Posted in arts and crafts, holiday, picture books, reading on December 11, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
We didn’t get around to making pipe cleaner (chenille stem) wreaths until this week but once we had them made, we went wild with our huge bag of red, white, and green pipe cleaners.
M developed several crafts of her own including a wreath made by curling a pipe cleaner into a spiral and then wrapping [...]
Posted in chapter books, picture books, reading, recent reads on December 9, 2009 | 3 Comments »
We’ve been re-visiting many of our favorite Christmas titles including Olivia Helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer, Max’s Christmas by Rosemary Wells, Merry Christmas, Ollie by Olivier Dunrea, Little Rabbit’s Christmas by Harry Horse, The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Keats, and Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve by Janet Morgan Stoeke. We’ve also discovered a [...]
Posted in arts and crafts, holiday, homeschool, picture books, reading on December 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Every year, we read several books and do some activities to learn about Hanukkah. This year, we’re reading Toby Belfer Never Had A Christmas Tree, Mrs. Greenberg’s Messy Hanukkah, and I Have A Little Dreidel, all favorites we discovered last year.
Using this pattern from Enchanted Learning, we’re making paper dreidels so we can play for [...]
Posted in Non-Fiction Monday, non-fiction, reading on December 7, 2009 | 2 Comments »
We picked up Bubble Homes and Fish Farts by Fiona Bayrock from the library. We’ve recently done several experiments with bubbles and watched an awesome video of dolphins playing with bubbles so I knew M would love it.
The balance of text and illustrations was perfect. M wanted to hear every word, and the illustrations and [...]
Posted in arts and crafts, holiday, picture books, reading on December 1, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Yay! Advent is here! We’ve got lots of fun activities lined up for the next few weeks. We made an Advent wreath on Sunday and slowly started decorating the house. Last night M got to stay up late drinking cocoa and helping me decorate, a new tradition we started last year. We set up my [...]
Posted in Non-Fiction Monday, cybils, non-fiction, reading on November 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Flamingos by Jean M. Malone is an Easy Reader nominee for the 2009 Cybils. It’s part of the All Aboard Science Reader series. The book is well-written and filled with fascinating facts about these iconic pink birds.
Among other things, I learned that the high level of carotene in their diet turns flamingos’ feathers pink and [...]
Posted in Non-Fiction Monday, non-fiction, reading on November 23, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
M has loved the Magic Tree House series for several years but we’ve only just begun to use the Research Guides that accompany some of the books. Last week, taking a chapter at a time, we read Pilgrims (Magic Tree House Research Guide #13). This is a companion to Thanksgiving on Thursday which we “re-read” [...]
Posted in chapter books, middle grade fiction, picture books, reading, recent reads on November 19, 2009 | 1 Comment »
M and her dad are reading Theodosia and the Staff of Osiris by R. L. LaFevers. She loved Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos. book but found this one a bit too scary the first time they tried it. This time, she’s completely into it.
M and I read The Yellow House Mystery (Boxcar Children #3) [...]
Posted in chapter books, cybils, easy readers, reading, reviews on November 18, 2009 | 1 Comment »
I’ve gotten to read so many wonderful books as an Easy Reader and Short Chapter Book panelist for the Cybils. I’m trying to review the ones that I’ve enjoyed the most and especially ones that M has read or I’ve read to her. You can see more Cybils book reviews here.
Alice’s Shooting Star by Tim [...]
Posted in Non-Fiction Monday, non-fiction, reading on November 16, 2009 | 2 Comments »
We found Dinosaurs in Your Backyard: The Coolest, Scariest, Creatures Ever Found in the USA by Hugh Brewster on the new books shelf at the library. M loved the cover picture of a roaring dinosaur in front of a suburban neighborhood and the idea of learning about dinosaurs who might have lived where we live [...]
