A few weeks ago I shared the book Queen of the Falls and today I am excited to be giving away a copy of the book to one of my lucky followers!
All you have to do to enter the giveaway is become a follower of the blog and leave a comment. If you are already a follower, all you have to do is leave a comment. I would love to see my follower number jump, so tell your friends!
The giveaway will end on Monday, July 4th and the winner will be selected using random.org!
Does your child love bubble gum? Have you ever thought about how it was invented?Pop! The Invention of Bubble Gumby Meghan McCarthy shares the very interesting story of how bubble gum came to be!
This is such a cute story full of information about bubble gum. Throughout the story you begin to wonder if bubble gum will ever be invented. It was not an easy process! This story is great for asking questions. Readers should always ask questions before reading the story, while they are reading the story and after reading the story. When readers ask questions, it shows they are active in the reading process. Comprehension cannot occur unless the reader interacts with the text.
Before reading activate your child's schema (background knowledge) and to get them thinking about gum:
1. Say the following to your child: What do you know about bubble gum? Let your child answer. Then share what you know about bubble gum.
2. Say the following to your child: I wonder how bubble gum was invented. Let your child share their thoughts and then share yours.
During the story encourage your child to use some of the following thinking stems to ask questions:
I wonder...
What if...
Why...
How could...
After the story generate some questions you and your child still have about bubble gum. What else would you like to know about bubble gum? Your questions can lead to more learning about bubble gum!
Be sure to read the end pages! There is a ton of interesting facts about bubble gum.
Extension Activity:
This book easily lends itself to a science experiment!
Question: Do all brands of bubble gum create the same size bubble?
You will need:
1. At least three brands of bubble gum
2. Ruler
3. Paper and pencil for recording findings
Have your child make a hypothesis. Do they think all bubble gums are created equal?
Have your child chew a piece of bubble gum for thirty chews.
After chewing thirty times have them blow a bubble.
Before the bubble breaks, measure the bubble.
Record how big the bubble is on a recording sheet.
With the same brand of gum, repeat the process 2 more times (it is best to use a new piece each time).
Find the average of your three bubbles.
Complete the entire process again with each brand of bubble gum!
Do you want a fun book that will occupy your child's attention for hours? If not for hours, at least for 15 minutes!Go to the library and check-out Color Camouflage A Spot-It Challengeby Sarah L Schuette!
This book is similar to the I Spy books that kids love. This particular book is color camouflaged. For example, there is a green page and all the objects on the page are green. The author lists five or six objects for the reader to spot. Believe me, it is not easy and it is very addictive!
This is a great book for young readers because it teaches visual discrimination to find specific objects set within a busy background. It also helps build vocabulary in the youngest of readers. Do not worry if your child wants to reread the book several times. Through repeated readings, your child will enhance their visual memory skills.
Once you have found everything there is to find in this book, do not worry! It is a series. There are several of them for you to check out!
I love wordless picture books! Wordless books are powerful teaching tools. Since there are no words, the reader has to rely on picture cues to tell the story. The Secret Box by Barbara Lehman is an excellent addition to wordless picture books.
A long time ago, a boy hides a box beneath the floorboards in an attic. Time passes and the the city changes. One day three children find that same hidden box. They open it and find pictures, maps, tickets and a postcard of Seahorse Pier. The kids use the clues to go on an adventure and find Seahorse Pier!
This is a great book to practice metacognition. Metacognition is simply thinking about your thinking. When you read a book, you should always be forming thoughts about what it is you are reading. Do you agree with what the author said? Are you confused? What is going to happen next? When you read a wordless book it is easy to pay attention to your thinking because there are no words to distract you. As you read the pictures, use some of the following sentence stems to help you think about your thinking:
I'm thinking...
I'm noticing....
I'm wondering...
Since there are no words, the reader has to infer what is happening throughout the story. An inference is created when the reader uses background knowledge and text clues to make a prediction. The text clues in a wordless book will come from the illustrations. You cannot read this story without creating inferences! It is impossible! Some sentence stems to use when inferring are below:
Maybe....
Perhaps....
It could be that...
This could mean...
Each reader who sits down to read The Secret Box will tell a slightly different story! That is the beauty of wordless books!
I am a huge Chris Van Allsburg fan. In my opinion, he is a masterful story teller. Some of his most popular books are Jumanji, The Polar Express, and Two Bad Ants! When Van Allsburg publishes a book, I know it is going to be worth buying. As soon as Queen of the Fallswas published, I ran to the bookstore to pick up a copy. Van Allsburg did not let me down!
Van Allsburg usually writes fantasy stories. However, this story is much different. Queen of the Falls is the true story about Annie Edson Taylor. Never heard of her? Don't worry, I had not heard of her eigther. Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to go over Niagra Falls in a wooden barrel! Van Allsburg does a great job of recreating Annie's daring ride across the Falls. It is an exciting story that will keep children's attention and will also teach them a valuable life lesson.
Take a minute and watch Chris Van Allsburg talk about the making of this book!
This is a great book to read just to build schema (background knowledge). I know I added new information to my mental files by reading this book. It is also great for inferring. When you read this book with your chid, I guarantee you are going to predict what is going to happen next!
Below are some questions to guide your thinking conversation with your child:
1. Read to, "Many in the crowd cried out; then all eyes were frozen on the churning water below" and ask your child: Why do you think people cried out? What might be happening?
2. Read to, "She was forced to say goodbye to her final student and close the school" and ask your child: How do you think Annie feels? Why do you think this?
3. Read to "Annie Taylor would go over Niagra Falls in a barrel" and ask your child: Why do you think Annie wants to go over Niagra Falls?
4. Read to "She looked at her drawing and was certain she would be safe no matter how violent the ride" and ask your child: If you were the foreman, would you agree to make the barrel? Why? Why not?
5. Read to "...she was nothing at all like the death-defying dare devil she was determined to become" and ask your child: Why was Frank surprised? What do you think a dare devil looks like?
6. Read to "Billy tied one end of a rope to the barrel and the other end to the boat" and ask your child: What do you think Annie might be feeling? What would you be feeling?
7. Read to "They knocked the lid off with a hammer" and ask your child: Make a prediction. What do you think is going to happen when they open the barrel?
8. Read to "Excited crowds quickly lost interest when they discovered the fearless Queen of the Falls was a little old lady" and ask your child: Why do you think people so disappointed when they see Annie? What do you think the people expected to see?
9. Read to the end of the storyand ask your child: What lesson do you think Annie learned?
Extension Activity:
If you want your child to really use their brain this summer (and you do not mind a little mess), I have a GREAT extension activity for you.
If Annie would have tried to go over the Falls in a regular barrel, the barrel might not have made it. Even if the barrel made it, Annie might not have survived without the extra padding of pillows. The book shares that you can put an egg in a can and drop it to the floor. The can will not be damaged, but the egg might be broken.
Challenge your child to see if they can put an egg in a can and drop it to the ground without the egg breaking. Work with your child to develop a few "barrel" designs for the egg to travel over "the Falls". Try it out. What would be the best container to use? What might you use for padding? If the egg breaks, come up with a new and improved plan and try again!
