Duck Pond

Yesterday the girls and I packed up our sandwiches for lunch and went to eat at the duck pond. We brought along the heels of the loaves of bread (which only Hubby likes, and he's on a business trip) so we could feed the ducks. It was a beautiful day, and the light breezes coupled with the shady benches to sit on made for a lovely lunch. The girls had a great time tossing tiny bits of bread to the birds and ducks, and the highlight was probably when Little Girl fed the tiny flock of baby ducklings that were swimming on one side of the pond.

During lunch, though, I started reading The Trumpet of the Swam to the girls as the beginning of our new unit study. I thought we could map out where Sam and Louis go, learn about different birds, listen to new kinds of music, etc. I seem to recall someone posting a list of things you can do in a unit study with this book, though I can't remember exactly where I saw it. Oh, well. I'm relatively sure I can come up with something! I mean, what was all that money spent on for my education degree, anyway?

Included in yesterday's lesson was a quick review of adjectives. We only read chapter one ("Sam"), and at the end of the chapter and a quick review of the story, we discussed Sam's character. What kinds of words can we use to describe him? What adjectives? Big Girl came up with adventurous, Little Girl said he was nice and a quiet boy. Big Girls said that even though he was adventurous, it was not a wild kind of adventurous spirit that he had, but a quiet one.

During our reading, we looked at a small student atlas to find Montana and the provinces just north of the state. We haven't yet figured out where Sam lives or where he likes to camp with his father, but we did get a good idea of where Montana is, at least. Since we were in South Dakota for vacation, it was a good reference point for the girls.

Up later today will be chapter two, which I believe is about the pond where Sam finds the swans and their nest. I think we'll work on a map to track where Sam and Louis go during their adventures, as well as Louis' father, who I think also has an adventure when he goes off to find the trumpet for Louis.