Our Latest Row ~ Three Names (and Other Read-Alouds this week!)

We've been rowing Three Names by Patricia Machlachlan this week.   It's been a while since we've done a Five In A Row title... we have missed them.  This particular title is from Volume Two.  Last year, we rowed quite a few books.  Whenever we use a FIAR title things just always come together in a way that is so meaningful and unique.

In our 50 state study we have been learning about some prairie states, so this book fit in perfectly!  I just love it when everything comes together.  

GMan worked on a lapbook (found through Homeschool Share) and completed some very fun pieces about life on the prairie, the one room schoolhouse, how to play marbles, descriptive words, and title ideas.

   

One thing I added to this book study was some music.  My favorite composer is Aaron Copland, and his Red Pony Suite was just perfect for with this book.  I found a simple composer notebooking page (via Homeschool Helper Online) and we learned a little about Copland and analyzed his music.  

 Of course we spent lots of time playing marbles!   We had learned to play marbles last year, so this was a good refresher.  The weather has been beautiful, so the kids took a quilt to the driveway, drew the circle with chalk, and played for quite a while this week.  

Miss B has an arrangement of Simple Gifts -- a Shaker song composed in 1848, but later used in Copland's Appalachian Spring -- in one of her piano books.  We pulled it out this week, and she learned it for GMan.   I love how she participated in one of his projects!  

Other read-alouds this week:

King of the Wind -- we are LOVING this story; it is a part of Miss B's study of horses. The genre, fictionalized biography, is very interesting to me... I have two other horse books by Marguerite Henry and am anxious to see what those are like as well.  

Childhood of Famous Americans: Betsy Ross - This is a Beyond Five in a Row title that has quite a few interesting activities to go with along with each chapter.  

Two Bobbies:  This is a true story about a dog and cat rescued after Hurricane Katrina.  I won't tell you what makes the story so special... just know that it is well worth the read!  

I'm linking with Amy, at Hope is The Word... visit her site to see what other people are reading aloud this week!