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

Harold and the Purple Crayon

by Crockett Johnson

Why we liked this book:  A simple book about a little boys imagination and love for drawing.

Activity: I have come to learn that my kids love to make up their own stories.  So...we decided to write our own stories using a....you guess it...purple crayon!  I folded a regular piece of paper in to fourths and then cut out the squares.  I made enough squares for each kid to have 8 pages.  Then they drew pictures with a purple crayon and made up a story of whatever they wanted.  My daughters was about a princess playing soccer and my sons was about a ninja finding a treasure.

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

by: Laura Joffe Numeroff

Why we liked this book:  The kids thought this book was funny and the mouse reminded them of themselves!  Lol, they said it, not me!

Activity: Bake some cookies and pour yourself a glass of milk!  Here is our favorite cookie recipe but feel free to use your own!

Yummy Cookie Recipe!

Harry the Dirty Dog

by: Gene Zion

Why we liked this book:  A fun, cute book about a dog that does not want a bath.  He decides to run away and get dirty instead.  When he comes back home his family no longer recognizes him!

Activity:  I thought this would be a fun book to teach the kids about opposites.  Clean vs dirty.  Black vs white. Etc.  So, we did an opposite scavenger hunt.  The kids had to each go grab three objects and then we talked about all the opposites that could be found in that object.  For example: My son brought a harmonica.  He played a LOW note vs HIGH note.  LOUD vs SOFT.  My daughter brought a glow worm.  We talked about how you use it at NIGHT vs DAY in the DARK vs NIGHT.  They thought it was really fun to talk about opposites and came up with a lot of them on their own.