Exploring the World with Benny, week 14

In honor of the very cold January that we've experienced so far, the topic for the last couple of weeks has been Antarctica and penguins with most of the books being on the latter topic. Here's a look at what we read.

Antarctica

• Something to Tell the Grandcows by Eileen Spinelli
  

Penguins

• The Emperor Lays an Egg by Brenda Z. Guiberson
  
• The Emperor Penguin's New Clothes by Janet Perlman
  
• The Emperor's Egg by Martin Jenkins
  
• Leonardo's Dream by Hans de Beer
  
• Penguin Pete, Ahoy! by Marcus Pfister
  
• Penguin Pete's New Friends by Marcus Pfister
  
• A Penguin Pup for Pinkerton by Steven Kellogg
  
• Please Say Please! : Penguin's Guide to Manners by Margery Cuyler
  
• Solo by Paul Geraghty **MUST READ
  
• Tacky and the Emperor by Helen Lester
  
• Tacky and the Winter Games by Helen Lester
  
• Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester
  
• Tackylocks and the Three Bears by Helen Lester
  
• Where Is Home, Little Pip? by Karma Wilson

Paper Penguin Craft

Exploring the World with Benny, weeks 12 and 13

Denmark

• The Emperor's New Clothes by Nadine Bernard Westcott
• The Little Mermaid by Anthea Bell
• The Nightingale by Jerry Pinkney
• The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen
  
• The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Tor Seidler
• The Swineherd by Erik Blegvad
• Thumbelina by Erik Haugaard
• The Tinderbox by Barry Moser
• The Ugly Duckling by Jerry Pinkney

Whales

• Baby Beluga by Raffi
• Down to the Sea With Mr. Magee by Chris Van Dusen
  
• An Ocean World by Peter Sis
• The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson
• The Snow Whale by Caroline Pitcher

For our whale craft this week, we made and origami whale. If you've never done it, my favorite craft of all time it the stuffed paper bag whale. It works great for older kids too.

Exploring the World with Benny, week 12

Our actual topics for the week were the Netherlands and turkeys. (I know I'm a week behind with the turkey theme, but unless you reserve the books 3 weeks ahead it's impossible to get turkey books for the week of Thanksgiving.) There weren't many choices for stories from the Netherlands, but we made up for it by reading Christmas books all week since we unpacked the advent wreaths, books, and kid's nativity set on Sunday. (Now if I could just convince Benny that we don't need to read Merry Christmas Charlie Brown every day.)

The Netherlands

• The Hole in the Dike by Norma Green
• Katje, the Windmill Cat by Gretchen Woelfle

Turkeys

• Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam by Brian Schatell
• Sam's No Dummy, Farmer Goff by Brian Schatell
• Setting the Turkeys Free by W. Nikola-Lisa
• 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey
• Turkey Surprise by Peggy Archer

No craft link this week. Benny made handprints with fingerpaint and added in some extra tail and wing feathers in different colors. I used a Sharpie to add the eyes and beak. He had a blast!!

Exploring the world with Benny, weeks 10 and 11

I noticed on Friday when I uploaded my last weekly report that I had forgotten to list the books that Benny and I had read the week before so I'll do two weeks today. We actually ended up spending about a week and a half on Germany and dogs. There are so many adaptations of fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm that the list could have been much longer than it was. The numbers of books about dogs is equally lengthy so I simply stuck to some of the books that I remembered the girls enjoying when they were younger. The second half of last week and this week we are reading books about Spain and dinosaurs. There are a lot of books that have kids pretending to be or play with dinosaurs. I chose to limit our selections to books that actually had a dinosaur as a character as a means of simply reducing the number of choices. Here are the books that we enjoyed.

Week 10

Germany

• The Fisherman and His Wife by the Brothers Grimm
• The Frog Prince by Paul Galdone
  
• The Goose Girl : A Story from the Brothers Grimm by Eric A. Kimmel
  
• Hansel and Gretel by James Marshall
• Iron John by Eric A. Kimmel
  
• Little Red Riding Hood by Jerry Pinkney
  
• Mrs. Goat and Her Seven Little Kids by Tony Ross
  
• Seven at One Blow : A Tale from the Brothers Grimm by Eric A. Kimmel
  
• The Three Spinning Fairies : A Tale from the Brothers Grimm by Lisa Campbell Ernst
  
• The Turnip by Walter de la Mare
  

Dogs

• Angus and the Cat by Marjorie Flack
  
• Angus and the Ducks by Marjorie Flack
  
• Angus Lost by Marjorie Flack
• Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
  
• Harry, the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
  
• McDuff Comes Home by Rosemary Wells
• McDuff Moves In by Rosemary Wells
  
• McDuff's Wild Romp by Rosemary Wells
  
• Pinkerton, Behave! by Steven Kellogg
  
• A Rose for Pinkerton by Steven Kellogg
  

Dalmation Craft

Week 11

Spain

• The Beautiful Butterfly : A Folktale from Spain by Judy Sierra
  
• Don Quixote and the Windmills by Eric A. Kimmel
  
• The Girl, the Fish & the Crown : A Spanish Folktale by Marilee Heyer
  
• Squash It! : A True and Ridiculous Tale by Eric A. Kimmel
  

Dinosaurs

• Danny and the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff
  
• Danny and the Dinosaur Go to Camp by Syd Hoff
  
• Dinosaur Roar! by Paul and Henrietta Stickland
  
• Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton
  
• Happy Birthday, Danny and the Dinosaur! by Syd Hoff
• Sammy and the Dinosaurs by Ian Whybrow
  
• Too Big! by Claire Masurel
  
• The Trouble with Tyrannosaurus Rex by Lorinda Bryan Cauley

Our pattern came from T-Rex Paper Craft. Instead of following the directions and using string or straws to make the parts movable, Benny chose to simply use a few brads.

Exploring the World with Benny, week 9

Italy

• Big Anthony : His Story by Tomie dePaola
• The Crab Prince : An Entertainment For Children by Christopher Manson
  
• Days of the Blackbird : A Tale of Northern Italy by Tomie dePaola
  
• The Mysterious Giant of Barletta : an Italian Folktale by Tomie DePaola
  
• Petrosinella : a Neapolitan Rapunzel by Diane Stanley
  
• Strega Nona : an Old Tale by Tomie de Paola
• Toads and Diamonds by Charlotte Huck
• Tony's Bread : an Italian Folktale by Tomie dePaola

Mice

• The Church Mice Adrift by Graham Oakley
  
• The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley
  
• Doctor De Soto by William Steig
  
• The King, the Mice and the Cheese by Nancy and Eric Gurney
  
• Norman the Doorman
• Town Mouse, Country Mouse by Jan Brett
• The Very Busy Day by Diana Hendry
  
• The Very Noisy Night by Diana Hendry
  

Mouse paper bag puppet

Exploring the World with Benny, week 8

This week's theme was simply France. No added animal theme this time. We still had a few extra sheep books to finish up, and I knew that Benny would want to make some paper insects with his sisters toward the end of the week. Here are the tales from France that we enjoyed.

• Beauty and the Beast by Jan Brett
• Brave Martha and the Dragon by Susan L. Roth
• Cinderella by Barbara McClintock
• Jig, Fig, and Mrs. Pig by Peter Hansard
  
• No Dinner! : The Story of the Old Woman and the Pumpkin by Jessica Souhami
• Stone Soup by Heather Forest
• Three Sacks of Truth : A Story from France by Eric A. Kimmel
• The Three Sillies by Steven Kellogg

Here is a picture of the ladybug he made on Saturday.

Exploring the World with Benny, week 7

Great Britain

• The Adventures of Robin Hood by Marcia Williams
• Arthur and the Sword by Robert Sabuda
• Jack and the Beanstalk by E. Nesbit
• Next time I will : an old English tale by Doris Orgel
• The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle : a British Fairy Tale by Margaret Read MacDonald
• Saint George and the Dragon : A Golden Legend by Margaret Hodges
• Tattercoats by Joseph Jacobs
• Teeny Weeny Bop by Margaret Read MacDonald

Sheep

• Emma's Lamb by Kim Lewis
• Little Baa by Kim Lewis
• Ten Sleepy Sheep by Holly Keller

Sheep Paper Bag Puppet The pattern for the head is on page 10.

Exploring the World with Benny, week 6

Our books for this week:

Russia

• Clay Boy by Mirra Ginsburg
• Clever Katya : a Fairy Tale From Old Russia by Mary Hoffman
  
• The Enormous Carrot by Vladimir Vagin
• The Firebird by Demi
• Sasha's Matrioshka Dolls by Jana Dillon
• The Sea King's Daughter : a Russian Legend by Aaron Shepard

Polar Bears

• Little Polar Bear by Hans de Beer
• Little Polar Bear and the Brave Little Hare by Hans de Beer
• Little Polar Bear, Take Me Home! by Hans de Beer
• Little Snow Bear by Hazel Lincoln.
• The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

The head and body patterns for our paper bag puppet.

Exploring the World with Benny, Week 5

This week's topics included the country of Israel and camels. Here's a look at what we read:

ISRAEL

• The Book of Jonah by Peter Spier
• David and Goliath by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers
• Exodus by Brian Wildsmith
• Joseph by Brian Wildsmith
• The Never-Ending Greenness by Neil Waldman
• Noah's Ark by Peter Spier
• Old Noah's Elephants : an Israeli Folktale by Warren Ludwig

CAMELS

• The Happy Dromedary by Berniece Freschet
• The Last Straw by Frederick H. Thury
• Little Humpty by Margaret Wild
• Small Camel Follows the Star by Rachel W.N. Brown

For a craft we modified the following paper camel craft. I enlarge the camel to about double the original size and cut out the pieces. Then I traced the shapes onto white card stock. The body and both legs, I turned over and trace a second time. Once all of the pieces were cut out, we assembled the camel with brads so Benny could move the head, legs, and tail.

Exploring the World With Benny, week 3

The themes for the past two weeks were Japan and dragons. I chose dragons because I couldn't find a good selection of books for other Asian animals. Since dragons are also prevalent in Asian folklore and culture and since Benny loves dragons, it seemed like the perfect animal for the week. Here's our book list and craft.

JAPAN

• The Boy Who Painted Dragons by Demi
• The Crane Wife by Odds Bodkin
• The Greatest of All : a Japanese Folktale by Eric A. Kimmel
• Little Inchkin by Fiona French.
• Jojofu by Michael P. Waite
• Kenji and the Magic Geese by Ryerson Johnson
• The Paper Dragonfly by Mary Watson.
• The Silver Charm : a Folktale from Japan by Robert D. San Souci
• Ten Oni Drummers by Matthew Gollub
• Tree of Cranes by Allen Say

DRAGONS

• The Book of Beasts by E. Nesbit
• The Deliverers of Their Country by Edith Nesbit
• The Dragon of an Ordinary Family by Margaret Mahy
• The Dragon Snatcher by M.P. Robertson.
• The Egg by M.P. Robertson
• The Great Dragon Rescue by M.P. Robertson.

Dragon craft

Exploring the World with Benny: Week 2

This past week we covered South Korea and tigers. Here's our book list and craft:

South Korea:

• In the Moonlight Mist : a Korean Tale by Daniel San Souci
• The King's Secret : the Legend of King Sejong by Carol Farley
• The Korean Cinderella by Shirley Climo
• Magic Spring : a Korean Folktale by Nami Rhee
• The Princess and the Beggar : a Korean Folktale by Anne Sibley O'Brien
• The Sun Girl and the Moon Boy by Yangsook Choi
• Yunmi and Halmoni's Trip by Sook Nyul Choi

Tigers:

• I Don't Want to Take a Bath! by Julie Sykes
• The Loudest Roar by Thomas Taylor
• The Story of Little Babaji by Helen Bannerman
• The Tiger by Jennifer Justice

Here's a link to our tiger paper craft. Benny is still finishing his tiger. He seems determined that there will not be any white left showing at all. Another great craft is the tiger paper plate craft at the same site. Benny had already made that one a couple of years ago when I taught coop and still has it in his craft box.

Exploring the world with Benny: Week 1

Rather than add a booklist to my weekly report every week for Benny, I've decided to post what we're reading separately so that I can go back and pull it up more easily. Our book selections come from the available library resources for each country under the subjects of juvenile folklore or juvenile fiction. For our animals, I try to pick at least one science book and then a few fictional books as well. Last weeks topics for Benny were China and panda bears. Here a look at what we read.

For China:

• Dragon Prince : a Chinese Beauty & the Beast Tale by Laurence Yep
  
• The Enchanted Tapestry : a Chinese Folktale by Robert D. San Souci
  
• The Luminous Pearl : a Chinese Folktale by Betty L. Torre
  
• Rabbit's Gift : a Fable from China by George Shannon
  
• The Seven Chinese Brothers by Margaret Mahy
  
• The Story of Chopsticks by Ying Chang Compestine
  
• The Story of Kites by Ying Chang Compestine
  
• The Story of Noodles by Ying Chang Compestine
  
• The Story of Paper by Ying Chang Compestine
  

For Pandas:

• Giant Pandas : Gifts from China by Allan Fowler
  
• Milton the Early Riser by Robert Kraus
  
• Pi-shu, the Little Panda / John Butler

Brainstorming for preK, part 2

Now for the undecided part. I know Benny will continue to listen to his sisters' history and science, but I'd like to have a separate program of reading aloud to Benny during his time with me. The themes in preschool this year didn't work for us because there weren't enough books to read. Right now I've just started putting books from the booklist in Honey for a Child's Heart on hold each week to make sure we have something new each week. While it seems to be working for this year, I don't really want to continue flying by the seat of my pants each day with a new baby next year. Benny loves watching animal planet and loves animals in general so I'd like to do something along those lines. Here are some ideas that have been bouncing around in my head so far.

1. Expand on the themes that I used for the coop preschool with units on different animal habitats, reading literature and even simple non-fiction books on animals that live in the different habitats. I would probably have to cover at least 2 different animals each week to have a sufficient number of library books.

2. Do a more geography-based program similar to what I used for Jessie back in K. (Unfortunately, it's no longer on my pc but shouldn't be too difficult to recreate). Each unit would be a different continent with different countries each week. This would let us broaden our reading to include some children's literature related to each country, but we could also include the different animals on each continent as well as major habitats such as the Brazilian rainforest and the Sahara desert. As much as Benny loves ocean animals we would probably lump the oceans together with Antarctica as a unit. I have McGraw Hill's The Complete Book of Animals (The Complete Book Series) and an Usborne's Animal Jigsaw Atlas which both list animals by continent. Jessie found the former to be a bit dry, but Benny seems to like non-fiction books more than his sister. We could always start out with the countries and scale back on areas that don't interest Benny. (It's certainly easier to scale back than try to add on on the fly).

3. Group the animals based more on type of animal (birds, insects, mammals, etc.) Here again we would probably need to cover more than one animal a week to have enough books. I do have a few books from the Dr. Seuss Learning Library that we could use to introduce topics on birds, dinosaurs, bugs, and mammals if we go this route. We also have DK's Animal Encyclopedia that we could use for pictures, but I think some of the text would probably go over Benny's head.

Hmm.. it's looking like choice 2 would be the easiest to expand, but it also has the most potential for me to overdo things. We'll pray about it for a few weeks (I have to get the taxes done in the mean time) and see what direction seems the best at that point.

Brainstorming for PreK, part 1

I haven't even finished planning this year yet, but quite honestly my brain is ready to start thinking about something new. Since Benny's Pre-K year is the most up in the air right now, I figured I'd jot down some ideas to pray and consider for a couple of weeks before making a decision. Here's what I know we will use:

Phonics - Phonics Pathways: Clear Steps to Easy Reading and Perfect Spelling with Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers, MCP readers, and level 1 readers at the regular and church library. Not much planning is required for this part since I will let Benny set the pace. I would like to make a list of readers and write them in a chart to show roughly where they would correspond to PP. (Otherwise I know my brain will forget them in it's baby-induced state of sleep deprivation).

Handwriting - Benny has been trying to write letters on his own recently but has been a bit frustrated with the results. To help with general pencil/marker control, I believe we'll use Amazing Mazes (Kumon's Practice Books) and My First Book Of Tracing (Kumon Workbooks). Based on Benny's interest we could also use Kumon's My Book of Mazes: Animals (Kumon Workbooks) and/or My Book of Mazes: Things That Go! (Kumon Workbooks). If he continues to be interested in writing letters, we can do some letter tracing with chalk outside on the sidewalk or maybe even painting in an outlined letter on rainy days. Again nothing formal. As many or as few pages a week as Benny is interested in completing. I'm not interesting in pushing handwriting at this point.

Math - This will likely be lots of counting using pennies, m&ms, cheerios, the beads on the abacus, etc. The goal will be counting to 100 by 1s, 2s, 5s, and 10s similar to what's described in the WTM for Kindergarten. Our other main math focus will be a magnetic calendar. We'll cover days of the week, months of the year, seasons, and number recognition up to 31. I'd like to find a few simple dot-to-dot books for number recognition as well. At various points during the year, I think we'll take a break from counting for other topics like shapes, patterns, names of coins, etc. I'll have to sit down and brainstorm a few more ideas here.

Fine Motor Skills - In addition to the fine motor work under handwriting, I'd like to keep up Benny's progress in cutting. (This is one area that I didn't do a good job at developing in the girls). Kumon has a few more books that we could use: My First Book Of Cutting (Kumon Workbooks), My Book Of Pasting (Kumon Workbooks), and My Book of Pasting: Jigsaw Puzzles (Kumon Workbooks). We'll continue to use these as long as Benny enjoys them and then switch to some simple paper crafts similar to what I used for the coop preschool class I taught last year.