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Our first fairy tale today was Jack and the Beanstalk. I set up this felt board the night before and had some coloring pages for ED since she’s usually the first one up and she’s always ready to dive into the day! She was more interested in helping me bake…and sample… and mix… and sample!
We made graham crackers and cut them into castle and cottage parts that I hoped we would put together later in the morning for an edible scene. (Here’s the graham cracker recipe I use. We love graham crackers!)
We also made some wholemeal bread rolls — and shaped one into the shape of a vine.
Once the kids were up, had eaten and the bread was rising, we headed into the schoolroom. I had some sheets with the main characters that they could color as I read the story. They were very industrious! They were working on parts to a diorama they put together.
While I was reading, ED also did a number of her activities like bean counting (from Confessions of a Homeschooler — J is for Jellybeans), the letters B and J, not to mention page after page of coloring.
After I read the long (wonderful, descriptive) version, I read this short rhyming version that I got from the Teacherfilebox. I had taken all the rhyming words, typed them up and printed them out. DD and LD worked together to match up all the words.
They also did quite a bit of writing. LD had to explain who the villain and hero was (and why). He also had to write the ending to the story when I explained that after Jack killed the ogre someone notified the police….
Pretty soon we were all really hungry. We had visions of making a lovely display (the cottage, beans, the vine and the castle), but we ran out of patience. We all (me included) just wanted to EAT!! So, we propped the graham cracker cottage and castle up with a bread roll, snapped a picture and had tuna melts, fruit and graham crackers with white icing (see the clouds hastily globbed near the castle for the photo???) for lunch!
I forgot to mention that ED also practiced the letters B and J and made them out of bread dough.
Here are the three dioramas of Jack and the Beanstalk. Jack climbs up the paper towel tube beanstalk. And below are closeups of their projects.
Our next fairy tale is The Emperor’s New Clothes.
For this unit, we read stories from Treasury of Classic Children’s Stories. (affiliate link) The illustrations are beautiful and the kids loved being read to (and eventually when they became proficient readers read these stories for themselves!). I highly recommend this book!
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
[…] Play Dough Letters: Once the kids were old enough to roll out play dough snakes, they could make letters (either with a mat or not). We also made letters from time to time out of pretzel dough or bread dough. Here are our edible letter Bb’s! The beans are there because these were from our Fairy Tale Unit: Jack and the Beanstalk activities. […]
[…] Play Dough Letters: Once the kids were old enough to roll out play dough snakes, they could make letters (either with a mat or not). We also made letters from time to time out of pretzel dough or bread dough. Here are our edible letter Bb’s! The beans are there because these were from our Fairy Tale Unit: Jack and the Beanstalk activities. […]
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Hi! I’m Liesl!
Do you believe education can be exciting, inspiring, and full of joy? We do too!
I love the quote by William Butler Yeats, "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." It's about getting the kids involved, engaged, and fired up about learning (while juggling the rest of life too!)
A bit about me: I have my Master's from Brown University. I have more than 20 years of teaching experience. I was a high school teacher for many years both in the U.S. and internationally and also taught for the University of Maryland before leaving to homeschool my 3 wonderful kids.
To read more about us CLICK HERE.
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What science topics could I teach my 5-7 year old - Homeschool Science Curriculum
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Earth Science Packet
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Civics & Government Unit
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Geographic Features & Landforms (also in the World Facts Packet)
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ow-ou-oy-oi-aw-au Word Sort Activities
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What a great day. Love how Jack climbs the beanstalk too.
What a great day. Love how Jack climbs the beanstalk too.
This is wonderful! I love everything about it. That edible scene is aewsome. Thank you for sharing.
This is wonderful! I love everything about it. That edible scene is aewsome. Thank you for sharing.