My kids and I LOVE this Reading Rainbow book: The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash. I really wanted some extra activities to go along with it, but couldn’t find any free ones online. So….I made some!
And some awesome news: I have it here to share with you guys for FREE!! Like my other book packs, it is a small set of consumable and re-usable printables to help expand your child’s experience with the book. I’ve included lots of extra ideas as well. It went along perfectly with our farm unit, and we even threw in an impromptu Boa Constrictor lesson too.
Here’s a look at what we did:
Click for Free Printables:
We read the book every day during our circle time, focusing on a different part of the story each time. For example, one day we talked about farms, another we talked about snakes, another we talked about cause and effect, and consequenses too. On the last day we talked about illustrations and how we can tell a story and expand on a story idea through pictures. We also checked out this video of the story.
I let Elaina choose what part of the pack she wanted to do each day. She was perfectly challenged with the Beginning and Ending Sounds Clip Cards.
She was so proud of herself for being able to complete these simple math equations: Throwing Eggs and Corn. I came up with a few scenarios (Jenny threw three eggs at Jimmy and Lisa threw one egg at Tommy. How many eggs where thrown?) She used the cut-outs to help her count and then found the numbers to mark her answer. Then she made her own word problems, and tested me! We did this one each day.
She drew her own boa under the wash…
And did some Spelling Words from the story on our own little "clothesline".
We went over the Golden Rule for her memory work this week: Treat others the way you want to be treated. She knows this well, as it is part of our family mantra. She is still learning how to apply it though….
This provided a natural way to discuss the children in the book, and how they acted towards each other and the animals on the farm. And that lead us to talk about Cause and Effect. This book is perfect for illustrating this concept. The cow was crying….because the haystack fell on her. The haystack fell on her….because the farmer knocked it over with his tractor.
We planned to visit a farm, but with our upcoming move, that has been put on the back burner. She drew a picture of one though and narrated to me her memory of last years trip to the farm. (I love the pig and sheep she drew!)
Elaina surprised me and asked to do a KWL chart on Boa Constrictors! Yes we can!
We used National Geographic for our animal facts and also watched this YouTube video and some others. I was totally creeped out with with all the snakes…but she loved it! Ewe…
After that we created our own masterpieces and painted some boa’s.
The girls both did a ton of other fun farm activities that we own including String-A-Farm…
Listen and Learn Farm Sounds Bingo…
Farm Fun Magnetic Learning Set and sound blocks…
And a lot of imaginary play with Little People Farm set. Even Duck the cat got to play!
They both enjoyed the Farm Felt set…
Farm animal lacing…
Leap Frog Fridge Farm….
And lots of puzzles!
We used this set of story prompts for the Farmer In the Dell and played a fun dice game called Roll-a-Barn.
We could have easily expanded this theme for another week, but alas, everything is now in boxes at the new place. Tomorrow I am hopeful to start unpacking and setting up the school room. You'd never believe how much stuff I have....hopefully I can find a place for it all!
For other fun book packs click here!
All of the Book Packs are provided free of charge, and I hope that they enrich your homeschool experience and make your planning a little easier! I would love to hear from you if you have used these book packs. Please link back directly to my blog, not the document link provided. Thanks!
All of the Book Packs are provided free of charge, and I hope that they enrich your homeschool experience and make your planning a little easier! I would love to hear from you if you have used these book packs. Please link back directly to my blog, not the document link provided. Thanks!
7 comments:
Your cat pics just crack me up! :) The pack is adorable-- love the spelling clothesline. So clever!
This is AWESOME!
Reading this post I came up with about 100 things I wanted to comment on. I just found out that Reading Rainbow has videos and books still. I used to LOVE that show! We watched one on dairy cows yesterday.
I love the sound cards but since Josie mastered beginning sounds we haven't used them. I never thought to work on ending sounds with them!
I'm going to print this out and do a farm unit in the spring with them. I hope our library has that book!
Oh, one more!
Isn't National Geographic Kids amazing??? I also JUST found out about this site and we've been using it for our geography lessons. I'm going to go hunt down some animal videos now too.
Uh...this cat is always doing funny things! Thanks! The pack was fun to do :)
Thanks Nicole! I used to love Reading Rainbow too! (Butterflies in the sky....I can go twice as high...haha!)
I can't wait to see how you like the pack! I think farm units have been our favorites so far - so much to do. I found the book at a thrift store this summer for $0.50...what a steal!
Thanks for all of your kind words!
Yes we love that site and have used it tons! I like that it was "safe" for kids too :)
These printables look great! We have that farm floor puzzle as well. Hope to get it out and do it with Liam soon.
Post a Comment