Tag: writing

Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Weekly Lesson Plan Links & Guide

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog18 Comments

**Although I try to provide as many FREE resources as possible this post may contain affiliate links alt no extra cost to you. We may earn a small commission, if a purchase is made through these links, which helps to support our blog and our family. Thank you!

Click Here for Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Weekly Lesson Plan Links Only

How we use these lesson plans:

Our school week is usually completed in 4 days. We use a Loop Schedule where we work for a designated amount of time on each subject before moving on to the next. After their work is completed for the day the kids are allowed to have independent studies were they can study whatever their little hearts desired.

Our 5th day is an optional day that we use to complete unfinished work or for other activities as we choose.

Please click HERE for a list of resources that we have purchased from Amazon and other suppliers.

Click on the links below for the series you would like to view/use. I will update these links as we get them finished.

Tip: If you want to go to a certain week/chapter or topic simply push the ‘ctrl’ and the ‘F’ button down together and a small bar will pop up. Type in the week number or chapter number you want and it will take you to it.

1. Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Week 1 Lesson Plans

  • Language Arts:
    • Read Chapters 1 & 2
    • Discussion
    • McGuffey Primer Lesson
    • Vocabulary
    • Writing Activities
    • These week we learn about fiction vs. nonfiction
    • Make a Pioneer Journal
    •  Mother Goose Phonics: Pat A Cake
  • Math:
  • Geography and History:
    • State Study: Wisconsin
    • Research Pioneer Life
  • Science:
    • Learn about Bears
    • Learn about Panthers
    • Research Microbes and Bacteria
    • Learn about Density
    • Bonus: Why does fire burn different colors?
  • Life Skills:
    • Research Pioneer Chores
    • Making our bed
    • Interrupting
    • Memory Work
    • Fun activities: Make Butter
    • Bonus Skills: Memorizing the books of the Bible, Archery, and/or Baking
  • PE, Health & Safety:
    • Stranger Danger
    • Play Little Brown Bear
  • Music, Arts, and Crafts:
    • Crafts: Hog’s Bladder Balloons, Corn Cob/Husk Dolls, Snowflakes, and Paper Dolls
    • Art: Bulldogs, Jack Frost
    • Music: Yankee Doodle Dandy, Butter Churning Song

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Little House In The Big Woods Adventure Week 7 Lesson Plans

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

**Although I try to provide as many FREE resources as possible this post may contain affiliate links alt no extra cost to you. We may earn a small commission, if a purchase is made through these links, which helps to support our blog and our family. Thank you!

Mornings:

We Start every morning off with our prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance. Below is a picture of the prayers that we say and a video of the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Not the prettiest example but that’s what we’ve been using for the past few years.

Don’t have a flag? Grab one HEREand print it out to put up somewhere… you could even let the kids make a flag to proudly display. Amazon also has some little ones like this one HERE and HERE.

After this we have our calendar time also where we go over such things as the Days of the Week, the months, and some basic math.

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This one came from Lakeshore Learning.

Tip: If you want to go to a certain week/chapter or topic simply push the ‘ctrl’ and the ‘F’ button down together and a small bar will pop up. Type in the week number or chapter number you want and it will take you to it.

Week 7: Finishing Up

Here is our lesson plan for the week:

Language Arts

Math

You can work on a lesson in your Ray’s Arithmetic Books or other math workbook. (The lessons below reflect what we worked on.)

Group:

Rotate through these activities:

Click HERE to check for updates.

Older Kids:

Younger Kids:

Geography and History

1. State Study **

  • Review the states we learned about and choose a state to research more.
  • Write a report about the state and include at least 3 interesting facts about the state.

2. Continue to Research the Gold Rush. **

  • Finish your speech!
  • Give your speech!

Bonus: **

Research the main ways of pioneer transportation.

  • How do our methods of transportation differ?
  • What ways, if any, do we still use today?

Here is an interesting video about transportation methods you can watch.

Fun things to do:

The Scrambled States of America Puzzle and Book Set

Science

1. Pick out a previous topic to research more and write a report about it.

2. Check out some other forest animals. Which ones have you seen before?

3. Check out these other videos for more information for you Gold Rush Speech.

  • How is Gold Mined?
  • How is Gold processed?
  • How is Gold used?

Fun Projects:

  • My kids also enjoyed reading:

 Bears on the Brain (Science Solves It!)

Life Skills

Be sure to continue practicing your manners at home and away from home.

1. Research Maple Syrup as an alternative natural sweetener

  • Discuss what you learned.

2. Research the history of Johnny Cakes

  • Watch this video:
  • What are two other names these are known by?
  • Bonus points for making up a batch of these today! Here is a recipe.

Check out these Pioneer recipes that are still around today:

3. Learn about the Sabbath Day.

  • Discuss what you learned.
  • How can you observe the Sabbath Day in your home?

Bonus Lesson/Activities:

  • Make some Pioneer Taffy.
  • Check out this video about preparing for a Pioneer Trek. (Mormon Pioneer Trek Preparation Demo)
  • Learn how to clean a gun, with your parent’s permission!
  • Look up at least two Bible verses about Gold, choose one to memorize.
  • Research Pioneer Fashion

Here is one about Amish clothing which is similar to the pioneer clothing:

  • Discuss what you learned.
  • How do these differ from our clothing today?

PE, Health & Safety

    1. Practice making healthy food choices
    1. Research Cabin Fever and ways to prevent/cure it.
    1. Make a Giant Tic-Tac-Toe Game

  • Bonus: Research Tobacco.

  • (mentioned in Chapter 9)
  • https://youtu.be/DORfPGMv-kc
  • https://youtu.be/fF7SNcw7kxQ
    • Discuss what you learned.
    • List 3 different side effects of tobacco use.

  • Games/Outdoor Play

  • Play any of the games listed above or choose your favorite game to play.
  • Continue your Square Dance lessons.

Music, Arts & Crafts

Crafts:**

  1. Choose a previous craft that you haven’t done yet.
  2. Make a Spoon Doll p. 14 Pioneer Crafts for Kids
  3. Make a Pioneer Doll p. 32 Pioneer Crafts for Kids
  4. Make a Log Cabin Photo Frame p. 36 Pioneer Crafts for Kids
  5. Make a Pioneer Life Diorama p. 51 Pioneer Crafts for Kids
  6. Use My Book of Little House Paper Dolls: The Big Woods Collection to reenact and retell the story to someone.
  7. Build a Pretzel Log Cabin
  8. Make a log cabin with Lincoln Logs.

Art:

  1. Choose a previous project that you haven’t done yet.
  2. Draw a picture of your earliest memory and write a story about it.**

Music:

  1. Am I A Soldier of the Cross? p. 138 Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook

2. The Star Spangled Banner p. 80 Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook

**BE SURE TO SAVE A FEW SAMPLES OF YOUR WORK FOR YOUR  PORTFOLIO!  TAKE PICTURES OF BIG PROJECTS!

Momma, I can write!

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

Anyone with kids, especially boys, can know how hard it is to help them get their handwriting to a legible state. It starts when they are young as a scribble and progresses as they get older. Well, my youngest who is 3, and my special needs son who is 14, both have a lot of trouble in this area. I don’t want to push them and I know that it will happen in time but I was running out of ideas to get them interested and to encourage them in this area.

My 4 year old just picked up a crayon one day and started writing his name.The 3 year old has shown absolutely no interest in wanting to draw, trace, or attempt to write his name. He would ‘trace’ them with a toy dinosaur or a race car but nothing more than that. He knows the majority of the alphabet by sight and can tell you what the sounds are but just doesn’t want to write.

We have used playdough to make letters. We have tracing pads, tracing games on the tablets, and a variety of other activities. Sometimes they like to pull out the Wikki Stix and use them as well to make letters. When it comes to actually writing they would often just plain out refuse or the 14 year old would conveniently ‘forget’ how to write.

That was before Christmas. For Christmas the kids received a couple of drawing pads. They love them! Then we also got a couple more of the same things, see So Much More Than A Basketball, at their older sister’s house. This was indeed a blessing!

Now the boys have been drawing and drawing and drawing. First thing they grab in the morning is a drawing pad. They wait for their Grandpa to stop in and they play ‘Guess What I Drew?’ with him. The kids don’t realize that they are strengthening their fine motor skills, they are learning the proper way to hold a writing utensil, and they are using their imaginations. The difference a couple of weeks can make has been incredible!

The 3 year old is not only learning to draw some amazing art work but he has been practicing his letters as well. He walks around the house with his drawing pad and finds letters and words to copy. Now he will ask me to write things on the drawing pad for him to copy too.

This enthusiasm has rubbed off on big brother as well and he has been practicing his name on the drawing pads and on the huge chalkboard in the playroom. It makes my heart smile to see them happily doing these things on their own. We didn’t have ‘school’ for the past two weeks either so that has given them a chance to explore and practice on their own. This is helping them to build their independent working skills as well.

Another benefit is that the kids are also learning to read! As they walk around copying things they always ask someone to read what they wrote. Then in turn they repeat it and before we even realised it the kiddos are reading everything!

 

This is a picture of the art work the 3 year old left on my desk: