Friday, May 21, 2010

Book List Review

We've been working through the 100 Children's Books list and having a great time!

We are working through the books order for the most part, but we have to skip around as we are waiting for some of the books to come in.

We decided to revisit books that we are already familiar with on the list. It's been great sharing so many old favorites with D (age 3). He absoltely loved, "Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom." We own the book, but the girls keep it in their room. It was a great reminder to pull out some favorites to share with him.

We have used the list as a starting point to read books that aren't on the list, but are written by the same authors. Of course, one of our favorite authors is Mo Willems. We grabbed, "Knuffle Bunny" in addition to, "Don't let that Pigeon Drive the Bus," as well as a bunch of his easy readers to revisit. David Shannon is another one of our favorite authors. We loved reading, "Duck on a Bike," again as well as some new ones we have never read by David Shannon. And we grabbed some extra Froggy books by Jonathan London too! My little three year old, D, has loved the Froggy stories.

The girls loved, "George and Martha"! We all got a good laugh reading the short stories in the first book. Another fun find was, "Abuela". This book mixes some Spanish vocabulary in the story. I loved the illustrations in this book as well.

It's not going to take too long to get through the list, but there are plenty of lists to choose from!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Graduation

Our co-op ended with a very long lovely graduation night.

The entire K-5 crew learned how to sign the Lord's prayer and the 23rd Psalm, so they performed it for everyone.


Then it was time for each individual grade to have some time in the spotlight. First the class of kindergarteners, including my T, walked in for "graduation".



A local radio DJ (hubby to one of the wives) interviewed each kindergartener, asking what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Completely unprompted, my sweet little T (age 5) immediately responded, "a mommy".



K (age 7) recited a poem she wrote. Each second grader took a turn to recite.


Finally, a group photo of all of the hard working kiddos this year! It felt great to be done.

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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Great Britain

Our study of Great Britain was fun!

It was around the time of St. Patrick's Day, so we enjoyed incorporating that into our study!

We spent a lot of time studying knights and castles. The girls had a great time creating a lapbook about knights and castles. In fact, both girls decided to talk about what they learned in their lapbooks when we gave our presentations.



We created some British officers at our get together:



Then each child made a family shield that represented them.



I love the joy of watching my girls learn together and help one another.


Next it was time for outdoor games. We had a great time with a game called, "Queenie, Queenie." The child in the middle had to guess who had the ball behind their back.





Of course, not everyone wanted to play...


But we continued on with our games, playing a game simliar to chinese jumprope, but with words about the United Kingdom.




Then, it was time for some food...


 

And just in case you were wondering, the littlest guy was part of the action as well!

 

Another great country study concluded!

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100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know

When I went to the library last week, I realized that I was directionless. Our curriculum usually drives my library visit choices, but we are finished history for the year. So I wasn't really sure where to head and what to randomly grab.

I know our favorites and some good books and authors, but suddenly my checkout list decreased from about 60 or more books to less than 20.

Then, just in time I found this list of 100 Picture Books Everyone Should Know on the New York Public Library website. I printed it and decided we'd work through the list this month.

The list is below or you can see it on the site. I marked the ones that we have read before in bold. I was excited to realize that a lot of the books were part of our Galloping the Globe journey this year! It was neat to realize how many "random" books that we came across were on this list!

We'll let you know what we think as we go through the list!

1.ABUELA by Arthur Dorros,
2.ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY by Judith Viorst
3.ANANSI AND THE MOSS-COVERED ROCK by Eric A. Kimmel
4.ANDY AND THE LION by James Daugherty
5.BARK, GEORGE by Jules Feiffer
6.THE BOSSY GALLITO: A TRADITIONAL CUBAN FOLK TALE retold by Lucia M.Gonzalez; illustrated by Lulu Delacre
7.BREAD AND JAM FOR FRANCES by Russell Hoban; illustrated by Lillian Hoban
8.BROWN BEAR, BROWN BEAR, WHAT DO YOU SEE? by Bill Martin, Jr.; illustrated by Eric Carle

9.BRUNO MUNARI’S ABC by Bruno Munari
10.BUZ by Richard Egielski
11.CAPS FOR SALE; A TALE OF A PEDDLER, SOME MONKEYS AND THEIR MONKEY BUSINESS by Esphyr Slobodkina
12.THE CARROT SEED by Ruth Krauss; illustrated by Crockett Johnson
13.A CHAIR FOR MY MOTHER by Vera B. Williams
14.CHICKA CHICKA BOOM BOOM by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault; illustrated by Lois Ehlert

15.CLICK, CLACK, MOO : COWS THAT TYPE / by Doreen Cronin
16.COME ALONG, DAISY! by Jane Simmons
17.CORDUROY by Don Freeman
18.CURIOUS GEORGE by H. A. Rey
19.DINOSAUR ROAR! by Paul Stickland and Henrietta
20.DON’T LET THAT PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! by Mo Willems
21.DUCK ON A BIKE by David Shannon

22.FIRE TRUCK by Peter Sís
23.FREIGHT TRAIN by Donald Crews
24.FROGGY GETS DRESSED by Jonathan London

25.THE GARDENER by Sarah Stewart
26.GEORGE AND MARTHA by James Marshall27.GO AWAY, BIG GREEN MONSTER! by Ed Emberley
28.GOIN’ SOMEPLACE SPECIAL by Patricia McKissack
29.GOOD NIGHT, GORILLA by Peggy Rathmann
30.GOODNIGHT MOON by Margaret W. Brown; illustrated by Clement Hurd

31.GOSSIE by Dunrea Olivier
32.GRANDFATHER’S JOURNEY by Allen Say
33.HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON by Crockett Johnson
34.HARRY THE DIRTY DOG by Gene Zion ; illustrated by Margaret Graham

35.HENRY HIKES TO FITCHBURG by D. B. (Donald B.) Johnson
36.HORTON HATCHES THE EGG by Dr.Seuss,
37.HOW DO DINOSAURS SAY GOOD NIGHT? by Jane Yolen
38.I KISSED THE BABY! by Mary Murphy
39.IF YOU GIVE A MOUSE A COOKIE by Laura J. Numeroff
40.IT COULD ALWAYS BE WORSE: A YIDDISH FOLKTALE retold and illustrated by Margot Zemach
41.JOHN HENRY by Julius Lester; illustrated by Jerry Pinkney
42.JULIUS by Angela Johnson ; illustrated by Dav Pilkey
43.KITTEN’S FIRST FULL MOON by Kevin Henkes
44.LILLY’S PURPLE PLASTIC PURSE by Kevin Henkes
45.THE LINE-UP BOOK by Russo Marisabina
46.THE LITTLE RED HEN: AN OLD STORY by Margot Zemach
47.LON PO PO: A RED RIDING HOOD STORY FROM CHINA by Ed Young
48.LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE by Bernard Waber
49.MABELA THE CLEVER by Margaret Read MacDonald
50.MACHINES AT WORK by Byron Barton
51.MADELINE by Ludwig Bemelmans
52.MAISY GOES SWIMMING by Lucy Cousins
53.MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS by Robert McCloskey
54.MAMA CAT HAS THREE KITTENS by Denise Fleming
55.THE MAN WHO WALKED BETWEEN THE TOWERS by Mordicai Gerstein
56.MARTHA SPEAKS by Susan Meddaugh
57.MIKE MULLIGAN AND HIS STEAM SHOVEL by Virginia L. Burton
58.MILLIONS OF CATS by Wanda Gág
59.MISS NELSON IS MISSING! by Harry Allard and James Marshall
60.MR. GUMPY’S OUTING by John Birmingham

61.MUFARO’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS: AN AFRICAN TALE retold and illustrated by John Steptoe
62.MUNCHA! MUNCHA! MUNCHA! by Candace Fleming
63.MY FRIEND RABBIT by Eric Rohmann
64.THE NAPPING HOUSE by Audrey Wood
65.NO, DAVID! by David Shannon
66.OFF TO SCHOOL, BABY DUCK! by Amy Hest
67.OLD BLACK FLY by Jim Aylesworth
68.OLIVIA by Ian Falconer
69.OWEN by Kevin Henkes
70.PAPA, PLEASE GET THE MOON FOR ME by Eric Carle
71.PIERRE: A CAUTIONARY TALE by Maurice Sendak
72.THE POLAR EXPRESS by Chris Van Allsburg
73.PUSS IN BOOTS by Charles Perrault
74.THE RANDOM HOUSE BOOK OF MOTHER GOOSE: A TREASURY OF 386 TIMELESS NURSERY RHYMES by Arnold Lobel
75.ROUND TRIP by Ann Jonas
76.RUMPELSTILTSKIN by Paul O. Zelinsky
77.THE SNOWY DAY by Ezra Jack Keats

78.SPOTS, FEATHERS AND CURLY TAILS by Nancy Tafuri
79.THE STORY OF FERDINAND by Munro Leaf
80.THE STRAY DOG Marc, Simont
81.STREGA NONA by Tomie De Paola
82.SWIMMY by Leo Lionni
83.SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE by William Steig
84.THE TALE OF PETER RABBIT by Beatrix Potter
85.TAR BEACH by Faith Ringgold

86.TEN, NINE, EIGHT by Molly Bang
87.THERE WAS AN OLD LADY WHO SWALLOWED A FLY by Simms Taback
88.THE THREE BEARS by Paul Galdone
89.TRASHY TOWN by Andrea Griffing Zimmerman
90.THE TRUE STORY OF THE THREE LITTLE PIGS BY A. WOLF by John Scieszka
91.TUESDAY by David Wiesner
92.UPTOWN by Collier Bryan
93.THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR by Eric Carle
94.THE WHEELS ON THE BUS adapted and illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
95.WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak
96.WHERE’S SPOT? by Eric Hill

97.WHISTLE FOR WILLIE by Ezra Jack Keats
98.THE WOLF’S CHICKEN STEW by Keiko Kasza
99.YOKO by Rosemary Wells
100.ZOMO THE RABBIT: A TRICKSTER TALE FROM WEST AFRICA retold and illustrated by Gerald McDermott

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Our crazy Fridays

This is Friday morning. For now.

Four children: 7, 5, 3 and 10 months

One stroller.

One pack and play for a napping baby.

Three backpacks.

Two lunch boxes.

Two diaper bags with food for the morning, diapers, bottles, and a ton of bibs.

One bag with mommy's lesson plan and teaching supplies.


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This is every Friday morning. Arriving at co-op with everyone and everything in tow.

By 9 AM.

I had to capture it because it is now.

And one day I won't have to tote along so much.

Sometimes it is tough to cherish aspects of now. The lugging around all the "stuff" that comes with this stage is one of those aspects.

And I won't miss it.

And it is one of the big reasons I was ready for co-op to end. As much as we love it. I'll be glad to return in the fall when the pack and play doesn't have to return with me!

But I'll miss that precious baby who spent his mornings napping at co-op.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Studying France

France was our final stop this year. Of course, we went on our week long trip to the beach, so we didn't do a whole lot at home for this study.

We did, however, go to visit France...at Epcot. While there, we talked about France, ate some yummy French food, and took in the sites. THAT was about the total of our study, other then some great books!

Thankfully, our friends planned us an amazing day of fun, so we learned more about France at our get together!

We painted noodles for necklaces, using the Italian colors.




We also built Effiel Towers out of pretzel sticks. The kids used chocolate frosting and had a yummy and lovely time with this idea!




Even little, C, got into it...but without the frosting.

Then we headed outside for the Tour de France. We lined them all up on various moving objects. Some can ride a bike without training wheels, some with, some preferred scooters, and finally there was little D who used his plasma car.




Then we brought 'em all in to eat their Effiel Towers, some cheese, and parfaits.




Another great study!