Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, FIAR

The boys had their first taste of poetry this past week as we rowed Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost.  I’d completely forgotten Joe had already been exposed to this poem in Language Lessons at the start of our school year.  He was quick to remind me and also threw in how much he liked it and was happy to read it ‘again for five days’ :-).  It never ceases to amaze me…books that I’m not particularly excited to row always become well loved by the end of the week and hold special memories for me now.  We haven’t read one yet that the boys didn’t enjoy.

 

Language:  Poetry – Alliteration

“The only other sound’s the sweep…”

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep.”

 

I introduced Joe to several poetic devices.  The first being alliteration.  He was quick to pick up on it not only in our FIAR selection, but as we read other books and poems throughout the week. 

 

All of the boys thoroughly enjoyed hearing me read aloud from Favorite Poems Old and New, by Helen Ferris Tibbets, each day.  Joe even asked for this book before bedtime.  This was a great book for reinforcing the poetic devices he learned while we rowed.  I plan to add this book to our home collection.

 

Language:  Rhyme

I didn’t have to do much to teach this device to Joe.  As we were reading the book Tracks in the Snow, by Wong Herbert Yee, he picked up on it and pointed it out to me.  A perfect time to bring up rhyming in poetry!

 

Language:  Literary Device – Repetition

“And miles to go before I sleep. 

And mile to go before I sleep.”

We discussed the use of repetition in poetry and how it is often used to get a point across or to make a certain part of the poem stand out more than another in the reader’s mind.  As soon as we got to this part in the poem, Joe stopped me and said, ‘that’s repetition!’, insert big smile from me here :-).  He loved our week of poetry much more than I thought he would—so did I.  I definitely want to study poetry more in our homeschool from time to time.

Joe wrote a couple of his own poems.  One about animals, and the other a winter acrostic poem.  Here they are:

Art

Joe and I read The Snow Globe Family, by Jane O’Connor.  He made a snow globe picture using a crayon/watercolor wash technique on cardstock.  He chose to make a gingerbread house inside his snow globe.  He had fun making it and it turned out really good.

The two little boys made (gummy) bears in a (black craft foam) cave surrounded by (Jell-O paint) snow.  Joe made this same thing in a zoo class when he was four, but with Kool-Aid paint.  I remembered how much he loved making it and since I was reading books about animals and hibernation all week with the little boys I thought this would be fun.  They LOVED it!  All three boys thought the Jell-O paint smelled and tasted so good.  They painted and licked and painted and licked :-).

Top is Jack’s and bottom is Jesse’s.Science:  Animal Tracks,  Winter Animals and Snowflakes

The little boys and I read lots of books about winter animals, hibernation and animal tracks.  I made them snow dough (white play doh with sparkly glitter mixed in) and got them an Arctic Toob so they could make their own animal tracks in the snow, since we obviously lack in that department here in South Carolina :-). 

Joe completed a lapjournal page about winter animals.A worksheet matching animal tracks. A book and worksheets for reading comprehension about winter animals and their adaptations during the winter months.Joe made crystal snowflakes using Borax.  We’d never done this but it had been on my list since our first year of homeschool.  All of the kids enjoyed watching the crystals form.  They formed so fast.  We started the experiment after lunch and by supper time they were huge!   This was fun. This was such a fun week.  Our activities were simple, but we enjoyed them so much.  My goal was to simplify our rows in certain areas this quarter to lessen my load in prep.  I was worried that may take away some of the fun for the boys, but it definitely hasn’t, and it has helped me immensely!

*Inspiration, ideas and printables for this row can be found at:

• Five in a Row Volume 1 manual
• Homeschool Share’s Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening printables
• Delightful Learning’s Stopping By Woods row—ideas for poems and link for animal tracks match pdf
• What the Teacher Wants—snow globe art project
• Steve Spangler Science—Borax Snowflakes
• Snacks and Stories—Jell-O paint recipe
• How and Why Animals Prepare for Winter book and go along worksheets from teacher's manual