Bread & Jam With Frances Unit Study - Homeschool Day 3 - Fri, Sept 5, 2008

We had so much fun with the literature based mini-units that we used over the summer, that we decided to continue doing them. Hopefully we'll get through one each Friday.

We started each day by reading Bread & Jam With Frances by Russell Hoban

She spelled our theme word of this unit.

Here is the paper Frances that Shayla made. It has a wheel inside a window of the sandwich that turns. It shows the four food groups.

For health and science, we discussed Frances being a picky eater. We talked about how being a picky eater is disrespectful to your mother, or the cook and how it can cause your body to not get the vitamins and minerals it needs from missing food choices. We discussed how you should use your manners and try all foods. At least a bite of everything.

To reinforce good eating habits, Shayla sorted her plastic food into the four food groups. She loved this activity. And put almost all in correct categories.


Shayla and Morgan picked some fresh blackberries from the vines. We brainstormed as many berries as we could come up with (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, elderberries, etc.).

In the book, Frances sang several chants. We sang the chants several times in a variety of different voices (normal, fast, slow, high, low, soft and loud). Shayla made up several chants of her own. They were funny! I wish I would have written them down. (language)

We played a game of food concentration using the paper from the Literature Activities for Young Children book 7. Shayla colored these. I cut them out and we played memory. And as always, she won! Are you seeing a pattern here? I can't remember anything! LOL! She enjoys counting to see who has more pairs then discussing more and less.

I used another page in LAfYC 7 to make a mother, father, and Frances badger. Shayla colored these, cut them out, then I hid them around the family room. I used verbal cues like hot, cold, and warm to help her find them. After she found them, we counted them, and she glued them in order from smallest to largest. (math - counting, size comparison)

Shayla made a Frances puzzle from LAfYC 7. She colored, cut it out and glued it. She did not put the puzzle together correctly the first time, I had to assist. Sometimes I like to let her try to do things independently to learn to follow directions, but most of the time she requires constant attention.

For science we learned about badgers, here. She did a badger color page.

For art, we created wove a red and white construction paper placemat. She required alot of assistance with this. She did better with verbal reminders (over, under). Then she colored, cut out and glued a paper pot of jam and slice of bread. We brainstormed as many different kinds of jam we could think of, too. Shayla also helped make her favorite breakfast of a rice cake with peanut butter and grape jelly. (language, fine motor). Then we had a nice snack together while discussing what she liked and disliked about Frances.