Learning About Strawberries with the Novel Strawberry Girl (Summer Reading Club)
My oldest (Dragonfly) is almost ten years old and has a lovely group of homeschooled girls she calls her friends. To capitalize on their friendship and desire to spend time together this summer, the moms have conspired to have them read a few children's novels and meet for book club. For the month of May, we've been reading "Strawberry Girl," which has been a very interesting and fun read aloud for the beginning of the summer.
"Strawberry Girl" was written by Lois Lenski in 1945 and won the Newbery Award for it. The book is set among the "Crackers," rural, poor, white families in Florida during the early 1900s. We've found it to be a good book for reading aloud because the accent and vocabulary of the "Crackers" is very authentic and can be challenging to read at times, if you're not from that region. The story has lots of teachable moments about respecting adults, working hard, having compassion for others, dealing with difficult people, bravery in hardships, and more. I recommend it for families that enjoy the Laura Ingalls Wilder books.
I found lots of fun strawberry toys and things that I wanted to share with you. Click on the colored text to read more about them. Also, scroll down for strawberry learning ideas to enhance your Strawberry Girl reading time.
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear
Strawberry Cooking Apron <> The Very Berry Counting Book
The Strawberry Garden <> Strawberry Tea Party Set
Strawberry Shaped Sprinkler <> Endless Popping Toy
Strawberry Garden Planter <> Strawberry Kitchen Timer
Strawberry Stem Huller <> Wood Fruit Baskets
Strawberry Sour Patch Gummies <> Strawberry Aqua-Socks
Classic Strawberry Girl's Dress <> Vibrating Strawberry Teether
Strawberry Moveable Alphabet Printable // ABCs of Literacy
I love printing and using interesting themed letter cards for encouraging kids to learn their letters and play around with spelling words. This blog has some adorable strawberry letters, which kids can "pick" out of a sensory bin and mark off on a recording sheet. Print them larger for an awesome party banner!
Strawberry Picking Rhyming Activity // 123 Homeschool 4 Me
If your kids are ready for some prereading activities, then these picture rhyming words printable is great for you. Kids work to match the given word with the ones in their pile. This would also be a good lesson to pair with a sensory bin or hide them around the room for a full body game.
Sight Word Strawberry Picking // Books and Giggles
Make sight word reading more fun by mixing it with strawberry picking! These printable cards can be placed in a sensory bin (see the theme), hidden around the room, used in pretend play, or made into a matching game. Your kids can also use the strawberry letter cards from above to spell out the words, too.
How to Make Strawberry Jam in a Crock Pot // The Wise Owl Factory
If you're like our family and are looking forward to some strawberry picking this summer, you'll love this easy jam recipe that you can make in your crockpot. I know I'm excited to test it out! There's nothing better in the winter than opening up a jar of summer jam! Yum!
Parts of a Strawberry Plant Wheel // Homeschool Preschool
This blog has an entire unit of strawberry learning ideas, which you should check out. There's the science section that I linked with the parts of a plant printable. She also has a math-themed sensory bin, some more literacy printables, and more. It's a great resource for your summer learning.
Extracting Strawberry DNA // STEAM Powered Family
Did you know you can use simple kitchen tools to extract the DNA of a strawberry? Follow the directions from the blog in the colored link to see all the steps required. It's pretty crazy to hold a glob of DNA on your tweezers.
Strawberry Paper Plate Craft // Kids Activity Blog
Paper plate crafts are very cheap and easy to do with groups of kids. If you find yourself in need of a quick activity for a group of kids this summer, then this strawberry craft with a sprinkle of seeds would be a great pick.
Strawberry Picking Number Sense Activity // Totschooling
There's been a lot of literacy ideas on this blog post, so I thought I'd add in some awesome math activities, too. This printable encourages kids to gain a good sense of numbers by matching digits to different representations of the number (fingers, words, etc).
Have you gone strawberry picking with your kids? How did it go? Do you have a good recommendation for our next book club book? Comment below!
Pin It!
Comments
Post a Comment