June 2014

My Father's Dragon

by: Ruth Stiles Gannett

 

 

Why we liked this book:  This was another chapter book we read together and has been one of my favorite with the kids so far!  The story is full of adventure and fun characters but the book isn't too long that it takes forever to read.  There are more books in the series that I hope to check out!

 Activity:  We made dragons out of cardstock, streamers, pom poms, markers and googly eyes.  You could also make it out of a toilet paper tube instead of the cardstock.  If you use cardstock: place the paper so it is portrait style.  Then cut in half horizontally.  Then you roll up the paper to make it about the size of a toilet paper tube, maybe a little smaller, and tape it shut.  Then you glue or tape 4-5 streamers around the hole.  This is the fire for the dragon.  At the top you glue two pom-poms and then two googly eyes on top of the pom-poms.  Then you can add whatever other decorations you want to your dragon, we added feathers.  Also be sure to add some nostrils for the nose!  We just did that with markers.  When you are all done the kids can put their mouths up to the hole and blow fire like a dragon!

 

Strega Nona

by: Tomie dePaola

 

 

Why we liked this book:  I really loved the pictures in this book!  They were something different from the usual picture books we read.  The story is really fun and interesting too!

 Activity:  We did macaroni art to go with the "magic pasta" theme.  We had already done a spaghetti dinner so I thought it would be fun to do something new.  The kids had a lot of fun with this project!  All we did was I had the kids draw their picture on a piece of paper first with a pencil (make sure they draw it BIG).  Then they put glue on top of the pencil and glue the pasta all around.  I bought a colorful bag of pasta that had different shapes in it but you can use whatever!

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

by Candace Fleming

 

 

Why we liked this book:  The kids thought it was fun to see the different ways this man tried to keep the crazy rabbits out of his garden.  They thought it was funny he had to go to such extremes!  I thought this would be a good book to read since we have planted a garden this year!

 Activity:  Since we do have a garden, I had the kids paint different rocks and label them with all the plants we are growing in our garden.  Then we went out and placed all the rocks in our garden by the corresponding plants.  Now when something comes up they know what it is by the rocks they have made!  If you don't have room to plant a garden you can do some plants in small pots or containers like peas, tomatoes, peppers or even just some flowers!

 

 

Nate the Great

by: Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

 

 

Why we liked this book: This is a fun beginning chapter book for kids.  The mysteries are fun and simple and had my kids guessing the whole time we were reading.  My son who is entering first grade this fall especially loved it!  There is a whole series of these and I am sure we will feautre another "Nate the Great" book.

 Activity: From reading this first Nate the Great book we found out that Nate the Great LOVES pancakes.  So...my kids wanted to have a pancake dinner for our activity.  Simple enough right?  There are also activity ideas in the back of this book!

 

Here is a pancake recipe we used but you can do whatever you want!  Strawberries and chocolate chips are always nice to add!

Miss Nelson is Missing!

by Harry Allard and James Marshall

 

 

Why we liked this book:  This book is about an unruly class that drives their nice teacher, Miss Nelson,to drastic measures.  She disappears one day and in her place comes Miss Viola Swamp.  The kids are so frightened of her and realize how good they had it with Miss Nelson.  They set out to search for her, and one day she finally returns to her class.  They are so happy to see her!  (Truth is, Miss Viola Swamp was Miss Nelson in disguise all along!)

 Activity:  I thought it would be fun for the kids to disguise themselves and change their names.  So they dressed up added some face paint and my daughter became Miss Vampire Bat and my son became Mr. Doom.  We had so much fun and had some good laughs!  Make sure you take a before and after picture!

May 2014 Books

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten

by: Joseph Slate

Why we liked this book: My daughter liked all the fun rhymes and names for all the animal "children" getting ready for kindergarten.  Fun way to practice the alphabet!

Activity:  I had my kids pick 3 activities to do that reminded them of kindergarten and then we had a kindergarten day at home.  My daughter picked finger painting, my son of course picked recess and then they both thought a snack would be a good idea.  So, that's what we did!

Have you ever tried making your own finger paints?  It is really easy and the kids had fun choosing their own colors!  Plus I used some containers with lids to save the extra paint for another rainy day.  Here is the site where I found the recipe.

Finger Paint Recipe