Dear Ol' Pagoo

This is Charlie (or Charlotte ... depending). Sugar loves this crab. I wish I understood why, but, it's not my crusty, beady-eyed pet. It was my bright idea to get two hermit crabs; however, when we began our nature study on Pagoo by Holling C Holling. Who knew these buggers would require so much $ for the crabitat and so much energy to keep them happy and alive!!!

Despite my motherly woes, Charlie (and Sam/Samantha ... Sparkler's crab) have provided endless hours of curious enjoyment. They really have enriched our study of Pagoo and the "salty sea-soup" he calls home.

We've been reading and narrating each chapter of Pagoo, which is quite elaborate and layered in it's writing. It takes me up to an hour to read three pages and then discuss. This is an excellent choice for narration since it is so full of description and vocabulary that we can talk for quite some time. I've decided to go back and revisit each chapter and illustrate the story in a beautiful notebook I found at A Toy Garden. 

Today we used Beeswax block crayons, soy crayon rocks, and good ol' Crayola colored pencils. The paper in these notebooks is just right for illustrating with all sorts of media. Gorgeous. (And, the pages are divided by a sweet vellum ... even more gorgeous.)

I also thought it might be fun to incorporate our drawing lessons into our Pagoo nature notebook. We are studying with Draw Write Now Book 6 on Animal Habitats in Ponds, Rivers, and Seas. Daddy taught two lessons today ... one on sponges and the other on starfish.

I am so pleased with how our nature study is coming full circle. We began last summer with exploring tide pools, we've read many library books about the ebb and flow of the tides, we did a FIAR study on Night of the Moonjellies, we adopted Charlie and Sam and tend their crabitat, we love learning alongside Pagoo, and now the girls' knowledge is making it's way from their minds to paper in beautiful form.

Because of Him.