Teaching with Five in a Row by Jane Lambert
The FIAR Series Curriculum for Parents, Teachers, and Homeschoolers
Jul 20, 2009
Five in a Row is an educational tool for kids ages 2-12 and beyond. Full-time classroom educators, homeschool families, and parents looking for educational activities to do with their kids can all benefit from using the fun and easy lesson plans in Five in a Row.
Reading Materials Utilized in Five in a Row
Each lesson plan is based on classic children's literature that is easy to locate at any bookstore or library.
Children 4-8 will read well-loved picture books like The Story about Ping, Madeline, and The Tale of Peter Rabbit. Older kids are introduced to classic juvenile books like The Boxcar Children, The Cricket in Times Square, and Sarah, Plain and Tall. (See the FIAR website for a complete booklist.)
Structure of Five in a Row Lesson Plans
Each lesson is designed to last one week, from Monday through Friday. Every day, the book is read all the way through with a different emphasis. The reading list is designed to include books that naturally lend themselves to lessons on the following topics each day:
- Monday – social studies (history, geography, learning about world cultures)
- Tuesday – language (vocabulary, punctuation, literary devices)
- Wednesday – art (techniques, style and use of materials, hands-on lessons and experiments)
- Thursday – applied math (counting, grouping, measuring, shapes)
- Friday – science (weather, astronomy, physics, biology, chemistry)
These lessons are all taken directly from the weekly book's plot, setting, characters, illustration, and narrative style. It is amazing how the same book can be about one thing on Monday and about something completely different on Tuesday!
Benefits of the FIAR Curriculum
As a parent-child activity or as part of a homeschooling or classroom curriculum, there are many reasons to choose Five in a Row.
- As little as 5 minutes of preparation time for each lesson
- Complete, all-inclusive curriculum
- Lessons can be done in any order
- Reading materials are children's classics, not "fluff books"
- Learning different lessons from the same book encourages critical thinking and teaches kids to look at issues from all possible angles
- Pulling lessons from a picture book teaches kids that they can learn for fun, anytime, anywhere
- Educational "cross training" helps kids grasp the larger network of ideas and concepts
Five in a Row is a fully integrated learning system that is already mapped out, making it a great homeschool resource that is easy for parents and teachers to use.
Books in the Five in a Row Series
Five in a Row: This is the original FIAR, for children ages 4-8. It includes 80 complete lesson plans in four volumes, each designed to last one week as described above.
Before Five in a Row: Intended for children ages 2-4, this manual draws 23 FIAR-style mini-lessons drawn from age-appropriate picture books. Ideas for pre-K learning activities are also included.
Beyond Five in a Row: This curriculum is designed for ages 8-12. It comes in three volumes, each of which takes one semester to complete. Instead of the picture books used in the other manuals, Beyond Five in a Row uses classic juvenile chapter books and includes creative writing and essay projects in addition to the normal Monday through Friday lessons.
Above & Beyond Five in a Row: Aimed at ages 12 and up, this is geared directly at the student rather than at a parent or educator. Homeschoolers can use this as a 6-8 week stand-alone unit study, or it can be used for summer reading material or extracurricular learning at whatever pace a child chooses.
Christian Character Bible Study Supplement: This optional Christian education tool for ages 8-12 contains bible references and study suggestions for scripture stories in three separate volumes.
Five in a Row Review
The FIAR learning philosophy and style encourages out-of-the-box thinking and opens up a new dimension of a favorite story every day.
Five in a Row comes with "story discs," small paper circles with a picture representing each story to tack on a world map to show where the stories are set. At the end of the year, the children will have traveled around the world and learned about everything from social studies to science.
(Note: Homeschooling parents using Five in a Row will need to begin supplementing with additional math lessons as students reach age 6.) According to the FIAR website, more than 50,000 families to date have used Five in a Row.
About Jane Claire Lambert
The Five in a Row curriculum is the product of author Jane Lambert's love for educating and her love for children's literature, plus 17 years' experience homeschooling her own children.
Whether used in the classroom or as part of the homeschooling curriculum, or even as brain candy over summer vacation, Five in a Row delivers a complete curriculum packed with educational value.
Resources:
Lambert, Jane Claire. Five in a Row. Grandview, MO: Five in a Row Publishing, 1995.
More homeschool curriculum ideas can be found in "Homeschooling with a Virtual Academy."
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