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The Wolfe Pack {Reviews~Resources~Suggestions~Support for the Discerning Homeschool Mom}

providing the discerning homeschool mama with support on her journey

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Snow: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

December 15, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe Leave a Comment

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 


Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!

This is part of a series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. For a thorough explanation of UNIT STUDIES {what they are and what they include} check out THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. You’ll also find a schedule of when each new UNIT PACK will go live!


Day Eleven: SNOW

Whether you live in sunny California or frigid Minnesota, a series of WINTER UNIT STUDIES would not be complete without doing SNOW!

READ:  The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is one of my ALL-TIME favorite books because of its sweet story, lovely illustrations and sad ending. Yes, the sad ending is one of the aspects that makes it such a sweet tale. And it offers great lessons for kids and adults of all ages….and all without a single word! Be sure to grab the FREE mini FICTION BOOK COMPANION PACK to work on your student’s comprehension skills. 

WRITE: And to go along with The Snowman by Raymond Briggs is this cute writing activity. You can find it in the FREE Winter-Themed Writing Activity Pack. It’s easy and quick but really does a great job of connecting the student to the book by asking for something his/her snowman liked and something it didn’t. 

Here is my silly sample. I’m sure your kiddos can do much better than I did! My poor snowman doesn’t even have a hat….then again, if you saw the way I drew the hat on my snowman in the HIBERNATION UNIT STUDY, you might think a hatless snowman is an improvement. 

There is also a paragraph activity for kids who want to write more. This one asks the student to create a way for the snowman not to melt at the end of the book. 

EXPLORE: The Story of Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder by Jon Nelson is a great NON-FICTION book that does just what the title says! It tells the story of snow…how it starts, how it builds and how it falls. In addition to the easy-to-digest but real scientific text, it also has both great illustrations AND photographs. There are comprehension questions that go along with it in the FREE NON-FICTION mini BOOK COMPANION PACK that should allow your kids to take their learning to the next level. 

There is also a great 40+ minute documentary on SNOW  that I would recommend: Secrets of the Greatest SNOW on Earth by National Geographic. 

ENJOY: This Cucumber Carrot Snowman Snack is super easy to make and healthy too! In addition to some cucumber slices and a bit of cleverly-cut carrot pieces, it also uses a couple of pretzel sticks and some raisins. 

This Pretzel Marshmallow Snowflake Snack is not as healthy but is just as easy and cute! It requires just small marshmallows and some pretzel sticks!

Another SNOW snack option {that could actually be served as lunch or dinner} is these Snowman Mini Pizzas. All you need is some sort of round carb base {she used biscuit dough, but you could easily use crackers, mini pitas, sandwich thins, tortillas, or actual pizza dough} plus some sauce, cheese, olives and cleverly-cut carrot slices. 

All of the above rely on the imagination to incorporate the SNOW theme into the snack but if you actually have SNOW to work with, then you may want to make some Snow Ice Cream with fresh snow, condensed milk and vanilla. 

But, really, the best SNOW snack idea is this one. Just check it out. Seriously, THIS is what I would serve and call it a day! 

And, while your kids enjoy their SNOW snacks and water, ha ha, they can enjoy The Snowman on Amazon Prime!

CREATE: There are so many SNOW crafts on Pinterest. SO MANY! I’ll just list a few of my favorites to give you a good selection: 

Symmetrical Snowflake Craft

Snowpaint

Melted Snowman

Salt Snowflakes

Coffee Filter Snowflakes

LEARN:  Your kids have probably all heard the song, Let It Snow but do they know the words? Use this SONG LITERACY PACK to teach them the lyrics and also work on some pertinent literacy skills. It’s not normally free, but if you use code SnowingWOLFe, it will be totally FREE for you! 

READ MORE: A wee bit below are several other good books on SNOW. Each would make a great addition to any SNOW study! 

I hope this SNOW UNIT STUDY provided at least a few ideas to spark an interest in SNOW this winter! 

Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!

Check out the entire series,

12 Days of Winter Unit Studies!

READ~WRITE~CREATE~EXPLORE~ENJOY~LEARN!


Next up: STEAM TRAINS


Much appreciation goes out to my good friend, Jamie Spear! She helped me find these fun books, crafts, snacks and more! Without her, these UNIT STUDIES would have nothing but “read this, print that, and write something!” You can find her on FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.


Filed Under: RESOURCES, Unit Studies Tagged With: Christmas, HOLIDAYS, Homeschool, homeschool curriculum, INFORMATIONAL TEXT, READ WRITE CREATE EXPLORE ENJOY LEARN, UNIT PACK, UNIT STUDIES, UNIT STUDY, WRITING PROMPTS

Sleighs: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

December 14, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe 1 Comment

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 


Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!

This is part of a series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. For a thorough explanation of UNIT STUDIES {what they are and what they include} check out THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. You’ll also find a schedule of when each new UNIT PACK will go live!


Day Ten: SLEIGHS

I wanted to create a LITERACY PACK for Jingle Bells and that started me down this path of a UNIT STUDY on SLEIGHS. I’ll admit, it’s kind of an odd topic to study but I was still surprised that I could not find a single NON-FICTION book on SLEIGHS. I think I need to start a list of topics for books that need to be written! But, there are some super cute FICTION books along with an informative video so all was not lost! 

READ: Despite the fact that it follows the same pattern as 1000 other Christmas books {the sleigh wants to grow up and work with Santa,} this book is one of my new favorites! Who knew you could fall in love with a little red sleigh? This book is a great place to start your UNIT STUDY on SLEIGHS because it does a good job of crossing over the line between SLED to SLEIGH. If you don’t have Little Red Sleigh by Erin Guendelsberger, I highly recommend adding it to your Christmas collection. And don’t forget to grab the FREE FICTION mini BOOK COMPANION PACK to go along with it. 

Another cute SLEIGH book is The 12 Sleighs of Christmas by Sherri Duskey Rinker. It introduces a series of innovative SLEIGHS that Santa’s elves have invented in hopes of solving Santa’s problem. Of course, none of them work right and disaster occurs! It’s a silly book but creates an opportunity to discuss what makes a SLEIGH work and what doesn’t. And, yes, flying REINDEER is what makes Santa’s SLEIGH work! Don’t forget to make use of the comprehension activities found in the FREE mini FICTION BOOK COMPANION PACK. 

WRITE: One-Dog Sleigh by Mary Cassanova is one of my favorite types of books! Each page adds on to the last so that when the sleigh ride starts, there is only a little girl and a dog being pulled by a pony but by the time the book ends, there is a girl, dog, deer, bear, mouse and more! It’s really rather cute and lends itself perfectly to this fun writing activity. 

Your kids can either draw their own animals or cut out the ARCTIC animals and glue them on. Both are found in the WINTER-THEMED WRITING ACTIVITIES PACK. {Note: If you want the Arctic animals and downloaded the pack prior to 12-11-20, you’ll need to download the pack again.}

Of course, there is also a paragraph option that asks kids to design a new SLEIGH for Santa and describe it. 

ENJOY: As you might guess, there are not too many SLEIGH snacks out there but this cute Santa Sleigh that was designed as a gift is actually editable and made with nothing but candy so your kids will be sure to devour it! Problem is….if you buy the supplies for it {candy canes, Hershey Miniatures,  Santa Hat Kisses and Royal Icing,} you’ll end up with a boat-load of the little sleighs! A more elaborate {and expensive} version of that snack is this one. It takes a full-size candy bar, several more Hershey Minitarues, a chocolate Santa and some ribbon. It would also make a great gift!

CREATE:  Apparently candy canes are a popular item to use in SLEIGH crafts! This one requires only candy canes, popsicle sticks and hot glue. Add some ribbon if you want to turn it into an ornament! There is also this cute Paper Plate Sleigh Full of Snowmen! It requires paper plate, white/grey/black paper, some markers and glue. Paint and glitter, optional. It looks pretty easy and because it uses a cutout of your child’s hand, it’s a great one to do every year. I always loved seeing how those progress! 

EXPLORE: If you are feeling especially enthusiastic, you can set up this Sleigh-Building Challenge. It requires more time, materials and patience than I normally have but it would make a great activity for a co-op class….or a mom who typically has it all together. 

Or you can take the easy route like me and show your kid this quick 9-minute video, Sleighs and Sleighbells. It gives some easy-to-digest history about SLEIGHS and requires no materials or patience! 

LEARN: Check out this JINGLE BELLS SONG LITERACY PACK. It’s a great way for your kids to learn the most famous stanza of a carol we all know and love but also to work on rhyming, comprehension, reading and writing! It’s not free in my store but with code FREEJingleWOLFe, it’s FREE for you! Plus, it’s tons of fun to sing that one stanza over and over and over again! 

READ MORE: Below are some more FICTION books about SLEIGHS. But, sadly, there are no NON-FICTION books listed. Seriously, I am going to start keeping a list of all the unsung topics!

Check out the entire series,

12 Days of Winter Unit Studies!

READ~WRITE~CREATE~EXPLORE~ENJOY~LEARN!


I hope this SLEIGHS UNIT STUDY inspires you to add this to your list of fun things to teach this holiday season! 

Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!

Next up: SNOW


Much appreciation goes out to my good friend, Jamie Spear! She helped me find these fun books, crafts, snacks and more! Without her, these UNIT STUDIES would have nothing but “read this, print that, and write something!” You can find her on FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.


 

Filed Under: RESOURCES, Unit Studies Tagged With: Christmas, Homeschool, homeschool curriculum, INFORMATIONAL TEXT, READ WRITE CREATE EXPLORE ENJOY LEARN, sleighs, UNIT PACK, UNIT STUDIES, UNIT STUDY, WRITING PROMPTS

Poinsettias: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

December 11, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe 2 Comments

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 


Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!

This is part of a series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. For a thorough explanation of UNIT STUDIES {what they are and what they include} check out THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. You’ll also find a schedule of when each new UNIT PACK will go live!


 

Day Nine: POINSETTIAS

A few years ago our Homeschool Co-op had a Christmas-themed day where we swapped rooms and the kids did a series of different crafts with different teachers. I was assigned POINSETTIAS, which seemed like a fun idea but when I went to find a book to read to go with my craft, I was sorely disappointed to find a very small selection. “Very small” meaning one. There was one book about POINSETTIAS. One. On all of Amazon, there was one book. So, I bought that book, chose a craft and managed to put together a fun and festive lesson for the kids but it never felt quite complete. So, when I chose the topics for this series, I decided to give POINSETTIAS another chance.  I just knew there had to be more out there about the plant that rivals the Christmas tree as themed-foliage! 

READ:  So, Zetta the Poinsettia by Alama Hammond is NOT the one book mentioned above. Turns out a new POINSETTIA has finally come on the scene! Zetta! This is a sweet, little book written in the same spirit as many of the EVERGREEN TREE books…she just wants to be loved and appreciated by somebody this Christmas season. But, the book also imparts some factual information about POINSETTIAS along the way. You’ll also find a list of POINSETTIA facts in the very back. And if you grab the FREE mini BOOK COMPANION PACK, you can be sure your kids retained some of the information they read. 

The Legend of the Poinsettia by Tomie dePaola is the ONE BOOK mentioned above. As the name suggests, the book is all about the Mexican legend associated with the POINSETTIA. If you use this book, be sure to grab the FREE mini BOOK COMPANION PACK too. 

WRITE: The FREE WINTER-THEMED WRITING ACTIVITIES PACK offers two simple yet fun ways to write about POINSETTIAS. 

Apparently, as this series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES, progresses, my art skills are declining….and they were already in trouble to begin with!  But, hopefully, Maisy the Daisy gives you enough of an idea of what your kiddos can do with this WRITING ACTIVITY. 

And if you have a more developed writer on your hands, there is an option for him too! This WRITING ACTIVITY asks the student to create a legend for a different plant or flower. 

CREATE: I made this PAPER POINSETTIA craft with my co-op kids do. It’s supposed to be garland but I just had each kid make them as individual pieces. They are super-duper easy, inexpensive and rather classy looking. It’s been three {or four!!!} years, and we still put some of these up on our shelves during the holidays. Another cute craft is this POINSETTIA PAINT PROJECT which obviously involves paint, which has never been my best friend. But, if you are braver than me, it really does look cute. It uses sponges so fairly simple…but still messy! 

EXPLORE: I was surprised to come across so many POINSETTIA videos/documentaries:

A Look Inside a Poinsettia Farm {3 minutes}

Poinsettia Care Tips {6 minutes}

Virtual Tour 2020 {17 minutes}

ENJOY: These Poinsettia Pretzel Bites look super yummy and festive but I’m not sold on them being too POINSETTIA-like. But, they are certainly Christmassy-looking and they seem very easy to make! They require pretzels, M&Ms and white candy melts. 

Another option that looks more like POINSETTIAS,  in my opinion, are these POINSETTIA CHEESECAKE SQUARES. Cheesecake is literally my favorite dessert in the world but I admit that this snack doesn’t need the cheesecake in order to keep its POINSETTIA-ness. You could just serve up the strawberries and mint garnish as a healthy and themed snack and call it good! 

LEARN:  For the quickest way to teach about POINSETTIAS, grab the applicable pages found in the WINTER-THEMED INFORMATIONAL TEXT AND WRITING PACK.  It’s not listed as free in my store, but if you use code FREEWinterWOLFe, it will ring up as totally free!

READ MORE: See below for the very small list of POINSETTIA books available…and one of those is a coloring book! I’m telling ya…there’s a real market opportunity here for somebody! 

Check out the entire series,

12 Days of Winter Unit Studies!

READ~WRITE~CREATE~EXPLORE~ENJOY~LEARN!


I hope this POINSETTIAS UNIT STUDY gave you at least a few ideas about how to teach this subject {which was probably not on your list of “things I wish I knew how to teach about” before now!} 

Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!

Next up: SLEIGHS


Much appreciation goes out to my good friend, Jamie Spear! She helped me find these fun books, crafts, snacks and more! Without her, these UNIT STUDIES would have nothing but “read this, print that, and write something!” You can find her on FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.


Filed Under: RESOURCES, Unit Studies Tagged With: Christmas, HOLIDAYS, Homeschool, homeschool curriculum, INFORMATIONAL TEXT, poinsettuas, READ WRITE CREATE EXPLORE ENJOY LEARN, UNIT PACK, UNIT STUDIES, UNIT STUDY, WRITING PROMPTS

Hibernation: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

December 8, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe 2 Comments

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 


Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!

This is part of a series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. For a thorough explanation of UNIT STUDIES {what they are and what they include} check out THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. You’ll also find a schedule of when each new UNIT PACK will go live!


 

Day Six: HIBERNATION

Before doing a little research for this UNIT STUDY, the term HIBERNATION always made me think of just bears. But, as it turns out, there are loads of animals who HIBERNATE, and now my brain turns to cute, little hedghogs when I think of the word! 

READ:  The Snowy Nap by Jan Brett tells the story of a sweet, little hedgehog that does not want to HIBERNATE but, instead, wants to enjoy all of the winter fun that his farm friends brag about. And, in classic Jan Brett style, the illustrations are darling! The book lends itself to a great discussion about which animals need to HIBERNATE and which don’t. It also begs the question of WHY some might NOT want to HIBERNATE. Personally, curling up into a little ball and sleeping the winter away sounds rather lovely but I can also see Hedgie’s point of view too. After reading the book, be sure to make use of the FREE FICTION mini BOOK COMPANION PACK to help increase comprehension. 

WRITE: After reading The Snowy Nap, check out these two cute pages in the WINTER-THEMED WRITING ACTIVITIES PACK. For the first activity, your student will be asked to write about what he would miss if HIBERNATION was how he had to spend winter. 

{Here’s my sad excuse for a snowman. What’s wth his hat?!?!?!}

If you have kids who want to write more, this second activity is super fun! From the perspective of the hedgehog, they need to write a persuasive paragraph about why they should not have to HIBERNATE for winter. 

CREATE: Oh my! There are soooooooooo many cute hedgehog crafts! This pin will take you to three adorable hedgehog craft ideas in one spot. The fork-painted one is my favorite, and it’s the easiest too! But the other two are also great options too!  

Like I said at the beginning of this post, I’m all about the hedgehogs now, but it would not be fair to the others if I didn’t highlight some different HIBERNATING animal crafts. So, for bears there is this Hibernating Bears Paper Plate Craft. And, here is a Hibernating Chipmunk Paper Plate Craft which could be easily adapted to nearly any animal.  

ENJOY: Snacks always need to be simple, in my opinion, and this Pear and Grape Hedgehog fits that to a tee! It is also super cute and totally healthy. In addition to a pear and several grapes it does require toothpicks and a random blueberry or two {though chocolate chips would work too!} 

And for another cute and easy but only semi-healthy option, there is this adorable hedgehog made with an apple, some peanut butter and two sizes of chocolate chips.

For an easy and cute, but not healthy, hedgehog, there is this guy made with Hostess Sno-Balls, white frosting and Golden Crisp cereal. 

Or, if you want to go the more traditional bear route, there is this cute Teddy Bear Toast made with a piece of toast, some peanut butter, a couple of banana slices and a few chocolate chips. 

This snack that accompanies Bear Snores On is uber clever but super simple and only requires a graham cracker, a bit of coconut and one Teddy Graham. 

But, if you want the easiest route of all, which is totally my style, throw some Teddy Grahams on a plate! 

EXPLORE: To explore a wee bit more about HIBERNATION, you may want to consider the documentary on Amazon Prime, Close to Death: Hibernation. As the name suggests, it’s not about watercolored bears or happy hedgehogs though, so you may want to screen it before showing the littles. It’s 40 minutes long. 

But this video from Brain-Pop and this one from National Geographic should work for all ages! Plus, they are much shorter!

LEARN: I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit just how much science Magic School Bus has taught my son over the years but I have found that they are usually a fairly reliable source for turning basic science topics into fun movies and books. Magic School Bus Sleeps For the Winter  is an easy read, to the point and funny too. Plus, there are some companion pages for it in the FREE mini NON-FICTION BOOK COMPANION PACK. 

And for a simple, one-page reading passage with comprehension questions and writing prompts, use code 12DAYSofWINTERWOLFe to get the WINTER-THEMED INFORMATIONAL TEXT AND WRITING PROMPTS PACK for FREE. 

READ MORE: There are loads of great books about HIBERNATION…both fiction and non-fiction. Here are just a few….


Check out the entire series,

12 Days of Winter Unit Studies!

READ~WRITE~CREATE~EXPLORE~ENJOY~LEARN!


I hope this HIBERNATION UNIT STUDY provided you with at least an idea or two about a fun way to teach this winter-themed topic! 

Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!

Next up: REINDEER


Much appreciation goes out to my good friend, Jamie Spear! She helped me find these fun books, crafts, snacks and more! Without her, these UNIT STUDIES would have nothing but “read this, print that, and write something!” You can find her on FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.


Filed Under: RESOURCES, Unit Studies Tagged With: Christmas, HIBERNATION, Homeschool, homeschool curriculum, INFORMATIONAL TEXT, READ WRITE CREATE EXPLORE ENJOY LEARN, Science, UNIT PACK, UNIT STUDIES, UNIT STUDY, WRITING PROMPTS

Evergreen Trees: A UNIT STUDY Read~Write~Create~Explore~Enjoy~Learn!

December 7, 2020 by Katherine Wolfe 2 Comments

{This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our Disclosure Policy for details.} 


Each UNIT STUDY includes suggestions of books to READ, ideas to WRITE, crafts to CREATE, more to EXPLORE, snacks to ENJOY and other ways to LEARN about a specific topic!

This is part of a series, THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. For a thorough explanation of UNIT STUDIES {what they are and what they include} check out THE 12 DAYS OF WINTER UNIT STUDIES. You’ll also find a schedule of when each new UNIT PACK will go live! 


 

Day Five: EVERGREEN TREES

I was raised always having a REAL Christmas TREE. The house I grew up in had a sunken living room and cathedral ceilings that could accommodate a really big TREE. And, my mom took full advantage of that fact. Every year, we picked out the tallest, widest TREE we could find. And by “we” I mean my brother, mom and me. My dad, bless his heart, just sat back and let us pick it out while he tried to figure out the best way to bring the massive thing home and set it up. One year, he had to use ropes attached to the railing in order to keep it standing. And, it still fell over twice during Bible Study! Another year, my mom ended up in the ER because as we were all trying to drag the TREE beast in, she managed to rip off one of her entire fingernails….all the way down to the bed. The easiest year was when my poor dad was in the hospital with an un-TREE–related compound fracture and my mom and I had to hire a service to deliver and set up the tree. I was in college by that time and it still boggles my mind why we waited that long to outsource that process. I guess, if we had though, I wouldn’t have such “fond” memories of our annual Christmas TREE. 

No matter if your family puts up a fake or real Christmas TREE {or no TREE at all,} EVERGREEN TREES are probably something that your kids associate with the winter months. So, I thought it would be fun to put together a UNIT STUDY on EVERGREEN TREES! 

READ: There are so many sweet fictional books about TREES for Christmas that it was hard to choose my favorite. But, I did manage to narrow it down and select The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown. If you’re not familiar with the book, you should be! It’s written by the same author as Goodnight Moon and it’s just as sweet. Like many Christmas stories, this one has a sad situation with a sick little boy, but thankfully it has a happy ending! There are a couple of helpful pages found in the FREE mini Book Companion Pack too. 

WRITE: Another of my favorite fiction books about TREES is the Littlest Christmas Tree by R.A. Herman. It’s a bit similar to the book above in the sense that it tries to express the desire of the TREE to be something more. But this story is much shorter and includes a myriad of little animal families and no people. It also has a happy ending,  yay! After reading it, your kids can complete one of these two writing activities. Both are found in the FREE Writing Activities Pack: Winter Unit Studies. 

{NOTE: If you downloaded the Writing Activities Pack: Winter Unit Studies previous to 12-07-20, you’ll need to download it again to find the most current version.}

CREATE: This MAKE  YOUR OWN LITTLE FIR TREE by Emma Owl goes along with The Little Fir Tree and uses only green paper, glue, glitter glue and whatever little baubly things you want to add. It’s super simple!

Another cute TREE craft is this PAPER STRIP FIR TREE by Krokotak which only needs different colored paper, a piece of cardboard for the base and a glue stick. That’s it! And, somehow, even with just those supplies, your kid can create a tree that looks rather artsy, as opposed to the crafty one above! And you can make them all different sizes and shapes if you want to create an entire forest of EVERGREEN TREES. 

In case you have a real artist on your hands, here is a much more complicated option: FOLDING FIR TREES. This looks like a wee bit of a nightmare to me but I’m sure some kids would find it fun! And they do look rather cool…..

ENJOY: Other than TREE cut-out cookies, I was not overly hopeful that I would find any cute EVERGREEN TREE snacks. But, look at how cute these are! And soooooooooooooooooooo simple! And, there are a couple of options. THIS one uses snap peas and THIS one uses apple slices! Both use a few pretzel sticks and a piece of cheese so they are also nice and healthy!

EXPLORE: While your kids enjoy their cute EVERGREEN TREE snacks, let them chill to this movie Archie and Zooey’s Cool Facts: Christmas Trees. It’s brand new {released December 1, 2020} and available on Amazon Prime but my library also had it available. 

Or there is Albert, an animated movie about a little TREE who goes on a road trip. It’s from Nickelodeon and available on CBS All Access.

Or, head over to You Tube and let them watch this animated retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Fir Tree. 

LEARN: Believe it or not, it was rather hard to find a selection of children’s non-fiction books on EVERGREEN TREES. And, as amazing as my public library is, they had NOTHING so I had to order From Cone to Pine Tree by Emma Carlson Berne on Amazon. It  ended being worth it, though, because I learned soooooooooooooooooooooo much! Call me clueless, but I had NO IDEA that there are male and female pinecones! None. So, this little gem provided quite the education for me! There are a few pages to accompany this book in the FREE mini BOOK COMPANION PACK {non-fiction}. 

The WINTER-THEMED INFORMATIONAL TEXT and WRITING PROMPTS PACK includes a few pages on the subject. It’s not free but you can grab it for FREE with code 12DAYSofWINTERWOLFe. 

And, one more fun way to expand learning is this SONG LITERACY PACK. It’s a fun way to learn the classic Christmas carol, O Christmas Tree while working on literacy skills. It’s not free but if you use discount code FreeTreeWOLFe, you’ll pay nothing!

READ MORE: Below are a few more ideas for continuing your UNIT STUDY on EVERGREEN TREES. 


Check out the entire series,

12 Days of Winter Unit Studies!

READ~WRITE~CREATE~EXPLORE~ENJOY~LEARN!


I hope this EVERGREEN TREES UNIT STUDY gave you at least a few ideas about how to weave in some education this holiday season! 

Be sure to check out the other UNIT STUDIES as they go live. You can find the full schedule, along with the rest of the Homeschooling Fun Through the Holidays Series, HERE!

Next up: HIBERNATION


Much appreciation goes out to my good friend, Jamie Spear! She helped me find these fun books, crafts, snacks and more! Without her, these UNIT STUDIES would have nothing but “read this, print that, and write something!” You can find her on FaceBook, Instagram and Pinterest.


 

Filed Under: RESOURCES, Unit Studies Tagged With: Christmas, homeschool curriculum, INFORMATIONAL TEXT, Science, UNIT PACK, UNIT STUDIES, UNIT STUDY, WRITING PROMPTS

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