Learning with Five in a Row - Lentil

I am using the Five in a Row curriculum with Delaney this year. We read the book Lentil, and one of the suggested activities was to learn about monuments. Delaney learned about what a monument or memorial is, and we headed out to see some real ones. Delaney got to be the photographer for the day, since it was her lesson.

We visited the Firefighter's Park and Doxol Memorial first. The story of the Doxol explosion is tragic. There were 107 casualties, including 11 volunteer firefighters, one of whom was the principal of the local high school.

 Our family knows a few of the families of the firefighters who lost their lives that day. I pointed out to the girls the names of those we know, and family members we know.

The girls read the names on the pave stones, and many were names we recognized.

Delaney was especially intrigued by the piece of burned metal from the train car. We talked about how very hot it must have been to burn and melt metal that heavy.

We talked about how a memorial makes us feel, and how it helps us to remember people or events.

The girls posed for some pictures.

Hailey and I

Next, we went to the Veteran's Memorial Park downtown.

We talked about what it means to be a veteran, and what the military does.

 

When we returned home, we looked up some more information on the Doxol explosion and about the firefighters who lost their lives.

It was a fairly serious lesson, but Delaney really understands what a memorial is now. We have talked about it since then, and she would like to go visit the park again.

On a lighter note, some of the other activities we did included playing instruments in the bathtub and learning how to read a map of our neighborhood. If you need to get to the park from our house, or Great-Nana's, Delaney can help! :)

Placemat Geography

We have a bunch of random placemats with pictures, numbers, alphabet and a United States map. They have been around since Hailey was little, and now Delaney uses them at the table. We use them for various activities while we eat all the time. The map, of course, is for geography. She knows where Arizona, California, New Mexico (Grandma lives there), Florida (Papa & Yaya), Michigan (Aunt Dawn), and Texas (where Daddy went for training once) are. We are working on the west coast now, and moving our way across the map.

Yesterday, we played "Little Bunny Family Moves around the U.S."

The girls were eating some Annie's Honey Bunnies (which I personally think are the cutest snacks ever), and Delaney was putting them all in Arizona, her favorite state. She asked me to be the Mommy Bunny, and I moved to Montana. One by one, the baby bunnies all moved to different states. Then, Mommy Bunny called them all on the phone to find out where they were living. (If I have to call my little Honey Bunnies to find out where they are living when they grow up, they will be in some serious trouble. But I digress.) Then, they all moved to Montana to be with me. During all of this family upheaval, Delaney learned Oregon, Washington, Utah, Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. One of the bunnies went to Texas, but we already knew that state.

After some time in Montana, and a visit from the Pretzel family, the bunnies decided to check out the east coast. They moved to Virginia, North Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Georgia and Florida. The Mommy Bunny was sad to see them go, but happy that she could visit all of these fun states.

I asked Delaney if all of the bunnies were on the east coast or the west coast. She said, "Hmmm.", consulted the compass, and told me that they were on the east coast. My goodness. Delaney and I have discussed the map before, and the terms north, east, south and west, and where to find the compass on the map. That's rather abstract for a 3 year old, though, so I didn't really expect it to stick. This child of mine, though, she's like flypaper when it comes to learning. :)

I love doing geography with the girls, because honestly, it is far from my comfort zone. Somehow, all of the Plains states never quite made it into my long term memory. Hailey is learning latitude and longitude, and helping her has been a learning experience, too.

This was a super fun activity...it incorporated snacks, pretend play and map skills. I am the Honey Bunny family will be doing some more traveling in the near future.