Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car {FI♥AR}


Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car is the simple story of Mr. Gumpy who sets out to go on a car ride one afternoon and ends up taking a company of kids and animals along. The story is set in England so we had the most fun making English Trifles, having imported English Tea (that a friend sent us!), doing some fun science experiments, and more!

Here is what we did for. . .

Social Studies: Social Skills, Friendliness, Cooperation; Geography: England

We talked about the qualities of good social skills and came up with being kind, friendly, sharing, easy going.

I asked the kids what they thought cooperation meant and then told them it means working together (and we worked on doing this).

Read the Little Red Hen story.

We also found England on a map and colored the flag of England (see below).

Language Arts: Time Span, Onomatopoeia, Detail

We compared and contrasted the time span of Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car to other books we have read.

Read Duck in the Truck (an excellent go-along about a duck that gets stuck in the mud!)
Found examples of onomatopoeia in Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car and Duck in the Truck and did the lesson from the manual.

Science: Storm clouds, Observe the Weather, Friction and Traction, 

Usborne Science Activities (USB) Vol 1. pp. 11, 18-19, 44-45, 33
USB Vol 2. pp. 6-7

Mr. Gumpy's motor car gets stuck in the mud and my little ones learned that tires need friction to grip the road and that a lubricant (such as mud, or ice) reduces friction.

Slide Friction ~ which objects have the most friction? the least friction? going down the slide.


The Wee Wedgits had the most friction! 

Friction Factor Phone Book Experiment ~ this is neat. You lay open both books and alternate the pages until they are inside each other and then try to pull them apart. You can't! There is too much friction holding the pages together.

BBC Science ~ this is a neat site that has several levels of experiments on friction.

Screen shot of Malachi's experiment log.


Pushes and Pulls (5-6)
Forces and Movements (7-8)
Friction (9-10)
Forces in Action (10-11)

Resources for Teachers - click on the age group and then the activity, and there you will find quick links to lesson plans, activities, quizzes and worksheets to print. 

I found these by accident ~ on my blog! I was snuggling with Eliana on the couch and she asked me to read Caps for Sale to her. After I read it, I asked if she remembered rowing it and she said no, but that she remembered the book (and indeed, she knew what happened to the caps when the peddler fell asleep). So, I pulled up my post of our row and then she asked to see other rows we had done and I pulled up our row of Yellow Ball. We used this site for the study of motion, force and friction for science.  (One of those times that I am very glad that I am so detailed in my posts!).

We also reviewed what we learned during our weather unit.

Art: Sun Rays, Colors, Textures, Cross Hatching

Lessons from the manual. Malachi recognized the cross hatching and we all recognized the different textures and colors. He drew some of the textures on scratch paper to demonstrate that he understood (nothing formal). He drew concentric circles for the sun rays, like in the book. (See below).

Math: Multiplication, Twelves, Dozen

Count by twelves, motor car book. . . I love how easy it was for Malachi to count by twelves (add 10 and then 2!). (See below).

FI♥AR Cooking/Recipe: English Trifle 






They made their own and they are as good as they look! YUM!

Recipes:

Project FI♥AR:




Malachi's narration printed on his flag of England.

Story Disk and Map of England


So happy that I only did ONE layout! I tried SO hard to simplify our row and we still had much fun!

Mr. Gumpy's Motor Car is a Five in a Row selection from Volume 2.

We rowed this during Week 13 and 14 of our life. (We are on Week 19 so I am a bit behind!)

Coming: Make Way For Ducklings
Rowing: Follow the Drinking Gourd

Delightful Links:

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