Our FIAR study of Ferdinand

As I've mentioned before, we've recently started using a homeschool "curriculum" (not the word I would use to describe it, but okay) called Five in a Row.

The concept behind FIAR is that you read the same book every day for five ... um, days in a row, doing a different activity with it each day.

This week we are "rowing" (to use the lingo) The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, which is our sixth FIAR book.



This is what it has looked like so far:


Monday (Social Studies day) -- After we read the story, we found Spain on our big world map on the playroom wall. I had printouts from HomeSchoolShare.com of a map where they colored in Spain, and a little booklet to color in the flag of Spain.
Several months ago we got a "Learn Spanish" CD with a Chik-Fil-A kids' meal, so I dug that out and we listened to a few of the lessons.

We also watched the cartoon about Bugs Bunny fighting the bull (remember that one? "What a gull-a-bull! What a nin-cow-poop!"), although that was not speficially suggested in the FIAR manual. :)


Tuesday (Language Arts day) -- Read the book again and listening to some of the Spanish lessons on the CD again. Pointed out how and why the author used techniques like repetition and asking the reader questions (ie, "and who do you think that way?")

We discussed interjections, so of course we had to watch the Schoolhouse Rock video. (Hurray, I' for the other team!")

Rachael dictated part of a story to me about a little Spanish girl going to the bullfight that Ferdinand was in. I don't know if she'll finish it. If she doesn't, that's okay. I'll write it up on lined paper and it will be her Copywork for the next couple of days. Here it is:

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Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rosita. She was a very nice girl and lived
in Spain. Her mother was a belly-dancer and her father was a famous artist.

Her father was the kind of person that would never miss a day reading the newspaper. One day he was reading the newspaper when he came upon an ad for a bullfight. He looked up. "Does anybody want to go to a bullfight?" he asked.

"What's a bullfight?" asked Rosita.

"It's a place where you go and watch a fight. There's a matador and a bull. They both fight together until the end when the matador sticks a sword in the bull."

Who would want to go to a show like that? thought Rosita. But she didn't want to disappoint her father, so she said, "I'd like to go."

Then she remembered something. Her friend Raquel always wanted to go to a bullfight. "Can my friend go too?" she asked.

"Of course, if her mother says it's okay," said her father.

So mother got on the phone to call Raquel's house.

Her mother answered. "Hello," said Rosita's mother. "We were just asking if Raquel would like to go to the bullfight with Rosita."

"It's fine with me if it's fine with you," said Raquel's mother.

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Later this week I plan to watch a "Learn Spanish" video that I have on hold at the library; do an art activity involving size and distance; have the girls briefly act out some of the scenes; and discuss cork oak trees and clover.

I guess if I was really on the ball, we would be cooking some Mexican food, but I think I'll just let that go.

I'm sure there are some women out there that are having the kids build their own pinata and write to a pen-pal in Spain, but I'm not one of them.

So, as you can see, with one simple picture book from the library and a FIAR manual, you can cover a lot of ground, but it's fairly effortless and doesn't even take that much time.