five

I have five fingers on each hand,

Five toes on each foot to help me stand,

And as I look up from my bed,

Five-pointed stars shine down on my head.

from Number Qualities Verse, Enki Education 1st Grade Academic Activity

Since the story I had chosen to introduce "5" is an Enki nature story, "Apple Tree", I decided to combine the math and science for this week and tell the one story for both purposes on Friday evening in front of the fire. The kids have already had a lot of hands-on work with apples and apple trees via our family adventures over the past two weekends, so this story was particularly well-received by them. (This is J's number, dots, and geometric figure.) During our discussion on "5", we cut an apple in half to see the star and count the seeds, and sang the "Within a Little Apple" song from the Enki Kindergarten Movement Activities.

As I mentioned on Friday, I decided that after allowing the kids to do free drawing for the past two weeks, I thought it was time to go back to a led-drawing, to help them sink back into the artistic experience. Here's the led story drawing that we did. (This is mine.) The element of "5" that was brought in is the 5 seeds from the apple (shown on the ground). Emphasizing the science aspect, we covered the seeds with fallen autumn leaves to keep them safe and snug until they sprouted in the spring.

Here's J's drawing. After seeing his work, I feel that I was right on in my impression that it was time for another led-drawing. J is extremely proud of this drawing (and of how he hid the title in the branch of the tree -- can you see it?).



Zoo Boy's drawing. He worked hard and enthusiastically on his drawing, adding lots of colors to his apple tree's branches and trunk. He was so into the tree that he didn't want to include the children playing in it's branches.

Zoo Boy's written number "5". He was absolutely delighted when he followed my numbers around the circle (on the left) and discovered he'd drawn a 5-pointed star. J figured out it was a star right away, but for Zoo Boy it was a wonderful discovery.

The boys were VERY excited that we did "school work" on Sunday this week. They complain every Sunday about our "day off". So this extra day of "work" was a real treat for them.