The Carrot Seed

This week J and I are participating in a virtual book club and the selected book is The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus. This is a Before Five in a Row selection so we actually had this book on hand. It is a book about a child who plants a carrot seed and waits for it to grow. He patiently waits even though his family tells him that it isn't going to grow. He is rewarded in the end though. After we read the book, I gave J a bucket full of carrots and asked her to arrange them in order from small to large.

J then guessed how long they would be and I wrote her answers on pieces of paper. We pulled out our Inchimals and measured the carrots to see if her estimations were correct. 

She wasn't too far off from her estimates.

We read another book about what things grow underground and we talked about roots. J made a positional word book that I found (sorry, don't have the website) named Where is the Carrot? She colored the pages and attached the moveable carrot piece to the back of the book. It turned out cute.

Where is the carrot - between the other carrots...

in the bowl...it is cute.

J worked a number maze to help the rabbit get to the carrots. She used our pom pom magnets that I made.

We then reviewed the alphabet using carrots programmed with letters. She first placed them in order.

Then, played a game with them.

We took turns writing letters and finding the missing carrots. She liked this game especially because she was trying to trick me.

We used pictures of carrots and wheelbarrows to work with patterning. We worked ABAB patterns, AAB, and ABB. We will use these pictures to work math problems as well.

We discussed vegetables that we liked and disliked. J drew smiley faces for the ones she liked and sad faces for the ones she didn't on the chart.

J worked through the life cycle of a carrot by sequencing the pictures.

We reviewed the needs of plants to survive and made a little carrot book.

This was probably J's favorite part. We set up a Farmer's Market and went shopping. I made shopping lists and price tags to work with money. J would shop for the vegetables on the list and we would add up the total price. She would then pay the correct amount.

We played this over and over, each taking turns being the shop keeper and the shopper. She would introduce me to her kids and her mother. It was fun. I need to remember to do this more often. The fruit and veggies were a combination of felt one that I sewed and plastic ones that came with her kitchen set. We had a jammed packed couple of days for The Carrot Seed and we aren't done. We still have to try different dishes with carrots, make some carrot muffins, paint with carrots, and plant a carrot. Whew, that's a lot, huh? 

Well, I have to get back to the store, my customers are waiting.....