The Giant Jam Sandwich

Lapbooking Component



Itching Down Map minit book

Rhyme Time minit book

Prepared Venn Diagram

"Questions About  Yeast"  minit book

"How to make a jam sandwich" accordion book

Teamwork Matchbook

Problem-Solution Story Pocket

Recipe Pocket Template (this is not included in the lessons/ideas)
You could also include a recipe pocket.  If you make a yeast product together, include that recipe on 3x5 card and put it in the pocket; you may also want to include a recipe for strawberry jam, too.  Make sure to include any recipe you made together while studying this unit.  

Page of Clipart (let your student cut out the clips he would like to include in his lapbook); paste them in blank spaces

Giant Jam Word Find (this is not included in the lessons, just an extra)

SOCIAL STUDIES

Map Skills:  Land of Imagination
If you've started a Land of Imagination map to go along with your FIAR studies, this would be a good time to pull it out and add Itching Down as a location.  Make a story disk (with a strawberry jam sandwich!) and place it on your map.  If you haven't made a land of imagination map, allow your student some time to make a pretend map complete with islands, mountains, and even train tracks if he desires.  Make sure he adds a compass rose (North, South, East, West) and labels Itching Down.  He may even want to add a few other pretend cities.  

Another option would be to let your student make just a small map of Itching Down and include it in your lapbook.  Here is a prepared minit book.  Simply cut out, fold in half and draw a map inside.  Again, be sure to add a compass rose. 

Problem Solving
Discuss the problem in Itching Down (wasps!).  How did the town people solve this problem?  (they held a meeting and asked for help).  Problem solving is an important life skill to possess.  Discuss some problems your family has encountered (maybe during a power outage or maybe something as simple as when your child is trying to build a train track and can't get the ends to connect) and how you used problem-solving skills.   You may also want to continue your discussion by determining other ways the people of Itching Down could have solved their wasp problem-- have fun with this!

Human Relationships: Community and Teamwork
Can your student remember some of the different ways the people worked together to get rid of those pesky wasps?  Could one man have done this job alone?  No way!  Not even ten men could've done this job alone; it took everyone working together including those who--
        mixed ingredients to make the bread dough (have your student count all the people who are on this page)
        sewed a tablecloth
        transported the loaf to the old brick mill to bake
        cut the slices of bread off the loaf
        cheered others on
        took the bread to Farmer Seed's field
        buttered the bread
        brought the jam
        spread the jam
        were in flying machines waiting to lower the top piece of bread on the wasps

Use this prepared Teamwork Matchbook for lapbooking.  You may want to let your student write the definition, or you may want to write down all the examples of teamwork from the story that your student can remember.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Vocabulary List
        pate- the top of the head
        drove- to force
        nuisance- annoying or troublesome
        hitch- to catch, fasten, or connect by or as if by a hook or knot
        swell- to expand gradually beyond a normal limit
        "piping hot" - very hot
        spoil- to damage
        spade- a digging tool; like a shovel
        whir- to fly, turn, or move rapidly with a buzzing sound
Prepared Vocabulary Crossword Puzzle


Rhyming Words and Listmaking
Ask your student if he notices anything special about this story and the way it reads (it's written in couplets-- rhyming words at the end of two successive lines).   List some of the rhyming words and see if you can think of MORE words that rhyme with those words.  Have fun with this Rhyming Dictionary.

If you'd like, extend your learning by completing this Rhyme Time minit book.  Cut out the book as one piece.  Cut out the title (Rhyme TIme).  Fold the book in half on the black line.  Cut on the grey dotted lines to make flip-flaps.  Glue the title on the top.  Ask your student to think of words that rhyme with each word and let her write them in the book.  For example, "what rhymes with ate?"  Open the flap and write a word that rhymes.  Continue until you are finished.   Note: all the words are found in the story, but you don't have to use the rhyming words from the story.


Creative Writing: Problem-Solution Story
Encourage your student to write her own problem-solution story.  First, you will need to do a bit of brainstorming (answer the following questions):
    1. What's the name of your town going to be?
    2. Think of a pest (cockroaches, goats, mice, or even peacocks or kangaroos!)
    3.  What is the problem with the pest?  (this can be realistic like it was with the wasps or ridiculous)
    4.  What is the solution going to be?

Once you have the above determined, your student is ready to write! 

Fold your student's story like a letter (in thirds), and then fold it again in half.  Put it in your lapbook in this Problem-Solution Story Pocket

ART

Perspective
Look at the illustration for, "They dived and hummed and buzzed and ate..."  Ask your student, "Which wasps in the swarm look like they are closest to you? (the larger ones at the bottom of the page)  Which ones look as if they are far away?  (the smaller ones at the top of the page)  Artist make things appear at different proximities by varying their size.   As your student creates illustrations, encourage her to use this same technique in order to make things seem close or far away.   Can your student find other illustrations of the wasps in this book where the artist used perspective? (Look at the one on the page that reads, "Suddenly the sky was humming!"

APPLIED MATH

Calendar Skills:  Weeks/Years
At the end of the story it says, "And had a feast for a hundred weeks!"  Does your student know how many weeks is in a year?  If not, teach him that there are 52 weeks in a year.  Then ask him, "How long did this sandwich last?"   You can go about the math in many different ways, but your student should realize that it lasted at least one year.  Did the sandwich last two years (52x2= 104 weeks)...not quite, but almost! 

SCIENCE

Wasps  (information from ebeehoney.com and arizona.edu)
This story is all about the WASPS!  Some of the most popular species of wasps are mentioned below along with their defining characteristics.

Paper Wasps  
Paper Wasp Coloring Sheet

• Have a very thin waist
• Are brightly colored, smooth, and somewhat shiny
• Have sharply contrasting black-and-yellow patterns
• Have two sets of dusky-colored wings
• Have narrow cylindrical legs and no pollen baskets
• Mandibles are used for biting and chewing
• Build their nest out of paper made from plant fiber or wood
• Like to position nest in a hollow tree, in the ground, or beneath the eaves of a house
• Are predators and eat insects and spiders
• The females can sting repeatedly

Yellow Jacket  **I believe these are the type found in our story**
Wasps Print-out (Enchanted Learning)

• Are a type of short, stocky wasp
• Have a cross-banded black-and-yellow abdomen
• The head and thorax are black with yellow spots and bars
• Have a broad abdomen that tapers off conically to a sharp point where the stinger is concealed
• When not in flight, the wings are folded lengthwise down the middle and are held slightly out to the side
• Are quick to attack when disturbed near their nest
• The females can sting repeatedly
• Like to nest in weedy brush areas on the ground or underground in an old animal burrow or crevice
• More interested in food and garbage than flowers
• Aggressive by nature and especially persistent when foraging for limited food at the end of summer
• Prefer sweets -- ripe fruit or other sugar solutions

Your older student may also want to research Mud Dauber Wasps.

Wasp Stings
Normal reactions to stings includes pain, redness, itching and swelling at the sting site. Ice, table salt, and products like Sting Kill® are helpful in managing the symptoms.  Symptoms can occur immediately after a sting, or may take longer to appear. They last for several hours. 

Benefits of Wasps
A few species pollinate plants and crops.  Most eat pests such as flies and caterpillars.  Wasps should be left alone where they are if they are not bothering people. 

Venn Diagram or Chart Project
What are the major differences between bees and wasps? Your student may want to make a Venn Diagram or chart comparing/contrasting the similarities and differences in Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets (they look very similar).  Here is some Honey Bee information if your student would like to do this.  He could also research on his own to find out more (if he wants to make a chart with Mud Daubers, Yellow Jackets, Paper Wasps, as well as different species of bees.

Prepared Venn Diagram - Use this in your lapbook or notebook (or as desired).  Cut around the dotted grey lines.  Use the extra graphics around the sides to include in your lapbook or notebook.

Honey Bees 
Honey Bee Coloring Sheet

• Are about one-inch long
• Are reddish brown with black encircling their abdomen
• Have a subtle striped appearance
• Have two sets of wings
• Have short hairs all over their body - even on their eyes
• The females stings once and then dies
• The whole colony can live through the winter
• Build the inside of nest out of beeswax
• Are smaller than the bumble bee
• Eat nectar and pollen and make honey
• Have pollen baskets on their hind legs to carry food
• Do dances to tell other bees how far to fly for food

Chemistry in the Kitchen: Baking Bread (recipe from www.allrecipes.com)

Mix 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F) with 1/3 cup white sugar and 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast in a glass jar (so you can see the action!).  Leave it alone for 15 minutes then watch what is happening.  Do you see the bubbles?  They are caused by gas-- since yeast is alive, it can grow (when mixed with warmth, water, and sugar) and make the bubbles.   Yeast is the ingredient in dough that makes it grow (and grow!).

If you'd like to make some yummy bread (dinner rolls) continue on.  However, if your yeast mixture is not bubbling, do NOT continue on with the recipe as your yeast isn't active (this happens sometimes when it's too old or the water is too hot). 

Add the yeast mixture, along with the rest of the ingredients to your bread machine pan (if you don't have a bread pan, you can do things by hand); select the dough cycle.


Sweet Dinner Rolls

    1/2 cup warm milk
    1 egg (room temperature)
    1/3 cup butter, softened
    1 teaspoon salt
    3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

When the cycle finishes, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.  Divide dough in half.  Roll each half into a 12 inch circle and spread 1/4 cup softened butter over entire round.  Cut each circle into 8 wedges.  Roll wedges starting at wide end; roll gently but tightly. Place point side down on ungreased cookie sheet.  Measure each roll and record your measurement. Cover with clean kitchen towel and put in a warm place, let rise 1 hour.   Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Measure each roll again.  What happened to the rolls?  Are they the same size? (record your answer if you are going to use the minit book below) The yeast is causing them to grow.   Bake the rolls in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden.  After the rolls have cooled, break one apart.  Do you see the small holes inside?  These are a result of the gas bubbles the yeast made. 

After you complete this lesson, you may want to add the prepared "Questions About  Yeast"  minit book to your lapbook. 
Your student will be asked to answer the following questions:
Why were there bubbles in the yeast, sugar, water mixture?
Why did the dough grow?
How much did the dough grow?
Why were there holes inside the baked rolls?
 

JUST FOR FUN

Make some strawberry jam!  If the time of year is right, go strawberry picking and come home and make some jam (you can find recipes on the Sure-Jell box).  Freezer jam is *very* easy.  If it's not strawberry pickin' time, you could always buy some frozen strawberries and make some jam.  Make sure you eat a bread, butter, and strawberry jam sandwich, too (perhaps on homemade bread)!  You'll find out why those wasps could not resist!

Teach your younger student how to make his own sandwich (it doesn't have to be a jam sandwich); my five year old LOVES to make his own peanut butter and jelly sandwich!  :) 

You can have your younger student explain to you the steps involved in making a jam sandwich.  Record what he says in this Prepared "How to make a jam sandwich" accordion book.   Instructions for assembly:  Print file and fold in thirds (like a letter using the grey dotted lines as a guide).  Cut around the template.  Be very careful on the left side...do NOT cut through all the paper-- simply round off the corner(s) then only cut off the excess on the first piece without cutting on the fold.   When you finish you should have a book that unfolds into three slices of bread (the first slice being your title page giving you two pages to record).