Owl Moon

Wonder of wonder, miracles of miracles...no, not a revival of Fiddler on the Roof, but the fact that we actually "rowed" a Five in a Row book last week.  We had a light week of school because of New Year's and the kids being sick.

We rowed "Owl Moon" by Jane Yolen.  It's a lovely story about a young girl's first time going owling with her dad. 

 

On Monday, we read the story, and discussed family, doing special things with special familiy members, and anticipating events.  The girls drew pictures of something fun they do with special adults in their lives (Maddie's was of us cooking together, Patience's was of going bike riding with Pep).  Patience also drew a picture of Build-A-Bear workshop, since that is an event she is anticipating--we'll be going on her birthday.

 

Tuesday was Language Arts.  We learned about similies, metaphors and hyperbole.  We also talked about first person point of view.

 

Art was on Wednesday.  This was the day that Maddie ended up finding out she had the double ear infection, so we didn't do anything hands on.  We did discuss the amount of detail in the illustrator's pictures and the aerial point of view he used on one of the pages.

Thursday was applied Math.  We did mental math, mulitplying 60 seconds to figure out how many seconds are in different amounts of minutes.  We got a head start on Science by reviewing the moon's phases, including how to tell if a moon is waning or waxing (if you can make a "b" by drawing a line down a crescent moon, it is a "baby" moon, and on it's way to full--if you can make a "d", it is a "dying" moon, and on it's way to being a new moon).

Friday was Science and a recipe.  We finally used the owl pellet kits I bought ages ago from Scholastic.  Owls swallow their food whole, and can't digest fur, bones and feathers.  They regurgiate these items after the stomach has clumped them together in an "owl pellet".  We disected owl pellets and used a chart to determine what kind of animal the owl had eaten.  We had mouse mandibles, shrew ribs and more!

An aerial view of the kids working on their owl pellets (like how I tied in the art lesson?  Oh, yes, I'm that good! LOL LOL LOL):

Washing off the bones:



Once we were done with the owl pellets, it was time for a slightly more appetizing lesson--candy owl nests!  We melted peanut butter, chocolate & butterscotch chips, and then stirred in chinese noodles.  We put scoops of the mixture on wax paper, and put peanut m&m's in them to look like eggs.  So yummy!

It was a great week!  Once the kids are in bed tonight (soon, very soon!), I'll plan out what to do starting tomorrow!  I forgot how fun Five in a Row can be!