Week 9, A Bevy of Books

For week nine, our geography memory work included China and India.  We read a lot of picture books set in these two countries.  They all had merit, but as always, the kids enjoyed some more then others.  I'll count 'em down, least to most favorite, below:

8.  Monsoon by Uma Krishanaswami:

This one had very good illustration that captured the vibe of present-day India, but the story of an approaching storm at the end of a dry season is a little flat:

7.  Once a Mouse by Marcia Brown

This Caldecott Medal winner is a book from our home library that we've read many times although it's not among our favorites.  Based on the illustrations, I assume this takes place in India although there are no references to the country or the culture.

6.  Yeh-Shen:  A Cinderella Story from China by Ai-Ling Louie

I thought this would go over better than it did since Cinderella is popular figure with my three-year-old, but I think possibly they didn't connect to the misty, dreamy quality of the illustrations.  I'm going to read this to them more because I think that Yeh-Shen is a beautiful character with admirable qualities and familiarity always helps their enjoyment of stories.   

5.  Lon Po Po:  A Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young

I thought it interesting that many of the books we read this week had to do with either greed or contentment.  This story illustrated the dangers of greed but also featured three resourceful girls.  This book was illustrated by the author, who also drew the pictures for Yeh Shen.  As a result, the illustrations had a similar quality to those of Yeh-Shen.  However, we've read Lon Po Po many times, so the kids connected with it more. 

4.  The Boy and the Tigers by Helen Bannerman

I know this story from my own childhood as Little Black Sambo.  Whatever the name, the story is a classic...and again features the dangers of greed.

3.  Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel

Something about the plight of those children in the well and the way the name of the 'most honored son' rolls off the tongue appeals to my kids.

2.  The Gifts of Wali Dad, A Tale of India and Pakistan by Aaron Shepard

I fortuitously recovered this treasure from the depths of the bin at Goodwill just a week ago.  It is an entertaining story of generosity and contentment that we all learned from and enjoyed.

1.  The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahay

We all loved this book.  I read it to my kids last year, and they were not interested in hearing it again.  This year, it was a hit.  It is a wonderful story of seven brothers with special powers who work together to save each others' lives.

Week 5, Joan of Arc and Animal Adaption

In Classical Conversations, we learn a timeline of history based on the beautiful cards published by Veritas press.  Last year my children's attention was always arrested by the Joan of Arc card, which featured a painting similar to this:

They were full of questions about that girl in armor astride a horse.  It really captured their fancy.  So, I was glad when a history sentence this year featured the young heroine.

In preparation, I ordered Diane Stanley's Joan of Arc.  Unfortunately, my children's attention spans were not ready for  Ms. Stanley.  Instead, I obtained a library copy of Joan of Arc:  The Lily Maid by Margaret Hodges.  They REALLY liked this one.  

I was familiar with another Margaret Hodges book, Saint George and the Dragon, but was unaware she had written so many books set in the middle ages.  Since my children like Joan of Arc and Saint George the the Dragon, I decided to just make it Margaret Hodges week, and we also went on to read Dick Whittington and His Cat.

and The Kitchen Knight:  A Tale of King Arthur.

Our geography memory work featured the Alps.  I was eager to read a book from Sonlight's kindergarten list, The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Bluff, which is set in the Alps during the 13th century.  This is a terrific historical 'novel' that we read over several days.  I really feel repetition is good, so we'll no doubt read this one again when we learn about Switzerland.

While reading this book, the kids colored a couple of castles from this coloring book, part of this new collection.

For science, our memory work related to the ways animals adapt to environmental change.  We revisited The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader, which is a perfect fit for the topic.  Because it related well to ecology in general, we also read The Salamander Room, a Five In a Row selection.  

Along with the book we watched the Reading Rainbow video.  However my son declared it, the 'worst show he's ever seen.'  Well, not a good attitude, but I'm not really a LeVar fan either.

Week 2

This week we began a tour of Europe by visiting Spain by way of the classic children's book The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf.  We even enjoyed this Walt Disney version which stayed very true to the book:

Mostly our extra readings corresponded with our Classical Conversations science memory work about consumers.  I searched our home library to find books that featured an animal eating, and we simply discussed what type of consumer that animal represented.  Science lite, I know, but very kindergarten and preschool appropriate.

Here's a list of books we read featuring some of our favorite herbivores, carnivores and omnivores:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Once a Mouse by Marcia Brown

Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

The Big Snow* by Berta and Elmer Hader

We followed these with a trio of books by Beatrix Potter.   Considering her animals speak and wear clothes, it is amazing how realistically these books capture their natural characteristics.  I have purchased many of her books mostly because their petite white covers look good on my daughter's bookshelf.  I never dreamed that my children would love to hear these stories so much.  They frequently request them.  Here are the three we read (and reread) this week:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Tale of Benjamin Bunny

The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher

Today, the weather coordinated with the calendar, and we got out to enjoy the cooler September temperatures with a trip to the zoo.  Every time we go to the zoo, my children focus exclusively on two things:  the playground and the train.  Today, I insisted that before we could enjoy either, we had to find two animals each of an herbivore, carnivore and omnivore.  From a mom's point of view, this approach was a success.  Here are a few highlights:

We got to see prairie dogs, which had eluded us on our trip to the actual prairie 

Okay, there was a little bit of playground time

* We will read this gem many times over the following weeks because it perfectly conveys a lot of the concepts we're covering in our Classical Conversations memory work.