A Giraffe Goes to Paris

Last week we rowed "A Giraffe Goes to Paris" by Mary Tavener Holmes and John Harris, illustrated by Jon Cannell.  Technically we were supposed to row "The Giraffe That Walked to Paris" by Nancy Milton, but considering it costs over $100 to buy and is impossible to find at the library, I went with an easy-to-find substitute, and it worked just fine.  This book is a true story about Belle, (or Zarafa in some books), the giraffe that was gifted to King Charles X of France by the Pasha of Egypt.  After travelling up the Nile by boat and across the Mediterrannean by ship, Belle arrived in Marseille in October of 1826.  After wintering in Marseille, it was determined that the best way to get Belle to Paris was for her to walk.  The journey took 8 weeks.

 



 

We built a "tent" in the backyard so we could read our books and pretend to be a Pasha in the deserts of Egypt while we ate our lunch.  It was (of course) a ridiculously hot day, which went along well with our introduction to Egypt.  For snack we had a plate of native Egyptian foods - Bread, Watermelon, and Cucumbers.

We read some books about giraffes and zoos and the girls made their own zoo maps.  They also did a giraffe-themed copywork/color page to practice their handwriting.  We also spent a day talking about and reading about the four seasons, and why it was better for Belle to winter in Marseille than attempt to walk to Paris in the cold rain and snow.

One day for math we broke out the M&Ms and I wrote out addition and subtraction problems for them to solve using the M&Ms.  It was (of course!) a big hit and they've asked every day since then if they can do "M&M Math".

In Music we have been learning about rythyms and played a "Make My Rythym" game.  One of us would clap a rythym and the others would use paper "ta" and "ti-ti" strips to lay the rythym out on the floor.  It was a lot of fun!  In Spanish we started numbers and since then have been counting in Spanish wherever we go.  I'm continually amazed at how quickly the kids pick up Spanish words.

The kids really enjoyed Belle's story, and I think I'll be adding this book to my "To Buy" list so we can read it again whenever we like.