Five in a Row...Make Way for Ducklings

I've been intrigued by the Five in a Row program for a while, and I finally decided to order the book. (since I had amazon credit...THANKS to everyone who clicks in to Amazon through the button in my sidebar!) I chose Volume 2 since I already had 4 of the books. We've only "rowed" 2 books, but so far we LOVE it! (click on the link to the Five in a Row homepage to read more about the program...because I am too lazy to explain it well :)

Our first Five in a Row book was Make Way for Ducklings. I am keeping this process as simple as possible, and we are reading the book and then having the discussions suggested in the book. I've decided against making lapbooks and ordering the Fold n Learns...for now. I love how this process has prompted me to look deeper at the books and to see things that I didn't notice before. I've been amazed by how perceptive O is as she has demonstrated in our discussions. On Art day, I gave O a brown pencil and her sketch book and encouraged her to draw a picture with just a brown crayon like the illustrations in the book. I was very surprised when she showed me her drawing of a duck. She did a great job and was proud of herself!



We are "rowing" Peter Rabbit this week. O loves the book, and she was excited to learn about onomatopoeia today :) She has also had fun acting out the book, but she insists that Mr. MacGregor is out of town, and she doesn't want anyone to act out his part. We've also been planting our garden this week which which coincides perfectly with the reading of this book.

I am looking forward to "rowing" more books and plan to continue this even after O begins school in the fall. I'd love input on the Fold n Learns...are they worth the money? They seem a bit pricey to me. I'm also interested in the Five in a Row Nature Studies books. If anyone has any experience with either of these products, I'd love to hear more about them. Thanks!