They were full of questions about that girl in armor astride a horse. It really captured their fancy. So, I was glad when a history sentence this year featured the young heroine.
In preparation, I ordered Diane Stanley's Joan of Arc. Unfortunately, my children's attention spans were not ready for Ms. Stanley. Instead, I obtained a library copy of Joan of Arc: The Lily Maid by Margaret Hodges. They REALLY liked this one.
I was familiar with another Margaret Hodges book, Saint George and the Dragon, but was unaware she had written so many books set in the middle ages. Since my children like Joan of Arc and Saint George the the Dragon, I decided to just make it Margaret Hodges week, and we also went on to read Dick Whittington and His Cat.
Our geography memory work featured the Alps. I was eager to read a book from Sonlight's kindergarten list, The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Bluff, which is set in the Alps during the 13th century. This is a terrific historical 'novel' that we read over several days. I really feel repetition is good, so we'll no doubt read this one again when we learn about Switzerland.
While reading this book, the kids colored a couple of castles from this coloring book, part of this new collection.
For science, our memory work related to the ways animals adapt to environmental change. We revisited The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader, which is a perfect fit for the topic. Because it related well to ecology in general, we also read The Salamander Room, a Five In a Row selection.
Along with the book we watched the Reading Rainbow video. However my son declared it, the 'worst show he's ever seen.' Well, not a good attitude, but I'm not really a LeVar fan either.
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