JGB series 2 - First Semester

I don't have my teacher's guide (I always write ideas in the margins) from my old school, of course, so as we begin to go through the anthology I am sure different ideas from the past will come floating up to me. I'd like to keep track of them here. I find my blog and website much easier than paper notes because I can't lose them! If you are also teaching with this anthology, and have a great connection to share, please feel free to leave a comment!

Junior Great Books Series 2 First Semester Teacher's Edition (1992)

The first semester stories are as follows:

First Semester Student Anthology

"The Happy Lion"
by Louise Fatio

"The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin"
by Beatrix Potter

"How the Camel Got His Hump"
by Rudyard Kipling

"Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet Has a Bath"
by A.A. Milne

"Arap Sang and the Cranes"
African folktale as told by Humphrey Harman

"Blue Moose"
by Daniel Manus Pinkwater

"Anancy and Dog and Puss and Friendship"
West Indian folktale as told by James Berry

"Jack and the Beanstalk"
English folktale as told by Joseph Jacobs

"The Magic Listening Cap"
Japanese folktale as told by Yoshiko Uchida

"The Jackal and the Partridge"
Punjabi folktale as told by Flora Annie Steel

"Nail Soup"
Swedish folktale as told by Linda Rahm

"The Apple of Contentment"
by Howard Pyle

Misc. Notes

"The Happy Lion"
by Louise Fatio

use a Venn Diagram to compare/contrast with The Un-Terrible Tiger by Miroslav Zahradka

"The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin"
by Beatrix Potter

read Beatrix by Jeanette Winter



refill bird feeders, have lunch outside and watch the antics of the squirrels

enjoy some more riddles!


The Big Book of Silly Jokes for Kids
Carole P. Roman (traditional resource)


One, Two, Three: A Collections of Songs, Verses,Riddles, and Stories for Children Grades 1 — 3
by David Adams (Waldorf resource)
here's the link to the FREE PDF of the book


A Knife and a Fork and a Bottle and a Cork
riddle rhymes for the 50 U.S. states by Howard Schrager

"How the Camel Got His Hump"
by Rudyard Kipling

we will try this peer feedback activity that I learned from an Acton Academy guide and which I think relates to this story (and if we like it, we will adopt it as a weekly routine); at her school, at the end of every week, the children have a meeting and give one another public verbal feedback (on a scale of 1 to 10) on the following attributes:

making your best effort

to be kind
to work hard
to stay focused


this was shared at a Growth Mindset conference and is part of building a growth mindset classroom community; it is done to be helpful and all comments are made in the spirit of loving kindness

"Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest, and Piglet Has a Bath"
by A.A. Milne

at a recent SWI conference, the suggestion was made to study a sentence of the week (first by identifying the parts of speech -- which we do with the Montessori grammar symbols -- and then doing some Structured Word Inquiry with any words of interest)

for us, this means that our rhythm of exploring the JGB stories will be as follows:

Monday - first reading of the story, symbolize the sentence of the week (using the paper grammar symbols and chart paper)




Tuesday - first discussion

Wednesday - second reading (close reading, underlining and making notes in the book), SWI explorations of the sentence of the week

Thursday - second discussion

If you are interested in more about using the Montessori Grammar symbols in a Waldorf environment, join my Ruzuku course! Montessori Grammar is a perfect fit because it's visual and kinesthetic and beautiful and engaging!

Grammar 3/4
$30.00

"Arap Sang and the Cranes"
African folktale as told by Humphrey Harman

do "The Water Bird" game from Games Children Play: How Games and Sport Help Children Develop by Kim John Payne, #94, p.50

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