Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Dragon Slayers' Academy

Wednesday, November 17, 2010
I remember mentioning that we are now reading a new chapter series.  This chapter book series is called Dragon Slayers' Academy by Kate McMullan.  Most chapter series books now a days do not require you to read in sequential order but we found book 1 and began with that.  When we finished, MD happened to pick up book #14 during our library visit (we go twice a week after he gets out of school to pass the time before we pick up MG).  They had a blast reading book #14 because it went in detail on how to speak Pig-Latin.!

You see, Wiglaf, the main character of the story in book #1 goes off to Dragon Slayers' Academy to become a somebody -- a hero.  His parents agree, hoping he will being gold to the family (because apparently, dragons have gold hidden in their caves and if you slaye one, you can keep the gold!). Wiglaf is a kind young boy, with 11 brothers who torment him, so he finds comfort in speaking to the family pig.  While heading to the school, Wiglaf and his pig, Daisy, run into a "not so wise" wizard, who puts a spell on Daisy and now she speaks Pig-Latin!

This is a great series!  We have decided to go back and read the books in order -- it's easier to keep track that way.  We've read 1-5 and looking for #6 still!  Just this weekend, we finished 7 and 8.  They are now interested in learning more about knights, castles, and dragons!  So Saturday morning, while daddy had to go into work (don't get me started!), we began building our castle... out of recycled materials!



More to come.....

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Sunday, September 19, 2010

Our Weekend

Sunday, September 19, 2010
was very simple... and definitely needed.
Sometimes I feel like we are all over the place and I am always trying to catch my breathe!  Do you  feel that way?  So this weekend, I had a few activities in mind, but I did not hold myself to them in case the children had other plans.  We sort of went with the flow...  (I finally finished the wedding I've been working on - yahoo!  Coffee is my new best friend!)

Our favorite activities were from today -- reading our books, playing games, and completing a fall art projects.  I saw this project here and HAD to try it with the children!  It reminded me of projects I did in elementary school -- remember the ones where you flattened out flowers, waited for them to dry, then ironed them between wax papers and made bookmarks out of them for Mother's Day?!

It looked simple enough... but shaving the crayons with scissors was a bit harder than I expected.  M&M did their best but E got a bit frustrated.  I was not worried he would cut his fingers because the scissors I gave him are pretty dull.  Regardless, it was a difficult task for him.  Even MD had a hard time shaving fast enough for his normal pace so towards the end he asked for my help.

MG was not getting the results she wanted.  She wanted to do so many colors but didn't know if she could handle the scrapping much longer!  In the end, she stuck with 3 colors.
This is E's -- with my help.
Then we ironed !  After E's I realized that all I had to do was put the hot on and take it off -- not really iron the wax papers! The crayons melted in no time!
After the wax papers cooled off, they traced their leaves....

Then cut.
He had to try it out too!
Then we took it a step further...  I always like to incorporate writing whenever I can!
So they each took a word and wrote it out:  "Fall is Here"
Then we hung the leaves on their bedroom window!  I thought it turned out so nice!
After reading a few chapters of Magic Tree House, we played a game of Scrabble.  We didn't follow the rules exactly.  We just made sure that the words we put together were actual words!  This is the same game from my childhood -- yes, of course my mom still had it!  She keeps "almost" everything!  They did fairly well.  M&M were on the same team.  They each had their own tiles, but they helped each other out.  MD mostly made 3 and 4 letter words.
He disappeared while MG was making her word and came back with this can.  It's the can I made for him full of kindergarten sight words.  He felt they would be helpful to him.  By all means, use your resources!  We use this can at least a couple of times a week to see what words he can read on his own.  Each time we play, he chooses a color and we only read those color words.
This little one stayed with us through most of the game but got bored quickly...  Although he always finds things to do to entertain himself!  He's being a fierce dinosaur her!  (Although I won't ruin it for him and let him know that he's too cute to be fierce!)  
That was out weekend... hope you had a great one too!  Next weekend will not be this quiet... a birthday party is on the calendar and a possible outing to Half Moon Bay?!  We also have a few gifts to work on for Cousin Peter who is turning 6 soon!!!!

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Sunday, June 27, 2010

Today...

Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010

We went on a treasure hunt at the library!  (I spent all morning getting ready for our camping trip so the children needed a break from "my" errands so they could do something else!  Geez, what's wrong with smog checks, Target, bank visits, and Costco?  I just don't get these children.  They are so picky!).
The library had a treasure hunt to kick off the summer reading program...

Upon arriving, they made a pirate decoder along with a pirate hat and eye patch:
Arr...  Aye Matey!!!!  (He loved that patch!  He cried everytime it fell off and made he put it back on immediately.  You would think he was bothered by it being on his eye!  At one point he dropped it near a bigger child sitting at the computer.  Somehow when she moved, she stepped on his eye patch.  Wow, you should have heard his cry afterwards!  "That person she tep (he often leaves out the s sound in some words) on my eye patch!"  I had to make him another one pronto!
Then they started to decode the first clue:
Arr!!!  He wasn't too interested in decoding:
So she and I did most of the work!
While they had a sword fight!
Eventually, we made it to the "X" marks the spot -- where they were able to pick their prize!
And there you have it -- 3 hardworking, no 1 hardworking 2 free loading brothers... 3 pirates who chose a lolly as their final reward/treasure!
Well worth running around the library today!  Then it was back to getting ready for the camping trip with Jim and Clare.  Vince was out all day videographing AND photographing a wedding. So I was on my own to gather all the supplies and pack up the car.  We are leaving first thing in the morning.  Good thing the camp site is only an hour away!  I wonder if sleeping ALL DAY is an okay camping activity???

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Friday, June 11, 2010

Space...

Friday, June 11, 2010
This week's book and today's art activity:
Planet, Stars, and Galaxies -- National Geographics
This book is incredible!  The photos are so colorful and E loves opening it up! "This is my favorite, mommy!" he proclaims.   So, we thought we'd look at a few pages this week, learn a few things that are of interest to us... and just get started on our summer activities.

I saw an activity here and thought we'd give it a try.


He did his own thing, as always... but always with us!  ;)
As usual.. the perfectionist!  :)
Since he is left handed, we had to continually turn his paper so he wouldn't get too much watercolor on his hand!  His sun is originally at the bottom.
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE  the colors!  A trick I learned while teaching -- get the watercolors wet ahead of time (at least 30 min) so that by the time you are ready to watercolor, the colors are vibrant!
Almost finished!  She drew in stars with a white crayon... when she watercolored the black over - the stars magically appeared!  This was their favorite part! 
Hoping to find time to do some touch ups before we frame the pictures -- they did a great job!

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Friday, April 2, 2010

Books we're reading

Friday, April 2, 2010
(Okay... why didn't anyone mention that my post title was grammatically incorrect?!!!  "Books we reading?"  What the heck was that all about?!  I just saw it now and was mortified!!!!)

Morgan is really into these:

Dorothea, from her class, was reading these books and her mom, Grace, mentioned it to me... So we gave it a try.  Yesterday, while lying in bed resting of and on -- she read 3 books!  So, apparently, she likes them too!  Thanks Grace!  I like that some chapter books make it possible for children to get through without feeling they are reading the dictionary!  These are great reading material for beginning chapter readers.  She's enjoying the story line -- 2 girls name Rachel and Kirsty are friends with the fairies in Fairyland and try their best to help the fairies when Jack Frost gets in the way.  Morgan said, "I like the books because the fairies go on different fairy adventures."  So there you have it!

Right now, we are reading A Bear Called Paddington before going to bed.  They have had some good laughs because Paddington is that kind of bear.  Really, MD was rolling on the bed with laughter and we've only read 3 chapters!

After watching Little Amadeus yesterday, we went to the library and grabbed a few more books about him.  They also spent some time listening to other musicians play some of his work on YouTube.  There was an 8 year old little girl that was amazing on the piano! Wow, so many talented young children out there!

And penguins have been part of reading list since last week after reading this.  They are reading other books and we are writing about what we have learned.  One of my favorite author is Gail Gibbons.  She writes well and her illustrations are so easy for children to follow.  See here:

MD just wrote, "Penguins live in Antarctica" and is now reading it back to me:

MG is looking at Gail Gibbons book as a reference here:

E is practicing his letter E:
Books, books, everywhere!!!!


As for me, I FINALLY finished this on my Sony Reader-- after 7 months (maybe more?!)!  So now I must move on to this.  I keep picking it up and putting it down... off and on for months now!  But Amanda promises me I will not be disappointed...  And since the book is Clare's, I am motivated to finish it sooner rather than later.  But I really want to read this!

What are you reading?  Do you have a good recommendation or two?  I will have to ask Vince to help me add more onto the Reader.  Although I love holding an actual book in my hands and turning the pages, having this has saved me while I am at an appointment and forget to grab my books.  I often take it with me and leave it in the car so that when we pick up MG early from school I can read while the boys play or watch a movie in the car.

(On another note -- MG's illness this week has been a blessing in disguise... E is now potty trained!  It only took 2 days!  Since we were home anyway.. I thought I would just help him.  Wohooo!  It'll be nice not to carry so many diapers anymore!  I just need them for night time now.  Now, do you think I deserve a nice bag just for me?!  I saw this and entered in their giveaway.  Cross your fingers for me!  Does that mean you might enter too?  Did I just give myself more competition???  Man!)

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Star Wars 101

So, I finally caved in and decided that I better start learning the names of the characters or I can never have a normal conversation with MD.  He was always saying, "No, Mommy, not him!"  Because I was always naming off the wrong characters!  So, Darth Maul and Darth Vader are NOT brothers?  Then why in the world do they have "Darth" at the beginning of their names?  Does that not signify some familial affiliation?!  Oh, brother!  Maybe this weekend, we can watch some episodes and get myself caught up!

On our trip to the library yesterday we picked up these 3 books!  MD is getting me caught up... and helping me learn the names.  Wish me luck!

I really enjoy looking at the photographs and I definitely love the clear details that tell me who each character is and what his or her position is in the Star Wars world.  I am getting a bit overwhelmed though....

I found this site for coloring pages that they love!

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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Books are amazing!

Sunday, March 28, 2010
Morgan's school hosted a Story Fun Night.  It's basically a night focused on encouraging families to read together.  At the end of each story the children were given an activity to do that was associated to the story.  She signed up for her top 2 choices and was given:

Cooking as the first theme:
The teacher (Mrs. Bernanrd?  She 's a 2nd grade teacher) read, If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by a great author!  It was a really cute story -- Ethan loved it and kept saying, "Me, me," during the story.  For the record -- a 2 1/2 year old saying that is cute.  A student saying that in the classroom - not so cute!  So, I will nip that in the bud by the summer!  (hahaha!)

So, of course, they decorated a cupcake!
Can you tell he's ready to dig in???
She was very dainty - took a bite and was done!
Well... him, he's something else,isn't he?
And these are our friends, Theodore and Dorothea.  Dorothea is in M's 1st grade class.


Art was the second theme:
This teacher read a cute story called The Dot.  It was very inspiring!  This is the author.  Karen, my sis, bought me Someday before I had Matthew... very beautiful book about a mom and baby.

So off they went to create their masterpieces with tempera paint and a Q-tip!





Ta-da!!!!

Here she is a  few days later with the souvenir frame and the art she created!

He's just glad to be done -- no longer photogenic!
The activity was pretty much over when Mrs. Rosete (that's M's teacher) and Bella walked in! 

That event was Friday night...

By Sunday morning they were already inspired!
We read this:
And they immediately wanted to do this!


I just love books!!!!  We've been reading about penguins... more to come!

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