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Friday, June 24, 2016

Chapter Books: A Whole New Frontier

Now that the boys are a bit older, they have slightly longer attention spans. I've been taking advantage of this in a big way by adding chapter books to our daily reading. Picture books are still our primary source of literary entertainment, but I'm so excited to add chapter books to our reading adventures! 

We've recently enjoyed SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL, TOOTER PEPPERDAY, and JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH.
Here's our TO READ pile. What are your favorites?

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

For the Love of Folding!

My boys have been into paper folding lately. First, it was an obsession with paper airplanes, followed by a blizzard of snowflakes (and white paper snips) when spring had finally arrived. Then my oldest learned how to make fortune tellers. So I wasn't too surprised when they got interested in origami. It was serendipitous when we found this newly minted book at the library. Enjoy!

MORE-IGAMI
by Dori Kleber
illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Candlewick Press, 2016

I love these opening lines: "Joey loved things that folded. He collected old road maps. He played the accordion. He slept in a foldaway bed." The author uses one unique trait to introduce the character and set-up the story. The problem comes when origami doesn't come easily to Joey. With a multi-cultural cast of characters, MORE-IGAMI not only celebrates ethnic diversity, but also the varied interests that make us who we are. Readers are gently reminded that anything worth doing well takes lots and lots of "practice and patience". Origami Ladybug instructions are included at the end. Make a bunch and you can have a ladybug race, like my boys :)