Week 23 - The Carrot Seed {part 1}

 The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss is a very simple book that teaches hard work & patience.  The little boy in the story plants a carrot seed.  His whole family tells him, it won't come up.  The boy continues to pull the weeds and water the soil regardless of his nay-saying family.  Until, one day the carrot comes up!  At the end, you see the little boy with his wheelbarrow overflowing with his gigantic prize of a carrot.

  To start the week, I made a sensory bin with several items from the story.  I used a plastic tub, soil, boy & watering can cutout from story, and plastic carrots (purchased at the $1 store after Easter!!).  I also made a game with the "Will It Come Up? printable from Homeschool Share's lapbook to go along with a great carrot game I stumbled upon at Sorting Sprinkles.  The carrots are made out of pipe cleaners and the boys practiced planting and pulling them up with tweezers.  Nana, unknowingly, provided us with some carrot Easter Eggs that I filled with green pom-poms.  They used these for planting in the soil and in the egg carton.  You can see all of our fun below:

Watering!

 

   Next, we read Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace and Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens (the boys favorite go along book for the week).  We talked about seeds and got out some of our seed packets to inspect different kinds and discussed how God had made them all different.  And, each seed contains the information inside of it to make the plant.  After the discussion, we planted some seeds of our own.  First we planted some carrot seeds using a damp paper towel and a plastic bag (and watched them grow throughout the week):

{Before}  Teeny, tiny carrot seeds.

{After}  They came up!

   We also planted a bean seed in a mason jar and used the damp paper towel technique, again.  This allowed us to view the bean as it went through the growing process.  I made the seed growth booklet (from the homeschool share lapbook) for them to document the growth of their bean:

Getting our beans ready

Watering

 And now, the beauty of God's handiwork:

 

   Pretty amazing to watch it all unfold...

  In the Seeds! Seeds! Seeds! book, the little bear grew a grass head.  So, I thought it might be fun to add something else to the "growing" list this week.  Besides, who doesn't want to have their own grass head?!  I used Just Being a Mum's method:  old panty hose, grass seed, cotton balls, and some rubber bands. 

Scooping/Measuring out Seed

Adding the cotton balls

Completed heads- ready for watering!

After about a week-ish of growing.  He looks like he's in a boy band.  Don't fret, you will see more pictures of grass-man!

   The next round of go along books included:  The Giant Carrot by Jan Peck and The Enormous Carrot by Vladimir Vagin.  The books had a similar feel to them.  The characters had to use their strength (as one) to pull up a carrot.  Afterward, the carrot was used to make lots of different dishes:  soup, cake, ice cream, raw, juice, puddin', etc.).  Of course, we HAD to make some sort of food dish to go along with our carrot theme.  Before we did, we practiced some cutting skills.  First, on our wooden fruit/veggies:

              Then on some real carrots and a very dull butter knife.  It was a rough go, but they were able to chop through the carrots.

   We were ready to move on to shredding carrots (which I did 98% of, in fear they would shred their fingers off) for our carrot cake.

Trying to mix in the flour

A little help holding the bowl, as the last of the flour goes in!

Mixing in the carrots

 The final (scrumptious) product:

   ....part 2 post of The Carrot Seed coming soon...  Click Here for part 2!!


 

Week 22 - Easter Theme

This past week, we really dug into the Easter story.  Our memory verse for the week was John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one

and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall

not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16

  We started the week by discussing Jesus arriving in Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Jesus washing the disciples feet, and then the Last Supper.  Maybe I just short change them, but I was surprised that the boys quickly recognized/understood the symbolism between the bread-body and wine-blood.  They did a communion coloring page to which they had to glue on the missing disciples, bread & cup.  "B" proudly told me that he colored his cup, gold, to represent heaven.  He remembered this from our wordless books we had made!  I was so proud of him.  Mr. "C", true to form, decided his cup should also be gold.

"B"

"C"

   Next, we did some fun activity pages.  The first was a cross maze.  The second was a trace the dot:

   We also made baskets that contained pictures of objects from the story.  A cross, nails, stone, and finally they had to draw a picture of themselves.  To remind them that they were also one of the reason's Jesus died on the cross.  

    Let me just say, that it makes a Mama pretty proud to hear her little boys thanking God for sending His Son for us.  ...still waiting for that conviction to come...  keep praying!

   Finally, we did some baking.  First up, were Resurrection cookies (recipe).  All of the ingredients were used to tell the death/burial/resurrection.  Each time an ingredient was added, we read the scripture verse to which it related.  To begin, we placed whole pecans into a baggy and beat them, just as Jesus was beaten. 

    Next, we added a small amount of vinegar (after letting them each taste it- wish I would've gotten a picture of that!).  Then, we added salt (also tasted) for the tears that were shed.  Egg whites were also added to symbolize life- Jesus gave His life, so we could have life in Him.

  And finally, sugar to represent the sweetest part of all.  Jesus did this because He loved us so much.  Then, it was time to turn on the mixer.  And, mix we did.  For 12 minutes!

Love this picture, all hands on deck.  "B" yelled, look Mom!  It's turning white, because Jesus washes our sins away!

Phew!  Finally, stiff peaks!  Time to fold in the nuts...

Dropping our mix onto our baking sheet.  The rocky mounds were supposed to represent the tomb.

Sealing up the oven.

 

Sealed til morning, oven is off!

  As soon as they woke up, the tape went a flyin'.  The cookies had hardened overnight and when we broke them apart, they were hollow on the inside.  Just as Jesus tomb was empty!

    We also made Resurrection rolls.  Boy, were these fun and delightfully delicious.  Not to mention, they do a great job reinforcing the story.  Find the recipe I used here.  To begin, you will need:  marshmallows, melted butter, cinnamon/sugar, and a can of crescent rolls.  The marshmallow represents Jesus' pure body.  We rolled it in melted butter (=oils), cinnamon/sugar mix, (=spices) and then sealed it inside of the crescent roll (=tomb).

   Once sealed, we put them in the oven to bake.  Then, we took them out to check to see if Jesus was still inside the tomb.  

When we cut into the roll, (much to their surprise) the marshmallow had disappeared!  They wanted to cut open every roll to see that it was gone. 

Mommy's Learning Moment of the Week:

   Want to hear a confession...alright, here it is:  I've gone through many Easter holidays, over the past years, as numb as a person standing outside in 20 below weather.  Easter attire...check.  Go to church...check.  Colored eggs...check.  Easter baskets...check.  Food...check.  Family events...check.  Home to relax...finally.  I'm not sure when this actually became my mindset, but it did.  I really had lost the true value ( and meaning ) of Easter!  What happened to sitting down to really appreciate what God and His Son had done for me?  Satan had really won that battle...UNTIL this year.  

   In an effort to really bring the Easter story home for the boys, I decided to make the resurrection cookies/rolls.  Something tangible, right?  After reading the scripture to them regarding Jesus being beaten and the tears that were shed for Him, I almost could not hold my tears inside.  It was like something had broken through the ice, finally!  

   I confessed my sins to Christ at the age of 6.  It was after a horrible day at school.  I realized that I could not do things perfectly and that I was sinful.  The worst day of my (then) life turned out to be the best of all when I accepted Him into my heart.  That appreciation, gratefulness, and humility that I once had, really faded over the years.  It's easy to become complacent and lose that joy.  Or, at least it is for me.  I am learning that I need to be more purposeful about seeking that out.  I am truly thankful that He forgives and loves even a selfish and undeserving person like myself.  That He pursues me, even when I sometimes stop pursuing Him. 

Handwriting

   This week we worked on lower case "e" and "l" and practiced writing some words/sentence:

Math

   The boys worked on adding hundreds.  This is the only picture I have.  They had to solve the problem and then color it the corresponding color per directions:

Next week...

   We have been rowing The Carrot Seed all week and learning about Joseph.  It's been fun and we can't wait to share!