Katy No-Pocket

A year or two ago I purchased Before Five in a Row by Jane Lambert.

This all new product includes 23 FIAR-style mini-units (plus an extra mini-unit!) on outstanding AND simple children's books for ages 2-4 as well as a large section on learning readiness activities in everyday life; things to do in the kitchen, at the store, at bedtime, bathtime, etc. You'll find an entire treasury of ideas to prepare children for learning- making sure that they've covered all the basic but oh-so-important steps to ensure that they are ready to begin more formal schooling. The perfect introduction to the joys of parent-directed learning in just a few very special minutes each day.


Five in a Row and similar online resources will play a big part of our kindergarten year. At least that is the current plan.

This week we "row'd" Katy No-Pocket by Emmy Payne and H.A. Rey (who my kids quickly recognized as the illustrator of Curious George.


Our activities this week have included:
-We have used animal classification cards to play games and match with animals the animals in the book while we read.
-We measured 6 feet high to see if we could jump as high as Katy, we can't.
-We measured 25 feet to see how far the average kangaroo can jump - and then we tried to jump 25 feet like a kangaroo - turns out we can't do that either! We then added 15 more feet to see how far 40 feet looks like - the longest kangaroo jump ever recorded.
-We have looked at Australia on a map (we need to get a big world map on which we can pin the location of our stories), discussed habitats and kindness.
-We have worked on narrative retelling of the story and today the boys acted out the end by wearing their aprons and filling the pockets with animals of all sorts.
Here they are mid-jump:


At the park tomorrow we will look in the big trees and talk about what sort of animals live there. We are also planning on making ANZAC cookies:

ANZAC cookies from Australia

Australian and New Zealand soldiers from WWI (1914-1918) were called ANZACs. In 1915, more than 8,000 soldiers died in a famous battle. Australian children remember the soldiers by baking ANZAC cookies.

1/2 cup melted butter (we will use Earth's Balance to keep it dairy free)
1 cup flour (white whole wheat)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup oatmeal
3/4 cup coconut flakes
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Set the oven at 325 degrees.
2. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
3. Use a teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Place them on a greased cookie sheet.
4. Bake the cookies for 15 minutes.
5. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes before eating.