Another Celebrated Dancing Bear {FI♥AR}

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear
A "heavy-footed brown bear whose heart is soft as butter," Boris is unhappily employed at the animal hospital. When he sees an ornate poster announcing that his friend Max, "the celebrated dancing bear," is about to tour St. Petersburg, his discontent overwhelms him and he can't control his tears, even as he bravely struggles to congratulate Boris. But Boris, too, is soft-hearted, and he sets about teaching Max to dance. Scheffrin-Falk's first picture book gracefully confronts jealousy, self-doubt (Max "felt a little foolish. Dancing lessons at his age!"), the value of persistence and the power of friendship. Garrison's etchings, framed like snapshots and hand-colored to highlight certain objects (a sash, a jacket, a flower) against sepia-like backgrounds, infuse the volume with the feel of an antique scrapbook. This old-world flavor further enhances the nostalgic imperial Russian setting, replete with samovars, graduated Russian peasant dolls (here shaped like bears) and distant spires." ~ From Publisher's Weekly

Social Studies: Geography and Culture ~ Russia; Social Studies ~ Occupations, Relationships, Hospitality



For our study of Russia, we did the lesson from the manual on the geography and culture of Russia. In addition to the book, we used the lapbook from Homeschool Share and the book Count Your Way Through Russia, by James Haskins. (I found the later book at our library while looking for books on Russia, but was pleased to see that it was suggested in the FIAR Archives, as well). By the end of the week, Malachi was able to find Russia, Moscow, and St. Petersburg on the map by himself. We also learned tidbits of Russian culture.

We talked about what an occupation is and thought up occupations we might enjoy. Malachi's occupations all revolved around his little world of play. :)

I love the story of friendship in this book. We used the story to talk about ways that we can be a good friend and we practiced our hospitality skills by inviting some friends over for tea, offering to take their coat and serving them tea. :)

Language Arts: Vocabulary, Characterization, Drama, Titles


"Mopping her brow"

It was hilarious! We had so much fun with this very active lesson. 

Vocabulary and Characterization lessons  from the manual. We had fun characterizing Malachi and Eliana using similar characterizations as Boris and Max from the story. I wrote them down somewhere, I'm sure. 

Malachi has been working on All About Reading/Spelling, 6-Traits Daily Writing, G&D Handwriting, and Explode the Code Book 3. (I stuck a few samples of his work in my Week 4 post on my family blog.)  Eliana finished Get Ready for the Code Book A and is on Lesson 105 in Language Lessons for Little Ones. I decided to let her finish LL and the ETC primers before continuing on with AAR/AAS. Managing the cards is too confusing with 2 children at different spots in the program. LL and ETC will be a good review and I think she will move through the program more smoothly. I will start it up again when she starts Kindergarten. 

Science: Boiling and Freezing Points of Water

"Max put the samovar to boil." We did this lesson from the manual and discussed what happens to the molecules of water when heat is applied and learned what the boiling point of water is.

Art: Architecture ~ Russian Skyline

Russia is known for it's "onion domes." 

We used the patterns from the manual to make our skyline.

Math: Hours on a Clock, Seven Days in a Week

When I told them we'd be learning about telling time, they asked if they could play What Time is it Mr. Fox? They've played this game a couple years in a row during a British Soccer Camp (Challenger Soccer).

I printed the bear paws from Jolanthe's Going on a Bear Hunt Printables, to use for the lesson in the manual, but Elli wanted to do her own thing with them, so I let that idea go. (The lesson in the manual is a neat one, though).

We used My Book of Easy Telling Time to practice time instead.


Malachi covered the days in a week in Life of Fred Butterflies and we answered the questions from the manual. He finished his Fred book and Singapore 1A book last week and Eliana finished her Earlybird Math - Textbook and Activity Book A.

Tea Time: Tea, Russian "Black Bread" and Strawberry Preserves.

Our tea party spread included whole strawberries, danish and even mini "bear claws" but the rye bread toast with strawberry preserves was a hit!


We had a very casual (as in they showed up about 15 minutes after I got home from picking up supplies, LOL, and I put it all together while our guests were here.  They were so full of grace. :) 

I read the book to all the kids (Mali and Elli plus 5 friends). 

The next morning, we had a bear tea party with the rest of the bread and preserves for breakfast.  



The bread is Pete's Rye from Sheridan Baking Company. They sliced it for me. So good! 

:) 

Lap Journal:



Russian Skyline 

Another Celebrated Dancing Bear is a Five in a Row selection from Volume 1.

Sending out a big thank you for the personal emails and comments from those who encouraged me and gave me permission to take a break from FIAR! :) I'm taking this time to plan for our coming year and finish up some basics. I'll update our curriculum page as we complete a subject.

Delightful Links:

Resources and Lapbook @ Homeschool Share
Bear Claw Cookies (so wanted to make these!)