Wow, it has been a while since I did a Five In A Row blog post! This week we read "Who Owns the Sun?" which is a story about a little boy who finds out that his father and their family is owned by another man in the South before slavery was abolished. I admit I was not initially excited about this book (even though it is really well written), only because it meant I needed to explain slavery and racism to my five year old. Overall it went well and I'm glad I got to be the one to introduce the concept to him so we could talk about it and answer any questions he might have.
Our calendar board for the week...
The second day we learned more about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. It took a bit of convincing that there were no actual trains involved, but I think he eventually got it and was interested in learning more about what happened. God is so good because in BSF right now we are learning about Moses and how he followed the Lord in freeing the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt and that perfectly aligned with this unit that I was originally so hesitant to teach. Harriet Tubman was nicknamed "Moses" for the work she did freeing as many slaves as she could and I really think studying Moses right alongside Harriet Tubman helped him better understand what was going on. I learned that he loves the spiritual "Go Down Moses" and we sang it quite a bit throughout the week (even LadyBear). Here's a preview during breakfast:
We also talked about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his work in promoting love (and not hate) among all people and went through pictures of our visit in Birmingham, AL. Our character quality for the week was Love, so that tied in nicely as well. I assure you, I wish I could say that I planned this all out perfectly, but I didn't. The Lord is gracious and good to us!
Daddy, Mommy, LittleBear and LadyBear's hand prints...
In the book, it talks about Big Jim's hands and how strong they were, so we made a simple art project of our family's hands that the kids both enjoyed. LittleBear is also rocking along on his spelling/handwriting and math work! He got several stickers this week and I am really proud of the work he is doing. Go LittleBear!
Adding some stickers to a well-deserved and written worksheet...
LadyBear working on an ABC puzzle...
I am so thankful LittleBear got his Daddy's math brain!!!
Excuse the crumbs on the table...ahem.
People, I think our Co-Op art class is paying off because when I said we were going to make a list of "things too wonderful to own" I had planned on having LittleBear come up with the ideas and writing them down myself. He started coming up with ideas and I started writing them down with simple pictures next to them and he started doing it too on his very special Star Wars list paper. I was so proud of him for trying to draw these things! He never tries to draw anything, but he did a really good job!
Our field trip this week was to feed the ducks again on the Brazos river. We talked about the sun and the river and the beautiful weather as more things that were too wonderful to own and the kids loved it as usual. We even had a train go by, which was just another element of fun added to the trip!
Feeding the ducks on the Brazos with the train in the background:
The book also talked about Momma's biscuits and the little boy taking them to Daddy for lunch, so we had biscuits and honey at home as a yummy meal, which was fun.
We didn't get through all the library books I checked out, but I think there is another book that deals with slavery in the South that we will "row" later this year, so I'll just check those out again when we read that one.
Resources and printables I used for Who Owns the Sun can be found at:
My Five In A Row Pinterest BoardThe Harriet Tubman Story via Youtube
Go Down Moses as sung by the Harlem Gospel Singers via Youtube
Go Along Books we used for Who Owns the Sun (* indicate ones we especially liked):
*Who Owns the Sun by Stacy Chbosky
*A Book of Seasons by Alice and Martin Povenson
*The Four Seasons For Little People by Joseph M. Parramon
*If You Traveled On the Underground Railroad... by Ellen Levine
*The Value of Helping: The Story of Harriet Tubman by Ann Donegan Johnson
*I Have A Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
*Martin's Big Words by Doreen Rappaport
*Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford
Rosa by Nikki Giovanni
The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles
Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia C. McKissack & Jerry Pinkney
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson
Henry's Freedom Box by Ellen Levine
Working Cotton by Sherley Ann Williams
Under the Quilt of Night by Deborah Hopkinson
Almost to Freedom by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Anyway, in the end I am glad we did this book and am thankful to have it in our library.
LittleBear adding our story disk to our map of the world...
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