Mayflower Flapbook with Five in a Row's "Cranberry Thanksgiving"

Yet another wonderful book was read this week through our Five In A Row Curriculum-- "Cranberry Thanksgiving" by Wende and Harry Devlin.  I definitely plan on reading this every year around Thanksgiving.  

It is a story about a young girl and her grandmother getting ready for their Thanksgiving feast; each invited a guest--because "friendship and sharing were important."  

To Grandmother's surprise, Maggie invited the man who was after her famous Cranberry Bread recipe, ... or so she thought.  It turns out that the man who "smelled of lavender and had a gold cane" was after Grandma's special Cranberry Bread recipe-- not "Maggie's clam-digging friend , Mr. Whiskers." 

Never judge a book by it's cover.

... And, Grandma's special recipe is in the back of the book... SHH!  Don't tell ; )

Homeschooling with Five in a Row 

Social Studies

• Colored the states that make up New England; it's really cute to hear T try to say some of the names!
• Just like Grandmother found out that judging solely on looks can be deceptive, T did too....

**This idea was not my own!  I found it in the archives on the Five In a Row website.  I took two bags-- one that looked pretty and one that was an ugly plastic grocery store bag; the surprise was that inside the pink bag was a dirty diaper and the plastic grocery bag had a chocolate chip cookie in it!  T of course chose the pink bag because, "it was pink."  It may have been pretty on the outside, but the inside was rather yucky!**

• Talked about Thanksgiving and we started a "Thankful Turkey;"  T adds a feather with something he is thankful for onto the Turkey everyday leading up to Thanksgiving.  Should I be concerned that I was the FOURTH thing he named-- after little sis, toys, and Daddy?!
• Thanksgiving Timeline
• Watched a short Mayflower Deconstruction video-- very informative!
• Played Sail the Mayflower game for a little math and social studies interaction : )
• Learned about who the Pilgrims were and the boat they sailed on, The Mayflower.  T colored a picture of the Mayflower, but I wanted something more interactive so I made a puzzle and then turned it into a flapbook!  I think it turned out cute!

**It was a tedious project, but it was worth it!  I only wish I had used cardstock instead of regular construction paper.  First I cut out my puzzle pieces.  Next I laid them onto the blue piece of construction paper and traced where everything should go.  Then I mixed all the pieces up and had Tyler put it back together.  Finally, I glued the edges of each flap piece in place thus making it a lift-a-flap book, too!  And as noted in the picture, I wrote Mayflower facts onto the blue paper before I had T put the puzzle together.**

Lift a flap to learn something new!



Language Arts

• Made a list of adjectives that described our Cranberries.

• Completed a cute "I have....., but the Pilgrims did not" writing activity.

• Reviewed Similes (I'm not concerned that T knows the term, but more to have an awareness of the concept) with a fill-in-the-blank worksheet:

The slipper was as soft as a blanket.

The water was as cold as the floor.

I ran as fast as a cat.

The knock on the door was as loud as fireworks.

The cloud looked like a feather.

• Talked about 'repetition' in a story.  Lately I've had "Down By the Bay" in my head (don't ask why!) and since the first line repeats throughout the song, we read that to reinforce the concept.
• Copywork and our Narration cube

Math

• Turkey Addition Sort.  I had T use a number line if he needed help figuring out an answer and he did great!



• Turkey Grid Game
• Odd/Even Turkey Worksheet-- I don't know where I found it, but it was great practice.
• Worked on measuring skills while making our Cranberry Bread!

Workin' hard!

Grandmother's Secret Recipe!

Art

• The manual suggested a lesson on the Warm Color Palette, so I had T color a turkey in reds, yellows, and oranges.  To compare 'feelings', I colored a turkey in Cool colors.  Warm colors are much more exciting, vibrant, and fun!  The Warm Palette turkey made him feel happy and the Cool Palette turkey made him feel sad!  So interesting how colors can shape how we feel!  And it's also interesting to learn that T already has a "picture" for how everything should look-- he had a hard time keeping to his Warm colors as he wanted green for the grass and blue for the sky!

Cool (not cold) Palette vs. Warm Palette

• Watercolor silhouette of a Turkey

• Turkey Lacing activity

Science

• Learned about Turkeys! 
• Cranberry Sink or Float activity; watched a few videos on YouTube about Cranberry farms.

Our own Cranberry Bog!

• Reviewed the Four Seasons: I pulled out a puzzle I had found a loooooooong time ago-- before Pinterest (sigh!) so i am not sure where it is from, and had T complete it.  Then we each took turns playing, "What Season Am I."
• There's actually a few more ideas in the manual that I think we'll do next week!

 I hope you check this book out, if you haven't already, it really is a sweet book with many lessons to be learned!

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