Ants Go Marching...into Language Arts

My friend Michelle (Once Upon a Homeschool) posted a precious picture on Facebook this morning. 

It ignited our learning!

Doing the morning run through FB, I gasped in excitement. "That is sooo cute!"

"What's cute, mom? A little learner inquired.

"This ant hill!"

I had their attention. An ant hill!

Not three sentences into my explanation, the little learner ran to the art supplies and pulled out black construction paper.

"I want to make those!"

Tempted to linger at the computer and search for ways I could add to the learning, I logged out and followed the little learner on her ant trail. In the process, she had invited another learner into the fun and before I knew it, learning was on a different path for the day.

Didn't expect to learn about ants today.

Sitting on the floor with paper and crayons surrounding, we set out to create our unique versions of the activity. Each learner had a different idea about how best to create ANTonym Hill. One wanted a pocket on the side to store the ants. The other decided to draw the hill with a hidden pocket behind the hill opening so the ANTonym matches could march down into the ant hill and hide in the pocket. Genius!

I began thinking up antonyms. I came up with obvious ones: hot/cold, on/off, stop/go. However, I knew this game (or at least we made it into a game) had more potential--vocabulary development and spelling.

Back to the computer I jumped while littles colored ant hills and pockets. In one search I landed more antonyms than we could learn in one day. Together, as I read through all the possibilities, we picked out the ones we wanted for the game.

Excited, they ran to greet dad when he arrived home (with ant hills in hand!) Each pulled out the ANTonyms, explained their version of the game, and read the ants.

Not my plan for the day, but definitely productive!

As the sun rose on another day, learning continued.

• Observe an ant colony.
• Purchase an ant habitat and observe.
• Complete an ant unit study.
• Read about ants.
• Sing "The Ants Go Marching". 
• Read an ant fable- The Ant and the Grasshopper by Amy Lowry Poole.