Jack and the Beanstalk: History, Science, Math, and Language Arts, OH MY!

What do ancient Mesopotamia and Jack and the Beanstalk have to do with each other?  This was a really fun spin-off from our history unit.  In my daughter's second grade history lesson (we use Curiosity Chronicles) we were learning about the first farmers in ancient Mesopotamia.  One of the suggested add-on activities was a bean growing experiment to see how difficult it must have been in ancient times to begin farming without having all of the knowledge and tools that we do now.  We read a lot about growing from seed and what plants need to grow and thrive.  We placed lima beans in different ziploc bags, creating a different growing environment for each using cotton balls, mulch, water, etc., and taped them in a window.  We studied the life cycle of the bean plant with our model from Safari Ltd and then read about other crops that were grown at the time.  We really enjoyed Food Like Mine from the Children Just Like Me series.  The Pod and the Bog from the Zoey and Sassafras series was a great independent reading tie-in for my daughter, sharing all about what a plant needs to grow.

This idea of plants and growing our food, let this librarian momma to The Little Red Hen and Jack and the Beanstalk, to name a few. We read about barley, one of the first crops, and read The Little Red Hen. 

We read Seeds to Bread and learned about wheat, how it is grown and harvested, and the process of making it into bread.  We made barley soup, tried our hand and grinding wheat berries into flour for our biscuits, and continued to wait four our beans to sprout (or not)!  That week we read so many versions of Jack and the Beanstalk.  We read traditional versions told in old language, more contemporary versions that were easier to read, fractured versions and everything else in between.  I think we read over twenty different copies of the story.  We, of course, have a few favorites.  :)  My daughter's favorite was Kate and the Beanstalk by Mary Pope Osborne.  I think this was mainly because the main character was a girl, but also because it used a fairly traditional "Fee Fi Fo Fum" line that some of hte other versions we read did not have.  To be exact, the author used "Fee, fi, fo fum'un, I smell the blood of an english woman!"  I loved that is an empowering story for girls but still maintains some of the integrity of the original tale.  

A close second favorite was Jack and the Beanstalk by E. Nesbit. This seemed to be a more traditional telling, however, the illustrations were beautiful ,which is why it was one of my picks.  This version has a fairy in it, but none of the "Fee Fi Fo Fum" business.  It was a longer story and used older language that made it a little less accessible.  Lastly, we both loved the fractured version called Jack and the Beanstalk and the French Fries by Mark Teague.  This version has the giant and Jack bonding over their distaste for beans, and problem solving a solution to the overabundance of beans program, rather than just complaining about it.  Win, win.  

We played several of our fairy tale themed games ( Enchanted Forest game, Story Time Dice Fairy Tales,  Eboo's Create a Story Fairy Tale Mix-Up).


We also did some of the activities from this fun pack of Jack and the Beanstalk Fairy Tale Activities from Teachers Pay Teachers. We also used our leftover lima beans and made a fun story/sensory bin which both my 4 year old and my 7 year old enjoyed!

We finished the week by reading Jack and the Beanstalk Fairy Tale Fixers: Fixing Fairy Tales with Stem.  We were able to discuss how this version was a like our different from all of the others we'd read AND this one had three different STEM activities woven throughout the story.  The first two were related to bean-growing so we just talked about those rather than doing, since we'd already done our own experiment.  The last one we did was a fun one to using straws to make a sturdy enough beanstalk to hold Jack.  It was a fun way to experience the classic tale.  We had a fun week and it was a great way to tie in a bunch of other subjects into our history unit.  It made the learning opportunities greater and the time spent together richer.