

1 week later we had some growth.

They continued to grow

Hailey has given the grass several trims.

In talking about the great outdoors, we also did a fun unit all about worms and learned what they do for our earth and how important they are for our gardens.  I had no idea!  You can see a little more about what we did here and here.

Do you have a fun activity to share?

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities. Check out the other co-hosts for Poppins Book Nook:

Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ 3 Dinosaurs ~ To the Moon and Back ~ Planet Smarty Pants ~ Farm Fresh Adventures ~ Growing in God’s Grace ~ Chestnut Grove Academy ~ Learning and Growing the Piwi Way ~ The Usual Mayhem~ Preschool Powol Packets ~ Monsters Ed Homeschool Academy ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ Teach Beside Me ~ Life with Moore Babies ~ Kathy’s Cluttered Mind ~ Are We There Yet? ~ Our Crafts N Things ~ Hopkins Homeschool ~ ABC Creative Learning ~ Joy Focused Learning ~ P is for Preschooler ~ Laugh and Learn ~ A Mommy’s Adventures ~ Inspiring 2 New Hampshire Children ~ World for Learning ~ Ever After in the Woods ~ Golden Grasses ~ A glimpse of our life ~ Journey to Excellence ~ Happy Little Homemaker ~ Little Homeschool Blessings ~ Raventhreads ~ Tots and Me ~ As We Walk Along The Road ~ Stir the Wonder ~ For This Season ~ Where Imagination Grows ~ Lextin Academy ~ The Canadian Homeschooler ~ School Time Snippets ~ Peakle Pie ~ A Moment in our World ~ Every Bed of Roses ~ Finchnwren ~ At Home Where Life Happens ~ The Library Adventure ~ Embracing Destiny ~ Day by Day in our World ~ Our Homeschool Studio ~ A “Peace” of Mind ~ Thou Shall Not Whine ~ SAHM I am ~ eLeMeNo-P Kids ~ Simple Living Mama

Poppins Book NookGreat Outdoors Bundle Giveaway! Every month the Poppins Book Nook group will be offering readers a chance to win a brand new storybook or product that ties in with our theme for the month. This month one lucky entrant will win a copy of the classic storybook Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping as no one brings that certain flair and fun to the great outdoors like Amelia Bedelia. The winner will also win an Uncle Milton Nat Geo Starry Night Lantern so whether you live in the countryside or in the city your child can experience some of the great outdoors while reading your storybook. Entrants must be 18 years or older and reside in a country that receives U.S. Postal mail. This giveaway is brought to you by the company Enchanted Homeschooling Mom who is owner and founder of the Poppins Book Nook. By entering this giveaway you are also acknowledging that you have read and agree to all of the Rafflecopter terms & conditions as well as Enchanted Homeschooling Mom’s disclosures found here {http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/disclosures/}. Just enter the Rafflecopter below to win:

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Week in Review

I am a couple of weeks behind in posting my weekly reviews, so I am going to do my best to remember what we did.

Language Arts:

We continued our author unit study about Tomie dePaola from Around the Kampfire.

Hailey really enjoyed reading the books we used in our author study!

We read several books that had Big Anthony in them and we talked about cause and effect- how all of the things that Anthony did were the cause, and then the effect was the result of his actions.

On the left, Hailey wrote several things that Anthony did and on the right she wrote the results of those actions.

Hailey also made a post card pretending that Strega Nona had gone on vacation- she decorated the front of the post card and pretended that Strega Nona was in Disney World.

On the back she pretended to be Strenga Nona and  wrote a message to one of Strega Nona’s friends- she decided to write to Bambolona and told her about the fun she was having on vacation.

Science:

Our caterpillars arrived at the beginning of the week to go along with our study of caterpillars and butterflies.

Only a few days after their arrival they were already preparing to go into a chrysalis.

By Friday we only had a couple left that hadn’t formed a chrysalis.

We did a comparison of butterflies and moths and learned how to tell the difference between the two.

Hailey and Hunter painted one side of a butterfly, then folded the other side over to show how butterflies wings are symmetrical.

Hunter’s butterfly on the top and Hailey’s on the bottom.

Every day Hailey read us a book about butterflies.  She even used a butterfly puppet when she read on this particular day.  Hunter definitely enjoyed it!

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities.

Spring is in the Air

We made a little spring display in our classroom. Hopefully it will help spring to actually come to our area.

Hailey and Hunter painted some frogs.

They used water colors to paint some ducks.

Our board says, “Spring is the the air.”  We added our ducks and frogs to the board as well as some flowers.

Be sure to like me on Facebook and follow me on Pinterest so you don’t miss any of our fun activities.

ARTistic Pursuits Review

A favorite things to do at our house has always been art.  I have always struggled with what to do for art though.  I can put together a cute craft or project, but usually it’s just for fun- which is great- but sometimes I want a bit more educational value to go along with the activity we are doing.  Fortunately, Hailey takes an art class at our homeschool co-op, so I know she is getting some good art instruction.  But, I wanted to do something for her at home too- an art curriculum that I could easily implement- so I was really excited at the opportunity to review Early Elementary K-3, Book 2: Stories of Artists and Their Art from ARTistic Pursuits.

Stories of Artists and Their Art is a part of a homeschool art curriculum from ARTistic Pursuits.  There are books in the curriculum that come before this one, but you can start with this book if you want to.  This book focuses on the lives of artists from within the 13th century to the 18th century. Some of the artists included in Stories of Artists and Their Art are Giotto, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Turner.  In Stories of Artists and Their Art, there are stories written about the artists, written perfectly for children to enjoy and understand, and then there are art activities that relate to the artist your child is learning about.  Stories of Artists and Their Art is paperback and has a comb binding, includes 36 lessons (85 pages) and is $47.95. This particular book is for kindergarten through 3rd grade, but there are other art curriculum products for other ages available at ARTistic Pursuits.   In addition to purchasing the book, you will also need to purchase art supplies to complete the projects in the book.   You can order supplies directly from ARTistic Pursuits or you can purchase them on your own.

So, what did we think of Stories of Artists and Their Art?

Here is a sampling of some of the lessons we did:

Lesson 1 was about Cimabue.  First we read about Cimabue, what it was like when he was born and how he became an artist.  Then Hailey completed the project that went along with the story.  She was encouraged to paint a picture of a building in our neighborhood.

She set up her painting area like the book recommended doing.  There are also tips offered in the book- for example it suggested using your paint brush to drop a couple drops of water into the water colors to soften up the paint before starting.  This was a super helpful tip and made painting with water colors even easier.

Hailey decided to paint a picture of our neighbor’s house- this is her completed picture.

The next lesson we did was also about Cimabue and how some craftsmen stamped patterns into a gold surface by making indentations into the gold.

We used gold colored paper to represent the real gold for this activity.  Hailey had to cut the paper into the shape she wanted and then glue it on the paper.

Hailey’s completed artwork.

In lesson 3 we learned about Giotto and how he used rocks to scratch pictures onto large flat stones when he was a child.  He later worked as an apprentice for Cimabue and became a master painter as well.

For the next activity, Hailey used oil pastels to carefully color a piece of cardstock.  She used lots of colors and made it look very pretty.  When she finished coloring it, she colored over the entire picture with a black oil pastel.  This whole process took several days, but she had a great time.

When she finished, she used a paperclip to scratch the black off and create a picture.  This part was a bit messy- but it is art after all 😉  She loved the project and is very proud of her artwork hanging in our classroom.

One other lesson we completed was also about Giotto and how he used to do fresco painting- which is when the paint is applied to wet plaster.

Hailey spread plaster onto a piece of cardboard.

Hailey drew a picture using pencil onto the plaster of what she wanted to paint.

Then she used water colors to paint her picture.

I made a plaster surface for Hunter too, because he likes to be included in what we do- so here he is painting his plaster.

ARTistic pursuits is very clearly laid out- a short and simple story about an artist, followed by a fun project for the child to complete.  It is very easy to use and the activities are simple while educational.

Here is what it boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey loved it!  She listened to the stories- they kept her attention and she loved the projects.
It’s not just a project for the sake of doing art- there is real educational value behind the lessons.
It is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.

Cons:
Some of the art supplies that are recommend are a bit pricey.  But, that is easily fixed by purchasing generic supplies rather than the suggested name brand materials.

Overall, I would recommend ARTistic Pursuits.  We really enjoyed this homeschool art curriculum, we both learned a lot, and I plan to continue using it.

Want to see more of ARTistic Pursuits?  You can also check them out on Facebook.