Charlie Needs a Cloak Free Unit Study

ISBN: 0671664670
Summary: A shepherd shears his sheep, cards and spins the wool, weaves and dyes the cloth, and sews a beautiful new red cloak.
Unit Study prepared by Candace Crabtree

Bible & Character

Psalm 23
Read and discuss Psalm 23 with your child. If you memorize scripture with your little one, this would be a wonderful one to learn! Discuss the role of God as our Shepherd from Psalm 23. What does He do for us? How does He help us in our time of need? Can you think of a time God has been a shepherd to you? If your child is too young to recall something like this, possibly share a time from your own life that God has been a shepherd to you…sharing real experiences with God from our own lives enriches our children’s faith in many ways! You may want to find some books of Psalm 23 at the library (written and illustrated for children).

Memory Verse Pocket
Let your student cut the words out and help her put them in order; store them in a pocket in your lapbook; review often.

Psalm 23 Coloring Page

For mom--

*Here is an exposition of Psalm 23 by Charles Spurgeon that could be for mom to enjoy this week! And there are a few parts you could paraphrase for your child and learn together.

John 10:11
Another verse you may want to learn or discuss: "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."
The Good Shepherd Coloring Page

Isaiah 1:18
Read Isaiah 1:18, “Come, now, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” Discuss with your child how our sins can become “white.” Discuss what the crimson represents to you and how they can be made like wool by the Lord.

Language Arts

Vocabulary

1. cloak – a coat without sleeves - I think it would be fun to have your child guess what a cloak is before reading the story! Then after the story is read, go back and see if they were right or wrong! Also, it might be fun (especially if you are notebooking), to have your child draw a picture of a cloak and write the word underneath it.

2. shear – to clip the wool from a sheep

3. wool - the soft wavy or curly usually thick undercoat of sheep

4. card – to untangle wool with a comb or brush

5. spun the wool into yarn – to twist wool into yarn, if possible have some red yarn for your children to touch as you do this lesson!

6. dye- to stain or color

7. loom- a frame or machine for weaving threads or yarns to produce cloth

*see science lesson for a lapbooking activity to go with most of these vocabulary words.

Words with Multiple Meanings
Read the very first sentence in the book, “Poor Charlie!”
Discuss why your child thinks Charlie might be “poor.” Does this mean he isn’t rich? Or can it mean something else? At the end of the book discuss what your child now knows about Charlie. Discuss other words that have more than one meaning.

Handwriting pages for the letter digraph sh

http://www.first-school.ws/t/alphabet/coloring-pages/bible_zb/shepherd_b.htm

http://www.first-school.ws/t/alpha1_dn/digraph_sh.htm

Poetry and Nursery Rhymes
There are lots of nursery rhymes that include sheep. Learn some of them together this week with your student. Your student can make a book of the following Nursery Rhymes. Read the rhymes to your student (and discuss as appropriate). Let your student cut out the pictures in the Nursery Rhyme Book file (she can also cut out the poems-- or you can). Help her match the right pictures with the words to the poems. There is one picture for "Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"; two pictures for "Mary Had a Little Lamb"; and three pictures for "Little Bo-peep". She may or may not want to color the illustrations. Help her make a book (using cardstock or construction paper) with the poems and graphics. The file to download also includes a pre-made cover (or your student can create her own). Read this book frequently this week; student love to look at books they have made!

Little Bo-peep

Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And doesn't know where to find them.
Leave them alone and they'll come home,
Wagging their tails behind them.

Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamt she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were still a-fleeting.

Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left all their tails behind them.

Mary Had a Little Lamb

Mary had a little lamb
Whose fleece as white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go!

It followed her to school one day,
which was against the rules.
It made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.

Baa, Baa Black Sheep

Baa, baa, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

Three bags full.

One for the master,

One for the dame,

And one for the little boy

Who lives down the lane.

Baa, baa, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes sir, yes sir,

Three bags full.

Word Find
Let your student try to find the words from the story in the puzzle. Charlie Needs a Cloak Word Find

Science

From sheep to wool to coat
Take some time to learn more about shearing, carding, spinning and dying wool with your child.
A good book to show pictures of this is: The Weaver's Gift by Kathryn Lasky. This books shows all these different stages in pictures.

Make a Graduated Book to include in your lapbook. Use this prepared Sheep to Cloak Graduated Book if you'd like (from the terms on the last page in Charlie Needs a Cloak). Let your young student paste pictures with the correct word (you can add descriptions if you wish); let your older student add pictures and definitions.

Natural Dyes
Charlie chose pokeweed berries to dye his coat. If you have an opportunity for nature study this week, go outside and collect items that may produce color. Bring a few of each item inside. Try rubbing your items on paper (berries, leaves, flowers). Do any of them produce color?

Try some of these dyes, too (for dyeing, you may want to use an old sock or scrap of fabric or even something else). Have your student hypothesize what the final color outcome will be for each dye. Use this prepared dye chart to record predictions. If your student is to young to write, simply let him color the square with a crayon (in the color he think the item will be dyed). After the items are dyed and dry, go back to your chart. Was your student right? Let him add the answers for the outcomes. Include the chart in your lapbook or notebook if you wish.

Also, you may want to let two items soak in the same color dye for different time periods. Which one will be lighter? Which one will be darker? Let your student discover these things with as little direction/prompting from you as possible.

Beet Juice Dye
Mix 1 cup strained juice from canned beets, ½ teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water.

Grape Juice Dye
Mix 1 cup purple grape juice, ½ teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water.

Yellow Onion Dye
In a pot, mix 1 cup yellow onion skin (about 2 onions' worth), packed loosely, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water.
Boil mixture for ½ hour, cool to room temperature, strain out the onion skin.

Red Cabbage Dye
In a pot, mix 1 cup red cabbage leaves, torn and loosely packed, 1 teaspoon vinegar, and 3 cups water.
Boil mixture for ½ hour, cool to room temperature, strain out the cabbage leaves.

*dye recipes adapted from Family Fun

Sheep
You might also choose to learn more about the sheep during this unit!

For her lapbook, your student can make a Sheep Family Tri-fold. She can cut out the members of the family (ram-male, ewe-female, lamb-baby) and paste them each on one page. Then, she can write the correct name in the space provided. She can make her own cover or add the Sheep Family title.

Different breeds of sheep
Color and label parts of a sheep
The first domesticated breed of sheep (print-out)

Math

Counting
Count the sheep on each page. You could also count how many pokeweed berry bushes there are on the page where Charlie dyes the yarn.

Music

Sing the nursery rhymes mentioned in the Language Arts section.

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep Music

Mary Had a Little Lamb Music
Little Bo-Peep Music

There are many versions of Psalm 23 set to music, you might check your library to see if they have a copy! Or you can download a song from the internet.
Here is a really pretty one!

Here is another neat version, click on the title Psalm 23:

Also, there is a hymn entitled My "Shepherd Shall Supply My Need". If you or someone you know can play the piano (or other instrument) see if they will play this song for you to learn. If you don’t have a hymnal, here are the words to the hymn by Isaac Watts – one of the most famous hymn writers! You could even read this aloud as a poem.

Arts & Crafts & Fun

Lamb Coloring Pages
Lamb Coloring Page from abcteach

A lamb handprint craft – make a black handprint of your child using construction paper or black foam paper. Turn it upside down and add cotton balls for the sheep’s wool. Very cute!

Bubbles
Look at all the bubbles on the page where he washes the wool. For fun one day, go out and blow bubbles. Maybe you can find a bucket (or baby pool) to wash your child in! Or maybe a give a pet a bath! Be sure to make lots of bubbles!

Art
Discuss humor in the illustrations. Look at certain pages and see if your child sees anything funny about the pictures! (The page that says “poor Charlie” looks like the sheep is about to kiss Charlie; in the spring time picture-- look at the hard time that Charlie is having with his stubborn sheep; notice a mouse carrying something off while he is carding the wool; find the page where the sheep is looking in the mirror; see how many times the sheep is hiding from Charlie throughout the book; look at the page where Charlie is cutting the cloth on the table – why do you think he looks mad?; and the last picture in the book…the sheep is taking a bite of something! Do you think this will make Charlie mad as well?)

Sewing

You may wish to practice sewing with your child this week. You could cut a sheep pattern out of cardstock or cardboard and punch holes around the edges, then let your child sew with yarn through the holes.

If you are a seamstress yourself, you may enjoy sewing a cloak for your child to wear!

Snack
Make a healthy Sheep Snack (your child can follow the recipe even if he can't read -- it's in pictures!)

Materials and information on this website belong to the original composers. It may be used for your own personal and school use.