Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Chinaberry


There are lots of places I love to get books. One of my favorites was introduced to me a few years ago by a wonderful friend and fellow children's book lover. The company is Chinaberry. You can find them here. I have not bought anything from them recently, so I haven't been getting their catalogue as often as I would like, but it is amazing. Talk about a wonderful resource. They give some of the most thorough descriptions I have found on their books and they have amazing selections in each catalogue. Unfortunately, because they are a small scale company, their prices can't always compete with some of the discount retailers, but they do have a great outlet and they are a fantastic company to support. If price was something I never had to consider, I would shop Chinaberry religiously!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Mortimer's Christmas Manger


I can't believe I haven't already posted about this book. Mortimer's Christmas Manger by Jane Chapman and Karma Wilson is a fantastic book! Mortimer is a little mouse that hates his hole. He thinks it is dirty and creepy. One day he finds the perfect little house, but it is filled with little people. He figures out they are not real, so every night he moves them out. Unfortunately, someone always puts them back. On Christmas Eve he overhears the people of the house telling a story about the people and the little house and he realizes that they are talking about Baby Jesus. Mortimer makes a decision and gets sweet results. I love this different take on a story including the nativity. I'm sure you will too! Plus the illustrations are great!

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Christmas Mice


We added a new Christmas board book to our collection, by Richard Scary. It is called Christmas Mice. On the back of the book it says it was originally published in 1965 as The Santa Claus Book. I think it was one of the old, old Golden Books. It would be so fun to get my hands on some of those! However, the newly published version is a great second best. The story is simple, the pictures amazing, the perfect read aloud for a toddler! The story tells about two mice who are the first ones awake on Christmas. They go around the house exploring all of the wonderful presents Santa left and wonder if Santa forgot them. Do you think Santa would forget them?

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Olive the Other Reindeer


We try to add a few new Christmas books to our collection each year and Olive the Other Reindeer, by by Vivian Walsh and J.otto Seibold, is one that we added this year. I had heard lots of great things about this book and it did not disappoint. The illustrations are really the magic of this book. They are simply amazing. Olive is actually a dog that gets a little mixed up with the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Olive thinks that instead of "all of the other reindeer" the song says "Olive, the other reindeer". It is a fun story of how Olive helps the reindeer.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Donuts

Our family discovered a fun new tradition this week. When I was looking through the ads on Sunday, I noticed that K-mart had something called a "Mini-donut" maker on sale. I have been dying to try making homemade donuts as a holiday tradition, but I have to admit, I am scared to death of frying things with oil. I have never attempted it. I have always been scared of hot oil, but a few years ago my husband had a cousin who's wife was severely burned in a fluke oil fire when they were cooking scones. Since then I have been petrified of it. Anyway, I went to K-mart to check it out and sure enough it is a super cool device. It only cost me $16.99 and it bakes the mini donuts instead of frying them, so they are slightly more heathly and they only take 4 minutes to make! PERFECT for a family of small children. I did a search looking for recipes because it only comes with one, which we thought was great, but I was looking for a chocolate one, and several people complained that the donuts weren't good. If you are expecting a Krispy Kreme, you're not going to get it. These are cake donuts. They taste a lot like the little powdered hostess ones that the kids love, but better because they are hot and fresh. Anyway, if you are looking for a fun thing to try with your family, I would definitely recommend a mini-donut maker!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Wombat Divine, by Mem Fox


If you have never read any of Mem Fox's books, you need too! She has been a favorite author of mine for a long time. I ordered this particular book from one of my Scholastic book orders when I was teaching. I hadn't heard the story, but knew that I loved Mem Fox. It was too religious for me to use in my classroom, but I love the story and love reading it to my children each year. This year it has been so fun to read from my collection of Christmas books with my nearly 3 year old daughter, because it is the first year she is really starting to grasp the stories. This one was a real hit. We read it 3 times in a row before she went to bed tonight. It is the story of a little wombat that is excited to be able to be in the Nativity play for the first time. He volunteers for every part, but nothing is right for him, he is always too big or too sleepy, or too clumsy, until the very end when his friends discover the perfect part for wombat.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Who's Coming to Our House


Who's Coming to Our House, by Joseph Slate, is another great Christmas board book for really young children. It is the story of the animals in the barn preparing for the birth of baby Jesus. Little kids will love the animals and the rhyming text and parents get the chance to talk about the Christmas story after the read the book to their children. It is the perfect way to introduce the story of the birth of the Savior in a very simple, child-like way.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Favorite Christmas Board Book


Christmas in the Manger, by Nola Buck and Felicia Bond, is my favorite Christmas board book for really small children. The illustrations are wonderful and it has a great rhyming text that is cute, but not too cute. The story keeps the spirit of the real reason for Christmas, but is not preachy or too difficult for small children. It is the perfect Christmas book for a baby or small toddler!

Monday, November 30, 2009

What I've Been Doing


My husband's extended family has a big Christmas party each year the day after Thanksgiving. One of Kyle's cousin's had these darling crocheted flowers in her girls' hair. She told me she had just made them on the drive to the party. AMAZING! Anyway, she told me where to find the directions at Little Birdie Secrets. I gave it a try Saturday night and this is what I came up with to match my daughter's Christmas dress. They didn't turn out near as cute as Kyle's counsin's, but I am hoping if I work on them a little, I can get them down a little better. I sewed on the buttons, because I was having trouble with changing yarn colors and getting it to look right. Then I just used embroidery floss to sew on some bobby pins. They looked really cute in my daughter's pigtails on Sunday.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thankful


In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I would share a book I am thankful for. My mother-in-law gave me this book for Christmas a few years ago. I had wanted it so bad and was so excited to get it! Mary Englebreit is one of my favorite illustrators and her huge book of nursery rhymes is amazing! This book sits on one of my end tables in my front room so I see it everyday and we read from it regularly. When I was in college and taking classes about teaching children to read, I remember hearing about how important nursery rhymes were in helping young children develop pre-reading skills. Professors stressed that nursery rhymes were something that society was failing to teach their children and it made reading much more difficult. I thought that was silly. Nursery rhymes seemed so lame, there was so much other great literature, why waste time on nursery rhymes. Several things have changed my mind. I have discovered that there are amazing nursery rhyme collections available that make reading nursery rhymes much more exciting. More importantly, I have seen how reading and re-reading nursery rhymes helps my children. Unlike other stories, nursery rhymes are quick, uncomplicated and easy to remember. Young children love the singsong beat and rhymes. As you read them aloud, children listen and then as they become more familiar, chant right along with you. It makes reading aloud so fun. Later, the ability they have developed to recognize rhymes, helps them learn to read. I am thankful for my big red book of Mary Englebreit nursery rhymes and the way it sits in a very visible place in my front room and reminds me daily to take advantage of the little minutes here or there in my day and read a nursery rhyme or two to my kids.

P.S. I just discovered that there is now a Mary Englebreit Nursery Stories book that is full of fairy tales like "The Three Little Pigs". Guess what I plan on adding to my Christmas list!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

A Turkey for Thanksgiving


I really don't have a lot of Thanksgiving books and I haven't even heard many that I have liked, but I found a great one this weekend. I was at Barnes and Noble and happened to see A Turkey for Thanksgiving, by Eve Bunting. I had never seen this book before and picked it up because I knew Bunting is a good author and because the illustrations were amazing. I couldn't resist buying it and when I showed it to my kids this morning it was a big hit. I think I have read it aloud at least 4 times today. My daughter loved it and even my older son liked it because the librarian at school had read it to his class, so he knew the "punchline" for the story before we started, which meant he got to know something before his sister, which always makes him happy. The book is the story of Mr. and Mrs. Moose who host Thanksgiving dinner for all their animal friends. Mrs. Moose is sad because they never have a turkey, so Mr. Moose tells her that he will find one for her. It is about his search and has a very cute twist at the end. I enjoyed this story so much that it has made me think that I need to have a collection of Thanksgiving stories. If anyone else knows of any great ones, post a comment and share!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Letterpress by Quickutz


I don't know if anyone has actually seen one of these. Evidently they are brand new, but I SOOO want one. They look like the coolest thing! I am kicking myself that I have already burned through all of my birthday money! I think letterpress prints are the classiest looking things ever! I guess in the past the equipment has been incredibly expensive, like in the thousands of dollars, so this is relatively inexpensive, unfortunatley, I don't have their die cutting machine that it says is required for it to work, so I would need the combo set, so it is still more money than I have to just go out and buy. Can you imagine all the Christmas card possibilities! If you want to read more about it, go here.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Olivia the Pig


When I turned 25 years old, I was team teaching first grade with one of my best friends. As a birthday gift, my friend gave me the book Olivia by Ian Falconer. That was 8 years ago, at that point I didn't have any children of my own and I had no idea how important Olivia would be! Now I have a nearly 3 year old daughter who I think may actually be Olivia! She loves the books. I am so glad my friend gave me the first book clear back then because otherwise I probably would not have begun reading it to my daughter and I would have missed out on so much! If you haven't heard of her before, Olivia is a pig with a whole lot of spunk! She is full of creativity and imagination and causes lots of trouble. She also has a whole lot of advice about brothers. Nickelodeon has made a fantastic cartoon series of Olivia that we DVR regularly at our house. It is a little tricky to find, in our neck of the woods it is only on NickJr in the afternoons during nap time, so we just have our DVR set to record all the episodes. If you have a daughter who likes dress ups and can occassionally find herself in some trouble, you need to read Olivia together!

Monday, November 16, 2009

The Mitten by Jan Brett


Jan Brett is one of those authors you can always count on. Every one of her books is amazing. She is a brilliant artist with an eye for detail. We have her book, The Mitten, in board book format and it is the favorite of the moment for my almost 3 year old daughter. She loves animals and this book is full of them. It is the story of a little boy whose grandmother knits him some white mittens. She warns him that they will get lost too easily in the snow, but he insists. Sure enough, he loses one immediately, but the forest animals love the mitten. One by one they squeeze into the mitten together until it is stretched all out. In the end, the little boy finds the mitten and takes it back home, but his grandmother can't figure out why it is now huge. One of the great things about Jan Brett books is that she usually puts an extra illustration to the side of the page that is some sort of hint of what will happen on the next page. Kids love to look at the mini illustration and try to figure out what will happen next. It is great practice for getting them to learn about making predictions. While your kids are fascinated with the first snowfall, take some time to read a book like the mitten that captures that interest!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Penderwicks


A few months ago, a friend told me that I absolutely needed to read this book. She promised I would love it. She was right! I haven't read it aloud to my kids yet. My girls are too young for chapter books yet and we are in the middle of the Harry Potter series with my son, so we won't be reading any new chapter books for awhile, but The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall is outstanding. The story is about 4 sisters who befriend a neighbor boy. It is what I would consider an old-fashioned story. The sisters love each other and spend time together, not to say that they don't have conflicts, but for the most part they work together and understand the importance of family. Girls would love it and I think you could get away with reading it to boys because one of the main characters is a boy. As far as ages go, you could easily read it aloud to a first or second grade child and I think they could read it on their own by late second grade or third grade.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Perfect "keep the kids busy" Activity


I saw a post somewhere on the internet about doing this activity. I wish I could remember where I saw it because I would keep going to that blog, but this is the greatest activity to keep kids busy. My 7 year old son and his friends will work on building these creations for hours and my daughter, who is not quite three, is even entertained trying to figure out how her brother is doing this. All it takes is a bunch of toothpicks and marshmallows. Both things are cheap and easy to store. Show kids how to use them to make triangles and squares and let them go. If you are doing this activity with younger kids, you will need to supervise some because the toothpicks are kind of sharp.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

My Favorite Board Books











My sister requested that I do a post about some of my favorite board books, the ones I would buy first if I were starting over with my first baby. The first book I think every child needs to have is a copy of Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown. We also love In a Big Red Barn, by the same author. I believe the most important type of book to read to very young children is Nursery Rhymes. There's a lot of research out there saying how important nursery rhymes are for beginning readers, so kids should be familiar with them from the very beginning. It doesn't really matter what versions you choose, but my own personal favorites are by Mary Englebreit and Tomie daPaola. You should also have a couple of counting books. Some of our favorites are Doggies, by Sandra Boynton and One Hungry Monster by Susan O'Keefe. ABC books are also important. Again, it doesn't matter which ones you pick, but in my opinion, Dr. Suess's ABC is a classic. Next, make sure you have several books that have rhyming, sing song text. Sandra Boynton's Snuggle Puppy is wonderful! Several others that are personal favorites are Mrs. Wishy-Washy, by Joy Cowley, Peek-a-WHO? by Nina Laden, and Is Your Mama a Llama, by Steven Kellogg and as many Dr. Suess books as you can get. I beleive it is never too early to read to your kids. I start with mine from the very beginning and I do my absolute best to try and read some with them each day. Reading out loud to young children every day is the very best thing you can do to help them be successful in school. It doesn't matter if it is the very same book every day. In fact, I try to read nursery rhymes to my 5 month old almost every day. I know how hard this is, but our natural instinct is to take the books away from babies and toddlers because they chew on them and we are afraid they might ruin them. That is part of how little ones learn to love books. I'm not saying you should give them your very best, expensive books, but you need to make sure that you have at least 10 or so books that your child can have that you don't care if they chew on or ruin. One of our copies of Goodnight Moon, has no cover and is beaten to death, but we still read that copy regularly, because that is the one my kids love.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Fantastic Thanksgiving Projects for Kids

You definitely need to check this out! So many great ideas all in one place!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Thankful Turkeys


For Family Home Evening last night we made "Thankful Turkeys". I got the idea from here. I loved her idea of a turkey you could use over and over, but I knew there was no way I would be able to do that project this year with a new baby, so I used her pattern as a starting place and made each family member his/her own turkey that could go in our scrapbook. I premade the turkeys after the kids were in bed Sunday night. I made 4 of them and it took maybe and hour or an hour and a half. Cutting out the feathers took the longest time. I traced a peanuts lid and cup overlapping to make the body and then used the Roots and Wings feather pattern for the "gobble" and tried to eyeball my own feather pattern in the size I needed by looking at the shape she used. I would have just used her pattern, but my printout of it was much smaller and I don't have a copier that I can enlarge it one, so I improvised. I got the pieces all glued onto the black cardstock and let them dry overnight (I just used elmer's glue because it was easy and I had tons of it). As we were leaving for school I showed the kids the turkeys and told them we would be writing things we were thankful for on them later ( I was hoping if I talked about it my daughter would start to understand, so she could come up with some things on her own). My daughter surprised me by immediately telling me she was thankful for lip gloss (you have no idea how much we go through lately!). Anyway, it really helped to talk about it through the day. By the time we got to Family Night, all they had to do was put the things they were thankful for on the feathers. My son was able to write his own and loved using a Sharpie. My daughter told me what to write and pointed to which color feather she wanted it written on.

Turkey Time


My almost 3 year old daughter loves art projects. Each time I decide to take the time to do one with her, I think why don't I do this more often. She could spend hours cutting and gluing, if I had the time to supervise it. Today we had some time, so I decided we would work on a Turkey. This was so simple to do and she loved it. Her favorite thing to do is glue and she loves to squeeze out tons of glue, so this was the perfect thing for her because you need quite a bit of glue to get the feathers to stick.

Here's a list of supplies you need:
glue
paper plate
feathers
2 orange pipe cleaners
colored construction paper
2 buttons

First we traced a cup onto brown paper. I cut it out and we glued a red feather for the "gobble" and an orange triangle for the beak. We glued on black buttons for the eyes. This makes the head. Set it aside to dry. Next have the child color the paper plate. Then let the child dump tons of glue on the plate in a horseshoe shape along the outside edges of the plate. Then let them go to town sticking feathers in the glue. They might have to add more glue as they go along. When they have as many feathers as they want, cut out a oval shape that will cover the rest of the paper plate and very ends of the feathers and glue it down on the plate. Glue the head so it overlaps the body and the feathers. Your plate will be sort of a wet mess at this point, but once it dries it will be fine. Use some wire cutters to cut the pipe cleaners in half (don't use scissors, I've done that before and it seriously messes up your scissors). Punch two holes in the bottom of the turkey where you want the feet. Fold one pipe cleaner over through the first hole and twist so it stays and hangs down. About halfway down twist another pipe cleaner so that you end up with a fork shape. This makes one foot. Do the same thing with the other 2 pipe cleaners for the second foot. You're left with a darling turkey! We added a bow in the end just for fun.

Monday, November 9, 2009

David Shannon




David Shannon is one of my all time favorite authors. Everything he writes is wonderful. I think his most well-known books are his "David" books, however, he has written several other fantastic books. The first book I ever read of his is A Bad Case of the Stripes. This is the story of a girl who cares too much about what others think. She decides what foods she likes and dislikes based on what is popular. Something magical happens that makes her realize that it is okay to be different. When I was teaching school I read this book to my students every year. Now we read it regularly at our house. It is a simple, funny story that teaches a significant lesson that both adults and children need to be reminded of regularly. A Bad Case of the Stripes is a longer story than any of the other David Shannon books I have read, but the rest of his books I will be reviewing are ones that can be read to all ages. They are quick and silly and never have too many words on a page.
Alice the Fairy, is perfect for the little princess in your life. It is about a little girl who is telling the reader all about her rules for being a fairy. As you might guess, her "fairyhood" involves a lot of mischeif and troublemaking.
Duck on a Bike is the story of a duck who is sure he can ride a bike. The other farm animals are not so sure how they feel about a duck on a bike. This book is so silly that your can't help but love it!
Anyone who has ever had a puppy needs the book Good Dog Fergus. Fergus is a west highland terrier who doesn't exactly do what he is told. Pet owners will definitely identify with this book.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Create

Create I know this has been posted by tons of people, but I could watch it a million times. I think it provides the encouragement that every mother or teacher needs. Plus, it helps me realize why I enjoy things like crafting and cooking so much!

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More


I Ain't Gonna Paint No More, by Karen Beaumont, is one of those great picture books that grabs whatever child hears it. A friend gave us this book a year or two ago and it has been well-loved, but we had forgotten about it over the last few months. I pulled it out this afternoon and was reading it with my two year old and within a few minutes my 7 year old was sitting on the couch next to us filling in the rhyming words and he had informed me just today that he was too old to be interested in picture books. I Ain't Gonna Paint No More is a rhyming, sing-song sort of book that involves a little boy painting a lot of places he shouldn't! The story has so much rhythm that it even works for reading aloud to babies, unfortunely, I don't think it comes in a board book. Check it out, your kids will love it!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Great Read Aloud


One of my favorite read aloud books for kids is Emily Jenkins, Toys Go Out. The book is written in chapters, but each chapter is its own short story. The friend that recommended the book to me described it as a book version of Disney's Toy Story. The toys that live in the child's room are given personalities and their dialogue is a riot! If I remember right, my son was in kindergarten when I read it aloud to him. The chapters are really long, so we couldn't always finish one each night, his attention span wasn't that long, but the story kept both of us laughing and an older child would have no problem with the length of the chapters. This is another book that would appeal to either boys or girls, which is one of the things I love about it.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Thankfulness


I was blog hopping last weekend and found a link to the greatest idea. Find the link here. The activities are perfect for a family with younger kids. I have a 7 year old, a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 month old and both my 7 year old and my 2 year old can participate together. I'm always looking for great ideas for Thanksgiving activities. I would really like to make Thanksgiving more significant for my family. I feel like gratitude is something we can always use more of. What kinds of great family traditions do you have for November?

Books for Boys


My oldest child is a 7 year old boy. I love to read and I especially love children's books. I make it a point to try and stay up to date on what's out there for kids to read, but I have struggled to find things for my son to read that will draw him in. Several books have saved me. I thought I would share them, for anyone else that is struggling to find great books for beginning readers, particularly ones that will interest boys. In my opinion, the best book series around for beginning readers is The Mercy Watson Series, by Kate DiCamillo. This is a series of beginning chapter books that include color pictures on every page. The text is not dumbed down for the beginning reader and the best part is that the stories are hilarious! They are not gender specific, they easily interest both boys and girls and they won't make the parent want to poke their eyes out! They cost a little more than some beginning reader books, but there are some great deals on amazon. I promise they are worth the money!