Who Owns the Sun? Lap N Note

Who Owns the Sun? is a FIAR Volume I selection.  It is a story of a boy who asks his dad a series of questions…"Who owns the sun?  Who owns the wind?  Who owns the rain?"…and on he goes.   The wise father always replies that no man can own these things, and the wise son trusts his father without hesitation.   However, close to the end of the book, when the boy is running a lunch to his dad at work in the field, he overhears the plantation master claim that he OWNS the boy’s father.  The boy is devestated.   In confusion and hurt, the boy races to his father and blurts out the question, "Does Mr. Finnley own you?"   The father responds once more with a wise answer, but the boy has one last question (which is very hard for this tender-hearted mama to read), "Does he own me, too?"

Obviously, this rich book produces ample opportunities for learning.   In co-op this week we learned about the Northern Night Sky and the Southern Night Sky.   Jodi  taught us about constellations, and we made these really cool transparencies with stars to show to the constellation.  We added a picture below in order to visualize the picture the constellation is suppose to make.   Here are Elijah’s constellation/transparencies for Ursa Major (can you find the Big Dipper?) and Orion. 

Orion with stars 

Orion without stars

Ursa Major with stars

Ursa Major without stars

We also learned a little about medium and the medium used for the illustrations of the book (watercolor).

Here is Elijah’s copy of the front cover of the book

Here is a page with his watercolor gradation scale (the results of working with one color but producting multiple shades by adding water drops)

We also made a sorting book.  Elijah had to sort sentences that needed periods and sentences that needed question marks.  He was able to do this all by himself!    You also see a Simple Machines Hotdog Book (graphics are from Evan Moor’s Giant Science Resource Book), and a matchbook that has a list of things too wonderful to own inside).   The first thing on his list is people.  Smart kid.

We learned about levers, wedges, and combinations of the two.  We put what we learned in the hotdog book. 

We learned where to find Mississippi.   The boy in the book takes his father a lunch of beans, biscuits, and buttermilk.   We learned about food groups and Elijah was able to tell me that the father needed to have fruits and vegetables in order to balance out his meal.

When Elijah was showing the notebook to his dad, Elijah commented that in order to get to Mississippi, we’d have to first drive through Kentucky and then on through Tennessee.  I almost fell on the floor!   All these geography lessons really are sinking in!  

A minit book on the sun (from Carissa’s blog) and some more Mississippi stuff.

 
Big Jim book – learning about character
I Wonder… Book  (includes a list of the things Elijah wonders about including how a ball bounces, how a balloon stays in the air, how long it takes to get to a planet, and a zillion other things!)
Vocabulary Pocket

Vocabulary Cards

We had a big week of learning!  Hope you did, too,