Bb is for Blueberries

Today was all about Blueberries!  Evan even dressed in all blue to go along with the theme.  We worked on the "Blueberries for Sal" Lapbook quite a bit today.  He has really enjoyed this book so far.  He talks about Sal often throughout the day.  I found a video at the library that has several Caldecott Classics narrated and animated.  It has "Blueberries for Sal" on it.  He just loves to watch these stories.  As soon as the cover for "Blueberries for Sal" appears, he gets so excited, and says, "Look Mommy, see it, there's Sal!"

Using a bucket and blue blocks (to represent blueberries), we worked on some math concepts.  We used 4 blocks.  I showed him how the bucket could be empty (0/4), 1/4 full, 1/2 full, 3/4 full, and completely full (4/4).  He would put the blocks in and we would chime in together, "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk." 


Using blueberry blocks to introduce fractions.

We read through the story again, which Evan can paraphrase on his own by looking at the pictures, and then completed a comparison flipchart in his lapbook.  He glued little pictures behind the tabs that went to Sal, Little Bear, and Both.

Writing on the tabs: Sal, Both, Little Bear.

We talked about the Life Cycle of a Blueberry Bush, and Evan enjoyed spinning the 'reveal wheel' to see the different stages from seed to bush.  I told him how 95% of the total blueberries for the food industry come from the United States and Canada.  I showed him a pie chart and he painted it blue to represent the 95%.

(SIDE NOTE:  This morning when we said the Pledge of Allegiance, Evan could say almost the whole thing himself!  Normally, he just waits for me to say it and kind of mumbles along with me.  But today, we stood in front of the flag and put our hand on our heart, and he just started right into it, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..."  I couldn't believe it!  He never ceases to amaze me!)

Painting his pie graph.

We talked about how blueberry season is in May and June here, so he painted May and June blue on a calendar.  We will use this later along with some 'Month' cards to help learn the months of the year. 

Next, Evan painted a basket for his lapbook.  The basket has flaps that reveal different blueberry foods.  He kept putting his hand through the handle and wanted to carry it around.  He painted it brown and when he was done and saw the brown paint all over the paper towel, he got a really disgusted look on his face.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said (with a squished up nose and curled lip), "Ewwww, there's poop everywhere!"  I couldn't help but laugh!  He didn't want to have anything to do with that basket anymore!

You can already see his look of disgust forming!

But then he cheered up really fast, because he got a package in the mail!  He couldn't wait to open his present from Papa and Grandma! 

"What is it?!"

Couldn't have been more perfect timing.  An adorable book called, "My Basket of Blessings".  He and Alan loved it!  Alan kept turning it to the kitten page, and saying, "Cat! Cat!"  Thank-you Papa and Grandma - we are blessed to have such loving, supportive, and wonderful people in our lives!  We love you!

Speaking of baskets...

Since we had been talking about blueberries, I had checked out a book from the library about blue things all around us.  We read it and then cut out a bunch of blue things from magazines.  We even found several pictures of blueberries.  Evan glued all the little blue pictures onto paper making a 'Blue Collage.'  We put it in his Lapbook.

Making a Blue Collage.

The Blueberry Banana Smoothies were so good yesterday, that we made some more for breakfast this morning.  Tonight, we made Blueberry Muffins.  Evan was so excited all day knowing that we were going to make them.  He kept begging to eat blueberries, just like Sal.  He added and mixed up all the ingredients and was so proud of himself.  All I did was pour it into the muffin pan and add the streusel topping.  He did a great job!  They were delicious!

Adding the blueberries.

UMMMM, they smell yummy!  Let's eat them!