Norman the Doorman

Go-Alongs –

Books about Ancient Greece and/or World Atlas with info on Greece

D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths or other book of Greek Myths

Book about knights and/or armor

Visiting the Art Museum by Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Brown (see note under “Museums”)

The Kingfisher First Animal Encyclopedia or other book containing information on mice

A Child’s History of Art, Sculpture by V.M. Hillyer and E.G. Huey (see note under “Sculptures”)

Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl

Printables--
 

Social Studies

Greece – Norman showed his friends Greek sculptures in the basement of the museum. Many museums of art have a gallery specifically for the artwork of classical Greece (c. 800BC – 400BC). Greece is a small country in the Mediterranean Sea, and part of Europe. The country is very mountainous, and within some of the mountains is found the finest marble in the world. Greece was famous throughout the world for having the most beautiful, lasting statues, made out of this marble. With your youngest student, it may be enough to locate Greece on a world map, and discuss its capital, Athens. You may also wish to discuss Greece’s major industries, shipping and tourism, and its major crops including currants, tobacco, and olives. The people of Greece speak Greek, and their currency is the Drachma. With older children, you may wish to discuss more thoroughly Ancient Greece, including its mythology, the Olympics, arts including plays and music, architecture, and the country’s impact on civilization today.

Where is Greece? Lapbook Component

Greece Flag Simple Fold

Ancient Greece Envelope Book

Greek Myths – Long ago, in the years before Christ’s earthly life, Greeks made up stories called myths about gods and goddesses, whom they said lived all around them. They did not believe in the one true God, so they made up these mythical gods to explain why some things in the universe happened. They then made statues out of marble to represent what they imagined the mythical beings looked like. Is your child familiar with any Greek myths? He probably is without even realizing it. Most of the stars in the sky are named after myths, as well as the planets, days of the week, and months. In Norman the Doorman, Norman shows his cousins the statues of Greek mythical beings. Ask your child to locate the picture of the Greek bust. The bust is the head of Zeus. Zeus was the ruler of all the gods, and was thought to be wise and powerful. He fired thunderbolts from his fingers. Ask your child to find the statue of Mercury. Mercury is actually the Roman name for the Greek god, Hermes, the son of Zeus. Mercury was believed to be the messenger of the gods, as well as the god of shepherds, thieves, travelers, and merchants. He was considered to be the craftiest and merriest of the gods, and he earned his golden winged hat and winged sandals because Zeus was so delighted with his quick thinking. A great go-along book, for the child who already has a strong Biblical foundation, is D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. Or, you can download a free e-book, Old Greek Stories By James Baldwin.

Note: You may want to introduce this verse from Isaiah 44:6 as you do this lesson: God says, I am the First, and I am the Last, and beside Me there is no God.

Your child could write his narration of either the Mercury or the Zeus myth on notebook paper:

Mercury Notebook Paper w/ Primary Lines

Mercury Notebook Paper w/ Regular Lines

Zeus Notebook Paper w/ Primary Lines

Zeus Notebook Paper w/ Regular Lines

Arms and Armor – Norman’s home was inside the helmet of a knight’s armor. There are often galleries in museums devoted solely to the arms and armor that were worn by warriors from the 500’s till the 1500’s. Before the invention of pistols, warriors used swords, lances, and steel clubs to fight and wore heavy armor made of metal to protect them. A knight’s armor could weigh in excess of 55 pounds, and could take an experienced metal worker up to two years to make. The helmets sometimes had hinged shields, which the warrior could open and close. The only way people could tell who the knight was inside the armor was by the coat of arms that decorated his shield. There are lots of good books for children about knights and armor if you would like to explore this topic further. If desired, record information in Arms and Armor Shutterfold.

Museums – Norman works and lives in an art museum. Museums are collections of all kinds of historical artifacts, gathered in one place for people to view. The word “museum” is derived from “Muses”, who were ancient Greek mythological nymphs. The first museum, a building devoted to science, learning, and fine arts, was the Alexandrian Museum founded in c. 280 B.C. From then on, any collections of items devoted to these fields were called a museum. While the museum in our story, the Majestic Museum of Art, is a fictional museum, there are many Museums of Art throughout the United States. Has your child ever been to a museum? Some of the most famous museums in the United States include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. Museums are usually maintained by various historical, local, or patriotic societies, or by universities or colleges. If you are planning on visiting a museum while sharing this unit, here are some tips to more thoroughly enjoy your visit:

            Wear comfortable shoes.

            Take your time and really observe the artwork.

            Don’t touch any of the artwork. We want future generations to enjoy it as much as we do.

            Make up stories about the various paintings.

            Ask questions. Who was the artist? When was it completed? What medium was used?

            How does each piece of artwork make you feel?

A good go-along book to read before your museum trip, or just as a go-along for Norman the Doorman is Visiting the Art Museum by Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Brown. (Note: there is a picture of a discreet nude discus thrower statue, with a comment about a “nude Frisbee thrower”)

Hobbies – “Like most everybody, Norman had a hobby.” A hobby is something someone does in his or her leisure time for pleasure. Does your child have any hobbies? Ask your child to name various hobbies that people may have. It may be fun to do a survey, interviewing 20 people to see what their hobbies are. Your child will find that people have very varied interests, and enjoy doing many different things in their leisure time. Use Survey Sheet to tally the hobbies if desired. Are there any hobbies that are more popular than others? Are boys’ hobbies and girls’ hobbies different?  Are there any that your child thought were odd? What new hobby would your child like to try?

Science

Mice - Norman is a mouse. Mice are mammals, meaning they are warm blooded, have a backbone, have live births, and give milk to their young. Mice are a kind of mammal called rodents, and live throughout the world. They have very sharp front teeth that continue to grow throughout their lives, and long tails. They will eat just about anything, and while they are occasionally kept as pets, they are mostly considered a pest. The common house mouse is slightly less than 6.5” from nose to end of tail. They breed every ten to seventeen weeks throughout the year, producing five to ten babies in each litter. Look up and read about mice in The Kingfisher First Animal Encyclopedia or other book containing information on mice.

Classification:

Kingdom – Animal

Phylum – Chordate (having backbone)

Class – Mammal (warm blooded, hair, lungs, live births, milk from mammary glands)

Order – Rodent (gnawing mammals)

Family – Muridae (including rats and mice)

Genus – Mus musculus (house mouse)

Complete any of these lapbook components or notebook pages as desired:

Mouse Classification Graduated Book

Mouse Fact Graduated Book

Mouse Report Page

Mouse Fact Web

Snow – Norman was cold standing out in the snow, but he didn’t complain. Has your child ever seen or played in snow? Snow is formed when ice crystals in a cloud bump together and stick to each other. If the air temperature below the clouds is cold enough, snow will fall. Snowflakes can be made up of as many as 100 ice crystals. They all have six sides, but no two snowflakes are alike. Your child may have fun doing an experiment to see how much water is actually in snow. If you don’t have snow, crushed ice will work as well. Follow instructions and record results on Snow Experiment Tri-Fold.

Driftwood – Have your child locate the sculpture titled, “Skater” that is made of driftwood. Driftwood is wood floated and drifted by water, especially wood that is washed up on seashore. It has interesting and unique wear patterns, making it desirable for pieces of art. If you have the opportunity, take a walk along a riverbank or shoreline and try to find some driftwood. Use the pieces to make interesting displays.

Iron – You will also find in the museum sculptures of iron. Discuss where iron comes from. Iron is a metal that is extracted from iron ore, which is found in the ground. It is believed to be fourth most abundant element found on earth. The symbol for iron is Fe. Iron is the main component in steel, and is used in the production of many metals.  If you have one available, have your children perform simple tests on a cast iron pan to check its properties: Will a magnet stick to it? Does it hold water or is it “porous” (a new word)? Is it heavy? What would be good uses for it?   Iron holds heat for a very long time, and doesn’t melt like some softer metals, which makes it good for cooking. It also works well for sculptures, in that it can be heated and bent into interesting shapes. On your next drive, be on the lookout for iron fences or gates, and discuss how these are made of the same materials that iron sculptures are made of.

Bronze – Other sculptures in the museum were made of bronze. Bronze is a reddish brown metal consisting mostly of copper and tin. Copper and tin were the first metals ever discovered, and bronze has been used throughout history to make bells and statues. The Bronze Age is noted as such because weapons and implements were made of bronze. Artists liked to work with bronze because it did not rust, and was not expensive like gold and silver. With age, bronze statues get a greenish hue to them, called patina. Sometimes modern day artists treat bronze statues with acid to make it look like it is very old. If you have a bronze item (or even a copper item that may show some patina) be sure to show and discuss it with your child.

Cheese – As everyone knows, mice just love cheese. Cheese is made from the pressed curd of milk, and the flavors vary depending on what kind of milk, how it is prepared and how long it sits. Adding rennet, an enzyme found in a suckling calves stomach, to heating milk is basically all that is required to make cheese. As the enzyme and milk heat up, they separate the milk into a liquid portion, the whey, and a solid portion, the curd. The curd is cooked and reduced to a consistency that allows you to compress into balls or blocks of cheese. Changing the milk base can change the flavors of cheese. Fresh raw milk, low fat milk, and goat milk will all give the cheese different flavors. Adding seasonings, such as salt, herbs, onions, peppers, wines, or olives will also give cheeses their own unique taste. Other factors, including the pressing of the cheese, and the aging of the cheese, will determine such cheese characteristics as how hard or soft, or how moist or dry, or how strong or mild the cheese is.  It may be fun for your child to learn to make his own cheese. A simple cottage cheese recipe is included with most rennet tablets (available at the grocery store). It may also be fun to have a cheese taste test, and chart your findings. Buy a variety of cheeses, such as Swiss, cheddar, mozzarella, bleu, American, Monterey Jack, gouda, etc. Compare the texture, hardness, moisture, and taste. What is your child’s favorite?

Language Arts

Vocabulary – Introduce the definitions of unfamiliar words as you come across them in the story, and have child use the word in a sentence to show understanding.

            Majestic – exhibiting royalty or grandeur

            Masterpiece – something considered to be the greatest achievement of its creator

            Inspiration – an impulse in the mind that leads to creative action

            Modest – humble; underplaying ones abilities or accomplishments

            Rascal – someone without principles, such as a troublemaker or thief

            Bamboozled – mislead or cheated

            Amidst – among

Simile – A simile is a comparison between two things using the words “like” or “as”. The author used a simile to describe how quickly the mice visitors dashed into the hole (pg 15). What were the mice compared to?

Singulars and Plurals – A noun names a person, place or thing. A singular noun refers to one person, place or thing, and a plural noun refers to more than one person, place or thing.

Most times, a noun is made plural by adding an s.  This is the case with words found in the story such as creatures, treasures, cousins, traps, features, corners, visitors, scraps, etc. See how many plural nouns your child can find that end with s. 

Sometimes, though there are plural nouns that take on an irregular spelling. Such is the case with the plural for mouse, mice. Some other examples are child/children, goose/geese, and ox/oxen. Ask your child if he can think of any other irregular plurals.

Capitalization – As this book contains many proper nouns, it provides a good opportunity to introduce/review some of the rules of capitalization.

Capitalize the first word in every sentence, and the first word in a direct quotation.

Capitalize both the first and last names of people and pets. Examples include Norman, and the Petrinis.

Capitalize the names of buildings or organizations, such as Majestic Museum of Art.

Capitalize geographical names, such as Greek sculpture, or Swiss cheese.

Capitalize titles of books, works of art, pictures, songs, etc. but do not capitalize small words such as a, an, the, or of, within a title. Examples of titles found in this story are Norman the Doorman, Trapeese, and all the many sculptures in the museum.

Have your child write a good sentence, in his best handwriting, using at least three capitalized proper nouns.

Homophone – A homophone is a word identical to another in pronunciation, but differs in spelling and meaning. One example of a homophone found in Norman the Doorman is the words “knight” and “night”. Have your child write a sentence, or even a short story, using the two words in proper context. Also take notice of the author’s attempt at humor on the last page. Did the author use the word “knight” in correct context? Let your child find this purposeful error.   (Note:  if your child is familiar with Before Five in a Row's Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?, you may want to pull it out and see if he can identify another purposeful error.  At bath time, the author wrote,  Jesse Bare instead of Jesse Bear.) 

A fun go-along book is How Much Can a Bare Bear Bear?

Titles – Norman decided that all sculptures had titles, and so he must come up with one for his own. A title is a word or words that identify a piece, whether it is a piece of literature, music, or artwork. The title should be something that sticks in your mind, and tells a bit about the object it titles. What do you think of the title that Norman gave his sculpture? Pretty catchy, isn’t it? Look at some of the titles on the other sculptures. Which do you like best? If you are making any of the sculpture projects in the Art Lessons, be sure to give them appropriate, memorable titles.

Fun With Words – Ask your child what he thought of the way Norman came up for a title of his sculpture, trap-eese? Provide your child with some magazines to cut up, and have him see what kinds of funny words he can come up with by combining parts of different words. And your child might be happy to know that spelling doesn’t count for this exercise!

Comprehension Questions –

1. What was Norman’s job? (Doorman at a museum)
2. What was Norman’s only worry? (Being caught by the guard)
3. Where was Norman’s home? (Inside the Knight’s helmet)
4. What was Norman’s hobby? (Creating beautiful things)
5. What did Norman create his sculpture out of? (Mouse trap and wire)
6. What was the title of Norman’s sculpture? (Trap-eese)
7. Who knew whom the mousetrap sculpture belonged to? (Guard)
8. What kind of bed did Norman have? (Straw)
9. How did the guard entice Norman out of his hole? (Cheese)
10. What award did Norman win? (First Prize for Wire)
11. What did Norman want for his prize? (To see the upstairs of the museum)
12. What present did the guard give Norman? (Big slice of cheddar cheese)

*Use Game Cards and Board to review comprehension questions if desired.

Math

Fractions – After Norman received an enormous slice of Cheddar cheese as a present from the guard, his mice friends came to visit him. Norman kindly shared the cheese with his friends. Count how many friends. How many mice altogether? Explain to your child that the slice of cheese is a whole, and each mouse would get a fractional piece of that whole. If the slice of cheese were divided evenly between the five mice, what fractional part would each mouse get? (1/5) How much would two mice get? (2/5) Three mice? (3/5) If Norman had decided to eat it all by himself, what fractional part would he have eaten? (5/5) Use pieces of cheese as manipulatives to cut up and figure out fractional parts.

Arts and Crafts

Sculpture – The Majestic Museum of Art was holding a sculpture contest. Sculpture is the art of fashioning objects out of various materials. They can look realistic or they can be abstract art. It will be lots of fun for your child to try making sculptures this week with a few different materials. Keep in mind that sculptures should be attractive when looked at from all angles. Also be sure to have child give each masterpiece a title, just as Norman did. You could even set up a gallery, displaying all the sculptures, and award prizes. Be sure to take pictures for lapbook or notebook! Here are some ideas to get you started. Project ideas adapted from A Handbook of Arts and Crafts by Wankelman, Wigg, and Wigg.

Clay Sculpture – Sculpt a figure out of clay. You can either mold the clay by squeezing and pushing, or you can carve away all the parts you don’t want until you have the desired figure.  Follow package drying instructions.

Box Sculpture – Use an assortment of oatmeal and cereal boxes, egg cartons, jewelry boxes, and other containers to create your own box sculpture. Decorate with colored paper, string, buttons, or paint.

Container Sculpture – Use plastic milk or detergent jugs, or other containers, to create a sculpture. This media works well for the sculpture of robots, cars, animals, etc.

Foil Sculpture – Crumple up aluminum foil and twist and form to fashion a sculpture.

Salt and Flour Sculptures – Mix together 1-cup salt, 1-cup flour, and enough water to make it the consistency of dough. Add color if desired. Mold dough into desired figure and let air-dry. After it is dry, you can paint it if desired.

Natural Sculpture – Go for a walk outside and collect interesting pieces of wood, pinecones, seedpods, leaves, etc. Arrange the items into a unique, interesting shape, and glue together.

Straw or Toothpick Sculpture – Using drinking straws or toothpicks, glue or tie them together to make a sculpture. Note: The inventors of K’nex originally came up with the idea for the plastic building toy by sculpting with drinking straws!

Stone Sculpture – Find an interestingly shaped stone. Imagine what the stone is shaped like, maybe a turtle, truck, face, etc. Paint the stone as you imagined it. If you want to use the stone as a paperweight, glue a piece of felt to the bottom.

Sponge Sculpture – Cut up sponges into desired shapes. Sponge piece can be glued together with rubber cement.

Wire Sculpture – You will need a sturdy wire that will hold its shape, and a cutting tool. You may want to first draw out what you would like your sculpture to look like. Bend, twist, and coil wire until you get it to desired shape.

Wood Sculpture – If you know a carpenter, see if you can obtain a bunch of small wood scraps. Arrange the scraps into different forms and glue together.

Go-Alongs –

A Child’s History of Art, Sculpture by V.M. Hillyer and E.G. Huey is an excellent book about the history of sculpture. It is filled with photos of sculptures throughout the world, many of which are nude. The photos are all black and white, so you can either go through the book with a black marker to cover up the immodest, or put small stickers over them, if desired.

If you have Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl, you could also study individual sculptors and their methods including: Rodin (pg. 50); Calder (pg. 66); Moore (pg. 67); Oppenheim (pg. 75); Giacometti (pg. 79); Smith (pg. 91); Nevelson (pg. 95); Chamberlain (pg. 97); Kienholz (pg 98); Christo (pg. 99); Paik (pg. 100);

Rabbit Trail – Learn more about Greek sculptors Polyclitus, Myron, and/or Phidias. 

Sewing –

Norman sewed buttons onto his coat. Use this as an opportunity to show your child how to sew on a button.

Bible/Character

Respect - Norman would “handle each masterpiece” with as much care and respect as if he painted it himself”. Does your child take care of other people’s things as he would take care of his own? How would he feel if he let someone use something of his and they neglectfully broke or lost it? Jesus said that we should treat others the way we want to be treated. Norman followed the Golden Rule, being careful and respectful of other people’s things. . Review the “Golden Rule” with your child:

Matthew 7:12 - Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. 

Doing Your Best – Norman took his job as a doorman very seriously. He was knowledgeable, punctual, and conscientious about doing his job to the best of his ability. Even when spending time on his hobby, he made it a point to not forget that he had a job to do. Discuss with your child the importance of doing your best. Not only will people respect you more for it, but also more importantly, it will please God. Here are two verses that you could use for memorization and/or copywork this week: 

Colossians 3:23  - And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

Ecclesiastes 9:10 - Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might;

Manuscript Copywork

Cursive Copywork

Creation – Norman made a masterpiece, but he did not create the things that his masterpiece was made of. Let’s examine the mousetrap. Who created the wood, that came from trees? Who created the wire, which came from metals pulled from rocks? This whole world is God’s masterpiece. While man (or mouse) can create no thing, they can work with God’s creations to make a masterpiece. Discuss the creation story in Genesis 1 with your child. Challenge your child to think of one thing that man has created.

Just For Fun

If you have the game, be sure to play Mousetrap this week while you share this story.