2 Audiobooks We Loved Recently

We have at least a 30 minute drive to pretty much  anywhere we go from our house... so we use that time to listen to a good story.  We love audiobooks!

Here are 2 that we have really enjoyed (The kids begged me to turn it on even if we were just driving the 2 minutes to get the mail):

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater Read by Rick Sullivan.

My kids are animal lovers (and so am I, hence the mini farm we have going on around here).  We all had a good laugh at the antics and inconvenience of having 12 penguins to care for.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz By L. Frank Baum Read by Brooke Shields.

I had no idea that Dorthy and her friends went on so many more adventures in the book than in the movie.  The book also ends a smidge different that the movie as well. Definitely worth the listen.

For some other audiobook ideas head on over to Homeschool Creations and see what they've been listening to as well.

*note affiliate links used in this post.

What We're Reading...

We love books around here... And since at times I find it challenging to figure out what to give my kiddos to read I though I would share a few books we have on the go right now.

Hudson pretty much devours Magic Treehouse books...
Right now he is working on a lapbook project that goes with Vacation Under The Volcano.

 

He has also been enjoying The Magic School Bus chapter books... On our recent trip to the aquarium he read up on sharks and penguins with Ms. Frizzle and her class.


Meadow has been burying her nose in Eloise...


And she confidently reads Dick and Jane aloud to anyone who will listen...


And together we are reading Because of Winn Dixie... which is a first for everyone... and I must admit I pretty much love that mutt.


What books are being read at your house?

**this post contains affiliate links.

Make Vocabulary Stick

We had a bit more of our Hurry Up Franklin unit study to finish off this week. Our last activity was to come up with words that mean fast and words that mean slow. Here are our lists...
Fast:

• speedy
• zoom
• zippy
• quick
• run

Slow:

• lazy
• slither
• doddle
• snail's pace
• walk

Then just to reinforce some of our new words I had the kiddos act them out.

Slither

zippy

snail's pace

What other words would you add to our lists?

Bento box plates...

Dinner with Olivia is a Top 10 favorite book at our house... so much in fact that we also have a goat named after this Piggy main character.
Now without giving away the whole story... there is a part where Olivia's friend Francine has a bento box for lunch.  My kiddos became bento obsessed!
So I was greatly pleased to find these square plates at the dollar store to serve lunch in:

They're not quite authentic... but my kiddos love them and they have 2 less sections to fill than a 6 cup muffin tin :)

I'm Boggled!

I recently made another thrift store trek, and found more super school stuff! My favorite find of the day is Boggle Jr.

 Oh ya!  Check out that price tag!
Ok so why do I love this game?  There are like 3 different ways to play it listed in the instructions.  That means more advanced learning!  That means we will hopefully ward off boredom and get plenty of use from Boggle.  Plus I bet if I Google "ways to play Boggle Jr.  Some amazing creative blogger out there will have even more ideas for playing.

For our first exposure Hudson just matched up the letters under the words and then told me what the word is. I am totally excited to play with a timer as Hudson's reading and spelling skills improve.

  What are some of your favorite games for your kids?

Reading & Listening Game

My mother in law gave me the idea to start playing this game with the alphabet and I have just adapted it to playing with words.
Materials:

• a piece of paper (I used a fairly large one but printer paper or construction paper would be just fine).
• markers, crayons, or colored pencils.

Preparation:

1. Fold the paper into 8 (fold in half once, then again, then one more time).
2. Write a word (I used simple 3 letter words and Hudson's name) in each of the 8 spaces.

 Playing the game:

1. Tell your child which color marker to choose.
2. Give him/her an instruction of what to do with the marker. (example: draw a circle around the word dog, draw a line under the word hen...etc).
3. Repeat steps 1&2 until the game is over.

Hint: To make the game a little more tricky you can say things like draw a star beside something we might eat for supper (ham).




Linking this up with Preschool Corner

What My Child is Reading!

We have reading some spectacular Christmas books this week.

First up Lucille's Snowsuit by Kathryn Lasky.

Now I must admit that I have not yet read Lucille's Snowsuit, but daddy has read it before bed.  The front cover looked so cute I couldn't resist at the library :)

Second Gingerbread Friends By Jan Brett.

Don't you just love Jan Brett?  Her illustrations are gorgeous, the story flows so nicely and there is a gingerbread recipe in the margins of the book.
Gingerbread Friends is a cute story about the Gingerbread Baby who heads out into the world in search of some friends. There is a wonderful surprise page at the end,

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado.

This is my favorite Christmas book.  I love the lesson in it that no matter what your lot in life is God has a purpose for you and it is BIG!

Find out what other children are reading over at Mouse Grows Mouse Learns


And for even more Christmas fun head on over to The Palace and enter my GIVEAWAY!!!

Cozy Book Corner.

Thank you Shannon over at Teaching My Little Bookworm for inspiring this great blog carnival.  Today we are to display our book corner.  So here it is!

 

Can you tell who our favorite Disney character is?  

Hudson's book corner is in his bedroom.

The chair and mat we bought at Walmart.  The shelves are from Ikea.  The ottoman was free from the dump recycle shed.