Today was a delightfully wonderful day! We had a Five In A Row co-op today, and this time our studies centered around the book Albert, by Donna Jo Napoli.
This is absolutely an adorable story, and the illustrations by Jim LaMarche are gorgeous. Albert, the main character, finds his inner strength when he stretches his hand out an upper story window and a pair of cardinals make their nest there. He is forced to stand, holding the nest, and listen to the noises of the city — both the good noises and the bad noises that always frighten him into staying home.
I do not have pictures of some parts of the day, as I was teaching today. Our day started off with a reading of the story and then a talk about “discovering the truth” and “illusion.” We looked at objects that were not what they seemed when you could only see parts of them. We looked at optical illusions on paper and had a lot of good discussion.
Each child received a laminated picture of a bird which was hole punched and hanging on a piece of cord with a couple of beads. Each child’s “mystery” bird was in an envelope. I think all of the children wore their cards and had a lot of fun comparing their new names.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Purple Martin! Who are you?”
Next it was on to some EGG-speriments! We did the ol’ egg getting sucked into a bottle, how much weight can eggshells hold, egg in vinegar losing its carbon (shell), and how can you tell if an egg is cooked or raw. They were quite successful (thank goodness — you know how something works at home but then in front of a crowd…). Again, I was teaching this part, so no picture of me doing the experiements. Thought you might want to see the EGG-speriments table, however.
Next, my co-teacher pulled out a large poster of different types of nests. Each child was given a picture of a bird. One by one, the children came up and paired their birds with the type of nest that bird creates. The children seem to love activities like this.
The children are just a great bunch of kids. They are all really good students and very easy to teach. Could it be any better?
Next, we moved the children into the edge of some woods — a lovely surrounding, to decorate eggs. Some of the eggs were hard boiled and some were just shells that had had the yolks and whites blown out. The children enjoyed this so much and we saw a lot of individuality (as always)!
We had Mod-Podge and tissue paper available.
Markers and colored pencils.
Paints.
And more paints.
After a plenteous time of painting and a few dashes through the woods by some active children pretending to be birds or some type of important egg bomb dropper (think boys here), the children were ready to sit down and listen again.
My co-teacher had a great display on the ear and drew the children into a very well done talk about how we hear.
Once again, each child was given a piece of paper with a picture on it of something that made noise. One by one, these things were placed on a decibel scale to illustrate how much noise they generated and whether or not it was enough noise to damage the ear.
Finally, the children had their snack, which consisted of tomato juice, one of Albert’s favorites and yet a drink which most of the children today decided was definitely NOT their favorite; and, they had little cups of seeds and raisins — things birds like to eat. The moms stood around and drank hot tea and coffee and talked, something we are all really, really good at.
I loved at the end of the co-op how the children carried their learning right into their play. They turned a little creek bed into a “nesting area” and set up nests for their eggs.
At the end of the day, each child was given a tiny nest, woven from scraps of fabric, to display their colored egg in. I’m too tired to post it tonight, but will soon post instructions for how I made the little nests. They turned out really cute I think.
Tomorrow is a work day for me, so I’m off now to relax for a few minutes, drink some Tension Tamer and then sleep. Ahh sleep. I’m tired. Did I forget to mention that I came home after the co-op and raked up leaves, cleared two garden beds, planted some rose shoots and a peony? Oh. Yeah. I did that too today.
I’m T-I-R-E-D! Happy, but tired.
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
Lynn, I love your co-op! But of course, you are too far away for us to join.
I will be stealing/borrowing some of the ideas when we row Albert in a few weeks. It is one of the Vol. 4 books that we haven’t done, and I was waiting until spring to do it. Cute nests too.
Your co-op sounds amazing. You have been one busy woman.
Hi Lynn, I am toying with the idea of doing a FIAR co-op next fall. Any suggestions….or game plans??? Could you give me some idea of how you guys schedule your co-op day, and how often you meet? I’ve seen on-line where one schedule was something like this: 1st hour–read/”do lesson”, 2nd hour–craft/snack, and 3rd hour-PE/fun and games. Is this the same group you do your field trips with too? Just wondering. I’ve done co-ops in the past and know sometimes it can be a lot of work. I use FIAR at home and just love, love, love it. Just wondering how “intense” it might be. AND how to attract the right group of people. How did you go about forming your group? Lots of questions. I know you are tired:) tonight. I’ll look forward to hearing from you!! Blessings,
Hope
hi lynn–this really looks like a fun day outside with the children. i’ve been missing your frequent posts lately–hope all is on the up-and-up with people healing at your house. happy spring!
I see that you’re back into homeschooling … I thought you’d stopped for a bit, unless I’m getting my memory mixed up.
Your blog is interesting.
looks like such a fun day for everyone!
i checked on the computer if our library has the book “albert”, and it does! i’ll have to check it out for my boys.
have a lovely weekend, lynn.
Kisha, I wish you could be here to co-op with us! You would love the group! And we’d love having you here!
MamaHen, my life has been a blur for about two weeks!
Hope, my friend Leslie (http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/LeslieNelsen) is really the woman behind this great group. I was actually a part of this group as far back as 2000 when my boys were young. Everyone in the group uses FIAR at home and so I think there’s a similar style of teaching and thinking to all the women. Leslie just opened her home, along with some other women and we met once a month for just moms to exchange ideas, we do field trips every other week, and those who want (with children of similar ages) break off at times and do co-ops together.
April, since Thomas was in the hospital we are just trying to get back on our feet in several ways! I hope to get back into posting every day! It’s good therapy for me!
Cyneva, actually Joseph (19) has homeschooled since 2nd grade. Daniel homeschooled off and on and graduated from homeschool. I did have John and Michaela in public school for awhile (and actually John is still there) because it was just so hard working and homeschooling, but I’ve had Michaela back home for a couple of years now. How are things going with you? Are you still homeschooling? I would love to talk to you some time.
Connie, I think you’ll love the story.
Dear Lynn,
Wow, what a great way to teach a lesson; right out in the fresh air! It looks like you put a lot of work into it, and that everyone really got a lot out of it. The woven nests are a sweet idea, too.
It looks like you’re getting a great start on your garden; you can never have too many roses and peonies!
Love,
Marqueta
Thank you for a wonderful day friend!!! Y’all did a great job. I love co-op days.
I have more pictures and will try to share them soon. Please use any that you want.
Thanks for spending time with our little man. He really likes his friend Miss Lynn. Thanks for your prayers for him too.
Love
Leslie
Dear Marqueta, so true about roses and peonies. So true.
We ended up having a lovely day outside! At first it felt like it might be cold, but it turned out just right!
Dear Leslie, I’m crazy about the co-op days too! They are so much fun, and we always learn so much! And I love Daniel. I really do. I enjoy talking to him! He’s full of wisdom for his young age.
[...] posted last week about the fabric egg baskets I made for our Albert co-op and I said I’d post directions. Well, here they are. It’s not as easy to explain as [...]