A-Z Reading Marathon Challenge

Last weekend we had nothing to do, so Tintin suggested we have a reading marathon. I decided to make it into a challenge. Each boy had to complete 26 tasks, one for each letter of the alphabet. We picked random letters from our Bananagrams game, but one boy wanted to do some tasks (especially P) more than once, so he peeked a little.

Here's what they had to do:

A. Read 1 chapter to Mom.
B. Read 1 chapter to Dad.
C. Read 1 chapter or smaller book to your brother.
D. Read 1 chapter or smaller book to yourself.
E. Read 1 poem.
F. Read 1 magazine article.
G. Read 1 picture book.
H. Write or dictate 1 book review.
I. Write or dictate 1 story and read it to the family.
J. Have Mom read 1 chapter to you.
K. Have Dad read 1 chapter to you.
L. Have Mom read 1 picture book to you.
M. Have Dad read 1 picture book to you.
N. Do 1 exercise from reading comprehension workbook or 1 word search.
O. Draw a picture of something you just read.
P. Take a break and have a 5-minute dance party.
Q. Read 1 story on Total Reader or Starfall.
R. Read 1 chapter or short book on the iPad.
S. Read 1 story at We Give Books.
T. Use word balloons to make your own comic.
U. Solve 1 code.
V. Go on a reading treasure hunt.
W. Read a recipe and make something with Mom or Dad.
X. Open the dictionary to a random page and read it to someone else.
Y. Play Rory's Story Cubes with at least 1 other person.
Z. Play Blurt with at least 1 other person.

Here are the websites and products we used during our challenge:

Total Reader: Reading comprehension website for grades 3-12 and adult.

Starfall: Reading website for pre-k to grade 2.

We Give Books: Picture books for children through age 10; donate a book to children in need simply by reading online.

Learn-to-Read Treasure Hunts (Amazon): Both boys have been reading for a while, but they still like using this book.

Rory's Story Cubes (Amazon): Or make your own story cubes.

Blurt: We don't actually have this game (yet), so we picked our own words from the dictionary and tried to stump each other.

Here's the clue Tintin had to decipher, and here are Johnny Boo's clues.

Both boys had a lot of fun and want to do it again, next time with numbers instead of letters, and Tintin wants me to think of a math marathon challenge.

Sight Words in Kindergarten

This year I've been helping some of Johnny Boo's kindergarten classmates with letters and sight words. I've also become addicted to Pinterest, much to my husband's chagrin (Chagrinterest?). Following are a couple of sight word games copied from or inspired by pins I've made:

Sight Word Parking Lot (based on a bigger parking lot game at Juggling With Kids)

Print Parking Lot game here.

I decided to laminate it and write the words on with dry-erase markers afterward, depending on which words the kids needed to work on most. It's a good thing I left it blank, because my 9-year-old actually likes working on his multiplication tables this way. Just write whichever words, letters, numbers, equations, etc., you want; call out whatever you want the child to find; and have him drive his car to the correct parking space. This was a big hit with everyone last week, especially the boys.

Here's Tintin:

Word Roll (the original, with a free download and directions, can be found at Wishes Dream Love)

Print Word Roll here.

I used the 31 words (plus a few more) that our kindergarteners need to know by the end of the year. So far I've only used this with one boy. He got the hang of finding the correct word after I told him to "crash" his fingers when they met up, and then he wanted to keep rolling the dice (one with numbers and one with the letters added on) so he could keep crashing his fingers. The original directions have the child crossing each word off once it's read, but the boy I was working with needed repetition, so I wanted him to roll the same combinations over and over again.

Here are some more sight word activities I've pinned:

Road Race
Roll & Write
Sight Words Bingo
Spelling Practice With Nautical Flags

The Sea of Lost Books, and Our Reading Response Journal

The Sea of Lost Books (Return to the Library of Doom)
Author/illustrator: Michael Dahl/Bradford Kendall
Publisher: Stone Arch Books (August 2010)
Category: Chapter Book

Tintin has a journal in which he writes down the names of the books he's just finished. In the same journal there's a section for him to write book reviews in the form of a letter to me. When he's done I write a letter back to him. Here is our first exchange:



Dear Mommy,

The Sea of Lost Books was about a giant named Atlas, and there was a man named the Librarian. Atlas and the Librarian don't like each other. They fight in battles. I liked when the Specialist saved the Librarian. My favorite part is when the Librarian gets stuck in the book pages. I would recommend this book to children that like monsters.

Sincerely,
(Tintin)

Dear (Tintin),

I'm glad you liked The Sea of Lost Books. I thought it was interesting how Atlas used his letter tattoos as weapons. Even though he had letters tattooed all over his body, I don't think he liked letters very much. If he did, he'd probably use them for good, not evil. I liked how some of the words in the book look like what  they are, like when the word "shadow" has its own shadow and when the word "steps" has steps coming off the "p." It reminded me of the Geronimo Stilton books.

I can't wait to read your next letter!

Love,
Mommy

Check out the rest of the Return to the Library of Doom series (both boys, 9 and 6, love it)!

It's Valentine's Day (Jack Prelutsky)

It's Valentine's Day
Author/illustrator: Jack Prelutsky/Yossi Abolafia
Publisher: Mulberry (1996)
Category: Poetry

It's Valentine's Day is a collection of 14 Valentine's poems from the nation's first children's poet laureate (and the boys' favorite poet not named Shel Silverstein). Check out Prelutsky's website for a few of his other poems and for poetry-writing activities for children.

We chose "I Love You More Than Applesauce" as a basis for poems the boys are giving to their teachers today (and because I won't be able to get them to write any more poems for a while, they're for you, too, grandmas). We got the idea from Elise in Ukraine. Here's the original Prelutsky poem:

I love you more than applesauce,
Than peaches and a plum,
Than chocolate hearts and cherry tarts
And berry bubblegum.

I love you more than lemonade
And seven-layer cakes,
Than lollipops and candy drops
And thick vanilla shakes.

I love you more than marzipan,
Than marmalade on toast,
Oh I love pies of any size,
But I love YOU the most.

Here's Tintin's:

I love you more than dim sum;
I love you more than bubblegum.
I really love lasagna,
But I love YOU the most.

And Johnny Boo's (with a reference to the Mercy Watson series):

I love you more than blood orange flan;
I love you more than naan.
I really love red velvet cheesecake and hot buttered toast,
But I love YOU the most.

Here are some of the 42 hearts we made to hand out to teachers and classmates (the teachers' poems are on the backs of their hearts). Directions for the hearts can be found at Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Play, Louis, Play! and Our New Book Club

Play, Louis, Play! The True Story of a Boy and His Horn
Author/illustrator: Muriel Harris Weinstein/Frank Morrison
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's (December 2011)
Categories: Biography; Chapter Book

This is the story of Louis Armstrong's childhood, as told by his first horn, which little Louis purchased from a New Orleans hock shop for $5. Not only did the boys enjoy the book, but they now want to learn how to play the trumpet and go to the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York. And one of them spent two days looking up Louis Armstrong music on MOG.

The boys and I started a new book club, modeled after an idea at The First Grade Parade, and Play, Louis, Play! was our first book. We called our book club the Pop Bag Book Club because one boy wanted it to be called the Popcorn Book Club and the other wanted it to be called the Brown Bag Book Club. So we compromised.

Here are our popcorn bags, with the boys' thinking maps attached. On the thinking maps, we have characters, setting, main idea, and favorite part. I had Johnny Boo dictate to me. We talked about what they'd written down, and anything else about the book, New Orleans, jazz, and racial discrimination that came up.

Here's Tintin eating his popcorn and figuring out where New Orleans is and how far away it is from the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York:

Our 2011-2012 Bluebonnet Award Choice Is...

Last week Tintin and everyone else who read at least five Texas Bluebonnet books attended a special breakfast in the school library and voted on their favorite Bluebonnet book. Students all across Texas participated in the voting at their own schools. The author of the book receiving the most votes will be declared the winner of the 2011-2012 Texas Bluebonnet Award. Here's Tintin voting for Tom Angleberger's Origami Yoda:

For each book they read the children had to fill out a log describing a memorable moment from the book. Here's Tintin's collection:

Amazing Faces 9/26/11

I like "Which Way to Dreamland" because dreams are special and sometimes come true. My favorite was: How in the world do dreams get in your head? and: Do they hide with dust bunnies under the bed?

Wild Times at the Bed and Biscuit 9/26/11

I liked when Ernest and the other animals saved Sir Walter in the woods. Sir Walter was lost in the woods because he was helping the foxes dig a hole, but they got away.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda 10/8/11

I liked when they made a bet that if Tommy dances with Sara, Dwight wins, and if she doesn't then Harvey wins.

Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse 1/9/12

This book is about poems and fairy tales that are reversed. My favorite fairy tale is "Bears in the News." This book is reversed because it helps children like to read poems and fairy tales.

The Buddy Files: The Case of the Lost Boy 1/23/12

I liked when Connor ran away and Buddy tried to help his mom find him.

Imogene's Last Stand 1/23/12

I liked when Imogene said, "Heck no, I won't go!" and wouldn't leave the museum.






You can find a list of the 2011-2012 Bluebonnet Award nominees at the Texas Library Association website.

Books for the 9-Year-Old

Tintin is 9 today!

Here are the books he received for his birthday:

The Merriam-Webster and Garfield Dictionary
Publisher: Merriam-Webster (January 1999)
Category: Reference; Graphic Novel

Scholastic Student Thesaurus
Author: John K. Bollard
Publisher: Scholastic (May 2007)
Category: Reference

Scrabble Sticker Word Puzzles
Author/illustrator: Patrick Blindauer/Bob Shea
Publisher: Sterling (October 2008)
Category: Puzzles

The Adventures of Tintin
Adapter: Alexander Irvine
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (November 2011)
Categories: Fiction; Novelization

The Big Big Big Book of Tashi
Authors/illustrator: Anna Fienberg and Barbara Fienberg/Kim Gamble
Publisher: Allen & Unwin (May 2002)
Categories: Fiction; Adventure

The 2nd Big Big Book of Tashi
Authors/illustrator: Anna Fienberg and Barbara Fienberg/Kim Gamble
Publisher: Allen & Unwin (October 2007)
Categories: Fiction; Adventure

The Hobbit: An Illustrated Edition of the Fantasy Classic
Author/adapter/illustrator: J.R.R. Tolkien/Charles Dixon with Sean Deming/David Wenzel
Publisher: Del Rey (June 2001)
Category: Graphic Novel

Fun-Time for Children
Artist/illustrator: George Carlson
Publisher: Laughing Elephant (July 2008)
Category: Puzzles