Five In A Row: Lentil

This week we read a book that none of us had read before, but really enjoyed and that was Lentil.  Lentil is the story of a little boy who lives in Ohio and wants to make music but can't sing.  He decides instead to take up the harmonica.

Our calendar board/bookshelf...

As I said last week, the Five In A Row teacher's manual outlines lots of things you can do for each subject during the week and then there are printable packs and worksheets for free online that you can print off, which include maps, word searches, mazes, flags, graphs, copywork, etc.   We did less worksheets this week than we did last week, but we did more hands-on type things.  I think the book we are reading next week will go back to being more worksheet type activities (stay tuned!).  But, lest I get ahead of myself, we'll go one week at a time. 

LittleBear and LadyBear hard at work...

We read this Bible story and discussed the different gifts and talents that each person is given and talked about what we think ours are.  LittleBear then tried to learn how to play the harmonica, which he was super excited about. We also talked about the state of Ohio and America, in general.  We also learned a lot about our five senses this week and had lots of hands-on fun! 

He loved playing the harmonica!

Monday we talked about our sense of touch and looked at this fabric texture book I made for LadyBear (a baby gift for her that really came in handy!) and also played with a sensory bin of lentils!  Both kids loved the sensory bin and thankfully our vacuum took care of the stray lentils just fine :)  In fact, the sensory bin made several more appearances as the week went on.

Lentil sensory bin!

We took a day and talked about each of the other senses as well along with a "what is it?" activity that helped drive home the point about how all of our senses work.

What does LittleBear feel?

We also spent some time talking about our country, our military and what patriotism is.  I confess I have not taught him as well in this area as I should have, but hopefully this week helped him better understand who our armed forces are, what they do for us and why we love our country so much.

Working on a military art project...

Our field trip this week was to Baylor's campus, which is super familiar to the kids, but I wanted to show them something they might not have noticed before.  All around campus are these beautiful lampposts with plaques on them representing a Baylor student or alumnus who died while serving their country.

 One of the most recent plaques of a high-ranking officer killed in Iraq in 2003...

 
Recently a book called Soldiers of the Wooden Cross was published and it tells about each of these men and women.  We chose three out of the book (Evelyn Maureen Middleton, Merlin Shepherd Neff and Kim S. Orlando), read their story and found their lamppost on campus.

Reading about Merlin Shepherd Neff next to his lamppost...

If you have any connection to Baylor and have wondered about these lampposts in the past, please do yourself a favor and check this book out.  It has wonderful biographical information about each person and also lots of pictures of correspondence, medals, patches, vehicles, etc.  I definitely want to check it out again and go visit more lampposts!

We did take time to stop and smell the roses...

Both kids really enjoyed this book and I will certainly keep my eyes peeled for it at the used book store. 

LittleBear's finished project...

Resources and printables I used for Lentil can be found at:

Five In A Row Teacher's Manual

My Five In A Row Pinterest Board
Star Spangled Banner video sung by Whitney Houston
She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes video
The Kim Wilson Blues All-Stars video



Go Along Books we used for Lentil:
Squeaky by Ashley Elizabeth Blair Tetzlaff (LadyBear LOVES this book and most others by this author)
You Are Special by Max Lucado
The Five Senses by Sally Hewitt
The Magic School Bus Explores the Senses by Joanna Cole (super detailed, but LittleBear liked it)
I Wonder Why Lemons Taste So Sour: And other questions about the senses by Deborah Chancellor
Look, Listen, Taste, Touch and Smell: Learning about your five senses by Pamela Hill Nettleton
We're Different, We're the Same by Bobbi Jane Kates
Ohio Facts and Symbols by Emily McAuliffe
Our 50 States by Lynne Cheney
H is for Honor by Devin Scillian
A Paper Hug by Stephanie Skolmoski
Memorial Day by Jacqueline S. Cotton
Veterans Day by Jacqueline S. Cotton
Veterans Day by Rebecca Rissman
Don't Forget, God Bless Our Troops by Jill Biden
America: A Patriotic Primer by Lynne Cheney
The Wall by Eve Bunting
Soldiers of the Wooden Cross by Frank Jasek

Our story disk at home on our map...