Five in a Row: A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
Mako gets a new pair of red clogs. She loves the way they sound when she walks and runs. She loves how everyone admires how beautiful they look. One day she gets a crack in her clogs and she is sad they no longer look new. She decides she might try to trick her mother into getting her a new pair. Seeing her mother’s kindness she feels guilt. Mako realizes she shouldn’t try to be dishonest.
Day 1
Social Studies: Geography
I showed the girls where Japan was on our globe. It’s actually quite close (but not close) to Alaska! I wonder the flight time from flying to Japan compared to flying to the east coast. When I flew to Frankfurt, Germany it was nine hours. It’s about the same amount of time to fly to Georgia! Anyways…! We watched two videos about Japan on Youtube. Emme wrote a sentence about something she learned from the videos.
Day 2
Social Studies: Japanese Culture
We did a picture walk to compare and contrast the way Mako lives and how we live. We had some things in common like eating at a round table, eating similar foods, and a fire wood stove. They noted some things that were different like hair styles, sitting on the floor to eat, and the washing area Mako used to clean her shoes. The girls loved the paper dolls we made from A Story About Ping so we made paper dolls to go along with this story.
Day 3
Art: Colored Pencil Technique
Colored pencils are used in most of the illustrations. We went back on another picture walk and looked at the different ways colored pencils can be used to show texture, color, depth of color, and shadows. Emme re created her version of the sunset illustration and the outdoor market.
Day 4
Science: Weather and Weather Forecasting
Mako plays the weather telling game, which looks like total fun! But unfortunately predicting the weather by kicking your clogs in the air to see how it lands doesn’t work. I explained that we have tools that are supposed to help us predict what the weather will be (but do they really… half the time they aren’t correct. It says rain. I see no rain and blue skies for days). It’s best to do what Mama Bear from Berenstain Bears says. If you want to know the weather, stick your head outside and look.
It was the middle of October when we read this story. Now it’s been a week after reading this story. I clearly haven’t kept up with graphing the weather. Ya win some, ya lose some.
OTHER FIVE IN A ROW LESSONS
Lentil by Robert McCloskey (Why I only do four days mentioned in this post.)
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha
A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
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References:
“Country Coloring Pages.” 123 Homeschool 4 Me, https://www.123homeschool4me.com/free-18-countries-of-world-book_30/. Accessed 10 August 2023.
“Japanese Paper Doll.” Education.com, https://www.education.com/worksheet/article/paper-dolls-world-asia-I/. Accessed 10 October 2023.
“Japan for Kids - An Amazing and Quick Guide to Japan.” Learning Trail, Youtube, 22 September 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S603E1utiwE. Accessed 10 October 2023.
“Learn About Japan for Kids | Tokyo 2020 Olympics Host | Educational Video for Children About Japan.” Ozzie - Educational Videos for Kids, Youtube, 24 July 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3nIR5P5LMQ&t=464s. Accessed 10 October 2021.
