We are beginning a summer homeschool venture into unit studies, using ideas from Five in a Row.
- Our main selection is The Swiss Family Robinson, which we’ll be using as a read-aloud with our entering fourth grade son.
- I dowloaded an e-version of this book to my Nook Color.
Go Along Books:
- For our independent reading selections, I have ordered the Island Trilogy, by Gordon Korman, a 3.8 level series of novels.
- I will be going to the public library to get non-fiction selections: the history of ships and shipbuilding (I can tell this will be a hit with the little guy); field guides to plants and wildlife of Hawaii; a coffee table book with beach and island pictures; a book on the Victorian era; a how-to boat on sailing; books about famous shipwrecks.
- We will select 15-20 picture books on the themes of ships, shipwrecks and life on a tropical island.
Non-traditional Texts We Will Use:
- Maps of the world, Pacific Ocean and “New Switzerland”
- Victorian era paper dolls
- Videos of the movie, The Swiss Family Robinson
I just posted the first in a series of articles chronicling our summer project: Creating a Theme Basket: The Swiss Family Robinson. This article focuses on the creation of the theme basket, how to use it, and the selection of the literature to include.
Next installments will focus on the following:
- Social studies connections (Mondays): history, geography, timelines, culture and current events
- Language arts connections (Tuesdays): foundational skills, word work and vocabulary, research, writing, presentation and project work
- Creative arts connections (Wednesdays): cooking, visual arts, music, and drama
- Applied mathematics connections (Thursdays): using math to solve real-world problems based on the theme
- Science connections (Fridays): nature study, biological, physical and chemical science connections, engineering
Stay tuned for more!
- The Swiss Family Robinson [Illustrated, HD formatting] read online (pzriioap.typepad.com)
- The Adventures of Swiss Family Robinson Full Dvd Movie (nauackyr.typepad.com)
- Teaching Science and Nature Through Literature (bugsandstuff.wordpress.com)
- Classic Starts: The Swiss Family Robinson (Classic Starts Series) e-book downloads (yotdouoa.typepad.com)
- Downloads The Robinsons – Complete Series One Movies (ueoqiun.typepad.com)
- The New Swiss Family Robinson Movie Downloads (insbqom.typepad.com)