FIAR:More "Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel"

We have finished this book, but I still had some pictures, so I thought I would share what we did.

This day, my older boys wanted to join in with us. They are 6 and 8, so they do fit into the age range this curricula targets, we just have other things we do with them. They were interested in what I was doing with the younger two, so they sat in and participated. I think this curricula could really work well as a spine for multiple ages.

After we read the book again, we made some pinwheels. (This activity is outlined in FIAR Volume 1 ) I wanted to demonstrate to them how steam can move an object. This did not go so well for us. Our pinwheels did not want to move. We still had fun. I improvised and told them to imagine that the air coming out of my mouth was steam and blew on the pinwheel. They got the point.

To add in some Language Arts, I continued with some pages that we were doing while working through Little Hands to Heaven from Heart of Dakota.  It is a great curricula, just too repetitive for us. We need change and different things to do from week to week. This was just too much of the same thing. However, I do still use some of the ideas from this curricula.




Since "steam shovel" starts with an "s", I decided to have my two little ones do the worksheet for the letter "s." My little girl, "Raindrop," just used the marker to circle a whole bunch of letters, but she enjoys being involved. We talked a little bit about what an "s" is shaped like, and I'm sure she will get it in the coming years. ;)

 

My youngest boy, "Hurricane," really took his work seriously with this one. He studied his paper for a long time and then highlighted each "s" very carefully. He has grown so much this past year, it's just amazing!!











After I was done with the younger two, I called in the older boys and we did their Math and Language Arts. All in all, I would say this was a successful day!