Card-Carrying Member

Charlie applied for his own library card today.  He was very nervous as he filled his name out on the application (in pen), but all was well when he was finally presented with The Goods!!

Of course when you get your very own,  brand-spankin'-new library card, you must browse the stacks for something to take home!

Transaction complete!  Charlie, today you are a man!

52 Books in 52 Weeks

Oh oft thought of but rarely updated Book Blog, I promise I will try to do better this year.   I'm hoping that by taking on the 52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge I will not only get in more personal reading in 2012, but perhaps I will also be motivated to post some tidy reviews on said 52 books.  On my Book  Blog.  Which is so oft thought of, but rarely updated.  

Library Love

Too cold.  Too rainy. Too dreary.

The battle between winter and spring continues on with rain and sleet today, and predictions of 2-5 inches of snow in the next couple of days.  Blech.  To beat the weather blues, William suggested we head off to the library to browse the stacks and sit in front of the fireplace reading.  
Definitely a Good Idea!

Flat Travelers

 

Years ago, when Ben was maybe 5 or 6, we read a book called Flat Stanley.  It  is the story of Stanley Lambchop, a little boy who wakes one morning to find he has been flattened by the bulletin board that once hung above his bed.  The whole family pretty much takes Stanley's predicament in stride and Stanley goes on quite a few adventures; most notably he visits his friend in California through the mail.  Yep, Mom packs him a snack and tucks him into an envelope.  A good way to save on plane fare!   At the back of the book there is a Flat Stanley you can cut out and send  on adventure of his own if you like.  Many schools do this, and there are even Yahoo groups that you can participate in.  I thought this would be a great idea, and even signed up for one of those Yahoo groups.....all those years ago. Though somehow, despite my best intentions, we never quite got around to making a Flat Traveler.  I have thought about it several times over the years and almost got going when I read the book with William when he was a Kindergartner.   Almost.  

Well, now Charlie is almost 6 and I just read the book with him (Ben and Will listening in, too), and I am soooo happy to report that we are part of a Flat Stanley group and finally sent our first Flat Travelers out to a family in New Hampshire! 

We will be receiving Flat Travelers from all around the U.S. as well.  In fact, we just hosted two flat brothers from Kentucky for a few days.  We took them to an interesting local location, snapped photos and sent the pics along through email with info about our town and state. Then we sent the Flat Travelers to their next destination.  The idea, other than just plain having fun, is to learn a little bit about the geography of the U.S.  My guys are anxious to hear word from their hosts and see some pictures of their Flat Selves hanging out somewhere new!

I am so thankful to G. over at Explorations in Learning for setting this project up, so I could finally make good on that promise I gave to Ben when he was just a little guy.  We're all looking forward to having fun with this!

 

Mighty Reader

For Charlie, this year has been one of exploration and growth, both academically and socially. He is smart as a whip, friendly and always keeps us in stitches with his jokes. Although I wasn't intending to count this year as a Kindergarten year, he certainly has been learning like a k'er, and I have no complaints about the ease with which he seems to pick up on things. Besides learning simple addition and subtraction, he has gone ahead and learned to read on a strong 2nd grade level. Alrighty then. I'm not even sure when it happened exactly. We spent a modest amount of time this year with him reading easy readers and picture books aloud to me. Then about a month ago he discovered the Ricky Ricotta and His Mighty Robot series books on Will's bookshelf.



I poo-poo'ed him when he said he wanted to read them to himself at bedtime and actually told him it might be too hard. Bad Mommy. He sat down and started to read the first one to me without hesitation. Huh. Now, Ricky Ricotta is not really classic literature, but Charlie is so smitten with these books that he has read all 7 over and over and over again.

Every night he climbs into bed and reads until 10PM when I enforce lights out. It is a bit late, but how can I say no when he asks if he can read "just one more" before going to sleep. Ben and Will also started out on Ricky Ricotta stories and they are amusing little books. Perfect for little boys. Also piled next to his bed are the Henry and Mudge books (well loved by William), Billy and Blaze (bought especially for Charlie. I've always wanted these books on our shelves) Poppleton, Mr. Putter, and whatever other random book he collects on our library trips.

When asked about reading Charlie tells me "Well, I'm just good at it because I'm older than little kids. And I like to do it." Lucky me with 3 boys who like to read!

Storytime At The Library

Charlie is nuts about going to story time at the library. The weekend "storytelling Guru" is Tiffany, and she is so wonderful at knowing how to gently engage the kids. They just love her.

This week's theme was rhythm and music with the main book being The Philharmonic Gets Dressed.

After the stories were over, the kids got a chance to make some musical instruments of their own. Ben was behind the scenes helping to set up for the crafting main event.

Charlie thought making the instruments was cool. He took home a decorated coffee-can drum...

Jingle-bell paper plate tambourine, with color co-ordinated ribbons...

Rhythm Sticks (which became light sabers within the half-hour)

...and rice filled egg shaker (which became part of a "sink or float" experiment as soon as we got home.)

A Fox. But Not A Real Fox.

Charlie asked to do some reading today and I remembered I had these Three- Letter Word Puzzles hidden away somewhere. Perfect for Charlie right now. Here's a video bit from our puzzle session...

He Can Read!

Well, wasn't I just saying that I thought Charlie was about ready to start reading 3 letter words? Boy, I didn't think it would be so soon! The little stinker was sounding out all kinds of words for me tonight as I arranged magnetic fridge letters into such exciting gems as "dog", "cat", "hat", "sat" and "mat". I am just giddy about this new stage for Charlie and I am going to have to refrain from asking him to sound out every little word for my amusement! I did bring out my old, crushed box of Bob Books and he took a stab at the first story, "Mat". He had great success and was really pleased with himself. Yay!

Charlie Reads His First Book

ABC

Charlie has been enjoying the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom this past week.

He recognizes all his letters and has all the sounds down pat, so we've been doing a few activities to "stretch" the book. First off, I got out my palm tree cookie sheet and let him add letters as we would get to them in the book. Of course it was always a highlight to make all the letters fall off at the right moment.



Another day we enjoyed playing Chicka Chicka Bingo. I would make the sound of a letter and he would have to see if he had it on his card. He did great and I think he is probably close to reading 3 letter words.




I don't feel the need to start formally teaching him though, so I'll probably just wait and see what he comes up with on his own over the next 6 months or so. Both Ben and Will picked up reading on their own to begin with and I let them do their own thing until about 1st grade. At that point we covered phonics in Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons.



We only went to about lesson 20, I suppose because they already had a fair start at it. Thus far I have felt very lucky in that I have had very little work to do in teaching reading. These boys have made it very easy on me!

One other activity Charlie has been really into this week is watching The Letter Factory Video from Leap Frog.


I first read about this at the Mount Hope Chronicles blog. I'm not usually one to go for video "teaching", but since Mt. Hope's approach to reading was well-matched to what I do, I thought I'd try it out on her recommendation. I'm glad I did! It is a clever and memorable way for little ones to learn and reinforce letter sounds. I give it my stamp of approval and so does Charlie. He walks around quizzing his brothers on what sound each letter makes, praising them when they get it right and correcting when they fake a wrong answer. Be warned though, you will get the little letter jingle caught in your head and mindlessly sing it a little too loud while grocery shopping without the kids. Please don't ask me how I know this. Just heed my warning.

Our History Reading 2008-2009 School Year

This is a running list of the books we have read starting from September 2008 which will continue through about June of 2009. There will be a link in the sidebar, too, for future reference. Favorites are starred.

*1. Learning Through History Magazine -The Great War, various articles
*2. The American Story (Jennifer Armstrong)
3. Children's Encyclopedia of American History (Smithsonian)
*4. Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder)
5. Frontier Home
6. Black Frontiers (Lillian Schlissel)
7. Children of the Frontier
8. Trains (Usborne IL) OOP
*9. Coolies (Yin)
*10. Tree in the Trail (H. C. Holling)
11.Cowboy (DK Eyewitness)
*12. John Muir and the Stickeen (Julie Dunlap)
*13. Squirrel and John Muir (Emily McCully)
14. Buffalo Bill (Daulaire)
15. Bullseye! A Photo Biography of Annie Oakley (Sue Macy)
16. Sweetwater Run (Andrew Glass)
*17. Jason's Gold (Will Hobbs)
18. Alexander Graham Bell-An Inventive Life (Elizabeth MacLeod)
19. Brainstorm-The Story of twenty kid inventers (Tom Tucker)
20. Click! A Story About George Eastman (Barbara Mitchell)
*21.Snowflake Bentley (Jacqueline Briggs Martin)
22.Immigrant Kids (Russell Freedman)
*23. DK Millennium Children's History of the 20th Century (DK Publishing)
24.A History of US An Age of Extremes 1880-1917 (Joy Hakim)
25. American Boy The Adventures of Mark Twain (Don Brown)
26. Time For Kids Biographies Theodore Roosevelt The Adventurous President
27. Time For Kids Biographies Henry Ford (Dina El Nabli)
28. Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists: Picasso (Mike Venezia)
29. A Picture Book of Helen Keller (David A. Adler)
30. Chasing Vermeer (Blue Balleitt)
31. Snow Treasure (Marie McSwigan)
32. Anne Frank (Josephine Poole)

Advent Reading-I Like Winter

I like Winter by Lois Lenski is another cute, new-to-us book we read this week. It is a poem of sorts about all the nice things about winter. Sweetly illustrated. After reading we made some gumdrop trees, because, well, aren't gumdrop trees one of the things everyone likes about winter? (??) The boys plan to keep these at their place settings to munch after meals.



Simple to make, you just need a styrofoam cone, toothpicks (broken in half) and gumdrops. Insert half a toothpick into a gumdrop and push it into the styro. Voila! So simple, so sweet!

Advent Reading-Mr. Willowby's Christmas tree

In anticipation of decorating our ownChristmas tree this weekend, we read Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree . I saw this book and it's accompanying craft on Bella Dia and I just have to say both were very satisfying. Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree is an entertaining rhyming story about a too-tall tree that ends up spreading itself around for lots of Christmas cheer. Very cute.

We made this forest of paper stacking trees for our seasons table. So cute. Lots of tiny trees all within one, just like Mr. Willowby's tree. The original tutorial was for cloth stacking trees which I want to try sometime, too. How adorable would that be?

I like how the boys all had their own take on how to make the trees. Ben went for the multi-pattern look (front and center) and a mini-tree, while Will chose to do all one color/pattern because he wanted it to look like a real tree (front, right). Charlie picked out the red/orange/brown colors and patterns for a nice warm look (center back). I helped him cut out the patterns and fold them. The little bunny in the photo is one that Will made from sculpey awhile ago.

Advent Reading-Snowflake Bentley

Since everyone was all excited around here about our first "stay-on-the-ground" snow, I thought it would be fun to pull out Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline B. Martin. Wilson Bentley loved snow more than anything from a very young age. With a camera and microscope, he turned his love for glorious design in nature into a gift for the world. A fascinating true-life story! Here is an interesting interview with W. A. Bentley from 1925. Many of the quotes and information in the book appear to come from this article. What a character he must have been!

Charlie wasn't as interested in the Bentley book so I pulled out a little Scholastic book I've had for ages called Millions of Snowflakes by Mary McKenn Siddals. Ridiculously simple text, yet very sweet to read to the little ones. My boys have all loved it!

After reading, we settled in for some crafting of paper snowflakes and beaded "ice crystals". We hung some up in the dining room window, and others in our living room. I think we'll make ever more to hang in other windows, too. How can such a simple little decoration be so charming? And the kids had a blast making them. To make the beaded ones, check out the instructions at Family Fun Magazine (they're in the Dec./Jan. hard copy as well). If you need a refresher on folding paper snowflakes, here's a quick little video. Have fun!

Advent Reading-The Miracle Of Saint Nicholas

The Miracle Of Saint Nicholas by Gloria Whelan is a gorgeous story of how a small Russian village comes together to create their own Christmas miracle. It has been over 60 years since their church was closed by communist soldiers, but the questions of a young boy inspire his family and friends to celebrate mass at Saint Nicholas once again. This is one of my favorites every year!

For our go-along activity today, I had the kids try their hand at Icon-style painting, based on one of the illustrations in the book. They used some tiny canvases I bought back in the fall, and acrylic paints.

St. Nicholas by (from L to R) William, Ben and Charlie.

Advent Reading-Saint Nicholas

Today's read was St. Nicholas by Ann Tompert. This one is beautifully illustrated and although it contains a lot of pure legend, the true story of his life and generosity are also made quite clear. A nice introduction to the life of this saint. For even more info, activities and ideas for celebration St. Nicholas day, visit The Saint Nicholas Center.


In the spirit of generosity shown by St. Nicholas, the boys each made ornaments with their scout dens that will decorate Christmas trees to be given to local families this season. These families might not otherwise have a tree or decorations, and the boys are always eager to make this contribution. At our next pack meeting we'll sing songs, have snacks and each den will get to hang their unique ornaments on the trees.

Here are the directions for making these cute snowman ornaments Will and his cub den made today.

Advent Reading-Country Angel Christmas

Our Christmas/Winter themed books are the first of the holiday "decor" to come out of storage each year. Now that advent has begun we will be revisiting all of our old favorites. This week we will be looking forward to celebrating St.Nicholas day (December 6th) and reading from our collection of books about him.



Today we enjoyed Country Angel Christmas by Tomie De'Paola. This whimsical book focuses on the wonderful preparations that lead up to Christmas day. Here we find St. Nicholas in heaven giving guidance to the littlest country angels as they search for the perfect contribution to the Christmas celebration. An idea from St. Nicholas provides what everyone has forgotten-starlight-as the angels pull a brilliant star across the sky to light the procession to the creche.

After we enjoyed the book, we baked some starlight of our own.

Christmas Book Stacks

I know, I know, it's not quite Christmas yet, but I wanted to post this little tradition of ours early in case someone else wants to add it to their holiday rituals. I hate seeing a fun idea "too late" and I bet you do too. Hopefully you'll think this is a fun idea and find a way to make it uniquely yours as well!

Perhaps three or so years back (boy how time flies!) my dear friend Caryl and I had a conversation about the idea of giving books as Christmas gifts to our children. Caryl probably devours more books than anyone I know so when she has something to say about books you can believe I pay close attention. Now, giving books as gifts is not necessarily a new idea by any stretch, but Caryl had a twist to add. She proposed not just giving one or two books, but whole stacks of the wonderful things! The gist of the idea is that on Christmas morning there should be a stack of individually wrapped books (About eight of them makes a good stack, each in a different paper to make it pretty) waiting for each child under the tree. These are to be opened after all other gifts, and, if you have kids like ours, the process will be one of anticipation and one to savor. Caryl had originally seen the idea here , and it has been a tradition with both of our families ever since.



I don't really have a lot of rules about what goes into a book stack, but I am always on the look out for high-quality classic (or bound to be classic) books to make up the bulk of the stack. I will also include books that the kids have specifically requested even if they are not on their reading level. For instance, Will continues to love the silly stories of Henry and Mudge by Cynthia Rylant even though he is long beyond them reading-level wise. Our routine is to snuggle on the couch with Will reading to me just like when he first began practicing reading. This alone-time with Will and H&M is such a treat, so I keep adding to his collection. He enjoys the stories and who am I to tell him he shouldn't? I also add things like I-Spy books for fun and some years I have included the first issue of a new magazine subscription.

Always one to get excited about a bargain, I try to keep my book stack expenses down by buying from used books stores , yard sales and the library sales when I can. Our local antique mall usually has a decent selection of reasonably priced hardcovers, too. When it's not possible to find something used, I try to use our local independent book stores. Not that I have anything against Amazon.com (love Amazon) but I like to help out my pocket book when I can, as well as the environment and the small businesses that bravely open their doors against the giant chains.



Aside from Book Stacks for the kids, I try to pick up one or two new Christmas or winter themed books for our Holiday basket. This year there are quite a few, mostly because I stumbled upon them and couldn't resist. These books are the first things out of the Christmas decorations boxes and we all ooh and ahh over these cozy and familiar titles.

And now, without further ado, I present the Christmas 2008 Book Stacks ! I'm pretty sure they're complete, but I reserve the right to add to them at the last moment!

For Ben-

The Hobbit-I have never read The Hobbit. Maybe because it seems like a very "boy" book. Based on what I've been told, I think Ben will love it, and perhaps by reading it he will be that much more well-read than his mother! New, in hardcover.


The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain-Can't be a child-especially a boy child- and not read Tom Sawyer! Bought this one new in hardcover. It's a classic, ya know.

St. Francis-A life Of Joy by Robert F Kennedy Jr.-Beautifully retold and illustrated story of the life of a saint. Steve admires St. Francis for his quirky-ness. New, in Hardcover.


The Invention of Hugo Cabret-by Brian Selznick-This was recommended to me after mentioning that Ben adored-and tore through-The Mysterious Benedict Society and it's sequel The Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart. The Invention of Hugo Cabret looks great and fantastic illustrations are used to tell parts of the story. New, in hard cover.

Charlie and The Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl-Ben loved reading Charlie and The Chocolate Factory more than he liked the movie. Hopefully the sequel will be just as interesting to him. This one was purchased from our library sale for .25 cents. Paperback.

The Giver by Lois Lowry- A story of Utopian society...I'm looking forward to discussing this one with Ben. A bargain at 99 cents from the Goodwill. Paperback.


National Geographic Kids Magazine-We have tried a bunch of really beautiful, high quality magazines around here, but Ben likes this one the best. Go figure. It's not my cuppa for various reasons, but he really enjoys it.


For Will

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright-Elizabeth Enright's Melendy Quartet follows siblings Mona, Rush, Miranda (Randy, for short) and Oliver. First published in 1941, The Saturdays kicks off the series and centers on the foursome's Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club (I.S.A.A.C.), an allowance-endowed venture formed so one lucky Melendy can enjoy a solo sojourn each week. New in paperback.

Half Magic by Edward Eager-Another classic fantasy tale of siblings trying to amuse themselves during a boring summer. Finding a mysterious coin that grants wishes-but only by halves-seems to liven things up a bit, for better or worse! Bought the 5oth anniversary edition new in hardcover. Couldn't help myself.




I Spy Treasure Hunt-Will is my kid who loves doing mazes, word finds and these "seek and find" types of books. We don't own any I-Spy books yet but he is always checking one out of the library. This one was a free book from Scholastic that was sent as a free "consolation" when something else I ordered was on back-order. Hardcover.


The Spiderwick Chronicles ,The Field Guide by Holly Black-The first book in a beautifully produced series of five, The Field Guide sets up the story of the Grace children--13-year-old Mallory and 9-year-old twins Jared and Simon--who with their mother move into the dilapidated Spiderwick Estate only to quickly find themselves sucked into a dark and fascinating world of faeries. Olde Worlde charm. Bought used in hardcover.




Henry and Mudge and Annie's Perfect Pet &
Henry and Mudge and The Wild Goose Chase by Cynthia Rylant-The Henry and Mudge books are sentimental favorites here. Always have to put a couple in the stacks. I picked up these two for .99 cents each at the Goodwill. Paperback. They look brand new!

Snow by Uri Schulevitz-The illustrations in this simple story are hard to beat! Enchanting! All about the wonder of snowfall. New in hardcover.



The Paperboy-A simple story of a boy and his dog up before the sun to deliver his paper route. I had a paper route as a young girl...do kids even do that anymore? Beautiful illustrations. Free book with scholastic bonus points.




For Charlie

Puff The Magic Dragon-This beautifully illustrated book comes with a CD of the song. There is an itty-bitty twist at the end which makes the story turn out happily ever after, rather than with the traditional melancholy feel it is known for.Eric Puybaret, in a brilliant illustrative twist in the land called Honahlee, ensures we are left feeling awfully good about how it all turns out. As Jackie Paper departs, another friend, a little girl, appears, and she and Puff begin the cycle anew. The girl is wide-eyed, Puff is ecstatic to have another playmate, and all is well. New in hardcover.

Ollies Ski Trip by Elsa Beskow-What can you say about Elsa Beskow? So charming and sweet for the kiddos. I have wanted to start collecting her books for awhile now...Charlie is the lucky boy to benefit from this splurge. New in hardcover



Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney-This is the 1982 winner of the American Book Award and was the New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year. It is the story of a young girl who vows to travel and see faraway places and to live beside the sea. But there is one more thing she must do, and the book follows her while she travels, grows older and figures out that something which will make the world more beautiful. I have wanted to pick this one up for a long time! New in paperback.


Hedgie Blasts Off by Jan Brett-We are such big fans of Jan Bret around here. It wouldn't be Christmas without a new title from her! This was a freebie with some scholastic bonus points I had socked away from last year. Paperback.


Skippy Jon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner-Oh. My. Goodness. I have noticed Skippy Jon Jones books displayed at the library before but never bothered to open one up and take a look. Just didn't appeal to me. (Hmm how does that saying about a book and it's cover go?) Well, I have to say this is the silliest thing I have ever seen! I mean really silly. It will be really fun to read aloud as the language has a very tongue-tripping, lilting, rollicking rhythm to it. Looking forward to Charlie's giggles at this one. This was another free book with scholastic bonus points.


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol-This edition is illustrated by Helen Oxenbury and is just so sweet to look at! Couldn't resist putting this classic on Charlie's shelf especially since it was only 2.99 used at the Goodwill.




For the Christmas Basket (We'll dig into these before Christmas)

Angela and The Baby Jesus by Frank Mc Court.- Sweet story of the author's mother as a young girl wanting to keep the baby Jesus from the church nativity warm. I got this one free with scholastic bonus points, too. Hardcover.

We Three Kings-by Gennady Spirin-Total impulse buy on this one. The illustrations in this one are lovely. I am a sucker for lovely illustrations. The text is from the Christmas song We Three Kings. $ 2.99 at Goodwill. In Hardcover.


Follow the Star by Rachel W. N. Brown-Again, the story of the wise men and their journey to see the child Jesus, but told from the point of view of the camels. In this book, the Magi arrive at the home of Mary and not a stable, and the Holy Family all have brown skin and dark hair. Thank you Guillano Ferri, for your thoughtful and historically accurate illustrations! Free book from Scholastic.


The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean-Each chapter in this book is a short story explaining one of the symbols of the Jesse tree. Clever tale of an instantly likable little boy and a gruff old woodworker. We'll start reading on the first day of Advent (Nov. 30th this year) and read a chapter each night until Christmas. New in hardcover. I've wanted this one for a long time!



The Nutcracker by Janet Schulman, E. T. A. Hoffman and Renee Graef- A more complete version of Hoffman's The Nutcracker and the King of Mice. Comes with a CD of Tchaikovsky's (Hey, I spelled it right without looking it up!) music and a narrative of the book. From the Goodwill, thank you very much, in hardcover for $2.99.

Well, that's the stacks thus far for this year. All bought and paid for. All that's left is the wrapping!

One last idea before I wrap this post up. As an alternative to buying books for stacks to open on Christmas day, why not start the tradition of wrapping up your existing holiday/winter book collection (or one borrowed from the library) and opening one each day of advent? Kind of like a literary Advent calendar. The kids can pick the package each day and the surprise in finding out which one they're going to get! Count down the day until Christmas with your favorite stories old and new!

Happy reading!