We are adjusting to our new curriculum here this week. I must say that I am absolutely thrilled with both Five in a Row and Math-U-See. Tornado Boy responded very positively to both. We used Five in a Row to guide most of our week. We started the curriculum with the book “The Story About Ping”. I was unnecessarily concerned with the whole “read the same story five days in a row” thing. Tornado Boy was more than happy to read the book each day. He also requested it twice at bedtime.
The concept with Five In A Row is that you read the story each day for a week and then you look at it from a specific perspective for your lesson. You may do geography one day, math another, art, language arts or science, etc. Each day enhances the child’s understanding of the book and it also allows you to explore some of the topics in more depth if you choose. We explored China – her people and culture, maps, math (counting Ping’s family members as well as our own), and had a discussion about the illustrations in the book. It really is amazing how much you can learn when you start with one really good children’s book as a basis for your lessons.
We were lucky enough to have access to a really cool map exhibit this week. We have been using a variety of maps at home – a large laminated world map with flags, a small globe, and the Student Atlas of the World (shown at left). We took a long look at China this week. We looked at the topography, climate, culture, food and life there. We looked at a bit of the rest of Asia as well. We learned that the Yangtze River – on which the Story of Ping takes place – is the third longest river in the world. One of the things that Tornado Boy found interesting is that almost all families in China have only one child. We didn’t get much into the government mandates about it; but he found that interesting since he is an only child and that is a bit uncommon here.
We took a look at what life is like for children in China in the book “Children Like Me“. I really love this book. I bought it used at a homeschool curriculum fair and it has been such a great purchase. It features several different countries around the world. Each country has a two page spread with information about a child, and their family. It also gives some history of the country, some customs information plus things like their food and language.
We took a “field trip” to the grocery store and looked at many different Chinese and Asian foods that were for sale in the International section. Tornado Boy got to pilot the mini shopping cart (scary!!!) and he picked out a Pad Thai dish to try. Not quite Chinese, but if he’s willing to try new things, I’m happy! We even got a set of chopsticks at a local restaurant and gave them a try.
We ended up our week by watching a video about pandas (click the video tab), an animal native to China, and taking a look at Chinese writing. Tornado Boy was pretty fascinated with the characters. There are so many when compared to the 26 letters of our alphabet, and they are so intricate. We found a cool site that allows you to translate English words into their Chinese character equivalents. Once you’ve translated the word, you can click the word details (magnifying glass icon) link to see more about it. If you then click the yellow pencil icon, you can see an animation of the characters being drawn. This was really neat! Here is Tornado Boy in simplified Chinese characters:
One of the best things about Five in a Row is that so many people use it. The curriculum gives you plenty of ideas to work with; but there are tons more lesson plans and ideas posted on the Internet, too. We could easily spend another week exploring ideas related to Ping. There is so much flexibility and it is so easy to create lessons that work for the level and ability of your child. I’m so excited to work with this program!
Outside of Five in a Row we were on the go a lot this week. One of our favorite stops was the Children’s Museum where Tornado Boy had the chance to hatch from an egg, milk an artificial cow and play with some very cool vacuum tubes.
Want to see what some other Pre-K/K kids are up to this week? Visit Homeschool Creations for more ideas.
That’s how we used to teach reading in my old public school! We took one multiliterature book and do many thematic units around it. I may look into Five in a Row to guide our literacy development. Currently, I’m researching curriculums to see if we can use any of them but I’m reluctant to buy because many people don’t end up using them. I could see how Five in a Row would work because it offers flexibility!
I’m curiuos to know more about Math U See.
Sorry for the grammar and spelling typos…typing on phone keypad is bad.
It looks like you had a great week and off to a good start!
LOVE Math U See, we’re using it too, and it’s been great for us.
I totally forgot about Ping! I need to read that to my kiddos.
This map exhibit looks fantastic. I admit that I find it difficult to imagine that my daughter would agree to read the same book 5 days in a row even though the concept is definitely intriguing. We have the opposite problem – she doesn’t want me to read any book twice – she just grabs the ones she likes and reads them herself. She is always asking for new books to read when it comes to our joint story time.
We also really enjoyed China even though not everything went as planned. Perhaps TB would like to try his hand at paper making – one famous Chinese invention.