If You Take a Mouse to School - Laura Numeroff

A fun book with the "if you take a mouse" theme - http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/MouseIfYouTakeaMousePrintables2.htm

Try this maze to go to school with the mouse http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/6115.shtml

Some more "back to school" books for you to share ...............http://www.teachingheart.net/backtoschoolreading.html

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn

For your "back to school" collection .............. or a wonderful story to help your little one transition from home to school, check out The Kissing Hand.  Every kindergarten teacher I know uses this book in one way or another.
A video of a read aloud would be a great way to revisit this story - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuyRj73xl7w. Some very cute activities and printables - http://www.teachingheart.net/kissinghandideas.html.

Check out this heart - warming story.  There are also several sequels. http://www.thevirtualvine.com/TheKissingHand.html


Get your read hearts ready!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Mark Teague

What did you do with your time off from school???? Some kids spend their summer vacation at camp. Some kids spend it at Grandma's house. Wallace Bleff spent his out west . . . on a ride, a rope, and a roundup he'll never forget.  Here are some fun activities to do to encourage reflection on all of the things you did during the summer months.  http://www.thevirtualvine.com/cowboys.html  For an interview with the autor check out this video - http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=1460  

Happy New School Year!

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate

For your little one who is off to school this year ..........check out this book.  In this whimsical book, twenty-six young animals from an alligator named Adam to a zebra named Zach get ready for their first day of school, while a teacher who is a border collie named Miss Bindergarten is hard at work preparing herself and her classroom for their arrival.

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate is a fun way way to help prepare your child or students for school and to relieve any anxiety they might be experiencing.

For some activities ................http://www.twigglemagazine.com/August-activities/miss-bindergaten-gets-ready-for-kindergarten-literacy-lesson.html, http://www.twigglemagazine.com/, http://www.kllynch2000.com/BacktoSchool.html

Stay tuned for some more "Back to School" posts ...............

The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall

My niece has read this book so many times ..................

When the Penderwick family's summer holiday plans are changed, the widowed Mr. Penderwick decides to take his four young daughters --- ages 4 through 12 --- to a cottage in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts. Instead, though, they find themselves on a beautiful grand estate called Arundel. For the close sisters, Arundel gives them a realm of possibility and each their own treasure-trove of memories and discoveries.

This is a lighthearted children's book that is also somewhat realistic. Readers won't like how Mrs. Tifton treats the girls, but they will enjoy the sisters' special bond, such as when they have their secret MOOPS. As with summer holidays, the book ends too quickly but will continue to be just as memorable as the years go by.

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/missrumphius.htm 









 

This beautiful picture book tells of the life of the author's great aunt Alice, now called The Lupine Lady. When she was little, Alice told her grandfather that she wanted to do as he did: go to far away places and live in a house by the sea. He told her that she must also do something to make the world more beautiful.

She accomplishes all she set out to do: traveling to tropical islands, climbing mountains before she hurts her back falling from a camel and decides to live by the sea. Her need to make the world more beautiful is a source of consternation to her.

Her solution of spreading lupine seeds wherever she walks is at first inadvertent - birds and the wind disperse lupine seeds from some she had planted in her garden before her bad back forced her into a semi-invalided life. When she sees new plants growing on nearby hillsides and cliffs, she spreads the seed herself after she feels better.

The illustrations are exquisite. They have the appearance of watercolors but were accomplished with acrylics and colored pencil. Several pages show a vast expanse of sea, marsh and land. Colors fade into the mist and just the right look of misty mornings by the sea is created.

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Curiosities

The Land of Curiosities
Adventures in Yellowstone, 1871 - 1872
Lost in Yellowstone, 1872 - 1873
Deanna Neil

Adventures of James and his sister Alice in Yellowstone – uncovering a plot to kill off the buffalo herds, surviving in the wilderness alone, learning the ways of the Shoshone, and exploring the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. (Illustrated chapter book)