Before Five in a Row: The Big Green Pocketbook
A few weeks ago we rowed, The Big Green Pocketbook. I had been wanting to row this book with Sam for a couple of years, but it kept getting pushed to the side.
While in Colorado we had access to a fabulous free city bus system. I knew I had to row this book before we moved.
Day 1
The first day we read the story and talked about the color green. We gathered some green craft materials, and he went to town creating a green collage.
We also talked about the shapes and animals we saw throughout the book, as well as what makes the trees bend over in the picture. I was impressed that he knew it was the wind!
Not related to The Big Green Pocketbook, but we did one of our Green Kid Crafts because he kept begging me to do it. Why not? Everything doesn’t have to stick to a theme, right?
We talked about Africa, safaris, fossils, and animal tracks. It was a ton of fun!
Day 2
On the second day we talked about banks and coins. I let him sort the coins into separate bins, which was incredibly challenging for him. He enjoyed it but he was easily frustrated with nickels and quarters.
Then he matched the coins on the pig with some real coins. Again, this was challenging for him, but he enjoyed it.
Our letter of the week was P, so we made a P with pennies. We didn’t have enough pennies to cover the P. Therefore, he insisted that he draw some letter P’s on it to finish it.
Day 3
On the next day, I pulled the letter stamps out for him so he could practice spelling his name. This was a hit! I cut out scrap pieces of card stock so they were about the size of a business card.
We also did our phonics worksheet for the letter P from the All About Learning Pre-Reading program. This continues to be a wonderful fit for us!
I heard rustling on the stairs later in the afternoon, and I found this. And THIS is exactly why the Before Five in a Row Curriculum is such a good fit for him. He absolutely loves books!
Day 4
The next day we continued with our letter P work in our Alphabet Notebook. We used toothpicks to make the letter P and talked about porcupines.
He also requested his foam cube blocks, which we used to work on patterns and letters. We even spelled his name.
We practiced several letter formations with our cubes.
Then we worked on patterns. Manipulatives make teaching patterns so much easier than worksheets!
Finally, we worked on stacking the cubes as high as we could. This is much harder than it appears!
Day 5
Finally, the day we had all been waiting for! Our bus ride through our little town!
I think our little guy enjoyed this little outing just as much as his big brother!
This little dude was SO EXCITED as we waited at the bus stop for our bus to pick us up!
By the way, instead of a pocketbook, we brought along his blue backpack for carrying around his whole morning. Did I mention that he was excited?
Our first stop was the bank. We took all his money from his piggy bank to deposit into his savings account. Then, he got two lollipops – one for now and one for … Bubba.
Before leaving the house, I made a list for him. He loves lists! Checking a box is one of his most favorite things in all the world. This is a picture of our list and him checking the bank off.
We got to town a little early. We forgot our town doesn’t wake up until nearly 11 o’clock. So we made a short stop over in our favorite coffee shop. Sam had hot chocolate and shared a muffin with his brother.
This little guy is too young for hot chocolate, but he was not about to be left out. We got him a cup of water and he drank it just like his big brother.
Next we found a jewelry store to go in, and boy was he excited! He walked up and down the aisles saying, “Oooohhh, Mommy! Look at this!” over and over again.
Then, we went to the candy store, which is so small and crowded I didn’t dare take a picture. But we found the candy shaped like orange slices quickly and then bought some jelly beans to take home.
Our last stop was the ice cream shop that is like an old fashioned soda shop. We sat on the stools and he twirled in his seat just like the little girl in the book.
While he was twirling, he spotted the lips hanging from the ceiling, and he exclaimed, “Oh taste and see that the Lord is GOOOOOOD!” Thank you, Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum! We memorized this verse during one of our lessons on goodness, and the picture on the scripture memory card looks just like these lips!
Finally, we hopped back on the bus and headed home for lunch. We were all exhausted and full of sugar (ha!), but we had such a good time.
Oh, and we had to flag the bus down after we got off. We waited on the street along his route back because we left our little guy’s lovey on the bus! Oops!
Additional Resources & Where I Got My Printables:
- Piggy Bank Printable from Oceans of First Grade Fun
- Money Lesson from Tips from the Heart
- My Coin Buck from Lory’s Page
Don’t forget to follow my FIAR Pinterest Board for more ideas!
You can see all our rowing adventures here.