FIAR- Night of the Moonjellies
Last week, we “rowed” Madeline as a warm up to get into a routine. We only did the activities out of the manual and talked over the lessons, but this week I wanted to give Night of the Moonjellies a try with all the bells and whistles.
For those of you who don’t know what “Five in a Row” is- FIAR is an early elementary/preschool program where you read a children’s book every day for a week, and then do activities that correlate with the book each day, covering topics like language arts, art, math, science and social studies.
Monday
Sunday night, I made the kids a “Jellyfish” that was waiting in a jar to greet them. He was our unofficial mascot all week, and the boys LOVED him. I’m pretty sure Mr. Man still thinks he’s real.
Ticking his ‘pet jellyfish’
We are using Expedition Earth and Road Trip USA with FIAR for geography studies, so this week, we studied New Hampshire, since the book happens in New England. If I had planned this better, I would have saved New Hampshire for when we row Robert Frost, and used Connecticut (the location for the real Mar-Gra’s restaurant) instead. But, you live, you learn.
The kids colored the state fact sheet and found it on the map. We looked up the state bird, butterfly, flower and flag so we could color them more accurately.
Tuesday
After reading the book again we discussed how restaurants operate, and all the work that goes into running a restaurant. The kids compared the responsibilities the boy in the book had to the chores we do at home. We discussed responsibilities, and then set up our own play restaurant.
Bug practiced adding money as the “waiter” and Mr. Man “cooked” the food. Daddy cooked real burgers and made milkshakes for us to use in our restaurant.
Wednesday
We used elements from the 1+1+1=1 ocean tot pack to practice sequencing and numbers.
We also looked up jellyfish online and added the jellyfish to our animal classification wall. I’m still not sure where the darn thing goes, so he is living off to the side of the poster in “Mom’s not sure” land. I know he isn’t a mammal. Someone can feel free to pipe in on the jellyfish in the comments for me (the options on our board are: fish, mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and arthropods).
Thursday
I had wanted to take the kids to see real jellyfish, but it didn’t work out for us this week. Instead, we played in the sand and looked for sea glass (no sea glass in the sand box). Little Miss had never been in sand before, and loved it.
We came home and watched an ocean documentary while completing the aquarium scavenger hunt.
Friday
We finished putting together our lap-book and illustrated the story card for the cover.
The kids had a blast painting their own jellyfish picture. I bought glow bracelets to put in the bathtub later, but I need to find them before I can do it. Jellyfish WILL show up in the tub sometime in the near future.
Next week, we’ll be rowing “The Glorious Flight” and spend all week talking about airplanes and England. I have a trip planned to Frankfurt Airport for a tour, so hopefully everything goes as planned!
Links and How-to’s
Deepspace Sparkle watercolor jelly fish
Love the artwork. We are uisng FIAR this year as a literature guide for my little ones.
What fun your kids are having as they learn! I’d love to hear more about how you made the jellyfish in the jar. I’ve never seen anything like that before.
Way cool 🙂
Karon- I linked to the instructions at the bottom of the post, I got that awesome project from another blogger!
I’m loving the pet jellyfish idea! What great fun you are all having! Thanks for posting this, along with the awesome pics. Keep it up!