Five in a Row Volume 4 Book List and Resource Recommendations
Disclaimer: This page about activities and books list for Five in a Row volume 4 (FIAR volume 4) may contain affiliate links for which I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. (Links are included mostly because it’s an easy way to provide readers with a link to the ISBN and book info. I truly don’t make much money from those links. Local libraries, used booksellers, places like BetterWorldBooks and thriftstore book sections are always great places to stock up on Five in a Row Volume 1 read-along books without breaking the bank.)
Also, these books are related to the Five in a Row curriculum by Steve and Denise Lambert. These are activities recommendations in addition to the parent’s guide, not in place of it.
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Roxaboxen, by Alice McLerran
The reviews generally rate it as one of their favorite books of all-time
Roxaboxen Activity: Roxaboxen Unit Study from Arizona State University
Roxaboxen Read-along recommendation: Island Boy, by Barbara Cooney (of Miss Rumphius fame)
Roxaboxen related books: Children’s Books about Arizona
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: The Raft, by Jim LaMarche
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Mailing May, by Michael O. Tunnell
Mailing May read-along books:
Henry’s Freedom Box, Kadir Nelson
Henry Brown mailed himself in a box from Richmond, Virginia to Philadelphia to secure his freedom before the end of slavery
The General Store, by Bobbie Kalman
Explains how General Stores worked in that turn-of-the-century era
The Giant Hug, by Sandra Horning
A boy mails a hug to his grandma, showing the mail process. A story about loving relatives, with a bit of whimsy, mailing a hug.
Articles related to Mailing May and sending babies in the mail:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/
Facebook has featured photos of children sent in the mail:
1920’s post about mailing children
https://www.facebook.com/
1914
https://www.facebook.com/
Crafts:
Make a Mailbox out of a cardboard box
Make felt letters and carrier bag
Felt envelopes to go along with the felt letters
Create a Mail Sorting Center in your own home
Example 2 of a Letter Sorting Area for family mail, notes, writing practice
Videos for Mailing May:
How the Mail Gets Sorted, made by the United States Postal Service
“Hail to Mail”, a Reading Rainbow episode, is available online. It appears to be available on PBS Kids, or the Amazon PBS add-on for $1, and it could be previewed on Youtube.
Want to see the coolest Post Offices around the United States?
The Smithsonian Postal Museum has collections, and this one includes their most “interesting facts.”
http://postalmuseum.si.edu/
Science connection: Saliva, used on mailing stamps
Spit Science https://lifestyle.
Chapter books for Mailing May:
Encyclopedia Brown books – because they’re about brain-teasers
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Snowflake Bentley, by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Related books: Children’s Books about Vermont
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: The Gullywasher, by Joyce Rossi
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Arabella, by Wendy Orr
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Cowboy Charlie, by Jeanette Winter
Related books: Children’s Books about Montana
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Grass Sandals, by Dawnine Spivak
Related books: Books, Movies, and resources about Japan
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Albert, by Donna Jo Napoli
The Hickory Chair book recommendations: A Chair for My Mother
(A Chair for My Mother also exists as a Reading Rainbow episode, season 6)
The Hickory Chair Chapter Book read-along recommendation: Louis Braille: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Hanna’s Cold Winter, by Trish Marx
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: The Hatmaker’s Sign Retold, by Candace Fleming
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: The Pumpkin Runner, by Marsha Diane Arnold
Chapter Books about Australia: Audrey of the Outback, by Christine Harris.
Audrey of the Outback is like a Pippi Longstocking book, but written in the 1990s by a hip librarian, set in Australia, and with less problematic views. (Pippi’s author Astrid Lindgren apologized in the 1960s for the racism found in the Pippi trilogy, instances of anti-Asian hate, anti-Black statements, and anti-Polynesian references. While modern versions have had some editing done to them, they still contain examples of European imperialism, wi
Back to Audrey of the Outback. Audrey lives in the Australian outback and goes on many adventures as a young girl.
The books can be hard to find in physical copy, but there’s a 3-for-1 of the Audrey of the Outback collection online if you get it in digital book form. Audrey of the Outback, Audrey Goes to Town, and Audrey’s Big Secret. This set of books has been compared to Anne of Green Gables, as well.
Videos for the Pumpkin Runner: Izzy’s Koala Rescue, on Netflix. Watch Izzy take care of a different koala each episode in this show about a koala rescue center. There’s a lot of focus on the Australian wildfires and how that destroys natural habitats for trees and the animals that survive in the forests.
Five in a Row Volume 4 Book: Angelo, by David Macaulay
Other FIAR volumes: