FIAR- The Story about Ping

The Story About Ping is a book about a little duck who runs from consequences. he felt like hiding would be better then facing them. In the long run he found himself all alone, and in danger. Through the kindness of a little boy, he was given another chance to find his home. He did and had to face consequences, but he found his home and found that it was better to face them  than to run away.

Math: Addition, Finding how many years have past, Subtraction

This book was written in 1933. I wanted to show him how we could figure out how old this book was. I went ahead and had Hailey work this problem on her own, but I knew that Christopher is not quite ready for this type of problem (Carrying, Barrowing etc.) so I simply walked him through the basic concept of how to set this problem up, and gave him the answer.

 

For other math we talked about Ping’s large family. His Mother, Father, Sisters, Brothers, Aunts, Uncles, and Forty-two cousins. So we added them together, and then really practiced adding groups of numbers together. We did several pages in his Singapore math 1A book.

Geography: Yangtze river, Mississippi River, China, Mississippi

  

This story takes place on the waters of the Yangtze River. We located the river in our big geography book. The kids read facts about the river, and highlighted it in our book. Yangtze River is the largest river in China. We are focusing much of our geography studies on America this year, so I decided we would talk about the Mississippi River. The fourth largest river in the world. The kids thought it was really neat that the Mississippi river touched 10 different states.   Minnesota,Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. I had the kids choose which state we would focus on, and they chose Mississippi. They colored the My State Coloring book page, and learned about the capital, flower, bird, and a little state history.

As a surprise we received a package from Sam and Sophia from China (little passports). We went ahead and opened it as it fit nicely with the theme of this book.

Literature: What is a classic?, Fiction, Story Elements

The Story About Ping is considered a classic. I talked to the kids about what make a classic a classic. We talked about how generations of children have enjoyed this story including their grandparents.  I talked to the kids about other books that we had that were considered classics. Then we talked about Story Elements, and made a story map. (Characters, Setting, Problem, Solution)

“Once upon a time there was a beautiful young duck named Ping.” – The Story About Ping

Not only is this book a classic, it is also a fairy tale. I had seen this awesome Fairy Tale unit on Mrs. Terhune’s First Grade Site, and was waiting for an opportunity to use it. This seemed like as good of time as any. We only did one of the activities found in the unit, but the kids learned and enjoyed.

Language Arts: Writing a fairy tale, ing family,

We tied language arts in with our literature study. I had Hailey and Christopher write a short fairy tale about a duck. Then I had them Draw one picture to illustrate their story. I also did a little bit of Phonics using ing words.

Science/Social Studies: Water Safety, Buoyancy (Sink, Float) 

There is a part of this story where there is a little boy with a barrel tied to his back as a life preserve. This opened up a great opportunity to talk about water safety. We read a little book we had and talked about ruled around water and the pool. This was also a great opportunity to do a Sink/Float activity and talk about why the barrel on the boys back floated.

 

We all know that where there is a bucket of water there will be splashing and fun. The boys were very inventive in their play.

Bible:

There was a lot to talk about in this lesson, so we tied this story in to several of our nightly devotions.

Night 1: “A wise son heeds his Father’s instructions, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes” Proverbs 13:1

Night 2: Jonah and the Whale- Jonah ran from God’s instruction.

Night 3- Blessed is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor's] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. James 1: 12

Hymn: Trust and Obey

I have truly enjoyed my time teaching Christopher Hymns. We crawl up on the couch just me and him and snuggle a bit while we listen to and sing the Hymn of the week. It’s just a special time for me and him.

Art: Pastels and Baby Oil, Water, Scenery

in this art lesson we talked about different ways to draw water. We then looked at the pictures in the book and picked out a scene that we liked. We used baby oil  and oil pastels to create a water color look. I drew my picture first. It’s a bit all over the place, because I was teaching them how to draw different pieces of scenery. Hailey tried to copy me, Sammy only wanted to use baby oil (ha), and Christopher made a red sky because he said that the sky was angry.

Memory Making: Chinese Meal

I’ll be honest, I’m finding it difficult to do these special dinners for our rows Gluten Free. But, that is what the kids ask for. Special meals. For this special meal we went with a Chinese theme because we touched on duck being a delicacy in China. NO we did not eat duck. We picked up some Gluten Free past, rice and sauces, and my husband mad a wonderful stir fry. The kids made paper lanterns and we used those as table decorations.