"How I Became a Pirate" Pre-K Book Club

I started a summer book club for my 4 1/2 year old daughter and some of her friends. We're meeting once a week through the summer. Each time we will read a book, do a few activities, and have a snack. Yesterday was the first meeting and it was FUN!
We read the book "How I Became a Pirate" by Melinda Long, illustrated by David Shannon. The kids all repeated Braid Beard's (the pirate captain's) instructions as though they were the crew.
A pirate crew needs proper attire, so we made ourselves some pirate hats following these instructions.
Next we played Captain, Captain, Pirate (Duck, Duck, Goose) on the trampoline.
A sword is very important to a pirate, so the children all painted a sword made out of the free paint sticks from Home Depot. I used a large paint stick for the blade and glue gunned half of a small paint stick for the hilt.
In the beginning of the book, the boy Jeremy Jacob is making sand castles when he notices the pirates approaching the shore. We made sand castles out of rice krispy treats. This was really fun. I spread out a rectangle of Press 'N Hold paper on the table and gave them each a good amount of Rice Krispy treat to play with. I greased their hands so it wouldn't stick to the treats. They molded and snacked.
The whole morning was really fun!

Hooray America!

My kids love learning about America, and I thought I'd share some of our favorite things that have taught us about our country.

Liberty's Kids

I bought this set of 6 DVDs when they were on sale some time last year, and the kids have loved them.  They have learned so much about the revolutionary war from watching them.  Last year they were so inspired by them that they created a club called the "Rescue Kids Club" who's purpose was to plan and perform historical plays.  (Yes, the name doesn't fit, but I wasn't in charge).  They planned a whole "patriotical" play (I always laughed when my daughter said that) with written scripts that included my son and his friend facing off as General Howe and General Washington, plus speeches by Abigail Adams and Betsy Ross. There was also to be an intermission with refreshments and a parade.  Alas, we were out with pneumonia for 6 weeks last summer and the kids never had the chance to perform it for us, and now those dear friends have moved out of the state. Boo.  But, the point of all this rambling is that the DVDs are great.

Stack the States

This is a great app for the iphone or ipad.  My kids love it.  They have learned a lot about the states, including capitals, bordering states, landmarks, and the shape of the states. My 6 year old was skipping rocks with his grandpa the other day, and held up one rock and said "Hey grandpa!  This rock looks like New Hampshire!" and it did.  He also likes to find states in pieces of his cut up pancakes.

"From Sea to Shining Sea" compiled by Amy L. Cohn

This is a great book!  It's a "treasury of American Folklore and Folk Songs" illustrated by great artists.  I highly recommend checking it out of the library or seeing if you can get a copy on amazon.

Wooden States Puzzle by Melissa and Doug

My kids just enjoy putting this together.  They also like to reference it when they're playing "stack the states".

Scrambled States of America card game

The game is simple to play and my 6 year old loves it.  It helps them get familiar with state capitals and nicknames and bordering states.

Bill Harley Stories in the Car

During the summer, I know a lot of people go on road trips with their kids, and I thought I would share one of our favorite things to listen to in the car.  He's a storyteller, and his name is Bill Harley.  He tells very funny stories about growing up, and the kids love him.  There are a few stories that use words like "stupid" and "hate" a bit too much, but usually his stories are very funny.  The kids like listening to them over and over again, and grownups enjoy them too.  You can find his stories on iTunes. He has song albums, but what you want are the audiobooks. They're between 3 and 4 dollars each, which isn't too bad.  You do get just one long track for some reason though, instead of the stories being split up into different tracks, but this has never bothered us.  My kids absolute all-time favorite is "The Battle of the Mad Scientists".  It is full of delightful silliness.  Other favorites include "Weezie and the Moon Pies", and "Cool in School", which has my husband's favorite story, "Zanzibar".  He used to listen to it when he was a kid.  So, try them out, and let me know what you think. But I'm not refunding your money if you don't like them, just so you know.

Fun with Alphabet Cookies

Last week Joshua and Maren went to a Fine Arts camp in the mornings, so I got to spend some quality time with my Christopher.  We've been working on sounding out simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, and decided to practice them while we made sugar cookies.

Maren probably made cookies with me fifty times before she turned four and a half (yes, I have a problem), but I don't think I had ever made cookies with just Christopher (poor third child), so he had a lot of fun cracking the eggs,  putting the ingredients in, and clicking on the mixer.

We rolled out the dough and then decided what word we wanted to make.  We said the word slowly and he figured out what letter we needed, found the right cookie cutter, and cut it out.  He lasted about 5 words and then was too tired to do any more, so he just cut out whatever shapes he wanted to.

When the cookies were done, we let them cool and ate a few.  I decided not to frost them, since it turns out kids still like sugar cookies just fine without frosting.  The next day, we did more activities with the cookies.  I would spell a word, like "CAT", and then take away the "C", put an "S" in front and then he would sound out "SAT".  We did lots of rhyming words that way.

Of course, it would've been much easier to just buy alphabet cookies or cereal at the store and do this activity, but we had a lot of fun making cookies and memories together.

Summer Reading Charts 2011

I love summer reading!  I have fond memories growing up of summer trips to the library, finding a shady spot outside to read, or spending hours in my room with a good book and a bag of candy (bad, I know, but that's how it is).  I don't remember if we had reading charts every summer growing up, but I do remember one summer when my mom was handing out prizes to Emily and Greg (my older siblings) for reading and her telling me that I was too little.  Oh, the pain!  Emily got a calligraphy set, and I don't think I even knew what that was, but it was big and I didn't get one.  I apologize to my mother that I don't remember if she did reading charts any of the other years, but that's the memory that stuck with me.  (And now you also know why my handwriting is not as nice as my sister's.)

Anyhoo, I really like making summer reading charts for our kids. Last year we had game board type charts, and this year, well, I don't know what to call it.  I guess it's kind of a "pick your prize" game.  Let me show you what I did.

First, I went to the local parent-teacher store and bought 3 packs of summer themed cut-outs.

I then printed up summer reading coupons that can be turned in for 50 or 100 points on their myjobchart.com accounts, ice cream, a prize from a prize basket, or a new book.  I made eight 50 point coupons, seven 100 point coupons, 6 ice creams, 3 new books, and 6 prizes from the prize basket for each child.

I folded the coupons and taped them on the front of the cut-outs. I made 30 for each child.

I taped the cut-outs on to the wall in our hallway and put the child's initial on the back so they could see which ones were their's to choose from.

I made a beach scene on the opposite side of the hallway that they can put the cut-out on after they pull the coupon off.

Each time a child finishes a book, they get to choose one of the cut-outs that has their initial on it, take off the coupon, and put it by their figure on the other wall.  The goal is to fill up the whole scene by the end of the summer.  I don't even know if they'll all fit, but it should be fun.  For Maren, a book has to be 150 pages to count, Joshua's have to be at least 60, and Christopher just has to read a bob book to me or do a reading activity.

The kids are really excited to start reading.  Maren told me that she gets a funny feeling in her tummy every time she walks by it and she just wants to start now.  I think it will do a good job motivating the kids to read. Maren doesn't really need help in that department, but Joshua does, and Christopher is just starting to read the Bob books, so he needs some motivation to persevere through each book.

With Maren, because she already reads so much, I'm going to write different genres or specific books on the back of her cut-outs that she must read to get that coupon to help her branch out from the fantasy books.  I'll have her read a couple biography, poetry, history, and contemporary realistc fiction books this summer.

I wish I could sit and read a hundred books this summer, but unfortunately that's not going to happen. Maren once told me "Mom, I'm sorry that I get to sit here and read so much and you just have to work".  Yup.  I'm sorry too.  Enjoy it while you can little girl.

Summer Reading List (ages 8-11)

At church, I plan bi-weekly activities for 8-11 year old girls, and for this past activity the girls brought favorite books to share to put together a list for summer reading.  We also talked about the importance of choosing good books, and to put books down if we feel uncomfortable reading them.  I thought I would share the list they came up with, although a few of these books I wouldn't have my 8 year old read yet, but will keep in mind for the future.  Also, as a side note, I find commonsense.org a good place to check up on books that I'm not familiar with to see about age appropriateness for my kids.  

The Treasure Seekers by E. Nesbit

Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit

The Phoenix and the Carpet by E. Nesbit

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Beauty by Robin McKinley

Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon Hale

Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

The Witch of Blackbeard Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred D. Taylor

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

The Indian in the Cupboard by Lynn Reid Banks

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck

A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck

Ida B. by Katherine Hannigan

The Boys Start the War by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flannagan

The Doll People by Ann Martin

The Dark is Rising Series by Susan Cooper

The Chronicles of Prydain series by Lloyd Alexander

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Half Magic by Edward Eager

Septimus Heap by Angie Sage

Okay, I added a few there at the end, just because.  We also made bookmarks.  The girls loved this activity.  I bought cute paper pads at Hobby Lobby and they were the perfect size when cut in half.  The girls added stickers and ribbons.  I also bought thick ribbon that the girls could just cut a piece off of to make a ribbon bookmark.  They all went home with several bookmarks for their summer reading books.  

For treats we had gummy "book"worms and smarties

showing off the finished product