(...the rest is in the Flower Fairies Alphabet)
Mrs. Applebee and Michael started down the trail once again and before they got four feet away from Nasturtium, Michael said he was getting tired. "Let's meet one more fairy and then we can rest for the night. I know a cottage nearby," said Mrs. Applebee
"That's a good plan, " agreed Michael. For the next few minutes he thought of what the next fairy would look like or how cozy the cottage where he was to sleep would be. Before he knew it, there was a fairy calling out, "Mother! How good it is to see you!"
"And you, too, my lovely Orchis!"
Hmm... thought Michael, Orchis is a nice name. Together, Mrs. Applebee and Michael walked to a big shrub with a light pink fairy standing next to it.
"Why, who is this young man?" inquired the fairy.
"This," said Mrs. Applebee "is Michael."
"Well hello, Michael! I am the Orchis fairy," said the small fairy with a grin.
"May I hear your song?" asked Michael.
"Absolutely!"
THE SONG OF THE ORCHIS FAIRY
The families of orchids,
they are the strangest clan,
with spots and twists resembling
a bee, or fly, or man;
And some are in the hot-house,
and some in foreign lands,
But Early Purple Orchis
in English pasture stands.(...the rest is in the Flower Fairies Alphabet)
"Oh that's a lovely song!" said Michael as Orchis finished.
"It's getting dark Michael, dear. Are you going to stay in one of the cottages beyond my shrubs?" asked the Orchis fairy.
"I think so, but Orchis? Aren't you forgetting something?" Michael reminded the fairy.
"Oh. Yes!" said the Orchis fairy. Then she got out her copy of the red book and read to him about a Saint named Ordilia.
"Oh that's a nice story!" said Michael, stretching sleepily.
"Alrighty, dear wee one, we best be heading to the cottages," said Mrs. Applebee."Thank you, Orchis,my love."
"Oh, you are welcome, Mother," Orchis smiled, as she handed Michael one of her lovely pink flowers. It had a golden stem.
"Oh goody!" said Michael. "You're a vowel!"
"Yes indeed. O is a one of the vowels, which means you've four of the vowels and you only have one golden letter to go!" said Orchis. "Michael, I have a treat for you!" said Orchis, "This is "saloop." It's a nutritious drink made from the extract of my flowers," said Orchis handing Michael and Mrs. Applebee each a cup of saloop.
Waving goodbye to Michael and Mrs. Applebee, Orchis took a cup of saloop for herself and drank it. Mrs. Applebee and Michael walked through the woods surrounding Orchis' shrubs. There was a cozy cottage.
"This is where we are to spend the night tonight. And tomorrow morning we'll meet the P fairy!" said Mrs. Applebee with a friendly smile.
Lesson Plans:
Presentation: You can use the drawing of St. Ordilia in the book (and pictured in a child's example) as a visual when telling this story. You may want to print it on card stock and add it to your child's main lesson or sketch book. It can be added to your child's main lesson book as well.
Language: Use the Letter O in the St. Ordilia picture as an introduction to letter formation. Have the child trace the O with his or her finger. Practice the Letter O by copying the model drawing. Older children can draw the picture of of St. Ordilia well and use the song of the Orchis fairy as copywork. Sing the song as well and soon it will be memorized.
Read the story "Orchis and St. Odilia" to your child and use it for reading practice. Download a PDF copy of the story and add it to your personal Alphabet Path Storybook [Download o_is_for_orchis.pdf ]
Continue reviewing what we've learned. This week we will add the letter "K" to our alphabet main lesson book. Ask your child to consider the things in the world that begin with the Letter K. Ask her to illustrate them in her main lesson book and label the pictures. You can write the word for your child to copy if necessary. In Stephen's example shown here, he included words that are signed in the Signing Time Alphabet Song, which is the alphabet song he hears at home. The lyrics are here on page 6. If you have not yet made salt dough letters, now is the time to catch up. We are going to use those letters later along the alphabet path. If you are just beginning, you might consider letting your child paint the consonants green and the vowels gold (or yellow) to match the stems of the flowers in the story. All the flowers for the vowels will have golden stems.
Nature Study:
(Don't try to do it all--these are options for science and nature study)
- After the story has been told, spend some time on the Flower Fairy site. You can research the botanical information and record them in a sketchbook or main lesson book. Or perhaps you would prefer flower storybook paper for letter writing practice and copywork. (An older child can do this independently, but a younger child can give an oral narration which you write or keyboard for him or her.)
- With your older child, you might choose to work through Apologia's Discovering Creation with Botany. Read a section and then ask your child to narrate the information in his main lesson book. Always encourage your child to illustrate his narrations. Work on the experiments that you feel would be most beneficial for your child. Take a picture of the finished project and add it to his main lesson book. The pace at which you move through this book is not as important as the child having an opportunity to really understand the material. Go at your child's pace.
- We've had great success encouraging older children to take their flower narrations well beyond what is provided at the Flower Fairy site. These children are able to truly appreciate the vast varieties of flowers and to to see God's creativity when they consider the lilies of the field.
- For some children, a living books/picture book approach seems to resonate and be more meaningful than any other approach. Consider choosing meaty picture books to teach the same concepts. If you choose to pursue this course of study, here is a science-themed picture book study for this letter:
O is for One Small Square Books:
Use these books as inspiration for nature study, in your own backyard, in the great big world, or on the couch!
One Small Square: Cactus Desert
One Small Square: Tropical Rain Forest
One Small Square: African Savanna
One Small Square: Arctic Tundra
Art: Using the illustration in The Flower Fairy Alphabet Book, ask the child to sketch the The Orchis Fairy in the main lesson book. A younger child can color the The Orchis Fairy in the Flower Fairy Alphabet Coloring Book . Perhaps on another day the child could model the fairy or flower with modeling beeswax. (Sources of excellent quality modeling beeswax can be found on the right sidebar.)
For this week's picture study, Museum ABC focuses on OX for the "O" page. It's interesting to look carefully at just one segment of the painting in the book. The children can discuss what they think the rest of the painting might look like before you show them the print.
Really look at the picture. Soak in the details. Ask your child to narrate with a prompt such as, "Pretend that I am going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the first time and want to find this painting. What details could you give me so that I could more easily find it?" Keyboard the narration and ask your child to sketch the work of art. A younger child can copy the painting while an older child can narrate from memory and discover how much detail he remembers by attempting to sketch it from memory. Over the course of this unit, consider collecting the narrations and sketches in a single album and create your own family art history book.
(The goal of Picture Study is to train the eye toward the beautiful. Biographical information about the artist is secondary. Set the work of art as your family computer's wallpaper or screen saver or print the painting on card stock and display it on the refrigerator. After spending time with a picture and really taking the time to look at it, your child will make a connection. There is no need to explain a great deal, especially to a young child. Allow the child to make his own connection with the art. )
Faith:
On Morning Wings by Reeve Lindbergh (a children’s version of Psalm 139): Suggested activity--Have older children copy the Psalm for copywork. Use watercolors to illustrate the Psalm.
Our Lady’s Feasts
Read about this saint in the Loyola Kids Book of Saints:
Blessed Frederic Ozanam
Ideas for "O Week:"
Suggested Books for Read-Alouds and Narrations (These are to be narrated both verbally and artistically. For the younger children it is often fun to keyboard an oral narration for them and then ask the child to illustrate the printed page.)
Opposites:
Optical Illusions:
Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion
Other "O" books to share:
The Owl and the Pussycat By Edward Lear/Jan Brett
Oh! The Places You'll Go
One Morning In Maine
Suggested Books for Independent Reading (These are for older children to read and narrate over consecutive weeks. Allow your older child to illustrate his or her narrations. Expressing oneself both verbally and visually is a peak of communication.)
The Burgess Flower Book for Children
The Secret Garden
Parables from Nature
Grimm's Fairy Tales
Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales
Writing
For the next few weeks, children can dictate or write the stories told in the Mother Goose rhymes. That is, instead of reciting the rhyme, they can tell what happened in prose.All children should illustrate their stories. Stories written by younger children can be used for reading practice. The written narrations are used by all the children in our families for Lively Language Lessons.
Serendipi-Tea Time (Breakfast and Dinner too!) Recipes
Orange Cinnamon Rolls: Cut the top off of orange...hollow out the insides. Once orange is cleaned out, unroll canned cinnamon roll dough and wind into orange in a spiral. It may take more than one to fill the orange. Place top on orange and cover with foil. Cook on open fire or bake in oven at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until cinnamon rolls are done. They will have a nice orange flavor.
Pinwheel Pasta with butter and Oregano
