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Tuesday Tales – Closing out the 2012 Summer Reading Program

Posted on August 21, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

The summer of 2012 has been a fantastic summer of reading. Not only have I read some great new books for myself, but the boys have kept the love of learning and reading about things alive. TechyDad has been reading the Harry Potter series with NHL. Right now, they are in the middle of the third book. My fourth grader (yikes), has read many other books, magazines, and items on his own and to his little brother.

JSL and I started the Magic Tree House books at the end of May. Once he finished school, we really got into the series. Over the months, we have sailed on from book 1 of the series to starting 37. We have traveled with Jack and Annie all over the world, in many different time periods, and even gone into the world of Camelot. As you can see in the photo below, we have more books to read before kindergarten begins after Labor Day. We may catch up to where Mary Pope Osborne has written. The latest book release is A Perfect Time for Pandas #48.

When the summer reading program opened at our library, we signed up online. It was quick and easy to log in, record the titles of the books, and minutes the boys had read. Of course, the reality is that the kids read more than we managed to log. Still, they managed to have a lot of reading for the program which just ended over the weekend. Check out the stats:

I know the reading amounts at home will decrease as the boys head back to school, but I will cherish the memories that we have this summer.

With some more time until the official end of summer, do you have any reading plans? I would love to know how your summer reading tuned out. What books are you reading right now? I would love to know. Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

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books Educational jsl nhl photos summer Tuesday Tales

Making Dream Pillows

Posted on August 9, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

It is no surprise that I love our library. I write about them, the amazing librarians, and the programs they schedule often. Last year, I fell in love with one particular day when the Tang Museum came to make Story Towers inspired by the artwork of Josh Dorman. This year, I knew that we HAD to head to the afternoon when Tang was again reaching out to the local libraries to do projects.

They started off talking to the kids about three dimensional art and what it means. Then they showed a poster of one of Oliver Herring’s sculptures. What I didn’t realize until I went to their website at home is that the Me US Them, Queen Size Bed with Coat is huge. I knew they said it would take up the space the kids were sitting in. It is actually a sculpture made of Knit silver Mylar and 12 x 57 x 88 inches. As a knitter, I am intrigued to learn more about this type of sculpture. They showed this to the kids and asked them what they saw. Many mentioned a pillow, shining objects, and more. Then they saw another piece before it was time to learn about their projects.

Since the theme of New York State Libraries summer program is Dream Big READ, the Tang Museum decided to make Dream Pillows. As you can see above, the supplies needed were on the table for the kids. Foam pieces, scissors, bubble wrap, double sided tape, and their imagination. The only additional item needed was some colored tape to make a frame around their art when the top layer of bubble wrap was added. Before the kids were sent to the table to be creative, they were shown a few examples. Here are two that I took photos of to share.

As soon as NHL and JSL sat down, they seemed to have an idea and got started. While I was chatting with a friend who came in to surprise me, the women from the Tang Museum helped the boys to find items that they needed (thank you). By the time I arrived, they were already taking shape.

NHL decided to make a scene from Back to the Future (he’s been watching those with TechyDad lately). JSL opted to make a fun robot. Here are the boys holding their finished dream pillows.

Thank you again to our wonderful library and the Tang Museum for bringing more art education into the lives of children in our community. My boys have been asking to visit the museum soon and I hope to be able to do that. I would love to know, have your children done craft projects while learning about a new artist or style of art work? Art mixed with education is a powerful tool and I would love to know. Please share in the comments below.

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arts and crafts Educational fun jsl local event looking back nhl photos summer

Tuesday Tales – Shopping for Books

Posted on August 7, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

We have a lot of books in our house. Not a shocking statement when you realize that I am a teacher. Many of our books were from when I was teaching and bought them for the boys. Other books were from my college days when I started to “collect” them.

We often gift books to the boys for special occasions, holidays, and just because. Sometimes, they get to help us to pick something special out. The other day we found some gift cards to the book store that were for the kids. It was a lot of fun wandering around with each of them to see what they would ask for. Much to my surprise, they both focused on the books and not the countless toys (albeit educational ones).

I walked around the store with JSL. He is getting very interested in reading on his own. As he get closer to starting Kindergarten, his reading readiness skills are increasing dramatically. Sure he loves to read the Magic Tree House books with me, but he is looking to smaller early readers. We went up and down the aisles and then something caught his eye. He saw a Jake and the Never Land Pirates book. When I flipped it over, I noticed there were other books listed. We went to someone working in the store to see if they would help us find them.

We located the early readers and he instantly fell in love because Bucky, Izzy, Jake, and the rest of the crew were inside the book. I noticed they were rebus style and although not in love with that, allowed him to put them into his buy pile. In the end, he opted not to get all four of the Jake and the Never Land Pirate books that they had and selected a World of Reading Phineas and Ferb book to round out the day. I know that in no time he will be reading these and others to me!

TechyDad went around the store with NHL. They were looking for a specific book in a series he has been enjoying. He wanted to purchase the second of the Tales of the Sixth Grade Muppets books since he enjoyed the first one so much. They eventually found it and I think NHL would have stopped shopping there.

The boys continued to look around since JSL and I were trying to debate on books. They spent quite a bit of time looking at books in the biography section. TechyDad said that NHL was very intrigued with a few of them. In the end, he narrowed it down to Walt Disney, Benjamin Franklin, Jim Henson (would have been second choice), and Abraham Lincoln. The one he selected was the Sixteenth President of the United States. NHL learned about him in school and wanted to read more.

What type of books would your children select if given time to shop in a large book store? I would love to know. Please be sure to link up to your book posts in the comments below and also let me know what you have been reading recently. Include something you read on your own, with a child, or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

BTW – If you are interested in the books that we purchased, the following are Amazon links to them. If you decide to buy them we will receive a percentage of the sale.

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books Disney Educational jsl nhl shopping TechyDad Tuesday Tales

2012 School Supply List – Kindergarten

Posted on August 6, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

If you have looked at your Sunday paper these days, it is filled with ads for back to school like this:

Although a lot of places around the country head back this month, those of us in New York (and some other locations) are in a holding pattern until Labor Day. When NHL finished third grade at the end of June, he came home with his report card, new teacher for next year, and a supply list. I wrote about his big list earlier.

JSL has been itching to get some items for kindergarten. This list had not been sent home yet, but the other day I found it online. Something must have told me to look because there it was waiting for us.

So what does a kindergarten list look like for us? Here it is:

A pack of primary pencils
A large book bag or backpack
5 glue sticks
1/2” or 1” plain black binder
One package large dry erase markers (multi-color)
A 100-pack of pocket protectors
1 Primary Journal (black and white – can be purchased in the Art Section)
1 bottle of liquid glue
3 plastic pocket folders (pockets at the bottom): 1 blue, 1 red, 1 orange

The list welcomes parents and students to Kindergarten and mentions that the list of supplies will be needed and shared throughout the school year. At the end, it starts that a sign-up sheet for parents to bring in additional items like tissues, paper towels, baby wipes, and other community items may be needed. The list seems a lot different than the one that NHL had for kindergarten in another school. I remember we had to buy him many more glue sticks, crayons, and scissors. I suppose they must have sets for the classroom.

So if you did not chime in earlier, what is on your back-to-school supply list this year?

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Educational looking back photos school shopping

Poor Perry the Platypus

Posted on August 4, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Dear JSL,

This week, we had to head to the doctor to have something checked out. It was not an expected visit. Since we were tossed in right before lunch, I made sure that you took some items with us to keep busy.

I think you may have been a bit upset at waiting for the doctor. I do not remember what the story was with this set up, but Perry was not looking too happy at the time.

Once we were finished at the doctor, we went to Target to look for some presents for Daddy’s birthday. While there, we noticed some new learning games for your LeapPad. We just took it back out the other day and you love using it to really learn your letters and sounds before kindergarten. The best part, the store also had an AC adapter to use so we do not have to fuss with batteries when home.

We immediately bought the AC Adapter, but held off on the games. Later on, you and I went back out to the store to look for presents for Daddy and NHL. We eventually bought the Jake and the Never Land Pirates game for the Explorer as something for the next doctor visit.

It was definitely a splurge, but you really love Jake and need games that are better for you (some DS and Wii ones are so frustrating). This certainly fits the bill and I know it will help to take your mind off of things a bit.