U is for Umbrella

After being stuck on T for weeks...it was exciting to move on to U is for umbrella. Although, I must admit, it was hard to get back into the routine. We forgot to do any U foods, for example, but I think we managed to focus on the basics and enjoyed a good week!

Our book for the week was The Umbrella by Jan Brett. This author has a unique style with beautiful artwork. We've enjoyed her Gingerbread Baby and Noah's Ark. Each page has not only the main picture but smaller drawings in the margins that give you a different angle or a hidden view to aid in the story.

The Umbrella is the story of a boy who goes into the cloud forest to search for animals. While he searches from high in the trees, all the animals he hopes to see crowd into his umbrella waiting for him at the bottom of the tree. It's a simple tale but introduces unique animals like the tapir and quetzal as well as a Spanish speaking tree frog. And the beautiful art keeps everyone staring at the pages.

We were fortunate to actually have rain during U week but wouldn't you know it, we could not find our umbrella. It's still missing...We just don't actually use an umbrella very often here in sunny southern California...we did observe the rain and talk about the water cycle while catching raindrops.

Occasionally on our daily walks, we'll hunt for the letter of the week. For example, for P we were hunting for pots. Well this week on our walk Adam found this U-shaped bush. I would never have even noticed but yep, it's a U. He was very proud and without hesitating said, "take a picture of me with the U."

One more thing I want to share about what we do every week...Beth, my proud first grader, reads the "Sound Box" books to Adam. There's a book for every letter and a character for every letter. "Little U" for example fills up her sound box with things that begin with her sound like umbrellas, ugly ducklings, and an umpire. They are silly and often non-sensical but Adam loves this part of the week because Beth reads to him. He asks and she proudly reads to him. And every week as I watch them together I remember one of the many reasons why I love homeschooling :) (this picture is actually taken at our library before Beth heads to gymnastics, hence the leotard :)