Our Summer Reading List!

Our read together stack.

 It's that time again... the days are hot and long and the kiddo is out of school (finally!) and we are kicking off our summer reading with a big bang! I am hoping to get through most of these books that I have on our list at least by mid July, early August. The kiddo doesn't have to go back to school till the first week in September, which to me seems like a long time for summer but apparently it's pretty normal up here lol! I am thankful for her improved reading skills this year, it seems ever since we've moved up here her reading has become ten times better than it was when we lived in Biloxi. I praise her school for that of course, they have 100 times more patients with the kids, they give them realistic goals to achieve and praise the kids ever step of the way no matter how small of a step it is. She has truly enjoyed her new school and enjoyed reading again.

Her stack of read all by myself books. That I will add to a little at a time.

 I have divided her stack of books into two categories this summer; one stack is for her to read by herself or with minimal help and the other is for us to read together. I love the fact that she is wanting to read on her own, she still comes to me whenever she gets stuck on a word but for the most part she can get through the 2 year readers all by herself! I am also excited to share some of my favorites with her from when I was a kid like; the goosebumps series (shes recently become obsessed with the tv show since its now on netflix) and the boxcar children a classic I adored! We've also got a few new ones we've picked on sale at Barnes and Nobles to add to our growing library, like "The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop" which is about two kids who make candy as a superhero power in London England... even I'm excited to read this one! And also, "Catch the Bouquet" the first in the English Roses series written by Madonna!

And a few of my own for some summer reading :)

I also have a few stacks of books to get through before the summer ends which of course are my favorite mysteries, there have been so many new ones coming out lately I have a hard time keeping up with them all! What are you and your kiddos reading this summer? I would love to hear your suggestions also! :)

Dino-rific Weekend!

What have we been up to? Paleontology of course! LOL! And another of our magic tree house books/craft/project. I have noticed how we've been reading them a little out of order but honestly it doesn't matter to me, I'm just glad shes been taking an interest in reading and, learning about new things like dinosaurs such. We finished reading "Dinosaurs After Dark"and she has been craving to learn more about dinosaurs... so we borrowed a few books from the base library and discussed how dinosaurs lived and what fossils are. I found a few great craft/projects about dinosaurs through google and pinterest.com and well... we went a little nuts LOL!


I decided to whip up a batch of salt dough and I found some plastic dinosaurs at Walmart... I laid out our "rocks" and then smashed down a dinosaur in the middle of each of them, hence making an imprint or what I like to think looks like a fossil. ;) Then we baked them for quite a while, after they finished baking and cooling we painted them and then let them dry.


We "burried" them in sand and dirt from the back yard and then "dug" them back up to dust them off and pretend we were excavating them! It was AWESOME! And if you have a kid who's into dinosaurs... I highly recommend partaking in your own dinosaur dig! Oh so much fun! And your kids will love it!


I then glued a make shift dino of my own on some heavy stock paper and let her paint over it so she could see the "bones" of the dinosaur... she thought it was pretty neat how the paint didn't stick to the bones...


We also made a hand print dinosaur and her very own dinosaur necklace! The necklace she LOVES and I probably will have to pry it off of her at some point LOL! Best of all... soooo easy to make! I just took the left over plastic dinosaurs and screwed a frame clasp screw at the top and then threaded it through a ball chain. And wha-la! Instant dinosaur necklace and instant fun! For hours!

The Reading List

Well, with a new year... we have started a new challenge... chapter books! YAY! I'm so glad she is finally at the stage where she can focus a little longer in reading. I like that she is reading a level above what they are required also. She still has trouble with words and needs my help a lot but I know it will be for the best! I am so excited about the books she chose too! The boxcar children books were probably my favorite in 3rd grade! I can't beleive she can actually read them... she is so much smarter than I was at her age, but I guess that is the point... isn't it? To want your child to be better than you and excel at everything they do. I am so proud of her! Now, I just have to make my long but distinguished book list for this year, I completed my challenge of 30 books in 2011 and I hope to do at least that many this year as well. I still have one Black Dagger Brotherhood book to read, and a few mystery books in my collection left to read as well. I also want to try to read a few more of the "popular" books that will be coming out this year too. What will you be reading this year? Have you made your list yet?

30 Days of Me: Day 13

A Fictional Book

The kiddo and I are currently reading the mouse cookie books. You know the ones, "If you give a mouse a cookie, hes gonna wanna..." We have added If you give a mouse a cookie, If you take a mouse to school, If you give a moose a muffin, If you give a pig a pancake, If you give a pig a party and If you give a cat a cupcake to our library. She loves these books and I can't say that I blame her... I loved them as a child myself.

As for our foreign selection... we are currently reading Aschenputtel (Cinderella in German) by Ethan Mordden. She has shown major progress in this book from when we first started reading it... and I am more than ecstatic about that! She is beginning to understand alot more German words and has been speaking in German more often, I honestly couldn't be more proud! Oh and her pronunciation is spot on! I have never been so glad to have made the choice to start teaching her other languages so early on in life. I just have to remember speak "proper German" and not in my dialect (slang) LOL! The other book we are currently reading together is; I live in Tokyo by Mari Takabayashi. If I fail at everything else in life, I will succeed at having a smart, worldly-wise and multilingual child!... that is the goal at least. I think were off to a good start though, she already wants to travel the world and make as many friends as she can, which is not to hard for her seeing how she is not shy at all. :)

As for myself... I just finished up Southern Vampires: 13 Deep Fried Blood Curdling Tales, which was really good for a short story book. Now I am currently reading Almost Single by Advaita Kala. What can I say... I'm a sucker for Indian novels and Bollywood films! The novel takes place in New Delhi and reads like chick-lit but with a Hindi twist. I like the heroin and the book has a pretty witty dialog too.