Last week was fun, but this week was A LOT more enjoyable. I love when I can tell that a book has captured the boys' attention. The Story About Ping is one of the few books that I can actually remember from when I did Five in a Row as a kid, so it's a very special story for me.

The Story About Ping is about a duckling who tries to run away from punishment, but learns that eventually he will have to face it. In the book, the master calls the ducks back by yelling, "La la la la lei!" So, of course, Joe had to yell this while we were in the dead-silent library.

Social Studies: Geography - China and Culture

The Story About Ping is set in China, so I checked out several books from the library about China and specifically the Yangtze River. Instead of reading through them, we just sat down and looked at the pictures. The boys were fascinated by the Yangtze River and really enjoyed learning about the wildlife that lives there. Joe was unable to pronounce "Yangtze," so he called it the "Angsty" River.

Alex found China on our map!

 The boys also did a coloring page that included the Chinese flag and a map of China. They both love coloring, so I try to incorporate as many coloring pages as I can.

After we finished our geography lesson, I gave them a choice of two different crafts. Of course, they wanted to do both.


First, we made fans out of paper plates. Alex had fun with this craft, but Joe accidentally messed up on his and got frustrated, so I helped him finish it. Being 3 years old is very hard.


We had talked a little bit about pandas, so Alex decided to draw one on his fan. I thought it was super cute! Alex was actually quizzing ME on pandas with facts that he had learned from Wild Kratts. That boy LOVES Wild Kratts. We also made paper lanterns and by then Joe had calmed down enough to do it with us.


Literature: What is a Classic Story?, Repetition

We talked about what makes The Story About Ping a classic story and read two of the boys' favorite classic books: Caps For Sale and Angus and the Ducks.


Angus and the Ducks is another book by Marjorie Flack that includes Pekin ducks, so the boys were firmly convinced that these ducks were Ping's parents.

I also pointed out the repetition in the story to the boys and had them try to find the repetition in a few nursery rhymes.

Math: Counting

The boys did a coloring page of Ping's family from Homeschool Share.


I wasn't quite sure that they would have the patience to make it through all of Ping's cousins, but they finished! (Although it did take quite a while.)

That night before bed I read them a story called Calvin Can't Fly. It's another book about a bird with a large family, so the boys asked if they could have a coloring page of Calvin's relatives. I thought about it for a second, but I decided against it since Calvin has 67,432 cousins.

Science: Animal Kingdom, Buoyancy, Health and Safety

To start our day off we talked about the different kinds of ducks and read a few fun facts about them. We also went to the park to try to find Ping!


We brought some hot dog buns with us to the park and the ducks loved us for it! There were a lot of ducks there, but only two Pekin ducks. Joe called them "Ping all growned up!"


We also talked a little bit about water safety and how we're only allowed to go into the pool with a parent. Then we did the infamous sink or float experiment!


This was super fun! We tested 10 different objects (I picked out the first 6 and let them both pick out 2).


 Snack: Fish in the Yangtze River

This was actually Joe's idea! While reading The Story About Ping one day he asked for goldfish in a yellow bag, which was supposed to be like the fish that Ping tried to catch in the yellow waters of the Yangtze River. 


The boys are definitely enjoying Five in a Row more now and I hope next week is as fun as this week was!

Resources Used:

• China Flag and Map
• Paper Plate Fans Idea
• Paper Lantern Idea
• Ping Lapbook (the link to it is on the page)
• Sink or Float?