Ping and the Wise-Eyed Boat Felt Friends

We tried a unit Curriculum called Five in a Row.  Our first story is The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese. The program uses classic children's literature books as a basis for learning other subjects. Sounds awesome, right?  I wish Jude had agreed.  We've read the books "for fun" but have given up on the program -- a learner with auditory processing disorder and a listen-to-stories program just don't work so well together. However, we did manage a book or two before we gave up, and one of them was about Ping.

Ping is a little duckling who lives in the Wise-Eyed Boat in the Yangtze River.  One day, he doesn't hear his Master call him back to the boat, and is afraid of getting in trouble for being late. Instead of just being the last of his large family to board the boat, he hides in the grass and winds up nearly becoming another family's dinner.  The family's son sets him free, and he finds his way back to his Master. Even though this time he is again going to be last to board, he hurries to get in line.  The punishment his Master gives isn't nearly as bad as being separated from the pack.

 Wednesdays in FIAR are dedicated to art.  Jude wasn't quite ready for the art projects in the program manual when we were reading this (the program is geared for children ages 4-8), so we changed gears and delved back into arts-and-crafts.  We re-created the "Ping gets lost" scene in felt.

 First, we started with the Yangtze River.

And put the Master's boat into the water.

 Checking to make sure we get the sail correct.

Adding the wise eyes to the Wise Eyed Boat.

 

The grass along the banks of the Yangtze River.

 Ping needs webbed feet to paddle quickly back to the shore.

"La-la-la-la-lei!" calls the Master.  

Hurry, Ping! Paddle, paddle.