This Winnie-the-Pooh novel unit has really brightened up our language arts. The way it is set up has given us a sense of freedom and fun in our homeschool routine.
This method of language arts is new to us, but we love it so much. I actually break down the entire process in another blog post that I will link here. I highly suggest you read through that first as it will help the rest of this post make more sense.
In this post, my goal will be to give you specifics about our studies and schedules for this particular book, Winnie-the-Pooh.
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Winnie-the-Pooh
When I first heard that this was a great family read aloud, I ignored it. I thought it was going to be baby-ish and that my kids wouldn’t be interested. However, I was gifted the series from my husband’s grandmother and needed a good, living book to try this new method of novel unit out. Since we had it on our shelf, I went for it.
WOW! Was I wrong! This book was one of the most adorable books we’ve read together. We giggled in every chapter and didn’t want it to end. It’s the sweetest, and it made this unit all the more special!
The goal in reading this book was to try to get through a chapter a day. There are 10 chapters total, so we were able to finish the book in two weeks. I didn’t always read a whole chapter in one sitting. Sometimes I broke it up and read some at night and the rest in the morning. I have a couple little ones and longer chapters are harder to sit through. Breaking it up helped some days!
Unit Schedule
The following is a brief outline of what I hope to accomplish each day with my child. For more details on each piece, be sure to read my explanation post.
In this post, I am going to focus on Winnie-the-Pooh and will share the passages we studied and how we broke them down each day in case you’d like to try the same sort of method.
For a VERY brief overview – We read aloud as a family at different times in the day. For daily grammar, my daughter uses Fix it Grammar. I love that it can be done independently and takes about 5 minutes to complete. Copy work is also completed independently (5 minutes). I set a timer for our actual language arts lesson for 20 minutes.
DAY 1
- Read novel and narrate [whole family]
- Grammar Workbook [independent work]
- Copy work – complete 2-3 lines of selected passage from novel [independent work]
- Study passage – focus on grammar [language arts lesson with parent]
DAY 2
- Read novel and narrate [whole family]
- Grammar Workbook [independent work]
- Copy work – complete 2-3 lines of selected passage from novel [independent work]
- Study passage – focus on spelling and vocabulary [language arts lesson with parent]
DAY 3
- Read novel and narrate [whole family]
- Grammar Workbook [independent work]
- Copy work – complete 2-3 lines of selected passage from novel [independent work]
- Written Narration [language arts lesson with parent]
- **Option – review passage/spelling words if necessary
DAY 4
- Read novel and narrate [whole family.]
- Grammar Workbook [independent work]
- Copy work – complete 2-3 lines of selected passage from novel [independent work]
- Dictation [language arts lesson with parent]
DAY 5 (OPTION)
- Read novel and narrate [whole family]
- Silent Reading (15-20 minutes) [independent work]
- Narration [language arts lesson with parent, about 5 minutes]
Passage Selection – Week One
I selected two passages to use for our copy work because it took us two weeks to read the book. Each week, we studied one passage during our language arts lesson time. Next, I will share with you how we study these passages throughout the week.
“He was getting rather tired by this time, so that is why he sang a Complaining Song. He was nearly there now, and if he just stood on that branch…Crack!” (Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A.Milne)
On the first day of our schedule, we focus on grammar and punctuation. The following is what we discussed for this passage:
- Capitalize the first letter in a sentence and choose the correct end mark.
- A comma and a conjunction can join two sentences together. (Conjunction Junction, what’s your function? — Are you singing yet?)
- Complaining Song is capitalized by the author – Why? It’s possible he wanted to make it more official or to make it a title of a song. (Poetic License/Author’s Choice)
- The “…” is called an ellipses. It encourages the reader to pause.
- “Crack!” is italicized for emphasis, an exclamation point adds volume in this case. For fun, we also discussed what onomatopoeia was.
As we study these topics we might practice different examples on the board or practice them orally, if possible. This might seem brief, but as you discuss each one with your child and provide alternate examples or even just look for more examples in the book, the time will go quickly.
Spelling and Vocabulary
For our second day of lessons, we are still using the same passage. This time we focus on spelling and vocabulary. I first ask my daughter if she knows what certain words mean based on the context. If we need to, we look them up in the dictionary.
The vocabulary words we looked at for this passage: rather, nearly, complaining
For spelling, I quiz her with many of the words from the passage and see which ones are mastered and which ones need practice. I have her write them on a board. You can make this list based on your child’s needs, but our list looked something like this: getting, rather, tired, why, complaining, nearly, there, stood, branch, crack
Any word spelled incorrectly we practice a few times. I will also try to quiz her the following day as well to see if she can remember the word(s) she missed.
Passage Selection – Week 2
Week two follows the exact same schedule, just with a different passage. So for this section, I will list the passage as well as what we studied to go along with it.
“Pooh felt that he ought to say something helpful about it, but didn’t quite know what. So he decided to do something helpful instead.
“Eeyore,” he said solemnly, “I, Winnie-the-Pooh, will find your tail for you.” (Winnie-the-Pooh, A.A. Milne)
On the first day we discussed the following:
- Capitalize the first letter in a sentence and choose the correct end mark.
- Didn’t is a contraction – did not. We practiced writing other contractions.
- A new speaker starts a new paragraph, indent.
- A comma is placed after “Eeyore” to separate the quote, but we also discussed direct address.
- Always capitalize “I”.
- Winnie-the-Pooh is surrounded by commas because it is information that is not essential to the sentence.
- Quotes go around what the character is saying.
Now, if you wanted to simplify this even more, you could only focus on what connects to your grammar workbook. Point out what you’ve studied so far, and that’s it. That way it’s consistent between the two. However, I enjoy looking a little deeper than that. There are times when I don’t really know why a comma is there, and I just look it up online right there with her. That’s what it’s all about – learning together!
Spelling and Vocabulary
On the second day of our week we look at spelling and vocabulary from the passage. The spelling words we practiced were as follows: ought, something, helpful, about, didn’t, quite, know, decided, instead, solemnly, tail.
The vocabulary words we studied were “ought” and “solemnly”. Don’t forget to use context clues first, and then try the dictionary.
Optional Grammar Activity
Usually on our spelling and vocabulary day we have extra time. I like to switch out her Fix it Grammar page with a little something different. We use the exact same methods she is practicing in her workbook but we apply it to our passage instead.
Here’s an example. In her Fix it Grammar book she is currently marking words that need to be capitalized, end marks, nouns, articles, and pronouns. So, I wrote the sentence on the board and had her do the same thing to our passage. It worked out great! I’ve snapped a picture (above) of an example for you to see.
Honestly, you could do this with any grammar workbook. If you are practicing adjectives, find the adjectives. If you’re underlining the subject once and the verb twice, do the same here. See if you can combine your grammar book with your novel one day – It makes the workbook feel relevant!
I’ll admit, there were a couple words I wasn’t sure about (yay for learning together!). The dictionary was very helpful. Find the word that matches the context of what you’re looking for and the dictionary lists the part of speech. So, if you see something off in my photo, blame Webster 😉
Ready to try it?
Does this sound like something you would enjoy? Sometimes it’s hard to explain what goes on in this crazy head of mine, but I hope that this explanation simplified the process for you. Isn’t it freeing to just read and chat about a book with your children? That’s what I love the most about this. Besides our daily grammar practice, there’s no workbooks, no busy work, just beautiful book discussion.
Want to see more novel units like this? We are starting another soon, and if this is helpful, I’m happy to break it down like I did with this one. Let me know in the comments or reach out to me on social media (Instagram: @simply.learning.together)
When I first started learning about the Charlotte Mason method, which is what inspired this study, I was nervous about the no-workbook-factor. Having a consistent plan like this with certain goals has really given me the confidence that a typical curriculum workbook doesn’t have to be necessary if it doesn’t bring you joy! It’s been so freeing to be able to study language arts through the books that we love!
NEW Novel Guide Available
For the last few years, my children and I have used this novel-based language arts program that is family-style and enriched with great literature each week. I’m so excited to share a NEW guide with you on how we do this in our home. If you’re tired of an all-in-one language arts workbook or if you’re itching for a great novel to read aloud to your kids, you’ve got to try this method! Below are two of the newest guides available now:
You can watch multiple videos about this method of Language Arts on my YouTube Channel HERE
