We are big picture book lovers in our home, so I was curious to check out one of the Picture Book Explorer Packs from Branch Out World: Paddington Bear when it came up for review.
Made for Homeschoolers by a Homeschooler
This literature-based unit study is aimed at children ages 5-10, but appropriate for a wider range, too. It comes as a downlaodable pdf, so you can use it with all your children at once - printing copies of maps, mini-books, and more for each child to complete - or with one child now and another child later.
Obviously, the study's creator Helen Royston gets that homeschool families appreciate the freedom of being able to ethically print as many copies of the study materials as necessary for family use. That may be because Helen is a 25+ year homeschool veteran herself.
Like all Picture Book Explorer Packs, the Paddington Bear one has a link to the United Kingdom and provides fun and learning for families.
What Will You Find Yourself Doing During This Unit Study?
Used as designed, you read the picture book Paddington by Michael Bond (ISBN 978-0007236336) over five consecutive days and choose accompanying activities from the study to complete. These activities are grouped, daily, by subject area:
There are over 30 activities described in the book and pages and pages of printables including timelines, mini-books, maps, flags, and notebooking pages. There are also handy lists of needed supplies and book and film go-alongs. It is a well-written study.
It is also one that can be used flexibly!
How Did We Use This Study So Far?
My children and our lifestyle do not currently accommodate sitting down and reading the same picture book day after day for five days. Nor are we able to spend time this summer diving into loads of Paddington-inspired activities.
What we have been able to do is cuddle on the couch with a picture book in hand and a unit study nearby on a laptop creen during a few particularly rainy days when other plans have been cancelled.
As such, we have enjoyed reading together, then, using portions of the unit study pdf on-screen to help guide chatter about the book's author, the illustrator, certain pictures, art and design techniques, and more.
We have also pulled up the included maps and named South America and the United Kingdom, found London and Peru, etc. (Because we are in a constant battle against paper piles here and simply do not want to print more things that will increase their depth, we chose to do many of the activities in this study through discussion and pointing onscreen rather than through printing, coloring, cutting, and writing.)
We have opted to forgo some of the messier or more time-consuming experiments and recipes included in the study for the time being, but have read through them and are looking forward to trying some out during colder, less busy seasons.
However, because we do like hands-on things, we have not delayed all the fun!
Indeed, we opted for some hands-on art and math -which has been enjoyable (and easier to clean up then science and cooking at this juncture in life!)
We have also borrowed a stack of other Paddington books from our local library to use for free reading and 1:1 reading times and have been happy to revisit the character that we spent time with previously when my oldest was younger.
Without question, as we have revisited Paddigton using our Branch Out World: Paddington Bear, we have made new connections.
We have also been able to apply ideas from the study - such as those we practiced on layering and emphasis - in making cards for a sick friend.
This was a fun endeavor that made the study more valuable to us.
For, in our homeschool endeavors, even more valuable than a lesson learned in connection to a piece of literature, is a concept or skill we can incorporate into daily life.
Inspired by the conversations we had during unit study activities about themes in the book - such a being kind to others...
And, knowing a dear little baby we know is in the hospital with a very serious condition, and we'd be blessed to see his siblings, we decided to step away from just drawing fruits as suggested in the unit study, and, to apply art and design ideas to creating cards with well wishes instead...
I just love that things discussed and focused on with the study transferred to life so easily.
Helen Royston did a wonderful job researching and presenting information, activities, and ideas for this study. I truly appreciate how this homeschool resource could provide a full week's worth of homeschool studies or can be used flexibly in the time life allows for it.
Of course, is you are a picture book and unit study lover with elementary-aged children Branch Out World: Paddington Bear is ideal.
Learn More
Some of the other Homeschool Review Crew families dove into all of the activities in this unit study 100% and have wonderful photos and thoughts to share. Be sure to click through to find their reviews.
Made for Homeschoolers by a Homeschooler
Obviously, the study's creator Helen Royston gets that homeschool families appreciate the freedom of being able to ethically print as many copies of the study materials as necessary for family use. That may be because Helen is a 25+ year homeschool veteran herself.
Like all Picture Book Explorer Packs, the Paddington Bear one has a link to the United Kingdom and provides fun and learning for families.
What Will You Find Yourself Doing During This Unit Study?
- Day 1 – Exploring the Setting: You can learn about England and Peru, do mapwork, create timelines, make a mini-book about the pushes and pulls of migration, and more.
- Day 2 – Exploring the Words: You can read about the author of Paddington Bear Michael Bond, chat about themes, encourage narration, make a vocabulary pocket, spotlight subject-verb agreement, focus on characterization, and adapt stories for different audiences.
- Day 3 – Exploring the Pictures: You can learn about the illustrator R.W. Alley, do a picture study of one of the book's illustrations, chat about and/or make a mini-book of architectural features, learn about principles of design and try your hand at overlapping and creating emphasis through the use of color, leading lines, contrast, and position - studying an illustration from the book and, then, creating your own artwork.
- Day 4 – Exploring Science: You can learn about spectacled bears and fill out a fact sheet if you like, learn about shaving cream, create edible and nob-edible foam, explore steam and do nature study in your garden.
- Day 5 – Exploring Math, Crafts and More: You can explore parallel and perpendicular lines (in connection with train tracks), play around with numbers spotted in the book, explore spatial awareness with packing (in reality or with a paper template), make shaving foam art, create a cultural craft, cook up recipes, and more.
There are over 30 activities described in the book and pages and pages of printables including timelines, mini-books, maps, flags, and notebooking pages. There are also handy lists of needed supplies and book and film go-alongs. It is a well-written study.
It is also one that can be used flexibly!
How Did We Use This Study So Far?
My children and our lifestyle do not currently accommodate sitting down and reading the same picture book day after day for five days. Nor are we able to spend time this summer diving into loads of Paddington-inspired activities.
What we have been able to do is cuddle on the couch with a picture book in hand and a unit study nearby on a laptop creen during a few particularly rainy days when other plans have been cancelled.
As such, we have enjoyed reading together, then, using portions of the unit study pdf on-screen to help guide chatter about the book's author, the illustrator, certain pictures, art and design techniques, and more.
We have also pulled up the included maps and named South America and the United Kingdom, found London and Peru, etc. (Because we are in a constant battle against paper piles here and simply do not want to print more things that will increase their depth, we chose to do many of the activities in this study through discussion and pointing onscreen rather than through printing, coloring, cutting, and writing.)
We have opted to forgo some of the messier or more time-consuming experiments and recipes included in the study for the time being, but have read through them and are looking forward to trying some out during colder, less busy seasons.
However, because we do like hands-on things, we have not delayed all the fun!
Indeed, we opted for some hands-on art and math -which has been enjoyable (and easier to clean up then science and cooking at this juncture in life!)
We have also borrowed a stack of other Paddington books from our local library to use for free reading and 1:1 reading times and have been happy to revisit the character that we spent time with previously when my oldest was younger.
We have also been able to apply ideas from the study - such as those we practiced on layering and emphasis - in making cards for a sick friend.
This was a fun endeavor that made the study more valuable to us.
For, in our homeschool endeavors, even more valuable than a lesson learned in connection to a piece of literature, is a concept or skill we can incorporate into daily life.
Inspired by the conversations we had during unit study activities about themes in the book - such a being kind to others...
And, knowing a dear little baby we know is in the hospital with a very serious condition, and we'd be blessed to see his siblings, we decided to step away from just drawing fruits as suggested in the unit study, and, to apply art and design ideas to creating cards with well wishes instead...
Helen Royston did a wonderful job researching and presenting information, activities, and ideas for this study. I truly appreciate how this homeschool resource could provide a full week's worth of homeschool studies or can be used flexibly in the time life allows for it.
Of course, is you are a picture book and unit study lover with elementary-aged children Branch Out World: Paddington Bear is ideal.
Learn More
Some of the other Homeschool Review Crew families dove into all of the activities in this unit study 100% and have wonderful photos and thoughts to share. Be sure to click through to find their reviews.
