Littles Learning - The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit

This week for the Littles' Learning we will be using the book, The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit by Susan Lowell. (This is a busier week around the Low house, so the unit this week is a little less invovled =)

Here's our plan for the week:

Monday-

• Read The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit. First time through without interruption to hear the whole story.


• Reread the story, pausing while the Littles line up animal cards (see links below) to help tell the story.


• Leave the animal cards out to be colored throughout the day.

Materials needed- Crayons, Desert Animals 1 (printed and cut), Desert Animals 2 (printed and cut)

Tuesday-

• Read the story again and ask the children to identify any animals they can remember.
  
• Use play dough to create any of the animals they are interested in.

Materials needed- Play dough

Wednesday-

• Practice identifying the beginning phonemes of the animals/plants in the story.
  
• Play a guessing game by asking which animal(s) begins with /t/, /j/, /c/, etc.

Materials needed- Animal cards from Monday

Thursday-

• Discuss the moral of the story, "Slow and steady wins the race".


• Use library books to learn more about the desert habitat and the animals.
  

Materials needed- Library books

Friday-

• Review the moral of the story and discuss ways we can strive to finish our goals (picking up toys, sharing, helping others, learning, obeying God...).


• Plan a course for your child to steadily and quickly carry a ping-pong ball on a spoon (i.e. from the fridge to the dining table). Explain again the importance of "slow and steady" versus "with haste". Add more obstacles to add to the challenge (i.e. step over a small stool, go around the chair, etc.).

Materials needed- Spoons, ping-pong balls (or pom-poms)


More Littles Learning to come, next week our book will be one of our family favorites Bear on a Bike by Stella Blackstone.