January Week 3

I'm so late in getting this up! However, this unit, doesn't take much prep. Tihs unit is built around the folk tale, Stone Soup. We did this unit last week, and will be doing The Mitten unit this week.

First things first, plan a playdate. Invite some friends and make your own Stone Soup following the outline in the story. We did this (and I totally forgot to take pictures.) Each child brought something to add to the soup, and they REALLY enjoyed the process. As I read the story, they came up and added the indredient they had brought. The kids were not fans of the soup, so as an add-on I'm going to have Three create a recipe for a soup that he thinks he actually WILL like.

We put up our map of the world, and identified where we are on the map in relation to where France is (the story originates in France.) We talked about the ocean between us. As a result, Three became super interested in the names of places on the map and can now identify 3 of the continents.

We talked about folk tales, and what that means. That the story did originate in truth, but the details have changed over years of it being retold.

Create a recipe: We'll look at recipes in cookbooks, and then talk about what kinds of things he'd like in our soup. Then we'll make a trip to the store and buy the items, and see if that soup is yummier. :)

Discuss where the vegetables in the story come from. Potatoes and Carrots come from the garden and they grow UNDER the ground. Cabbage also comes from the garden, but it grows in a head ON the ground. Barley grows in large fields (we actually sustituted orzo for barley.) Beef and milk both come from cows. Etc.

Print out pictures of different vegetables/fruits and have the child sort them based on where they grow (under ground, on the ground, on a tree, etc.)

This leads to a discussion about healthy eating...how many vegetables we need each day, and why.

Crafts:

Paint a stone! This was a hit at the playdate.

Cut out a large "iron pot" from paper. Cut out different food items from a grocery store circular. Have the child add ingredients to their soup pot.

We revisited the letter S, but didn't do any new crafts related to it. :(