05 Jun Five in a Row: The Tale of Peter Rabbit

I had had plans to start rowing with FIAR, Volume 1, but as this week approached, I kept thinking of this book.  I fondly remembered it from my childhood.  My father used to read us Beatrix Potter’s books as bedtime stories.  Being as there are little rabbits running around our yard right now, and since it is gardening season here, I decided to go straight tol Volume 2 and start by rowing The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Book Review

The Tale of Peter Rabbit is the time-honored story of a mischievous rabbit who’s entire goal in life was to get into Mr. McGregor’s garden. His constant quest for carrots and cabbage almost cost him his life.

I made a big rookie mistake with this book, so I wanted to warn others. MAKE SURE YOU GET THE BOOK WITH THE ORIGINAL PICTURES!!!  The original pictures were painted by Beatrix Potter. I don’t know where my head was, or what I was thinking. Clearly I was NOT thinking because I bought the book with a different illustrator.  UGH!  Half the charm of this book is in the illustrations!  Many of the lessons listed in the Five in a Row manual are based on the illustrations as well, so I ended up going to the library and taking it out instead of reading our own book.

Clark and Luci were instantly enraptured with this story.  Although this was Clark’s first official narration, he didn’t have a hard time with it because he was so interested in the story.  Luci, of course, had to get in on the narration action and did quite well.  I’m going to have to write them down because they’re so adorable.

Social Studies:

This story takes place in England where Beatrix Potter lived.  We learned where England is on the world map and how that related to us, a few interesting facts about England, some sights we would like to see in England and we colored England’s flag.  We learned a little about the English Royal Family.  Clark was amazed that there was actually a real live princess who lived in England!

We talked about how we have rules in our home, just like Mrs. Rabbit, and how our rules are to keep us safe and healthy.  Since we’re just starting to homeschool, we talked about our rules for our homeschool and why we have those rules.

Language Arts

At the end of our row, we made a list of the vegetables mentioned in Mr. McGregor’s garden.  Several of these vegetables, such as the gooseberries and French beans, Clark had never heard of before, however he knew every one of them.  This story and so many details really stuck!

One day, as we read the story, I asked Clark the definition of several words that I knew he probably did not know.  I was very impressed that each time, Clark had already formed an idea of what the definition was.  For example, when Peter got stuck in the gooseberry net and gave himself up for loss, the sparrows came and “implored Peter to exert himself.”  Clark was convinced that “exert” meant “to calm down.”  Obviously not correct – but perfectly logical!  We started a binder of “Very Remarkable Words” to record our new words, definitions and a drawing of them.

Art

Resources are abundant on the internet. There are several places to print out Peter Rabbit coloring pages (try here and here).  Both Clark and Luci enjoyed coloring several pictures during their quiet time.

Much like myself, Clark loves anything creative, so I was excited to sit down with him one afternoon to introduce watercolor paints.

While we read The Tale of Peter Rabbit that day, I pointed out the illustrations and how they had been painted with watercolors.  After the story, I printed out some of Beatrix Potter’s drawings on watercolor paper and we both tried painting with water colors. 

I love how hard Clark worked.  He thoroughly enjoyed this project, but there was no way he could stick to the colors on the picture we were copying. How boring!  He asked if he could paint with whichever colors he wished.  I told him he certainly could.  I love that he is so creative.  He finished the first painting, then asked to do another.  Here are our two finished paintings:   

Math

I had seen this carrot math fact match game online and thought it was a cute idea. I printed out some blank carrots and carrot tops and made it to suit me.  You can read a little more about it this part of our study and download the game for free HERE.  

Clark LOVED this game, in fact, he literally jumped up and down like a little rabbit the entire time he was playing it.  I had him match the carrot tops to the carrots, resolving an addition problem.  He used a number line I printed out, which is something that he is working with in his math right now.  When he was finished matching, he took his paper bag rabbit puppet that we had made earlier and gobbled up all of the carrots!  Luci joined in and they continued the game for long after it was officially over.  I loved that it integrated addition, the number line and our story of Mr. McGregor’s garden! 

As suggested by the Five in a Row workbook, we touched briefly on what a fortnight was. I think the concept was a little abstract for Clark and Luci.  Together, we also worked on some graphing, which was more to their liking.  At the time, we were also working on finishing up our unit on butterflies, so this graph from 3Dinosaurs’ Bug Pack was perfect

Clark decided that whomever was the first to color a square at the top wins.  He won and was very pleased with himself.

Science

Unlike Mr. McGregor, I am a gardener only in my dreams.  I am determined, however, no matter how long it takes, we are going to learn to grow things. We’ll start small with this row by planting some flowers. You can read more about this portion of our study in this post.    

The most exciting part was only 3 days later, our little flowers could already be seen, breaking through the soil!  Clark and Luci check on their little plants’ progress everyday and are responsible for watering and caring for their own little pots.

We also learned a lot about rabbits during our time reading “The Tale of Peter Rabbit.”  We borrowed a ton of books from the library and did portions of “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” unit study found at Homeschoolshare.com.

We really took our time on this row, but who says they have to just last for five days, right?!  Clark and Luci loved the book more with each time it was read. They got to know it very, very well.  I am thinking, for my own sanity, I may continue to row each book over the span of about two weeks. This way we can get everything done that we would like to without feeling rushed. 

Additional Resources for The Tale of Peter Rabbit can be found on our Pinterest Five in a Row Board

Don’t miss: Let’s See if We Can Compete with Mr. McGregor