Monday, April 26, 2010

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!

9 comments:

  1. I'm coming out of lurkdom to share a link with you...
    http://www.homeschoolshare.com/five_in_a_row_resources.php

    FREE lapbooks that go along with FIAR books. Plus tons more.

    Enjoy. ;-)

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  2. Melissa, I have only bought one FNL (Blueberries for Sal) - the quality was fine, but I was disappointed in what you get for the price - very skimpy, IMO. The resources at HSS are great. We do a lap journal and incorporate lapbooking one day a week as a way to remember our learning fun. We are starting with B4FIAR - you can see how we are using it here:

    http://delightfullearning.com/category/b4fiar/

    (Scroll all the way to the bottom to see how I am organizing it all - really a big help to me).

    Welcome to FIAR, we love it too! =)

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  3. We've been using Before Five in a Row and really like it too.

    You might want to check out the blog www.blogshewrote.blogspot.com. It's not mine (it's a woman who spoke at our MOPS group). She's rowed with many books with her four homeschooled children and I like poking around her site for ideas.

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  4. Great job on starting. You are creative and I think the fold and learns are nice, but you can do it your self. We enjoy lapbooking, which basically is taking a file folder and folding it and adding wheat you learn in the folder.

    The nature studies look great, that is new to FIAR. I have the FIAR holidays, which is nice when they get a bit older.

    We just rowed Little Nino's Pizzeria today and just posted about it. I really think your daughter may enjoy lapbooking, you can keep it very simple, but it's a great way to grammy and pop-pop what they learned. Karen

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  5. I am sooo glad that you are joining the FIAR family ;) I have been reading your blog for awhile...and always thought...SHE SHOULD LOOK INTO FIAR...she would LOVE it! I have been doing before FIAR for the past year with my 5, 3 and 1 year olds...I own the big book with the first 3 volumes combined...which we will start getting into soon with my 5 year old...and I will probably keeping rowing before with my younger two...It is such a great curriculum! You should check on the FIAR forums (www.fiveinarow.com)...a great family there!

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  6. I am sooo glad that you are joining the FIAR family ;) I have been reading your blog for awhile...and always thought...SHE SHOULD LOOK INTO FIAR...she would LOVE it! I have been doing before FIAR for the past year with my 5, 3 and 1 year olds...I own the big book with the first 3 volumes combined...which we will start getting into soon with my 5 year old...and I will probably keep rowing before with my younger two...It is such a great curriculum! You should check on the FIAR forums (www.fiveinarow.com)...a great family there!

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  7. okay...it looks like I accidently published my comment twice :) Oops!!!

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  8. I love readiang your blog and appreciate your willingness to share your great ideas. I just found out about FIAR and have never seen their foldables, but have used Dinah Zike's for Elementary and Jr. High students and they are wonderful. Look in the manipulatives section for samples.

    http://www.dinah.com/

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  9. I am just starting B4FIAR with my almost 4 yr old and 2 yr old, as well as incorporating it into my home daycare lesson planning! I love it so far:)

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