We are using Five in a Row curriculum Volume 2 for our first year of Kindergarten. Our first book was
Mirette on the high wire
by Emily Arnold McCully.
We "rowed" this book for 2 weeks and at the end of every book we do a FIAR co-op with a couple other families. Here is a look into what activities we did during those 9 days!
Day 1:
Science: Physical Education (pg. 63)
-J practiced his "high wire" skills in our backyard.
 |
| Toasting the crowd while walking the hire wire like Bellini did in the book. |
 |
| Bellini also shot a cannon while on the high wire so J decided to shoot his gun up there. |
Day 2:
Social Studies: Geography - Paris, France (pg. 56)
-We studied France, their flag, their national anthem and some foods they are known for.
 |
| We talked about the French flag and then J painted his own |
 |
| Here is our story disc placed over France. J colored the story disc too. |
Day 3:
Art: Medium- Watercolor (pg. 60)
-I picked out a picture from the book and J tried to duplicate it using water colors. After he was done painting he explained to me what the picture was about and then he copied over my writing!
 |
| Doing some "writing" for the day! |
 |
| Here is the original picture. | | | | |
|
|
Day 4:
Art: Circus Poster (pg. 62)
-We actually did a collage for this activity with pictures that represent France. We talked about all the the pictures and he really enjoyed getting to cut and glue his collage together. J also copied my writing that said "Mirette and Bellini".
 |
| Add caption | | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Day 5:
Art & Science
-I got the idea for this next activity from the blog below. We invited a few of our friends over cause isn't everything better with friends? I cut the cardboard (old cereal boxes) into the shape of butterflies the night before. The kiddos colored their butterflies, put their teacher tacky down, stuck the unsharpened pencil end down into the tacky and then tried balancing the butterfly just like Mirette balanced on the high wire. It took them a few tries to figure it out and then we made it even harder....we added 2 pennies to the front wings. They figured out that you had to move the point of contact with the pencil more towards the front of the butterfly so it wouldn't tip over. Overall...Great activity!
Day 6:
Social Studies:
Not giving up- or Practice Makes Better! (pg. 57)
- This activity talked about how both Bellini and Mirette practiced walking the high wire a lot in hopes of becoming good. They did not give up no matter how many times they fell. We talked about what J likes doing and about how practicing helps him get better. He loves soccer and plays almost daily so that night we went to daddy's soccer game and I had him "practice" just like Mirette and Bellini did. Now that was a really fun activity.
 |
| No my husband doesn't play for the Galaxy and that is not where J got to "practice" but I don't have a photo of J playing soccer so this is what you get! Go LA Galaxy!!!! |
|
|
|
|
|
Day 7:
Clown Pattern Blocks
-Since the story talks about the vegabonds that stay at this boarding house I decided we could incorporate the whole "circus" theme. This book talks about mimes, high wire walkers, jugglers and acrobats so we did a clown pattern blocks sheet! J just attended the Ringling brothers barnum bailey circus with his grandma so thankfully this was all very fresh in his mind.
Day 8:
Make edible Eiffel tower
-I got the idea from the blog below and just fell in love with this activity. Now I must admit there was some structural help from mommy but he had a blast putting it together with just frosting and sugar wafers. After we finished the Eiffel tower it was quickly getting wobbly so J decided it was time to eat it.
 |
| Yummy snack! |
Day 9:
Math: Counting (pg. 62)
-Every day before we would start a Five In A Row activity I would read him the book Mirette on the high wire and this day was no different except we were on a mission....to count windows! We read through the entire book and J's job was to be on the look out for windows and count them. I kept a tally on a piece of paper and let's just say there were a LOT!
We only did activities for 9 days because the 10th day we have a FIAR co-op with many other families and 3 more activities there. I am thoroughly enjoying this Five In a Row curriculum and can't wait for our next book to start on October 3rd.
