Integrated Curriculum Reflection (October 20-to-24, 2015)

        My impressions of the children’s book, “Grandma Lena’s Big Ol’ Turnip,” is that the storyline would appeal to both children and adults.  The pictures in the book are colourful.  Repetitive phrases make the story more interesting to young children, and are also patterns.  The humour pulls the children in without them realizing that they are learning.  Adults and children alike would laugh about the giant turnip and the number of people required to pull it out of the ground! 

                                 

        The book is cross-curricular for covering a range of subjects. Social Studies is included, children learn about southern culture and foods, and about the importance of community. This story can be used in Language Arts. Science is covered, children can be taught about how seeds grow into plants. Kindness is also modeled throughout the story with Grandma Lena’s family and community coming together to help her, and in turn she prepares some delicious meals to feed them.

        Math is represented in many ways. Children do not realize that they are enjoying reading about problem solving, how to pull a giant turnip from the garden,  and counting is also covered. It took five people (four adults, one baby), and one dog to finally pull out the giant turnip. This covers the SCO NO3, students will be expected to relate a numeral 1-to-10 to it’s respective quality.  The five people and dog pulling out the turnip helps to meet the performance indicator for N03.O1, name the number for a given set of objects. Children can also use a counter to represent the number of people or in this case objects. Blocks would be helpful.

        Given the artwork showing the number of people pulling out the turnip, the performance indicator, N03.02  match the numerals with their given pictorial representations is met. Children can draw the number of people and the dog that helped. They can also represent grandma’s dishes through drawing pictures. The seeds can also be presented by drawing a picture. The children can also count the seeds and growing plants.  Performance indicator N03.03 can be met by asking the children to hold up the appropriate number of fingers for a given numeral.

        Lastly, the story also leaves children with a positive message from Grandma Lena. “Anything worth doing is worth doing right. “ 

       

Grade Level Performance Indicators: Grade Primary 

SCO

PNO3 Students will be expected to relate a numeral 1-to-10, to its respective quality.

Performance Indicators

PNO3.01 Name the number for a given set of objects.

PN03.02 Match the numerals with their given pictorial representations.

PN03.03 Hold up the appropriate number of fingers for a given numeral.