July 8 - The Works of Mercy In Johnny Crow's Garden

Good morals and virtuous behaviour from our fine feathered friend, Johnny Crow.

This was perhaps one of the best activities we did during this book. In a very classical learning style, we went through the book page by page and found all the instances and examples we could of good manners, virtuous behaviour, and Works of Mercy on the part of Johnny Crow.  These examples help to reinforce the Gifts of the Holy Spirit - Wisdom, Knowledge, and Understanding.  All of that from the natural scavenger, the crow.  Who would have thought, eh?

Here are the examples we came up with to share with you based on the Corporal Works of Mercy.  We have shared the pages as they are listed in our PIY version of this work.  You may find more examples of your own during your discussion.  

I.  Feed the hungry

II.  Give drink to the thirsty

III.  Clothe the naked

IV. Shelter the homeless

V.  Visit the sick

VI. Visit the imprisoned

Vii. Bury the dead

I. Feed the hungry
p.47 - Johnny feeds his friends.  He even makes sure to call the penguins who are still admiring his garden.  After all that happens in the story, all if forgiven and every animal is accounted for at the table.  BTW - Did you find the mouse and rat with their little chairs? 

II. Give drink to the thirsty
p.38 - Johnny offers Cat a drink of milk.  In his wisdom he sees that by doing this simple act, chaos is avoided and his friend Mouse remains safe.  He is wise.  The little pictures on the surrounding pages show that Johnny is always thinking of clever ways to solve problems without he himself falling into sin.

III.  Clothe the naked
pp.14-17 - In an effort to make Bear feel more comfortable as he as has nothing to wear as well as prevent the Monkeys from further mocking Bear, he asks them to use their talents and make Bear some clothing.  This allows them to be put to use rather than having them stay idle and mock others.  He is clever and aware of how others are feeling in his home.

IV.  Shelter the homeless
pp. 18-19 - Crane is in need of shelter and Johnny provides it for him in the way of an umbrella.  Johnny thinks nothing of his own needs as he himself gets wet in the process to make sure his friend is kept dry.  He is a gracious host.

V.  Visit the sick
pp.21-24 - The Beaver believes that she is becoming ill.  Johnny Crow does all he can to ease her mind and suffering.  He stays with her even after she is out of bed.

VI.  Visit the imprisoned
pp.43-46 - Johnny rushes to visit and see his friends as they have been wrongly accused and persecuted by the fox.  He then does all he can to make sure that justice is carried out in their quick release.  In true Pope John Paul II style, our feathered friend forgives the fox and still asks him to dine with them at the table.

Thankfully, there are no casualties in need of burial in this story. :)

Try you hand at using the Spiritual Works of Mercy.  A bit more difficult but there are still instances present.

Click Here to download Our Learning Flashcards on the Corporal Works of Mercy.
Click Here to download Our Learning Flashcards on the Spiritual Works of Mercy.
Click Here to see our entire collection of  Catholic Learning Flashcards.


Blessings,

That Resource Team

July 7 - E-texts as Worktexts - Grammar and Writing In Johnny Crow's Garden

Using our PIY version of In Johnny Crow's Garden as a worktext to teach grammar and inspire writing and creativity.

We've often thought to ourselves, why can't we use a living book as a textbook to teach and reinforce simple grammar lessons?

We teach our children to read carefully and tell back what they have learned in some form - oral, written, drawn, fill-in the blanks, etc.  But grammar has always been a bit of a winding road to teach well but still be faithful to a more relaxed living book learning style.  We want to make sure we cover the basics but not every child responds well to the same approach.  So about 2 years we began creating PIY versions of books and said to ourselves, why don't we just highlight the examples right in the book?  The book is already providing good examples, why reinvent the wheel?  Using home printed versions of books allows the children to use them, mark in them, love on them, and then, if desired, recycle them.  So here is our first attempt to share our idea with other homeschoolers.  It really does work as a teaching tool.  It is very out of the box, we know, but different is good - at least in our homeschool.

BTW - Before you gasp at the thought of marking in a book, our children have never tried to write in our proper, store bought books as they can tell the difference and we established that right in the very beginning.

To use this PIY book as a text, follow these simple steps:

1. Select what grammar concepts you would like to highlight. 
2. Assign concepts different individual colours or shades of colours. (4 shades of green for verbs)
3. Present or review concepts as needed.  Keep this simple and use a black board or white board or reference sheet to help children along.

Our blackboard reference sample
4. Have children circle concept examples with appropriate coloured crayons or coloured pencils as they occur in the text. 

To give you a few ideas of what we mean, Johnny Crow lends itself very well to:

• using apostrophes to show possession - In Johnny Crow's Garden.
• rhyme and rhythm and repetition - pig, jig, crane, rain, or the phrase "In Johnny Crow's Garden"
• irregular plurals - hippopotami
• verb use, which could be further broken down to be, action verbs and helping verbs
• Noun and Proper Nouns usage- the animals names are all capitalized as would be a real name -title of reference; Garden is also oddly capitalized as it is a reference to Johnny's Garden in particular
• Prepositions - especially the word in

These are just some samples.  We have also used this technique very successfully in our Aesop's Fables printable story pages.  See our collection Here.  You may also want to download and use some of our Learning Cards for Grammar for reference.  See our collection Here.  Families have told us that they find these very useful.

Narration Art Cards
Using our Story Starter Art Cards for this particular book, the children narrate and draw the story.  This could be done very simply for new, young or reluctant writers or it can be done very intricately such as what virtue or Gift of the Holy Spirit or Work of Mercy is being practiced at this point in the story?  What gives you clues?  But more on that tomorrow.  Our children have loved doing these and sharing their work with each other.

Improve Handwriting and Spelling with Johnny Crow Copywork Sheets

For simple writing practice for most of all of the animals in this story. We have provided two sets of wordlist copywork. Each set includes print and cursive tracing and also a non-trace version for advanced writers or those trying to master cursive.

Click Here to download Set 1 Story Starter Art Narration Cards for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download Set 2 Story Starter Art Narration Cards for In Johnny Crow's Garden.

Click Here to download print trace Copywork Sheets for In Johnny Crow's Garden.

Click Here to download cursive trace Copywork Sheets for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download non-trace Copywork Sheets for In Johnny Crow's Garden.


Join us tomorrow for a Faith filled day In Johnny Crow's Garden.
 

Blessings,
 
That Resource Team

July 6 - Spelling In Johnny Crow's Garden

Let's learn to spell the names of Johnny Crow's friends

After reading the story, In Johnny Crow's Garden, we began noting down all of the animals we found.  Although some of the animal's names are easy to spell, some of them present challenges such as whale, hippopotami (a plural), penguin, giraffe, and elephant.  We practiced spelling some of God's most glorious creatures using a few easy fun printable tools.  Choose to do one, two, all, or none.  One a day works very well for the duration of the study.

Johnny Crow Word Artist Worksheets
These are fun little sheets that our children suggest we create for this purpose.  To complete this sheet simply choose two animals from the list.  Draw a picture for each in the boxes provided writing (or hiding) the animal word in the drawing. Sometimes the kids like to hide the words, other times they like to make the word a focus of the drawing.  Lots of spelling practice fun as it could be printed off and used over and over again until most or all of the animals have been used.  You may also want to assign words to certain aged children too. 

Johnny Crow Animal Spelling Cards
These fun cards are great for word practice.  We printed out two sets so that we could play games with them including go fish - we played 3 rounds today, concentration, spelling bee - we had 2 of them today too by request, alphabetizing practice - you can have them race to complete this task if they are on the same learning level.

Johnny Crow Word Scramble Sheet

All of the children loved this activity.  The kids just reorder the letters in the title, In Johnny Crow's Garden, to create familiar words.  Younger children could create any sized words.  Older children had to create words that had 4 or more letters.  Lots of fun.

Johnny Crow Word Search Sheet
Everyone loves practicing spelling and reading words with word searches.  This one also includes an illustration from the book.  The children had fun looking for everyone who showed up in Johnny's garden.  Words can be found in all directions.

Click Here to download the Word Artist Worksheet for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download the Animal Spelling Cards for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download the Word Scramble for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download the Word Search for In Johnny Crow's Garden.


Visit us tomorrow as we highlight Grammar and Writing In Johnny Crow's Garden.  Don't forget to bring your crayons! :)

Blessings,


That Resource Team

July 5 - Learning Fun Begins Today In Johnny Crow's Garden!

Let's create a PIY Book for In Johnny Crow's Garden.

We usually post resources after we complete them, but we thought this time we would bring you all along for the ride.  Some people may wonder if we actually use or do everything we make.  Actually, yes, we do.  Why don't you come along for the ride over the next few days?

Our selection this time around is In Johnny Crow's Garden with illustrations by L. Leslie Brooke.  We selected this book because it could appeal to many different ages at once regardless of the fact that it is a picture book; but more importantly, one of our children really loves it and asked us to make it the focus of learning time for about a week or so.  So we thought...why not?

We have tried to make this as easy as we could.  These books in our PIY collection are public domain works.  They are usually available in a plain type of text or pdf.  We wanted to utilize e-texts and create books that really felt like real books, appealed to children, and of course, were free.  So, here is what we have.

Let's create our book.  You will need the following things:

• the PIY file
• a cutter or scissors
• a piece of card stock - we used orange to match the optional front cover
• comb binder and spine, rings, ribbon or other fastener such as brads or pronged fasteners - anything you prefer to fasten your book together.  Even a coloured twist-tie will work in a pinch. :)
• a hole punch, if needed for binding.

First, download and print out the file like you would any plain .pdf file.  Stack pages neatly.

Next, fold the pages in half one by one and then stack them neatly in order with all the pages facing one direction.

Set aside the cover pages. When you have folded and stacked all of your numbered pages, turn the whole pile over and place the cover pages on the top so that the title page is on the top and the pages appear in order under it.  Cut a piece of card stock in half so that it is 8.5" x 5.5 and put half of it in the back for a back cover.  You could use the other half for the front cover if you would like or you can use the covers we have provided in the file.  Save the other half of the cut card stock for another PIY book or project.

Bind your book on the left using your favourite method of choice.  Brads are easy and cheap and require a hole punch.  Duo-tangs can be used too and just cut to fit a length of 8.5".  This book isn't very long and doesn't require very much paper. The whole process takes about 15 minutes to complete.

That's it..simple, fast, easy, and free.

Join us tomorrow as the activities begin.  Don't forget to pass along our blog to anyone who may be interested in some fun learning for kids Gr.1-6ish.

Click Here to download our PIY of In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download our PIY of In Johnny Crow's Garden with colour cover option.

Click Here to see our other PIY books.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

July 4 - Join us tomorrow In Johnny Crow's Garden

Beginning tomorrow we will be learning In Johnny Crow's Garden

If you have never read In Johnny Crow's Garden, then you are in for a real treat.  This delightful children's story illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke is so rich with learning opportunities and fun.  Don't worry if you don't have this book, we will give it to you tomorrow in a PIY Book. (PIY=Print It Yourself)  Our version is perfect for little hands (and big hands too) and simple to make.  No fussing with printers or printing double sided.  We've converted it all for you to mimic a children's picture book.

We will be sharing all kinds of fun learning activities for various ages using this book including using the book as a work text - really, no kidding!!  Our children love doing this and we hope yours will too.  So please stop by tomorrow to pick up the book and then join us all week as we do fun things with it - language arts, writing, drawing, puzzles, and a few backyard surprises.  Who knew that a picture book could be so much fun...we did..lol..lol.  Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the book - it can come alive and be faith filled too. :)

Please feel free to invite your friends to stop by and come along with us too on this fun, virtuous journey.  We hope to see you tomorrow.

Blessings,

That Resource Team