Amber on the Mountain

Written by Tony Johnston and Illustrated by Robert Duncan

Key Scripture: Colossians 3:23 (ICB) "In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were working for the Lord, not for men."

We began our "formal" school year with this delightful book that tells the story of a young girl (Amber) who is taught to read by a new friend (Anna), and then teaches herself to write in order to be able to correspond with her friend. Anna's determination in teaching Amber and Amber's determination to learn were a good example of diligence. However, we learned that the most important reason for learning to read and write is so that we can read and study God's Word and that we should do our studies as unto the Lord, working for His glory.

We placed our story disk in the state of Utah because that is where the illustrator lives and later learned that the pictures were indeed inspired by mountain scenery in Utah.

We discussed what "Months passed" meant, noting the change of the month on the calendar, reviewing the months of the year, and determining how many had already passed and how many were still to come.

We counted the 26 letters in our alphabet and tried to find vocabulary from the story that began (or at least contained) each letter.

We looked at web sites having to do with mules, porcupines, and doodlebugs and talked about how we actually have doodlebugs in our yard. The word picture of the girls dancing around "crazy as two doodlebugs" was a favorite with the kids. They had to demonstrate this to some young friends who were visiting and "teach" them to do it as well. All of the children enjoyed their "porcupine" snacks made of Velveeta and pretzel sticks.

Claire dictated letters to both sets of Grandparents and Aunt Donna to tell them what she'd been learning.

We listed the animals mentioned and compared the list to a similar one we made for The ABC Bunny. We also made cards and collages with clip art of the various animals.

After a trip to the library, Claire read most of the book We Love The Dirt, a first reader also written by Ms. Johnston.

Here is the picture Claire created to go along with her dictated journal entry for this book.