Five in a Row
(Ages 5-12)

Five in a Row (Ages 5-12)

Completely redesigned and updated throughout, the Second Editions of Five in a Row Volumes 1, 2 and 3 (Ages 5-9) are easy-to-follow, highly effective instructional guides for teaching Social Studies, Language, Art, Applied Math and Science using outstanding children’s literature as the basis for each weekly unit study. Lessons are designed for children ages 5 through 9, and include a discussion guide and questions, teacher answers, hands-on activities, and suggestions for further study. Scroll down to get a sample unit from Five in a Row Volume 1 based on The Story About Ping.

Visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners and teachers will all benefit from Five in a Row’s variety of lessons and activities which are carefully laid out and available for you to choose whichever one fits your schedule for the day.  Expect to be ready to teach with as little as five minutes of preparation time. You’ll find everything you need to be an effective teacher at your fingertips- pronunciation guides to foreign words or phrases, background information on history, geography, art and science lessons, facts, figures, and activity suggestions for a wonderful variety of hands-on learning experiences.

New features in these second editions include Jane Claire’s Tips for Those Beginning Five in a Row, with step-by-step teaching guidance for each day of the week; Teacher’s Notes pages for every title, providing a place to record lessons, go-along resources, favorite memories, and more; and Activity Sheets for every title that support and add to the lessons. While the stories in the second editions haven’t changed*, each manual includes approximately 100+ pages of new content.

In addition to the Five in a Row teacher’s manuals, you will need to access the picture books that each unit is based on. You can get these through your library or you can purchase them online (individually or in a literature package…see the note under book lists later on this page for where to purchase).

We recommend adding a Math and Phonics program to complete your curriculum for children ages 5-9.

We offer a Five in a Row Cookbook (including recipes for Five in a Row Volumes 1-3 and Beyond Five in a Row) which is currently available as a digital download here.

Five in a Row, Volume 4, Second Edition (Ages 9-10)

Five in a Row, Volume 4, covers the same subject areas as Volumes 1-3, but the picture books in this volume have greater complexity and depth, making them more appropriate for older elementary-aged students. Because the books are more complex, the lessons are as well. You’ll find more lessons in each subject area, with topics designed more for older children than those for Volumes 1-3. For this reason, you’ll row each title for two weeks instead of one. Scroll down to get a sample unit from Five in a Row Volume 4 based on Roxaboxen.

Lessons are designed for children ages 9 and up, and include discussion guide and questions, teacher answers, hands-on activities and suggestions for further study. New features in this second edition include What’s Different About Volume 4; Teacher’s Notes pages for every title, providing a place to record lessons, go-along resources, favorite memories, and more; and Activity Sheets for every title that support and add to the lessons.

We recommend adding a Math and Spelling/Grammar program to complete your curriculum for children ages 9-10.

The Second Edition of Volume 4 is designed to prepare your child for the next step in the FIAR curriculum: a transition to chapter book studies using a very similar approach to learning that students and teachers have come to love. After completing Volume 4, you and your student will be ready to take this next exciting step with Volume 5 of Five in a Row.

Five in a Row, Volume 5, Second Edition (Ages 10-12)

Five in a Row Volume Five is unique in the FIAR curriculum! The only volume to incorporate both picture books and chapter books, it’s ideal for students ages 10 and up who are ready to make the transition to middle school-level work. The Five in a Row approach to chapter books uses a very similar method of learning that students and teachers have come to love through previous FIAR volumes.

In Volume Five, the picture book units* cover the same subject areas as in Volumes 1-4, and are designed to be rowed for two weeks each. Lessons include discussion guide and questions, teacher answers, hands-on activities and suggestions for further study. The chapter book units** smoothly transition you and your student to upcoming FIAR volumes with complete studies based on two classic chapter books. Subject areas include Social Studies (including History, Geography, and Career Paths), Science, Language Arts (including Writing and Discussion Questions and Vocabulary), Fine Arts, and Life Skills. 

Like previous second edition volumes of Five in a Row, Volume Five also contains Teacher’s Notes pages for every title, providing a place to record lessons, go-along resources, favorite memories, and more; and Activity Sheets for every title (or every chapter) that support and add to the lessons.

* Units for The Raft, Snowflake Bentley, The Gullywasher, Angelo, and The Hatmaker’s Sign were originally published in Five in a Row Volume 4, First Edition, and have been revised for inclusion in Volume 5. Picturebook units for The Bravest of Us All, Paper Lanterns, and Minette’s Feast were originally published digitally and were revised for inclusion in Volume 5.

**Units for The Boxcar Children and Betsy Ross: Designer of Our Flag were originally published in Beyond Five in a Row, Volume 1, and have been revised for inclusion in Volume 5.

Five in a Row Bible Supplement, Second Edition (Ages 5-10)

We also have a Bible Supplement to complement your Five in a Row Volume 1-4 lessons. Completely redesigned and updated throughout, the Five in a Row Bible Supplement, 2nd Edition, provides hundreds of lessons in character development with accompanying Bible references. Each story has numerous lessons to choose from, all in an easy-to-use format. These memorable Bible lessons emerge quite naturally from each of the 66 stories used in the second editions of Five in a Row, Volumes 1-4.

In this second edition, new Teacher’s Notes pages follow each title, providing several additional options for using this supplement. You’ll find space to record Bible memory verses or copywork, related worship songs or hymns, your student’s drawing of the Bible story you’ve discussed, and more. 

Click here for sample pages of the Bible Supplement that go with The Story of Ping unit from Five in a Row.

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Get your free sample unit download of Five in a Row below. This unit is equivalent to the units from Five in a Row Volumes 1, 2, or 3 (all for ages 5-9). These three volumes can be used in any order.

Get your free sample unit download of Five in a Row (ages 9-10) below. This unit is equivalent to the other units in Five in a Row Volume 4 (for ages 9-10).

There is not a free sample unit download for Five in a Row Volume 5 (ages 10-12). The picturebook units included in Vol 5 are equivalent to the sample above (based on Roxaboxen). Lessons and subjects vary in the units based on chapter books included in Vol 5 making sample pages ineffective. When taken as a whole, each chapter book unit includes a variety of lessons and subjects covering: Social Studies (including History, Geography, and Career Paths), Science, Language Arts (including Writing and Discussion Questions and Vocabulary), Fine Arts, and Life Skills.

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FULL-COLOR, LAMINATED STORY DISKS!

Story Disks are circles that have an image that corresponds to a picture book used in Before, More Before, or Five in a Row Volumes 1-5. They are available in black and white at the back of the manual for you to color in or have your child color in. Full-color, laminated disks come free with your manual purchase from fiveinarow.com.

The disks are used in Five in a Row Volumes 1-5 as a geography aid. You cut out the laminated disk and using teacher’s putty, you’ll attach the disk to a world map or U.S. map on the location that the story takes place. For instance, while studying the Madeline unit of Five in a Row you would discuss the geography lesson from the manual that talks about how Madeline lived in Paris, which is in a country named France. Then you would go to the world map with your child and find France, and Paris and place the (Eiffel Tower) Madeline disk on that location. You can review this each day (taking the disk off after your lesson so that your child can find it again tomorrow on the map).

Five in a Row Volume Five,
Story Disks, Full-Color, Laminated

*$10.00

*The coordinating volume story disks will come free with your manual purchase from fiveinarow.com If you would like to purchase story disks by themselves, without a manual, please email us at sales@fiveinarow.com

Book Lists

Literature packages are available through Rainbow Resource Center. Literature packages through Rainbow Resource are not all-inclusive as there will rarely be a day when every single title is available at the same time, but they offer a great way to get the majority of the books needed for each Five in a Row volume in one convenient package. (Manual not included in literature package.)

Purple House Press is another great resource; they have reprinted and sell many Five in a Row picturebook titles.

Volume 1

The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
Lentil by Robert McCloskey
Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans
A Pair of Red Clogs by Masako Matsuno
The Rag Coat by Lauren Mills
Who Owns the Sun? by Stacy Chbosky
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman
Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin
Another Celebrated Dancing Bear by Gladys Scheffrin-Falk
Papa Piccolo by Carol Talley
Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews
The Clown of God by Tomie DePaola
Storm in the Night by Mary Stoltz
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost (with illustrations by Susan Jeffers)

Volume 2

The Giraffe That Walked to Paris by Nancy Milton
Three Names by Patricia MacLachlan
Wee Gillis by Munro Leaf
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert
Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco
Mirette on the High Wire by Emily Arnold McCully
*They Were Strong and Good by Alice and Robert Lawson
Babar To Duet or Not to Duet based on characters by DeBrunhoff
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
Down Down the Mountain by Ellis Credle
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
The Tale of Peter Rabbit written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter
Mr. Gumpy’s Motor Car by John Burningham
All Those Secrets of the World by Jane Yolen
Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift
Follow the Drinking Gourd by Jeanette Winter
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
Gramma’s Walk by Anna Grossnickle Hines

*Only available in FIAR Vol. 2, First Edition. 

Volume 3

The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco
Andy and the Circus by Ellis Credle
The Wild Horses of Sweetbriar  by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, illustrated by Ted Rand
Henry the Castaway by Mark Taylor
The Finest Horse in Town by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Truman’s Aunt Farm by Jama Kim Rattigan
The Duchess Bakes a Cake by Virginia Kahl
Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty
*The Old Woman Who Named Things by Cynthia Rylant
Daniel’s Duck by Clyde Robert Bulla
Warm as Wool by Scott Russell Sanders
The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer
Climbing Kansas Mountains by George Shannon
Amber on the Mountain by Tony Johnston
Little Nino’s Pizzeria by Karen Barbour

*This title is exclusive to FIAR Vol. 3, Second Edition

Volume 4

Please note: The book list for the second edition of Five in a Row, Volume 4 is different from the first edition. The new book list places Volume 4 as a transitional volume in the continuing series of Five in a Row second edition manuals.

Roxaboxen by Alice McLerran
The Tree Lady by H. Joseph Hopkins
The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold
Hanna’s Cold Winter by Trish Marx
Albert by Donna Jo Napoli
Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell
Cowboy Charlie by Jeanette Winter
Grass Sandals by Dawnine Spivak

Bonus Unit Studies (books that can be harder to find):
The Hickory Chair by Lisa Rowe Fraustino
Arabella by Wendy Orr
Higgins Bend Song and Dance by Jacqueline B. Martin

Volume 5

Please note: The book list for Five in a Row, Volume 5, Second Edition includes picturebook titles that were originally published in Five in a Row Volume 4, First Edition, or as digital units and chapter book titles that were originally published in Beyond Five in a Row Volume 1, First Edition.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
The Raft by Jim LaMarche
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Betsy Ross: Designer of Our Flag by Ann Weil
The Gullywasher by Joyce Rossi
Minette’s Feast by Susanna Reich

Bonus Unit Studies (books that can be harder to find):
Angelo by David Macaulay
Paper Lanterns by Stefan Czernecki
The Bravest of Us All by Marsha Diane Arnold
The Hatmaker’s Sign retold by Candace Fleming

Five in a Row: Additional Resources

Special Note: The Notebook Builder below can be used with Five in a Row Volumes 1-5 as additional resource pages for presenting or documenting information from the lessons in Five in a Row. There are FOLD&LEARN™ resources available for some (not all) of the Five in a Row book selections. These are free to our blog subscribers and can be a great hands-on addition for children that enjoy them.

Notebook Builder

This Notebook Builder was designed to make it easy for the busy homeschooling mom to do Five in a Row & Beyond Five in a Row the way they are intended to be done: to present information in bite-sized pieces, encourage research in child-sized portions, avoid busywork, and develop a love of learning and exploration by providing a format for the child to share what is interesting to him! This digital component is comprised of over 100 printable pages that can be applied to any Five in a Row unit study, or any topic of study for that matter. We have included maps and our timeline templates as well! The pages do not contain book titles or character names, rather they offer a scaffold for bite-sized research and exploration that can be applied to any topic over a number of typical subject areas. Learn more and view a sample here.

FOLD&LEARN™

Available and FREE to blog subscribers, each Five in a Row FOLD&LEARN™ provides the tools and resources that you and your child need to take each unit’s Five in a Row lessons from your manual and combine them with creativity to find new and unexpected learning treasures. There is any combination of games to play, artwork to look at, puppets to tell stories, and much more. There are pages and pages of resources that your child can cut, fold, glue, paste, sort, stack, read, handle, talk about and share. Created in the style of a typical lapbook with content unique to each unit, but different in that how your child puts them together is completely up to him! There isn’t a right or wrong answer!