LIONS

This unit is designed around Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 3 Land Animals of the 6th Day by Apologia Press and the 1939 Caldecott Honor book Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty.

The kids and I had so much fun with this mini unit on Lions! 


I wanted to share what we did and also link up the printables that I created so you could use them too!

To start off, we got out our handy dandy KWL chart and filled out what the kids already KNEW about lions and a few questions they WANTED answered about lions.  After reading the information in the Animal Fact Cards, our Apologia Zoo 3 book, and checking a few resources online, we were able to fill out what they LEARNED about lions too.

    (Click Here)                                                                       (Click Here)

Then we dove right into the Book Pack!  Lots and lots of fun activities, including: vocabulary, writing activities, drawing activities, cutting/pasting, counting, cooking, and lots more!

(Click here for the Andy and the Lion Book Pack)

(Click here to print the Andy and the Lion Extension Pack)

I made this Extension Pack for the older kids mostly (2nd-4th grades).  After reading the story, they did a basic narration (for handwriting, grammar, and composition), a vocabulary list from the book, and a drew a cartoon just for fun.

Draw Write Now

A really fun part that we are adding to all of our science units is Draw Write Now.  We LOVE this art/writing series!  It gives step by step directions for drawing the animals and then a space for working on penmanship too, with a short narration included.  We only have books 7 and 8 for now, but I plan on adding others asap!












This was a fun and easy unit to add extra activities to.  One afternoon the kids played, “Lion Says” just like Simon Says.  Another we did Lion Puzzles, and played Lion Share a fun card game.  At the end of the week, the kids put together their own Circus and performed for us.  They even made a booth to sell tickets for 10 cents a piece!







Here’s a list of the resources we used:

Safari toob
Eric Carl puzzle
Circus pack
The Lion King Game
Lion Share Card Game (Can't find link...sorry)
How to make a sock puppet




We also made Caramel Corn for our Circus (recipe in Book Pack).  We actually make this a lot.  It’s so inexpensive, and makes your house smell like a candy shop!  Yum!

We of course had to visit the library during this unit, but really, we are there at least once a week anyway.  The day we went this week, the library dog was there.  The kids get to take turns reading to the sweet dog.  We checked out tons of lion books, and these were our favorites, especially the Library Lion.  Its an awesome story about how to behave in a library.  Our copy of Andy and the Lion is so old and basically falling apart.  But it remains a family favorite and is read over and over again.  I highly recommend adding it to your personal home library!

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After printing, I run the re-usable pages through the Scotch laminator and then cut the pieces out.  That way all of the work and expense can be re-used with my other children.  My printable packs are usually only about 14 pages and most of them are re-usable.  This has made my planning and workload a lot easier for the younger kids.  Basically everything is done, I just have to print out the 2-4 worksheets that are not laminated for the next kid in line.

We store our packs in a hanging file folder.  They are pretty inexpensive and easy to store in our pendaflex file box.  Each file gets a label.  I store all of the little pieces in snack size baggies and attach them to the file with heavy duty Velcro pieces.  The odd shaped pieces get attached with clips or in a larger baggie.  Then all of the other pages get stored inside the folder. 




Check out all of my other Free Printables:






I pray that providing these free printables will enrich your homeschool experience and make your planning a little easier!  I would love to hear if you have used these printables.  Please link back directly to my blog, not the document link provided.  Thanks!

The Poky Little Puppy {Free Book Pack!}

 

 

I have another FREE Book Pack for you today!  This pack is for one of our family favorites: The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey.  It is a 16 page pack of consumable and re-usable resources to help expand your child’s experience with the book.  I have also included several extra ideas in the planning pages.

 

 

Click here to print the pack:

Book Pack:  The Poky Little Puppy

 

 

 

To start, we read through the book each day.  After the second day, Elaina wasn’t to interested in listening to the story any more.  She would have preferred to “read” it herself to me, or read something else altogether. 

 

Each day, I would ask new questions about the story like, “Where would YOU like to explore in the wide wide world?” and “Why do you think it is important to obey your parents?”  Just to get her thinking in a certain direction.  Then I let her choose the activities from the pack in the order she was interested in.

 

 

 

Animal Sort:  There were lots of animals in the story, and we talked about each one and did this animal sort and sorted the animals by various differences.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Story Vocabulary Cards: We used the Read, Build, Write mats from Homeschool Creations with the vocabulary cards for a bit of spelling work. This time she used the scrabble pieces (great for upper-lower case matching!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Number Clip Cards: She still prefers the large clothespin clips over the smaller ones had originally set out for her. And yes, she is looking rather cross-eyed in this picture…

 

 

 



Roll-And-Graph:  She always enjoys the Roll-And-Graph games and usually wants to make a competitive game out of them. I’ve included cards to insert into a photo cube as well as a cube template you can cut out and tape together. (I run the template through the laminator, cut out, fold and tape. Then I store all of the assembled cubes to our units together in a plastic shoebox. )






Make-Your-Own Sign:  She made her very own sign to “warn” the puppies not to dig. Then she asked if she could cut it out and tape it to her door. Sure, why not?

Bible Verse Worksheet:  The Bible verse for the week was Ephesians 6:1:

 

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.”

 

This story is perfect for discussing obedience!  Elaina said they should have named him the naughty little puppy….



My 5 Senses:  This was her favorite part of the week: the 5 senses experiments!  Since the poky little puppy was so good at sniffing out the yummy desserts, I had Elaina sniff out a few different foods and try to guess what they were.



She guessed the cinnamon and vanilla easily, but couldn’t figure out the others.



I had her reach into a bag as well to feel a few objects for the Touch sense.  After that she listened to a few instruments to guess what she was hearing.  The most fun card though was the taste card.  I’ve included a fun video of her making her guesses.  (Click here if reading through email.)

Location Cards:  Just like in the story, where the puppy explores the wide wide world, we used the location cards to learn about different things we might see on an expedition of our own.  Then she painted a mural and incorporated each of the 4 locations.











Puzzle Game:  Match up the puzzle pieces with the roll of a dice.  Elaina loves this one too!







I pulled out the DOGS Preschool Pack and a few other dog themed toys for her to play with:



Feed the Puppy, Pet Block Puzzle, Dog Bones! Rhyming Game, and Good Dog Carl.  The picture above is a compound word file folder game I made a long time ago for the boys.



She also watched this cute video: The Poky Little Puppy and the Patchwork Blanket, and read through all of our dog books.



Then to finish off the unit we made a few recipes: Puppy Chow, and Chocolate Delight!

This was a fun and easy unit, perfect for getting back into the swing of things after our move! 

 

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!