AS TALL AS A BLUEBONNET

  The children wondered who was taller, the Lupines or themselves. 
The Lupines are blooming in our meadow and have also seeded themselves outside our garden fence. They are also known as Bluebonnets and are the state flower of Texas.

"Look! Their leaves are like big stars!"

Have you read Mrs Rumphius by Barbara Cooney?

"It is a delightful book about an elderly  lady who shares with her neice the things she did throughout her life.  She had set out to do three things in life. She planned to go to faraway places, live by the sea, and as her grandfather had told her, -to do something to make the world more beautiful.

She became a librarian and helped people find books. She went to a tropical island and climbed tall mountains.

Everywhere she went she made friends. Then she found a little house by the sea to

 live in. She knew there was still one more thing she needed to do to be happy, and that was to make the world a more beautiful place.  She couldn’t decide what that would be until one day she saw some lupine flowers.

 She began to scatter lupine seeds everywhere. People thought she was crazy, but the next Spring there were lupines everywhere. And the lupines continued to spread and grow every year. Miss Rumphius became known as the Lupine Lady."

Ask the children:

To make the word more beautiful, I would  ______________________. 

See what ideas they come up with :)

Perhaps they would like to draw their own Lupine. Use a Lupine flower or picture for inspiration. Talk about the stem and the petals. Let them observe with a magnifying glass

The children drew their Lupine stem with green colored pencil and made the petals by dipping their finger into purple paint and dabbing it on the paper.

The Gallery of Lupines

You may also like to read The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola