Thursday, February 21, 2008

Fun With Some Good Books

We are really enjoying three books this week.  I started reading The Wind and the Willows, a younger readers edition by Kenneth Grahame.  I wanted to start reading a chapter book; but without pictures, my Goldilocks (7) has a very hard time sticking with the story.  I decided to go with this book, because it has a lovely color illustration on every page, plus a fair amount of words so that she still has to focus on the story and use her imagination.  I am hoping that this can be a transitional book of sorts.  The other two little ones don't really need the pictures, although Little Red Ridinghood's (4) mind wanders about every four or five paragraphs.  I figure she is a bit young, so I cut her some slack. 

I also found this series in science books and so far I'm very pleased with them.  Today we used the Simple Earth Science Experiments With Everyday Materials book to make a steam volcano.  This volcano was different from usual ones because the chemical reaction of hydrogen peroxide and yeast made heat!  It was really exciting for the kiddos, and I was amazed at how warm the spoon and jar got.  FYI ~ the directions said mix 1/2 tablespoon of yeast with 1/2 cup of peroxide, but we had to triple it because of the size of our jar.



Lastly, I have had Games for Reading for years but haven't used it for a long time.  It has a lot of simple games to help with your little ones' reading skills.  Tom Sawyer (5) has found reading to be easy and was thriving with Teach your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons but got burned out at lesson 60.  I dragged him through five more lessons but was really starting to see some resistance.  I decided to change gears and spend a few weeks doing word games and come back to finish off the book in March.  He is enjoying the break, and I am hoping that Goldilocks will benefit from the reading games, as well.  In the second photo, they are playing a reading game that helps them learn how to read color words.



Blessings, Dawn

11 comments:

  1. It seems that you're doing such a fabulous job keeping your HS varied and FUN! What a great HS experience your kids ar getting!

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  2. That is a way cool volcano! I just led a science class at co-op today where we made the vinegar/baking soda kind... I should have the kids try this version sometime! :-)

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  3. That is a very neat volcano! I didn't know you could make one that actually made heat....you are teaching more people than just your children :)


    ~Laura

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  4. The volcano experiment looks like fun!

    My oldest likes to play word games, too. It gives him a break from his usual language arts lessons!

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  5. That is a neat looking volcano--your hands on projects are so interesting. They always inspire me. I'm glad your family enjoyed The Wind in the Willows. My son and I just finished the young edition of Shakespeare Stories. He thought it was so wonderful, he asked if we could find movies for some of the stories. Yea!

    Have a wonderful evening,

    Pam

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  6. My dc love Wind in the Willows. Did you ever see the Christmas movie with Jessica Tandy and Charles Durning "act" out one of the scenes? That sold my kids on the book!

    Blessings,

    Laurie

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  7. Lots of fun things. You are wise to break from the reading lessons. He'll be ready for more one day.


    Letitia

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  8. reading the Wind In the Willows children's version. We just finished listening to it on tape and I have to be honest, though I love the story, the language of the book could sometimes get a little difficult for us to follow. Could be because it was read by an Englishman, but I think picture would have helped a bit. LOL Love the pictues of the experiment. My kids love anything that will pop, fizz, ooze or explode.

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  9. Great to catch up with your sweetums! Sounds like some good reading going on there! Keep up the great work!

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  10. The volcano is cool! I'll have to try that in a few weeks when we study Pompeii.

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  11. Cool volcano!

    I just might go out and do that now. They've seen the soda and vinegar kind a few times.


    I love Wind in the Willows.


    My 2nd never made it all the way through 100 EZ lessons. He was ready to take off and never look back. Stinker. I still think we should finish up with formal phonics though, and we're going to do that with Phonics Pathways starting next week, but it will be disguised as spelling.


    I looked on eBay for Bumbo and they were pretty high still. I am sure i could do better than that at consignment, but thanks for the tip. I do love eBay!


    Blessings,

    tracy

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