Five in a Row - "Another Celebrated Dancing Bear"

This year I have been using the Five in a Row series with Olivia. One of the books that we read recently was "Another Celebrated Dancing Bear." It is set in Russia with two bears as the main characters.  Needless to say for animal lover (like Olivia), this was a good book.

With each book in the series, we are making two or three recipes that tie into the book. The recipes are from a companion cookbook called "Five in a Row Cookbook." The recipes are simple for children to make and have been delicious.

For "Another Celebrated Dancing Bear," Olivia made cabbage soup. Although she didn't particularly care for it, it was a good soup.

 

Olivia putting cut cabbage into the soup kettle.


The only thing that I would change would be the meat. It would be fine without it. However, if meat is preferred, then a less expensive cut of meat would be sufficient (e.g., soup bone versus a beef roast).

 A small bowl of the soup with a variety of ingredients.

The soup did have quite a bit of cabbage in it. With the cabbage, onions, celery, and tomatoes it is a frugal and hearty lunch or dinner.

 

The soup simmering in the kettle.

The other recipe Olivia made was for Russian Buns. Like the soup, the buns are easy to make and have only a few ingredients.

Olivia using the mixer to mix the dough.

The recipe made quite a few Russian Buns which we ended up not only having with the soup, but for breakfast. Served warm with butter and homemade jam, they were an easy breakfast for many mornings.

The finished Russian Buns.

Since we already had studied about Russia last year, we didn't spend much time with geography or culture this year. Some other activities we did included:

- Language/Vocabulary. There were 11 vocabulary words in the teacher's guide. I asked what Olivia thought each word meant. She knew what each word meant which good. A new word she learned through listening to "Another Celebrated Dancing Bear" was  samovar.

I had not heard of a samovar either before reading this book. It's a metal urn with an internal heating tube used in Russia for making tea.

Samovar.

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- Language/Drama - Both Olivia and Sophia acted out nine action words from the story (e.g., beamed, giggling, chattering, mopping his brow, kicking, leaping). They had a lot of fun with this and said they'd like to do with all the books from now on.

The Five in a Row series of books have been a delightful part of homeschooling this year. We plan to continue using the series for the next couple of years. With each volume of books, the activities get progessively more difficult to match the age and learning abilities of the children using them. We're looking forward to seeing what's in store for the rest of the year and in upcoming years.

- Science  - We discussed boiling and freezing points.

- Social Studies/Occupations  - We discussed occupations that were held by the characters of the book as well as some other occupations of characters in books we read this year through the Five in a Row series.

- Art -We looked at the illustrator's use of color throughout the book. There are many shades of brown, red-orange, and other warm colors. This conveyed a sense of hospitality of a hearth on a winter's night.