Category Archives: Katy and the Big Snow

March 9, 2011

Language Arts for Katy and the Big Snow

Today was language arts day. We had some vocabulary to learn and we also talked more about personification. We discussed not only the physical human attributes that were used, but also other things such as emotions and abilities that make an object in a story human-like. The FIAR manual recommended having the child write their own story with personification, which I knew would be totally easy for him considering all his creative writing stories he’s been writing are about inanimate objects that do things (mostly go get pizza). He also pointed out lots of examples of personification throughout our day, which was exciting. We were at Target this afternoon and he saw a pair of shoes with eyes on them and he said, “Look, Mommy! Personification! Shoes don’t normally have eyes!” He feels so proud of himself to know such a big word.

“I need to find my pencil so I can write my vocabulary words…”

“Oh yeah! I forgot I put it there!”

This is the longest story he’s written yet. He had to use two pages!

On Thursday, our art day, we’re going to add a drawing of all of the characters in his story and give them some very human-like physical features to add to the bottom of the page.

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March 3, 2011

Science for Katy and the Big Snow

Today was our science day for Katy and the Big Snow. We read some books about snow and learned a lot. One very interesting thing we both learned is that snow is actually good for many plants and animals, as it acts as a blanket and keeps them warm through the cold winter. We also learned about how snowflakes are formed and how they are all different.

He made his own unique snowflake. It was also the perfect time to review symmetry because each time you cut the folded paper, it creates the same exact design on each side.

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March 2, 2011

Another Fun Day

We did some more work on maps and signs today. Here’s Elliot making a compass and labeling the directions.

Then he used the compass as he walked around the house, and made it change direction as he changed the direction he walked.

We reviewed some of the signs we’ve learned about and labeled them.

Over the next two weeks, we’re doing some math review on some things he’s learned earlier in the year, such as time, money, symmetry, odd/even. Here he is doing some time practice with the clock. Even though it’s been a while since we’ve used it, he did great and can tell time to the minute.

Later in the afternoon we stopped by Central Market to have a snack and do some shopping and we took some time to practice counting money. He’s a pro at counting pretty much any combination of coins!

“One hundred cents! That equals one dollar!”

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March 2, 2011

Social Studies for Katy and the Big Snow

Today we learned about maps and traffic signs after reading Katy and the Big Snow. I was so excited about telling Elliot about the activity for the day because I knew he’d love it. I wish I had taken a picture of his face when I told him we were going to build our very own city of “Geoppolis” right on the kitchen table, complete with buildings, signs, and cars. I don’t think he’s ever had more fun doing a “school” project. He even thanked me for picking out such a fun activity for him, before we even got started.

First we had to make the all the signs for his city.

Then we constructed all the buildings.

Then it was finally time for the fun! My kitchen table was overtaken by “Geoppolis” for the entire day and he played with it during all of his free time.

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March 1, 2011

Katy and the Big Snow

Our new book this week is Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton. Yeah…..this would have been a great book to read about 4 weeks ago, but when you live in Texas you just never know what the weather is going to be. I guess when I planned the timing of this book, I was thinking back to last year when it snowed in the beginning of March.

While we read it we’re going to be learning about maps and compasses, street signs, fire safety, and snow. We’ll also be talking about the meaning of personification. Interestingly, Elliot has already mentioned that Virginia Lee Burton really likes making stories about things that aren’t really alive (such as in The Little House and Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel).

This is the first book we’ve read where there hasn’t really been any kind of indication where it takes place. All we know is that it’s in the made up city of “Geoppolis”, so we had some thinking to do regarding where to place our disk. We thought about Massachusetts, since that’s where the author was born, but we already have a lot of disks in that area. We decided to place it on Minneapolis, Minnesota, because we decided they probably get a lot of snow, and because it sort of sounds like “Geoppolis”!


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