| about us |
what's new
|
unit studies
|
unit study helps |
hss resources
|
fiar resources | indexes | lapbooking |
A Chair for My
Mother
Author: Vera B. Williams
ISBN: 0688040748
Summary: The story of a young girl who, along with her waitress mother, saves
coins in a jar. They want to buy a big, new, comfortable chair for their
apartment, after losing all their furniture in a fire.
Unit study written by Andrea Dean
Family- The extended family in this story is around and helpful in many ways: the grandpa giving them a rug, aunt and uncle letting them live with them for a while, the other aunt made curtains, the cousin brought over a stuffed bear. Talk about your extended family--look at pictures of them; if they don’t live close, maybe you could write them a letter or call them.
Character trait- saving- Being able to save money is a good character trait to have and a great habit to establish when children are young. Find a large jar (or small if you want something small and want to accomplish your goal more quickly) and decide as a family what you would like to save some money for. Put away all the change you find in the jar and see how fast it adds up.
Being Charitable- The neighbors in this story are very charitable and willing to give. Help your children and look for opportunities when you can be charitable. The girl’s cousin brought her own stuffed bear for the daughter to have.
Character trait: Helpfulness- On the
first page it says that the girl helps her mom at the diner. What jobs does she
do? She helps peel onions, fill ketchups, and replenish salt and pepper shakers. What
jobs does your child do?
Use these prepared pages to
create a minit book about helpfulness. Discuss the different chores with
your student and choose pages that represent jobs your student can help with and
make the book together. Encourage him to be helpful this week! You
may even want to add pages to his book as he finds more ways to be helpful.
Language Arts
Literary Connections- The
grandmother in the story compares herself to Goldilocks. Why? Read or tell the
story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears with your child. This is a FUN story to act
out as well. Try out different chairs in your house-- which are most
comfortable? Are there any that are too big? Too small? Too hard? Too soft?
Which chairs are just right?
Goldilocks and the Three Bears Activity Card
Goldilocks and the
Three Bears Story Cards (based on the Paul Galdone version)
Another fun book about chairs is called Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats (Same author and little boy as The Snowy Day- a B4FIAR title) It talks about how Peter gets too big for his chair, and finally decides it’s okay to give it to his baby sister.
First Person- This story is
written in First Person. Talk about how it is the girl telling the story, and
it happened to her! Think of some evens that happened to your family and help
your child tell it in first person; if you are making a lapbook, record the
story and include it in your child's book.
Money- This story is all about saving money-- a great opportunity than to practice counting money. Depending on the age of your child- you could discuss the difference between the coins, the names of the coins, Value of the coins. For a young child, you could simply count pennies, or practice sorting them. As your child becomes more familiar with money- they make a great opportunity for teaching counting by 5’s and 10’s when you count nickels and dimes.
Make coin rubbings, tape some coins to
the table and color over them with the side of a peeled crayon; be sure to
include these in your lapbook. You may want to make one for each
denomination-- penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. You may even want to make
a half-dollar rubbing if you have one.
Sizes- Along with talking about Goldilocks and the Three Bears there is the great opportunity to talk about size comparisons with your younger child-- big, medium, small. The Papa Bear has a Big bed, Big bowl of porridge, and a big chair. The Mama bear has a Medium bed, a medium bowl of porridge and a medium chair. The baby bear has a small bed, a small bowl of porridge and a small chair. Find items that you have around the house and group them into categories (big, medium, small). You may even want to have your child try drawing the same object three times (one small, one medium, and one big); use a simple object such as a piece of candy, ice cream cone, or house (or whatever your child wants to draw!). If you are making a lapbook, be sure to label the items and include them.
Caldecott Medal- Does your child recognize the Caldecott Medal on the front cover? If you’ve talked about Caldecott Medals before it might be interesting to see if they notice it on their own. Do you own any books with the Caldecott Medal? Pull them out and read them together.
Fire Safety This book is a great
one to discuss Fire Safety with your kids. Talk about the Firemen, and how
their job is to put out fires, rescue people and help keep us safe. There are
many great books on Fire Safety. I like to introduce Fire Safety with this book
since they family isn’t home when the fire happens- it’s not quite as scary to
the little ones as some other books.
All the following games/activities, etc. are from
www.usfa.dhs.gov -- I have linked them
individually for your convenience. Each file is in pdf format.
Fire Safety
Coloring Book --this is excellent!
Cross Word
Puzzles
Word Search
Puzzles
Matching Game
Hazard House on-line game
Rules to teach young children-
1- Teach children to never play with matches or lighters
2- If your clothes are on fire- STOP, DROP and ROLL.
3- If there is smoke in the house- crawl on the floor to get out- the cleanest air is close to the ground.
4- Know the emergency numbers to dial- 9-1-1. Also children will need to know their address in order for the dispatcher to send help. Teach them their address. This is sometimes easiest for young children if you make it into a song. Sing your address to the tune of "Mary had a Little Lamb" or "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star"
5- Have working Smoke Alarms and check the batteries in them often
6- Have a plan of escape, and practice it so you and your children know what to do in case of a fire.
Good Neighbors- The neighbors in the story all show their support to the family. They give them things that they no longer need. Talk about the Story of the Good Samaritan; talk about how Jesus wants us to be good neighbors to all around us.
Fire Station to talk about fire safety
Department store to “try out” all the chairs
Bank to talk about money
Materials and information on this website belong to the
original composers. It may be used for your own personal and school use.
Material may not be used for resale.
© 2005-07 HSS