18 Jun Five in a Row: Thunder Cake

Some Five in a Row books are a big hit with my children, and some are not. As much as I wanted it to be loved, I realized right away that Storm in the Night, that it was not going to be a hit.  There was very little action. My children described it as “a lot of boring talking.”  Clark and Luci are, however, definitively interested in thunderstorms and weather, so we didn’t want to miss the subject matter. I decided instead to focus this row on the book, Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco, which we had gotten from the library as an add-on.  We’ve had some fairly severe thunderstorms recently and both children reacted in fear to the noise.  So I thought this book would a great way to help dispel fears, and let’s be honest – anyone can get interested in some Thunder Cake!

Book Review

Thunder Cake is a charming true story about the author’s childhood fear of thunderstorms and how she conquered that fear with the help of her Grandmother and her Thunder Cake. The pictures are delightful and engaging. After reading this with my children, I imagine they will think of cake every time they experience a thunderstorm!

It’s a special treat to listen to the author herself read the story.

Social Studies

Both the Grandfather in Storm in the Night and the Grandmother in Thunder Cake helped their grandchildren understand that everyone has fears, but they can be overcome. I wanted to spend some time on this with my children, but Clark staunchly declared that he had no fears.  I talked to him about some fears that I had, and some fears that his Dad had (spiders – Haha!) and suggested that he think about it for a day or so and we would come back to it.  The next day, we discussed it again and he had one fear:  mean fairies. I mean, I guess I’d be afraid of mean fairies, too! Having no idea how to address that, though, we dropped the subject.

My husband made up a lesson for Clark and Luci on Russia, since in Thunder Cake, the Grandmother came from Russia.  I was on a conference call for work while he taught the children.  When I was done, Clark came running downstairs to tell me all about the “biggest country in the world!”  “It’s even bigger than CANADA!”  They covered geography, colored a Russian flag, and discussed a lot of recognizable cultural aspects of Russia. I love when my husband gets involved with our homeschooling!

Science

This book study was a great opportunity to study weather. You could go crazy here, with all of the weather subject matter, but I decided to keep things very simple this time. We started with learning how to read a thermometer. We tried different locations, inside and out, to see how it would change.

Luci, as always, wanted to be involved and this time I was ready. I’d found a cute little hot and cold picture sort online. Although I can’t find the one I originally used, there is a similar one for free on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Thunder Cake

Now for the big questions: Can you make a Thunder Cake even if there is no thunder? Clark hypothesizes “NO!” Luci says “YES!” Today, we set out to find out. We took the recipe from the book, Thunder Cake.

Clark and Luci always love to “help” me bake, but they were especially excited today.  They absolutely loved reading Thunder Cake together. They were both very engaged, asking questions, noticing the art work.  When it came to narrate the story, Clark (who is usually hesitant and resistant) offered to narrate and did a fabulous job!  Luci, then, insisted on having a turn and I think she repeated what her big brother said, word for word. She wants so badly to be included. I hope when it comes time for her to officially be included in the narrations that she will rock it!  

We decided to put some strawberry pie filling in the middle and then we covered it with chocolate icing.  Despite the very weird and unexpected “secret ingredient,” the cake was surprisingly rich and delicious!  We ate it as a treat before going to bed. 

 I’m hoping this helps to engage the children a little more in the subject matter.  Clark has stated several times that he does not want to learn about storms and thunder because it makes him scared. Maybe we can work together to dispel those fears, just as in the book.  Either way, I think Luci was right on this one.  The Thunder Cake was delish, even without any thunder!