Act It Out/Write It Out

Last week Rebecca and I mutually decided that we have officially started an "Olivia" book theme.  Last week was "Olivia Goes to Venice", the week before that was "Dinner with Olivia", and this week we used the following:

The scribbles are compliments of my eldest son.  This book was his favorite when he was around two.

I adore this story, as I do all of Ian Falconer's Olivia books.  They're so clever and entertaining, and always manage to convey important messages for learners of all ages.

Before reading the book, we did our usual.  We chatted about the holiday her family is celebrating this week and she told me a good riddle.  Then she blew the top off of her spelling test:

We added a new poem to her poetry journal...

and noted some important grammar and spelling points.

I asked her a few questions using the vocabulary words we learned from her new poem.  One was, "Do you know anyone who's watching their weight?"  She said she knew of a few people who were.

I needed a couple of minutes to write her a note in her communication journal, so instead of coloring in her poetry journal illustrations, she opted to doodle for a bit--

Inspired by her new poem, she drew a cat licking her paws while seated at a table at a fancy restaurant.
I know, I know...This kid.

Rebecca took a few seconds to read me her travel guide from her trip up to the north of Italy, including Venice:

She said the best thing was seeing the balcony from Romeo and Juliet.  I can only imagine...

Then we read our book of the week...

I paid 17 bucks for this book at an airport in DC a couple of years ago, and it was worth every penny.

Check out the illustrations...

I'm a sucker for kids in costumes.

"Have you ever been in a play?" I asked Rebecca.

She nodded and replied, "Two."

I showed her one of my eldest son's favorite toys:

and told her we'd be using it as inspiration for both our craft and our homework.

"We're going to make paper dolls wearing costumes," I began, "and then you're going to use those dolls as the main characters in a story you write for homework."

She was all for it.  

"I'm gonna make a peacock!" she shrieked immediately as she grabbed the doll template.

(You can find the template here: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/paperdolls/ig/Paper-Doll-Accessories/Paper-Doll-Body.htm)

So we got to work:

I made the pig and she made the peacock...

with a couple of minutes to spare, she whipped up a fox.

3 characters for what is sure to be an awesome story! 

I handed her the homework assignment, and she talked through some preliminary ideas she had swirling around in her head.  

Check back next week to see what Rebecca the author comes up with!