Beatrix Potter

...a Rabbit Trail, brought to you by 4reallearning

 

Notes and thoughts as you begin:

Since Beatrix Potter’s style of writing is so rich, all ages can benefit from a careful study of the language in these books. To further that, two levels of dictation study are included with this study so that you can adapt the dictation to the ability of the child. Beatrix Potter was a great naturalist and should be studied as such by older children as well as the younger ones. There is MUCH nature study this time. Don’t leave the older children out. She is also an artist in her own right and picture study could proceed along traditional Charlotte Mason lines. Some comparative studies are suggested as well. Instead of studying one poet, we will study several poems with spring themes. Make good use of sketchbooks and watercolors to illustrate poetry, as well as poetry to accompany nature observations! All poems can be found in Ferris’ Favorite Poems Old and New. Bear in mind that the sixth week involves a party and a chance to show off what you’ve learned together. Keep artwork and writing samples and anything you collect on nature hikes with this in mind. You will notice that in both the beginning phonics and the studied dictation, there are references to "rimes." For further information about onsets and rimes in teaching reading, consult Patricia Cunningham’s Phonics They Use or the archives of the CatholicCMason list. The tiles to which I refer are available from Lakeshore Learning Materials (buckets of word families) or can be made at home. The bucket may not include all the rimes or onsets in this study, so you may have to supplement with homemade tiles. I have allowed two weeks for each of the advanced readers. The Redwall books are meaty and some children may find them challenging. Other children will devour them and there are plenty in the series to keep them going for six weeks.

Week One: Beatrix Potter

Saints’ Read Aloud: Sixty Saints For Boys

Monday Saint Daniel
Tuesday St. Alan
Wednesday Saint Benedict
Thursday St. Kenneth
Friday St. Columba

(Instead of the Saints’ Read Aloud, Stories From the Book of Virtues could be substituted.)

Narration

Each day, child will narrate the saints’ selection while Mom keyboards. Then, she’ll illustrate. If the child is able, use the narration daily for reading practice.

Literature:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit,

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

(Note: With Easter approaching, there will be lots of bunny-themed things in the drugstores. No need to load up on junk, but keep your eyes out for fun surprises, like small bunny-shaped watercolor sets at the dollar store)

Monday Peter Rabbit is a circle story. Peter begins at home, goes on an adventure and returns home. Draw a circle and segment it into pie-shaped wedges. Begin at 12:00 and, moving clockwise, map the story as the child re-tells it. You should move around the circle until you return home. (Drawing the episodes is great, but you can write them too.) Together, think of other circle stories (The Story About Ping, Where the Wild Things Are). Help your child map his own circle story and then keyboard as he dictates it.

 

Tuesday Read about Beatrix Potter at the excellent website (click here) . The website is full of GREAT information. Will inspire many trails. Also has simple games and can be viewed in several languages. Tie in your foreign language studies to Beatrix Potter this month--learn words to do with animals, plants, etc
Wednesday:

Consider a co-op day where you do all the hands on activities with another family. Or, don’t do them all—just pick and choose.

v1 Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots: All the mini-gardens described in this book are wonderful. The lettuce garden planted in old rubber boots would be particularly appropriate for a Peter Rabbit study. Don’t forget the carrots!

v2 Sunflower Houses: Here’s inspiration! Read through this book and Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots and come up with some great garden plans.

v1 Plan your garden. Older children can draw to scale on centimeter grid paper. Square Foot Gardening is a valuable reference.

v3 Visit a nursery and/or seed store and get moving on that garden.

v4 Make a nice big salad for dinner. Currant buns would also be a fun treat--or fresh blackberries.

 

Thursday Peter Rabbit was originally written as part of a letter sent to cheer up a sick child. Write a letter with a story and illustrations in it. (You can view Beatrix Potter’s original Peter Rabbit letter on the website mentioned above.)

 

 

Handwriting and Phonics

Beginners: Alphaphonics, Do each lesson, according to Blumenfeld’s lesson plans and then do the additional assignment in the box below the reading schedule.

Monday Lesson 21
Tuesday Lesson 22
Wednesday Lesson 23
Thursday Lesson 24
Friday Lesson 25
Monday Choose the "th" onset from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with rimes to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Tuesday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy.
Wednesday Choose the "ob," "ock," "od," and "og" rimes from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with onsets to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Thursday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy.
Friday Sort word bank words into families.

Advanced Handwriting and Language Study: Studied Dictation:

Level 1: Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cotton-tail, who were good little bunnies, went down the lane to gather blackberries.

Level 2: Peter was most dreadfully frightened; he rushed all over the garden, for he had forgotten the way back to the gate.

Monday Read carefully and copy. Choose a word from the sentence and isolate a rime. Make a list of all the words you can which contain that rime. Use the list as a spelling list, if you like.
Tuesday Copy again
Wednesday Take dictation and correct.
Thursday Take dictation and correct
Friday Take dictation and correct. Spelling test of Monday’s words.

 

Reading Practice

Emerging Readers:

The Beginner’s Bible

Monday

Twelve Spies.

Tuesday

A Talking Donkey

Wednesday

A Wall Falls Down

Thursday

Trumpet and Torches

Friday

Long and Strong

Advanced Beginners: Child and parent read literature selections aloud every day, alternating pages. Be sure a different person starts on alternating days so the child practices all the pages. If the book is mastered, use the child’s own writing (narrations and the story written by the child, for reading practice.) Also use the poetry for the week for reading practice.

Independent Readers: Stuart Little

Advanced Readers: Redwall

 

Read Aloud: The Wind in The Willows, chapters 1-6

Poet Study: Learn "The Lamb" by William Blake

Picture Study: Choose your favorite illustration from the story and study it carefully. Poster-sized prints are available at amazon.com. Also, consider purchasing a Beatrix Potter calendar to use for picture study prints.

Nature Study:

Read about rabbits; Visit a pet shop or friend’s house and meet some rabbits in person.

On your nature walk, forage for wild edibles. Acorn Pancakes, Dandelion Salad and 38 Other Recipes by Jean Craighead George will give you some ideas.

Plan your garden. Older children can draw to scale on centimeter grid paper. Square Foot Gardening is a valuable reference.

.

Week Two:

Saints’ Read Aloud: Sixty Saints For Boys

Monday Mungo
Tuesday David
Wednesday Gregory
Thursday Owen
Friday Cuthbert and Herbert

Narration

Each day, child will narrate the saints’ selection while Mom keyboards. Then, she’ll illustrate. If the child is able, use the narration daily for reading practice.

Literature

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin

The Tale of Timmy Tiptoes

Monday Riddles play a key role in Squirrel Nutkin. Talk about the riddles and discover how Beatrix Potter gave the answers in her text. Find more old riddles of this sort (The Hobitt is a good place to look, for starters). Write your own riddles.

 

Tuesday Read and discuss Psalm 23. Look for Tasha Tudor’s version of this--a lovely little mini picture book.
Wednesday:

Consider a co-op day where you do all the hands on activities with another family. Or, don’t do them all—just pick and choose.

v1 Book of Centuries

Beatrix Potter was born in 1866--just one year before the birth of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Discuss what life was like in Victorian England. What else was happening in the world? What new developments occurred during Beatrix Potter’s lifetime? (Possibly very interesting side trail to compare her life to Laura Ingalls Wilder’s.)

v5 Many of Beatrix Potter’s books are set at a farm inspired by her own Hill Top Farm in England’s famous Lake District. Find England on the map, and locate the Lake District.

v6 Sample several different kinds of nuts. Take a large bowl of mixed nuts and identify each variety. Make a picture graph of the nuts in the bowl.

 

Thursday Additional reading: Spring Story by Jill Barklem (Brambly Hedge). Compare the Brambly Hedge stories, both prose and pictures, with the Beatrix Potter stories

 

 

Handwriting and Phonics

Beginners: Alphaphonics, Do each lesson, according to Blumenfeld’s lesson plans and then do the additional assignment in the box below the reading schedule.

Monday Lesson 26
Tuesday Lesson 27
Wednesday Lesson 28
Thursday Lesson 29
Friday Lesson 30
Monday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy.
Tuesday Choose the following rimes: [ub, ud, ug, ull, um, up, us, ut, us] from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with onsets to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Wednesday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy.
Thursday Choose the following rimes: [ash, esh, ish, osh, ush] from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with rimes to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Friday Sort word bank words into families.

Advanced: Studied Dictation

Level 1:The squirrels followed and listened.

Level 2: "Old Mr. Brown, will you favor us with permission to gather nuts upon your island?" note: this was edited to include the US spelling of "favor."

Monday Read carefully and copy. Choose a word from the sentence and isolate a rime. Make a list of all the words you can which contain that rime. Use the list as a spelling list, if you like.
Tuesday Copy again
Wednesday Take dictation and correct.
Thursday Take dictation and correct
Friday Take dictation and correct. Spelling test of Monday’s words.

 

Readers

Beginners: The Beginner’s Bible

Monday

Ruth

Tuesday

A Special Prayer

Wednesday

A Voice At Night

Thursday

The First King

Friday

A Good Heart

Advanced Beginners: Child and parent read the literature selections aloud every day, alternating pages. Be sure a different person starts on alternating days so the child practices all the pages. If the book is mastered, use the child’s own writing (Bible narrations and the story written by the child, for reading practice.) Also use the poetry for the week for reading practice.

Independent Readers: Charlotte’s Web

Advanced Readers: Redwall

 

Read Aloud: Wind in the Willows chapter 7-12

Poet Study: Learn William Blake’s "Little Lamb, Who Made Thee"

 

 

Picture Study: Look at Beatrix Potter’s childhood drawings & nature sketchbooks on the website. Compare these to her mature drawings. Discuss how she developed her style--from lifelike representations of nature (in the sketchbook) to the characters in her picture books. Might be fun to compare her style to Jan Brett’s, Tasha Tudor’s, other well known picture book illustrators.

Nature Study

Read about squirrels.

Sketch a squirrel; perhaps paint a watercolor of one.

Look for emerging flowers & identify them.

Beatrix Potter had a special interest in fungi. She painted hundreds of watercolors of various fungi, some of which were later used to illustrate a field guide. If you are interested, launch your own study of mushrooms and lichens. (Click here for links)

 

Week Three

Saints’ Read Aloud: Sixty Saints For Boys

Monday Wilfred
Tuesday John of Beverly
Wednesday Giles
Thursday Edmund
Friday Harold

Narration

Each day, child will narrate the saints’ selection while Mom keyboards. Then, she’ll illustrate. If the child is able, use the narration daily for reading practice.

Literature:

The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher

Monday Read Frog Went a Courtin’ (Rojankovsky) and learn the song.

 

 

Tuesday

¨ Make a list of all the insects in The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse. Choose one to research further.

Wednesday:

Consider a co-op day where you do all the hands on activities with another family. Or, don’t do them all—just pick and choose.

¨ Like Peter Rabbit, many other Beatrix Potter stories began as letters to children. Sometimes she enclosed miniature letters from the characters in the stories. Make your own bunny-sized correspondence from one storybook character to another. (Your toddlers might enjoy reading The Jolly Postman this week.)

¨ Jeremy Fisher enjoys a butterfly sandwich. You can find butterfly-shaped crackers in the grocery store. Make little sandwiches from these. (Or cut out butterflies from bread. Cream cheese and cucumbers would make nice little sandwiches.)

¨ Read Linnea in Monet’s Garden

Thursday

¨ Mrs. Tittlemouse told Babbity Bumble she would like to buy some beeswax. Use modeling beeswax (available from Hearthsong) to sculpt characters from the books.

 

Handwriting and Phonics

Beginners: Alphaphonics, Do each lesson, according to Blumenfeld’s lesson plans and then do the additional assignment in the box below the reading schedule.

Monday Lesson 31
Tuesday Lesson 32
Wednesday Lesson 33
Thursday Lesson 34
Friday Lesson 35
Monday Choose the "wh" onset from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with rimes to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice..
Tuesday Be sure that the child has really mastered all the vowel sounds in this lesson of varied sounds. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Wednesday You might find that the child regards these as sentence starters. If so, help her write complete sentences to practice reading.
Thursday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy
Friday Sort word bank words into families.

 

Advanced: Studied Dictation

Level 1: A great big water-beetle came up underneath the lily leaf and tweaked the toe of one of his galoshes.

Level 2: "Good-day, Babbity Bumble; I should be glad to buy some beeswax. But what are you doing down here? Why do you always come in at a window and say ‘’Zizz, Bizz, Bizzz’?"

Monday Read carefully and copy. Choose a word from the sentence and isolate a rime. Make a list of all the words you can which contain that rime. Use the list as a spelling list, if you like.
Tuesday Copy again
Wednesday Take dictation and correct.
Thursday Take dictation and correct
Friday Take dictation and correct. Spelling test of Monday’s words.

 

Reading Practice:

Beginners: The Beginner’s Bible

Monday

The Giant

Tuesday

Best Friends

Wednesday

King David

Thursday

Solomon

Friday

Food From Birds

Advanced Beginners: Child and parent read aloud every day, alternating pages. Be sure a different person starts on alternating days so the child practices all the pages. If the book is mastered, use the child’s own writing (Bible narrations and the story written by the child, for reading practice.) Also use the poetry for the week for reading practice.

Independent Readers: The Great Redwall Feast (This is not a chapter book but it is a very challenging, text-heavy picture book written in rhyme. Practice reading aloud.)

Advanced Readers: Mossflower

Read Aloud: Beatrix Potter: The Story of the Creator of Peter Rabbit (Buchan)

Poet Study:

Christina Rossetti: "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse" or

Rose Fyleman: "Mice"

 

Picture Study:

Read about Beatrix Potter’s landscape painting. Monet has some lovely landscapes as well. Compare the styles. Which would you rather copy?

 

Nature Study

Read about field mice in Anna Comstock’s book.

Begin an insect study. Poor Mrs. Tittlemouse is terribly troubled by unwelcome visitors. Study the insects in your own home and backyard.

Raise some tadpoles, if you can!

Nature walks should take you to the pond where, if you are lucky, you will find lily-pads and all sorts of other pond life. Bring along Donald Silver’s One Small Square: Pond

 

 

Week Four

Saints’ Read Aloud: Sixty Saints For Boys

Monday Guy
Tuesday Henry
Wednesday Edward
Thursday Walter
Friday Bernard

Narration

Each day, child will narrate the saints’ selection while Mom keyboards. Then, she’ll illustrate. If the child is able, use the narration daily for reading practice.

Literature

The Tale of Tom Kitten

The Tale of Mr. Samuel Whiskers (This is a long one. Feel free to break it up over two or three days).

Monday Tom Kitten was inspired by Beatrix Potter’s pet cat--as were many of her storybook characters. Read about them on the website. Write & illustrate a story about your own pet or one in your neighborhood.

 

 

Tuesday Make a roly poly pudding. (Lissa? Link to recipe?)
Wednesday:

Consider a co-op day where you do all the hands on activities with another family. Or, don’t do them all—just pick and choose.

v1 Read some poems from Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies of the Spring.

v2 Can you find any of the flowers she describes in your own yard? Or in a Brambly Hedge book?

v3 If you’re reading the Secret Garden, look up Barker poems for the flowers Mary grows from seed.

v4 Carefully copy and illustrate your favorite flower poem.

Thursday Bake bread and make hot buttered toast for a tea party.

 

Handwriting and Phonics

Beginners: Alphaphonics, Do each lesson, according to Blumenfeld’s lesson plans and then do the additional assignment in the box below the reading schedule.

Monday Lesson 36
Tuesday Lesson 37
Wednesday Lesson 38
Thursday Lesson 39
Friday Lesson 40
Monday This is a short lesson; there should be time enough for drill. These make key sight words. With enough practice, the child should read them instantly; add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Tuesday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy.
Wednesday Two syllable words will give your child a big confidence boost. Consider some of these as sentence starters. Help her write two or three sentences using some of these words to practice reading.
Thursday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy
Friday Sort word bank words into families.

 

Advanced: Studied Dictation:

Level 1: Tom Kitten was quite unable to jump when walking upon his hind legs in trousers.

Level 2: But one day their mother—Mrs. Tabitha Twitchit—expected friends to tea; so she fetched the kittens indoors, to wash and dress them, before the fine company arrived.

Monday Read carefully and copy. Choose a word from the sentence and isolate a rime. Make a list of all the words you can which contain that rime. Use the list as a spelling list, if you like.
Tuesday Copy again
Wednesday Take dictation and correct.
Thursday Take dictation and correct
Friday Take dictation and correct. Spelling test of Monday’s words.

Reading Practice

Beginners: The Beginner’s Bible

Monday

A Jar and a Jug

Tuesday

The True God

Wednesday

The Chariot of Fire

Thursday

Jars of Oil

Friday

A Room on the Roof

Advanced Beginners: Child and parent read aloud every day, alternating pages. Be sure a different person starts on alternating days so the child practices all the pages. If the book is mastered, use the child’s own writing (Bible narrations and the story written by the child, for reading practice.) Also use the poetry for the week for reading practice.

Independent Readers: James Herriott’s Treasury for Children

Advanced Readers: Mossflower

Read Aloud: The Secret Garden

Poet Study: Elizabeth Coatsworth: "The Bad Kittens"

Picture Study

Choose your favorite illustration from the story and study it carefully. Poster-sized prints are available at amazon.com. Also, consider purchasing a Beatrix Potter calendar to use for picture study prints.

Nature Study :

The pictures of the garden in The Tale of Tom Kitten reflects Beatrix Potter’s enthusiasm for her new home and garden at Hill Top Farm. Take a nature walk in an English garden (or something like it) this week. If none is available, visit an outdoor garden store and be sure to strike up a conversation with the proprietor.

When you go for a neighborhood nature walk, draw a map of where you are going and mark on it the places you find flowers growing.

Press flowers.

Read about cats. Take an inventory of the cats in your neighborhood and make a graph. Can you identify breeds?

Week Five

Saints’ Read Aloud: Sixty Saints For Boys

Monday Ronald
Tuesday Robert
Wednesday Gilbert
Thursday William
Friday Dominic

Narration

Each day, child will narrate the saints’ selection while Mom keyboards. Then, she’ll illustrate. If the child is able, use the narration daily for reading practice.

Literature

The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-winkle

The Story of Jemima Puddleduck.

Monday

v1 Make an herb omelette. Continue your fungi study by adding some mushrooms! Write your recipe and illustrate the recipe card.

v2 Make mushroom prints.

Tuesday Visit a farm—it’s baby animal time!
Wednesday:

Consider a co-op day where you do all the hands on activities with another family. Or, don’t do them all—just pick and choose.

v1 Another of Beatrix Potter’s passions was raising & breeding sheep. If you’re interested in sheep, check out the links on our weaving/sheep trail page.

v2 Buy some cheap cotton handkerchiefs and embroider them with your initials or flowers, animals, etc. Not just fun for girls!

v3 Have laundry lesson. How does our "laundry system" differ from Mrs. Tiggy-winkle’s. Be sure to iron something and use spray starch!

v4 Make a flowchart, illustrating the laundry process in your house.

v5 Use liquid starch mixed with water to make some beautiful stained glass pictures: Cut colored tissue paper into assorted shapes. Place a shape of tissue on a piece white paper and "paint" with the water/starch mixture, just getting the tissue damp enough to stick. Slightly overlap another piece of tissue on the first and continue until the entire white sheet is covered.

Thursday Buy some cheap cotton handkerchiefs and embroider them with your initials or flowers, animals, etc. Not just fun for girls!

Handwriting and Phonics

Beginners: Alphaphonics, Do each lesson, according to Blumenfeld’s lesson plans and then do the additional assignment in the box below the reading schedule.

Monday Lesson 41
Tuesday Lesson 42
Wednesday Lesson 43
Thursday Lesson 44
Friday Lesson 45
Monday Choose the rimes which contain "ng" from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with onsets to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Tuesday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy.
Wednesday Choose the rimes which contain "nd" from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with onsets to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Thursday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy
Friday Sort word bank words into families.

 

Advanced: Studied Dictation

Level 1: She was rather burdened with bunches of herbs and two onions in a bag.

Level 2: Her print gown was tucked up, and she was wearing a large apron over her striped petticoat. Her little black nose went sniffle, sniffle, snuffle, and her eyes went twinkle, twinkle; and underneath her cap—where Lucie had yellow curls—that little person had PRICKLES!

Monday Read carefully and copy. Choose a word from the sentence and isolate a rime. Make a list of all the words you can which contain that rime. Use the list as a spelling list, if you like.
Tuesday Copy again
Wednesday Take dictation and correct.
Thursday Take dictation and correct
Friday Take dictation and correct. Spelling test of Monday’s words.
Reading Practice

Beginners: The Beginner’s Bible

Monday

Naaman

Tuesday

A Boy King

Wednesday

Food For Daniel

Thursday

In the Fire

Friday

Spending the Night with Lions

Advanced Beginners: Child and parent read aloud every day, alternating pages. Be sure a different person starts on alternating days so the child practices all the pages. If the book is mastered, use the child’s own writing (Bible narrations and the story written by the child, for reading practice.) Also use the poetry for the week for reading practice.

Independent Readers: Just So Stories (Kipling)

Advanced Readers: Mattimeo

 

 

Read Aloud: The Secret Garden

Poet Study:

Read Wordsworth’s "Daffodils."

Picture Study

Choose your favorite illustration from the story and study it carefully. Poster-sized prints are available at Amazon. Also, consider purchasing a Beatrix Potter calendar to use for picture study prints.

Compare Durer’s "The Hare"  with Beatrix Potter’s illustrations

Nature Study

Read about hedgehogs. There are many excellent sites on the web. Some people keep hedgehogs as pets.Go to Jan Brett’s website for a lesson on how to draw a hedgehog.

Read about foxes in Anna Comstock’s book.

How is your garden coming along? Plant some sage and onions.

Your nature walk should take you to a duck pond this week. Bring sketchbooks and spend some time watching carefully. Choose a duck with personality. Give it a name and draw it. When you get home, write a story about "your" duck.

 

Week Six

Saints’ Read Aloud: Sixty Saints For Boys

Monday  
Tuesday  
Wednesday  
Thursday  
Friday  

Narration

Each day, child will narrate the saints’ selection while Mom keyboards. Then, she’ll illustrate. If the child is able, use the narration daily for reading practice.

Literature

Two Bad Mice

The Pie and the Patty Pan

Monday The Pie and the Patty Pan Is dedicated to Joan to read to Baby. The baby is Beatrix Potter’s god-daughter, named after her, born in November 1903. Write a letter to your Godmother, telling her about Beatrix Potter and her books. Illustrate the letter with drawings like Potter’s or with stickers.
Tuesday Rent the Tasha Tudor video in which she describes how she draws animals (warning--she calmly tells of finding dead birds and sticking them in the freezer, then arranging them into the position she wants to draw!) <<<Lissa—title?>>

¨

Wednesday:

Consider a co-op day where you do all the hands on activities with another family. Or, don’t do them all—just pick and choose.

¨ Before her books were published, Beatrix Potter illustrated fairy tales, Brer Rabbit, etc. Make your own picture books.

¨ Plan an English tea party:

¨ Come up with a guest list. Who would like to see all you ‘ve done while studying Beatrix Potter?

¨ Write and decorate invitations.

¨ Decide on a color scheme (will you have pink and white pie plates?)

¨ Decide on a menu and write it up on a board. Collect all your recipes.

¨ Shop for your party.

¨ Set up a display of all the stories you’ve written and drawings you’ve done while studying Beatrix Potter.

Thursday

¨ Have your tea party. Enjoy your food, show off your work, recite your poetry and be sure to tour the garden!

 

 

Handwriting and Phonics

Beginners: Alphaphonics, Do each lesson, according to Blumenfeld’s lesson plans and then do the additional assignment in the box below the reading schedule.

Monday Lesson 46
Tuesday Lesson 47
Wednesday Lesson 48
Thursday Lesson 49
Friday Lesson 50
Monday Choose the rimes which contain "nk" and "nch" from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with onsets to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Tuesday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy.
Wednesday Choose the rimes which contain "ct" "ft" "xt" from the tiles and encourage the child to combine with onsets to make words. Check to see which words are sight words and add those words to the word bank. The child can copy those word bank words onto handwriting paper for handwriting practice.
Thursday After completing the lesson, have the child choose two sentences to copy. Write a model for her, using the handwriting style you prefer and then have her copy
Friday Sort word bank words into families.

Advanced: Studied Dictation

Level 1:"The top oven bakes too quickly," said Ribby to herself.

Level 2: She shook the mats out at the front door and put them straight; the hearth-rug was a rabbit-skin. She dusted the clock and the ornaments on the mantel-piece, and she polished and rubbed the tables and chairs.

Monday Read carefully and copy. Choose a word from the sentence and isolate a rime. Make a list of all the words you can which contain that rime. Use the list as a spelling list, if you like.
Tuesday Copy again.
Wednesday Take dictation and correct.
Thursday Take dictation and correct
Friday Take dictation and correct. Spelling test of Monday’s words.

Reading Practice

Beginners: The Beginner’s Bible

Monday Inside a Fish
Tuesday The Angel’s Secret
Wednesday The Most Special Baby
Thursday Good News
Friday Blessings for the Baby

Advanced Beginners: Child and parent read aloud every day, alternating pages. Be sure a different person starts on alternating days so the child practices all the pages. If the book is mastered, use the child’s own writing (Bible narrations and the story written by the child, for reading practice.) Also use the poetry for the week for reading practice.

Independent Readers: The Trumpet of the Swan

Advanced Readers: Mattimeo

Read Aloud: The Secret Garden

Poet Study:

Robert Louis Stevenson: "The Flowers"

Picture Study: Compare Potter’s Illustrations with those of Jill Barkelm (Brambly Hedge),  Cicely Mary Barker (The Flower Fairy) and Christopher Denise (Redwall)

Nature Study

Spend some more time on whatever has captured your interest: wildflowers, rodents, birds, insects, fish, fungi

Read about mice