The Finest Horse in Town

Title: The Finest Horse in Town

Author: Jacqueline Briggs Martin

Author: Susan Gaber

Copyright:1992

Summary: A horse, three stories and a summertime of entertainment and possibilities. 

This story talks about the Forth of July. I decided to take the opportunity to discuss our country. It so happens we rowed this story on the week of Memorial day so we decided to learn about Memorial holiday instead of the Forth of July. We had a fun and educational week. Take a look at all the activities we have done.

Social studies: (Maine, Memorial Day)

This story takes place in Maine so we placed our story disk on the state of Maine. The kids colored a map and we read about Maine in an atlas.  Lily and Alex spent time learning about Memorial Day. We read a book and watched a movie about the holiday. Then we went to the cemetery to thank our grandpa and all the other people who fought and died for our country. 

 Science:( Trees)

The children learned about different kinds, the parts of and the life cycle of trees. We talked about the difference between conifers and deciduous trees. We read books, did a work sheet and went on a nature walk to Fort Hill Trail. On our nature walk we talked all about trees!

Science:(Horses)

We are lucky enough to be part of a homeschool horsemanship class where the kids learn how to take care of horses and ride them.  This week we spent some time learning about the body parts of a horse. We did this by labeling a work sheet and using books to learn how to draw pictures of horses. The kids also measured each other the way you measure a horse. Lily and Aj love reading books about horses. 

Language arts: (writing a story, vocabulary)

Lily and Alex learned new vocabulary words. They traced the words in their best handwriting. They also found the words in a word search and wrote stories using some of their new words.

Mathematics: ( skip counting, word problems, numbers 1-30)

The kids practiced their skip counting by 2's and writing numbers from 1-30. Then they each did two word problems. We finished up with reading a couple chapters about numbers in a book.

Art: (Painting, Poppies, American flag)

Inspired by a painting in the book we decided to paint Poppies. We first painted the grass with green paint. Then we used sponges dipped in red paint for the poppies. Finally we used black paint for the center of the flowers. The kids also used construction paper and stickers to make the American flag.

Music:(Harmonica)

We looked up how to play the harmonica online. We found a web site and learned how to play "Row, row, row your boat"

Thanks for reading!