What We're Reading Wednesday ~ July 17, 2013

Little Man and I joined Reading Confetti's Virtual Book Club.   This is the neatest idea and I really hope it continues beyond August.  Each month, they focus on an author.  Everyone reads a book (or multiple books) by the featured author and posts their corresponding activities.  Super fun!

This month's author was Jez Alborough.  Just by the name alone, I didn't recognize him.  However, once I looked at the book titles, I realized that I've actually read many of them!  His Duck books were read many times in my Pre-K classroom.

So, off to the library we went.  We checked out several books, including Tall and Duck in the Truck.  However, for our activity, we chose to coordinate with the book Hug.  While there aren't many words (there are actually only three in the whole book), it was fun for Little Man.

With this book, we did several things.  Because the words in the book were so short, I wanted to do something with the letters.  I made a "word work" center of sorts.  The teacher in me definitely came out with this activity!

First, we played letter slap.  We did this two ways.  First, I just called out the letter and he slapped it.  Then I called out the sound and he slapped those letters.  

Then we sorted by color.

Added in a little one-to-one correspondence...

Did some counting ...

Mixed in a little gross motor as he handed me certain letters ....

And finally worked on putting some sounds together to make simple words.

It was an all-around good time!

Happy reading!

We're linking up at Reading Confetti!

What We Read Wednesday ~ July 3, 2013

My Little Man just finished his first soccer season.  It was interesting... to say the least.  He said he didn't like trying to get the ball.  There were too many people around it.  That sounds like something I'd say.

One of our favorite characters is Froggy.  Who doesn't love a frog who is almost as mischievous as Curious George?!  In honor of his first soccer season, we thought we'd take a quick peek into Froggy's soccer fun!

The Froggy series is super cute!  It's definitely one of our favorites!  In addition to Froggy's soccer antics, he has lots of other summer adventures.  These are regulars during our summer reading.

Froggy has fun all year round!  Happy reading!

What We Read Wednesday ~ June 26, 2013

In keeping with the Pinterest schedule that I shared with you a few weeks ago, Little Man and I have been enjoying Time to Read Tuesday.  We've been going to storytime at the local library.  Today they had a special visitor.

Again, please ignore the terrible iphone picture with a scratched lens.  The Mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie came to act out the story with us!!!

 

I'd say Little Man was excited!

We have two books to share with you this week.  First up is Little Man's favorite for the week!

Tuck Me In! by Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt is a super cute bedtime story.  On each page, a different baby animal needs to be tucked in.  Little ones get the chance to turn the page and tuck each one in with a special blanket.  It ends with the chance to tuck in your own little one!  So sweet!

Last week I read the second book in The Selection trilogy.  

The Elite continues the story of America Singer as she continues her relationship with Prince Maxon and deals with her conflicting feelings about her secret love for Aspen.  The Rebels from the North and South create distractions and the necessary drama for the story.  It's a romantic, quick read and I can't wait for the last novel next year!

Happy reading!

What We Read Wednesday ~ October 17, 2012

This week has gotten away from me.  But ... it's been a great reading week!  I'm still trying to decide if the increase in reading time and lack of order in my home are related.  Imagine that ...

Here's a brief rundown of the Halloween picture books we've been reading.

And here is the series I've been reading.

I'm tearing through this series super fast!  They are fun, quick reads.  I read the first one forever ago.  I've been putting off reading the rest of them, and now I have no idea why.  I knew I was waiting for *any* October, since they're great for Halloween.  However, I seemed to let at least three Octobers go by before finally deciding to tackle them all.  If you like a good cozy mystery with a slightly paranormal element, then this might be a great series for you!

Coming soon ...

Happy reading!

What We Read Wednesday ~ October 10, 2012

Where's My Mummy ~ Carolyn Crimi

This is one of Little Man's favorite books.  It doesn't matter what time of year it is.  I was switching out some of my classroom books and brought this home one day.  We read it before bed and he loved it!  He asked for it every single night for the longest time.  I also had the audio version.  We listened to it in the car many, many times.  It really is a cute story.

Little Baby Mummy wants to play a game of Hide and Go Shriek before bed.  Unfortunately, he gets a little lost and can't find Big Mama Mummy.  Instead he finds some ... interesting ... characters.  Will he ever find Big Mama Mummy?

Our book rating:  :)  :)  :)  :)  :)  5 smiles!

Lethal ~ Sandra Brown

I am a huge Sandra Brown fan.  Ever since I read Chill Factor, I've been hooked.  I can't say that this one is a favorite, but it was a good one.  Honor Gillette's daughter, Emily, finds a sick man in their front yard.  She finds out that it's mass-murderer, Lee Coburn.  While being held hostage, she uncovers some dark secrets about her town.  

My book rating:  * * * *  4 out of 5 stars

My review:  I thought the characters were likable, but somewhat frustrating.  I've never really understood the "just kill everyone who ever had contact with anyone ever" idea.   There were a few times in this book that I felt like it was slightly unnecessary.  I liked Honor enough.  I liked Emily, but I had a difficult time believing her behavior.  I also have a three-year-old.  He never would have sat still and behaved as perfectly as Emily.  Coburn would have lost his patience much sooner with us!  

I never guessed the ending.  I actually thought the Bookkeeper was someone else entirely.  I didn't see it coming.  The ending was also frustrating.  I don't want to give it away.  I don't see too many people loving it though.  

Coming Soon ...

  

Can you tell we're loving some Halloween stories right now?

A question for you...

What Halloween books do you love?