Here are the highlights of what the girls have been enjoying this week:
- The Wonderful Farm by Marcel Aymé, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
We have started reading this, the first children's book Maurice Sendak ever illustrated, at lunch, now that we have finished The Racketty-Packetty House. It's a bit wordy for Bo Peep (2 years, 3 months), and the chapters are a bit long even for Miss Muffet (4 years, 1 month), but I'm dividing each chapter into three or four smaller sections and that's working fine so far. I'm not crazy about talking animal stories, but the introduction to the book explains how that works in the universe of this story and that makes it more palatable. The girls, of course, have no problem with talking animals and are enjoying meeting the different animals as their stories unfold. - Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Having finished Betsy's Little Star, Miss Muffet has moved on to her second chapter book, Little House on the Prairie. (She heard Little House in the Big Woods as a read-aloud.) She reads a chapter aloud to my husband in the evenings using the read-aloud edition of the book, and he follows along in The Little House Treasury to make sure she's not skipping words and that she understand what she reads. This book is probably a little bit above her current level, so it's giving her a bit of a challenge while also increasing her stamina for reading longer passages and introducing new vocabulary. - Hill of Fire by Thomas P. Lewis, illustrated by Joan Sandin
Miss Muffet has developed an interest in volcanoes, so she read this easy reader (which is probably right on her reading level) about a volcano eruption in Mexico, and then she followed it up with some YouTube videos. She was happy to have the reassurance that there are no volcanoes in Maryland, but other than that, she did not seem especially upset about volcanoes. I think her interest is primarily scientific. - "Some One" by Walter de la Mare, from Listen Children Listen by Myra Cohn Livingston
Miss Muffet successfully memorized "Holding Hands" by Lenore M. Link and has been assigned a new one: Some One by Walter de la Mare. She's already memorized a few lines so I don't think it will be long before it's mastered.
- A Winter Day by Douglas Florian
Bo Peep has been requesting this book over and over again. Though she likes the story itself, she is more enamored of the author's self-portrait that accompanies his biography on the jacket flap. Besides the jacket flap, her favorite page is the one where the family eats pancakes. "I eat pancakes also!" she says. - Discovering Trees by Douglas Florian
Both Miss Muffet and Bo Peep have been looking at this book a lot, but I think they are mainly looking at the pictures. Miss Muffet has loved reading the book with me in the past, but Bo Peep would rather "read" it to Jumping Joan (2.5 months) than have me read the text. Attempting to read this with her did remind me, though, that I want to make more of an effort to introduce nonfiction to her. Jim Arnosky will probably be the author with whom I start. - Alphaprints: Colors by Roger Priddy
- Alphaprints: 123 by Roger Priddy
- Jane Foster's ABC
Bo Peep has started showing more of an interest in concept books, so we have been looking at these old favorites, often while she sits on the potty (another skill we'll be working on mastering soon!) She has pretty much mastered her colors, and she is enjoying counting up to 10 and slowly learning how to count items using one-to-one correspondence. Miss Muffet is also more than happy to review any of these concepts with Bo Peep, whether she wants help or not.
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