Dress up day for book week

I love helping the kids with dress up costumes. This years school book character day they decided to go as Silky the flying cat and Mr Big nose from the Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton Treehouse books. The kids are obsessed with this series, they're fantastic, funny and creative and I can't recommend them enough as a read aloud book. Both have re-read all of the books to themselves since too- it's a great feeling hearing your kids laughing to themselves while reading.

The 65 storey tree house is due out in August- we can't wait!

You can find out more about the author and illustrator here

A book find

We went to the library yesterday and T was so excited over finding this book. A perfect pressie for Lego mad kids.

It combines his love of Lego with something that he's been curious about for a while- Star Wars. We all watched Return of the Jedi today. It's our favourite of the films and we thought it would be the one the kids would like most- with Jabba, Chewbacca, Yoda and the Ewoks. J and I worked out that we were 9 when we saw it first, they were a bit younger but there weren't that many scary bits.

It is a book I spent quite some time pouring over, Lego is the best and I have to admit ( like millions of others) to having a bit of a soft spot for lovely wee Yoda.

Lego and Star wars are fantastic in our ( me + hubby's) opinion so we had a great rainy family arvo- made all the nicer by the fact that only the tv in our room plays movies, so we all had to lie on the bed together to watch.

I bet he writes about it at school tomorrow.

Some of his favourite pages

I found a copy of the book on book depository for 

$31.80

M writes a book review

Recently I entered M in a competition with the family times magazine. The winners receive a book to review and keep. We won a copy of the very gorgeous, Henry's map. Here's the review M came up with (and I typed). It's published on the Family Times webpage here, an all round fun learning experience for her : )

I was very excited when Henry's Map by David Elliot came in the post for me.

"A place for everything and everything in its place"  is what the pig in this story says.

The story is about a pig called Henry who makes a map of the farm he lives on. It was so he could see where the buildings and animals on the farm should be. It's a funny book that will make you smile.

I liked the book because I also like drawing maps. I think the pictures of the farm animals are cute too.

This book would be a really good present for a girl or boy aged 5-8.

The only thing I would change is that I think it would've been good to have a rooster in the story. I think farms need a rooster to wake all of the animals up in the morning.

My Name is Mae. I am 6 years old and I live in St Albans in Christchurch. I like to do crafts, play outside with my brother and listen to music. I have just started reading Billie B Brown books and I think they're awesome. I also like Mum and Dad reading chapter books to us. Right now we're reading a book I borrowed off my teacher called The Giants and The Joneses by Julia Donaldson.

recent book scores

I took our family off to the Rangiora tip shop a month or so ago ( thanks again Max : ) ) I wouldn't normally travel that far but I won a bike on trade me so had to pick that up. I'm not sure how much these books were as I got a pile of things for $15.

I like this book of fun ideas, it's very thick so is bound to inspire more than once with its...

wooden plane ideas

stuffy lion instructions

 a cardboard ark and animals how to

and step by step guide to making a go cart!

 I also judged this book by its cover

T loves it

books books books

I get super excited about book fairs, here's a pile of about half of the bargains I got last weekend. The rest are under pillows, in and probably under beds and stashed in different places on their shelves. I spent $10 and came home with 35+ books for the  kids- happiness!

I dont think you can own too many books.

This is how the girl then spent most of her afternoon...

Both the mum and the book nerd in me were very happy.

Joining in with Max from http://www.blackbirdhasspoken.com/ forThe Op shop Show of ( even though it was a book fair). I don't think she'll mind : )

our favourite books at the moment

 The Littles by John Peterson. We finished this a week or so ago, the first chapeter book we read to our children aged 4 and 5 . They both happily sat through this. It's about a family of 'Littles' who live in the walls of a house and have adventures  : )

 

Mr Poppers Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. This is the chapter book we're reading now, the chapters are just the right length to keep the kids interest. Mr Popper gets sent penguins!

By Margaret Mahy, a funny classic that our kids ask to have read over and over and then chat about.

The boy loves this one, it's about a group of lower case letters who do up a fire engine and then go on to help the capital letters fight a fire and save the day!

Piggity- Wiggity Jiggity Jig  by Diana Neild. I love the rhyme and rhythm in this- it's very easy to read, lots of giggles and has a positive message.

Joining in with Stella's ( Golden Adventures of a very dark horse) Bubba Bookclub

don't throw that out- it's a dragon!

M's teacher gave her some books to read over the holidays. One of her favourites was this one called 'Don't throw that out'. It's about a resourceful little girl who rescues 'trash' to create a dragon.

I love it when our kids get excited about a book so I thought we'd take it a bit further and have some fun with it. We went through the book page by page and gathered up the things that the book character did.

We used an egg carton, some card tubing, a milk carton ( we used a small bottle for this bit) some orange sticky book cover, green card and green and red paint and brushes. I made the dragon while both kids directed me and kept me as close to the image in the book as possible. They painted it and added the red dots.

I used some paper tape I've had forever. Masking tape would work too as it can be painted.

We had lots of fun with this book and it was great seeing the kids excited faces and listening to them compare our dragon to the one pictured.

And the consensus..

" You did  a pretty good job mum"

 x

sound phones for reading

M's classroom has these and I'm making one each for the kids at home. They're called phonics phones, sound phones or reading phones. I love the idea and the theory behind them. A class set of them would be fantastic- does anyone now a plumber?!

More information found here  http://www.righttrackreading.com/phonicsphones.html

A phonics phone is a simple tube shaped like a ‘telephone’ receiver, often made from plastic PVC pipe. There are several different versions of these phones, however most are simple hollow tubes that allow the student to speak quietly in one end and hear their own voice through the other.  Students use the ‘phone’ to listen to their own voice as the practice reading. This device allows students to better ‘hear’ themselves when they speak quietly.

The phones are an ideal tool for phonemic awareness activities ( learning the 'sounds' of letters). The tube design funnels sound directly to the ear and tends to block out other background noise. Not only do the phones likely boost physical hearing they also directly focus the child on listening to and hearing sounds. When a child holds a phone, they intentionally listen to the sound coming out the earpiece. This direct focus on sound is vital to developing necessary phonemic awareness, the ability to hear, recognize and distinguish the sound structure of our language.

How to make one:

here's some more information about how to supprt you child as they learn to read:
http://missionforhealth.com.au/helping-your-child-as-they-learn-to-read

a gorgeous free e book

I came across this blog today and know that I will be a regular reader

"While it is important that children master specific skills in reading and writing, it is equally imperative that we raise children who love to read and write. Developing this balance between skill acquisition, and a love of learning is critical." Mariah Bruehl

blog: http://playfullearning.net/blog/

On the blog there is also this gorgeous free e book which is a a great read, download here: http://playfullearning.net/a-gift-for-you-playful-learning-guide-to-raising-lifelong-learners/

I've put it on my kindle for some Easter holiday reading ; )

a book advent

I didn't get around to making or buying our kids any sort of advent calendar this year. I've decided to make up a book advent for two weeks out instead. I like buying the kids books and as their birthdays are a week either side of Christmas Day I had a few aside as presents already. I'm waiting on the last two Christmas themed ones from https://www.bookdepository.co.uk.

Starting with the 12th of December I wrapped 12 books up separately, alternated them ( his and hers). and put a date sticker on each. I've seen this done before, with books that are just about Christmas- but I've wrapped a range of books- some picture books, a few simple chapter books for the girl and some non fiction titles too.

I'll stack them up next to the Christmas tree. They'll get turns opening one each night before bed. There's a special one on Christmas eve ( The Night Before Christmas) with new pjs too : )

I think we'll all enjoy this little routine. I also think the books will get the attention they deserve as I suspect if we gave them to them alongside the 'probably a bit more exciting toys' on Christmas day- they wouldn't!

our blog is a book!

EEEEEE! Exciting! Our book arrived in the post today. I had a really hard time getting it off T so I could have a good look at it! It's not perfect, I've noticed some text layout mistakes already but I don't really care. I used Blurb Booksmart online, it automatically converted our blog to a book layout. I was then able to add more pictures and text and do some editing. It's hardcover, 180 pages long and very satisfying to hold in my hands. I love that it is now something tangible, that it holds memories and that M and T might use with their children one day.

 

Here's Blurb's facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/BlurbBooks

children's books

 “You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be -
I have a mother who read to me.”
Strickland W. Gillilan

This post is for those who like to read to kids or give books as gifts.

I love reading to our kids and I like to see what others are reading too. Often if I come across a list of enjoyed kid's books I'll write the titles and authors down and look them up when I'm next at the library ( or, if it's a grown up book, I'll put it on my 'to read' list on http://www.goodreads.com) I think I'm sorted for book ideas for the nest 2 years!

We buy lots from http://www.bookdepository.co.uk and from http://www.scholastic.co.nz catalogues when I know I'm going to be at ( or near) a school for a while.

I choose children's books for lots of reasons. Some I remember from my own childhood, I like classic stories I feel that they should know, I'll choose books by authors that I know are great and funny stories that I think will make us laugh. I like books that have a nice rhythm or rhyme for reading out loud and stories that will teach them something. I'm also drawn to beautiful illustrations.

Some of these are ours and some are favourites that we keep getting out from the library. Our kids are 3 and 4.

My mum and Dad make me laugh by Nick Sharratt-this has a fun twist at the end. There's lots of high frequency words in this book so it's great for early readers

Willbee the Bumblebee by C Smith and M Thomson-gorgeous silliness. We like to play the cd that comes with it as it has cool sound effects.

The Nickle Nackle tree by Lynley Dodd- a favourite, especially when they were smaller, it has a lovely pattern and rhyme

The Tiger Who Came to Tea written and illustrated by Judith Kerr- love this one because it's just silly and heartwarming

Houdini the disappearing Hamster by Terence Blacker- you have to look for the little hamster hiding on each page- I wish you could get hamsters in NZ!

Welcome to the Zoo by Alison Jay- no text but beautiful detailed images our kids love and you can follow different characters through the book to see what they get up to

1001 Things to Spot Long Ago by Usbourne books- I have found T asleep with this one on his chest

The Doll's house Fairy by Jane Hay- a library favourite about a fairy that moves into a little girl's doll's house while her dad is sick in hospital

The Best Loved Bear by Diana Noonan- this one has a reassuring message.

Fairy Tales told by Berlie Doherty, iluustrated by Jane Ray- the pictures in this are gorgeous and it cost me 50c at a fair!

Dougal the Digger by Benedict Blathwayt- A heartwarming story with a page of lift the flaps fun

Dinosaurs Love UNderpants by C Freedman and B Cort- a silly, fun story with real dinosaur names and gorgeous colourful images