Blueberries for Sal

I'm experimenting this summer with doing some month-long (instead of week-long) themes. My master plan is to spend concentrated time on three books within the theme, plus whatever printables, crafts, and food ideas I can come up with. This month (July) is berries and next month will be oceans. Beyond that . . . well, we'll just have to see how the school-year schedule plays out. I'm still making final decisions for all of that.

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

Printables from Homeschool Creations

All of the worksheets were from a preschool packet at Owen's level this time around, so Levi did not do any of these. Mean mommy made him do his handwriting book instead. :) Several months ago, Owen spontaneously switched a crayon from his right hand to his left, and immediately his fine motor skills increased by leaps and bounds. For a while I thought he was just trying to copy his beloved big brother, but the results are speaking for themselves. He's writing words, drawing pictures, and completing simple mazes with ease.

Below, you can see his tracing page (on the right) and the beginning of a rhyming words page. I was rather surprised to find out that he had NO idea which words rhymed. We'll be working on that more in the coming months!

Circling the beginning consonant. Owen's a champ at this.

Preposition practice: gluing little bear in the correct place according to the directions.

Food
blueberry orange bran muffins
blueberry coffee cake
PBJ with strawberry-blueberry jam

Owen helped me make the muffins.

*Art: blue ink drawings, to mimic those found in Blueberries for Sal

working hard on their drawings

Levi's artwork features a triangular mountain edged with blueberry bushes. The bears are rather blob-shaped, on the peak of the mountain. Little Sal and her mother are on the lower hill to the right, Sal's mother waving her pail in the air. To the right of Little Sal is the stump. In the sky are several clouds -- he tells me it was about to rain -- and in the bottom right you can see their parked car, the front tire of which has popped and is leaking air. Good thing they have a spare along (the circle in at the bottom middle of the car, under the L-shaped seats).

Owen's artwork features a more traditionally-shaped mountain, on which several very large blueberries have grown. To the left, you see three large blueberry bushes, drawn with extreme attention to detail. They originally had been picked clean, but when he spotted Levi drawing blueberries on his bushes, Owen added a single blueberry at the end of most of the branches. It's hard to see here, but Little Sal and her mother are standing at the top right of the mountain, under some clouds. The dark scribbles at the top indicate rain clouds; we know the thunderstorm has arrived because just to the right of Little Sal, Owen has written "BOOM." (It thunders in nearly all of Owen's artwork right now.) Sal's mother's car is at the bottom left; it is only a two-seater here but has a very pronounced steering wheel.

Naturally, we had to end our week with blueberry picking! (Yes, I scheduled it this week on purpose.)

Trying to keep him occupied with a banana.

Sweet fourth child who will nap anywhere.

Apple cider popsicles for a post-picking treat!

Hanging out in the back of the van while Mommy nurses Toby.

*Bible: the story of Ruth. We read the story a few times from various children's Bibles, and talked about how Ruth carefully followed Naomi and how Little Sal should have carefully followed her mother. 

*The art and Bible ideas came from Before Five in a Row, which I picked up for a few bucks at a used curriculum sale in the spring. I'm using it haphazardly as it fits my book choices.