The Story about Ping
Written by Marjorie Flack and Illustrated by Kurt Wiese
Written by Marjorie Flack and Illustrated by Kurt Wiese
Key Scriptures:
Romans 13:1-2 (NKJV) "Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves."
1 Kings 3:5, 6a, 9-10, 11a, 12a, 14 (NIV) "At Gibeon the Lord appeard to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, 'Ask for whatever you want me to give you.' Solomon answered, '…give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong….' The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. So God said to him, '…I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart…And if you walk in my ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.'"
In this delightful classic tale (written when Grandpa Brauer was Phillip's age), we saw Ping (a young duck) learn that avoiding discipline often leads to much more serious consequences; in the words of another 'Rower: "It is better to be spanked than to be eaten!" This was a wonderful opportunity to discuss submission to authority, learning to be discerning and make wise choices, and also taking responsibility for our actions and being willing to accept the consequences.
We placed our story disc on the Yangtze River in China and made the appropriate additions to our geography envelope system. We learned a little about Chinese culture and looked at several photos of the Yangtze River, the Great Wall of China, and Chinese vessels (junks and houseboats). We also talked a little about a college friend of mine who spent a couple of years in China as a missionary. One of our favorite parts of learning about the culture was eating at a Chinese restaurant!
We had lots of fun with art for this book: We started with coloring in duck pictures using colored pencils and did some experimenting with layering of the colors. We talked about how there are different varieties of ducks and learned how to draw a couple of different types, using the ideas for both geese and ducks from our Draw Write Now Vol. 1. Along with the different varieties of ducks, we also learned a bit about drawing them from different viewpoints or perspectives (side versus front view). We also used watercolors and learned a bit about how to represent water and movement in water.
Our most ambitious art project for this book, though, was to make our own mural of the Yangtze River. (I got this idea from the Archives at the FIAR website.) I taped together several pieces of packing paper left over from our move. We mixed water, orange, yellow, and blue paint to make a yellowish brown paint for the river, which I painted using a regular kitchen sponge. The kids then used yellow and white paint and a duck-shaped sponge to paint Ping and all his family members. We did this in groups according to the numbers given for the various types of family members (including dividing the 42 cousins into either 6 groups of 7 or 7 groups of 6). We then counted (& also added) the total number of ducks (68!). When I washed out all the sponges and pie pans, I had a great example of yellowish brown water to show the kids!
We also had great fun leaning some basics of buoyancy. First
we experimented with several small household objects to see which
would sink and which would float. Then we tried some of these
objects in combination to see how that affected the results.
For example, a little plastic lion toy sank on its own, but when
it was placed in a shallow bowl (like a boat) it remained afloat.
We also attached an empty medicine bottle to the back of the
lion (similar to the barrel tied to the little boy's back in
the story) to demonstrate how the air in the bottle helped to
keep the lion afloat (and similarly how the barrel helped to
keep the boy afloat in the story). We also compared how many
of each type of coin it took to sink a small plastic lid or bowl.
By comparing the numbers, we determined that a quarter weighs
more than a nickel, which weighs more than a penny, which weighs
more than a dime. We also determined that as it takes twice a
mnay pennies to sink the lid as it does quarters that the weight
of one quarter is approximately equal to the weight of two pennies.
The kids had great fun doing additional water play when we finished.
The only drawback to this was that for the next several days,
they would fill up their bathroom sinks and flood the bathroom
floor and then sweetly explain that they were "doing science"!
In the area of language arts we discussed the fact that the
introduction "Once upon a time" is most often used
for fictional literature. Claire recognized this a few days later
in the two books The Five Chinese Brothers (by Bishop
& Wiese) and The Seven Chinese Brothers (by Mahy &
Tseng). We enjoyed comparing these two versions of the old Chinese
folk talk and noted that disobedience and its consequences was
also a theme in The Five Chinese Brothers. We also utilized
the supplemental book Ducky (by Eve Bunting) that tells
the story of a shipment of bathtub toys that is lost at sea.
We recognized that we have a similar set of toys (same colors
and animals) and also noted yet another way of representing water
(photography of cut/torn paper).
