We tried our first ever chapter book unit study using Miss Hickory as our base. We read two chapters each day and really just focused on the woodland animals in the story. I printed off lots of things that we didn’t use, but that’s okay (I keep telling myself this at least). It’s better to have an enjoyable time together and to learn than to push through something just so you can check it off the list.
We added a few books to our study
Thimbleberry Stories by Cynthia Rylant
All About Deer by Jim Arnosky
One Small Square Forest by Donald Silver
What is a Rodent? by Bobbie Kalman
Nuts to You! by Lois Ehlert
Elijah also did two Draw Write Nows (Woodland Animals from book 6 and Squirrels from book 2). Look at that chubby chipmunk! Elijah was very upset about how fat he turned out, but I reassured him that it was cute.
Here are some pictures of his Miss Hickory Lap N Note
Cover art courtesy of Breezy Tulip
Bullfrogs
For the inside of these matchbooks, I typed up the information and Elijah cut/pasted it in. I used the minit books as a teaching tool instead of a what have you learned thing. It’s okay to use different pieces in a lapbook for different things. I think mixing it up helps the student enjoy the work more.
Rodents Page
The minit book at the top is full of rodent facts. Elijah named as many as he could on his own and then we read together to learn even more. The book at the bottom of the page lists all the rodents Elijah could think of!
Chipmunks Page
Squirrels Page (with mint books open)
Crow Page
Deer Page
Geography Page (New Hampshire)
We still need to fill out the facts section
Language Arts Page
Um, we cheated on this one. The bottom right side is for vocabulary cards/pocket, but I just didn’t feel like having him complete them. Reading two chapters/day, this would have been very difficult. Instead, I just explained the words he asked about as we read.
About This Book (open)
Showing Movement Accordion
Elijah circled all the words that show movement. Then, I asked him to think of more. He stood up and started acting things out for me, so I played secretary and logged them while he played drama practice.
Overall, we had a great experience with ou first chapter book unit! We are gearing up for learning all about Australia this month and then moving on to another chapter book (Mr. Popper’s Penguins!) for December.
Happy Homeschooling! 🙂
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