Throughout this Christmas season, as many of you know, our family has been exploring the Christmas traditions of other cultures. We began by explaining and celebrating St. Nicholas Day on December 6th and have continued to explore other traditions and folk tales from other cultures. Continue reading
I am SUPER thrilled to be joining back up with Renee at the Mother Daughter Book Reviews blog to bring you this awesome opportunity to check out what many MANY other bloggers have to share about their love for children’s literature! It’s also a fun way to share your own children’s book reviews and other great posts about children’s literacy! Continue reading
Yesterday Niagara finally joined the rest of Canada as we experienced our first snowfall of the season. Mr. B’s eyes were full of wonder as this is the first snowfall he’s ever really “experienced” since he was just a few months old last winter. Of course, being in one of Canada’s “hot spots”, none of it stuck and all we have is green grass covered in crunchy leaves again, but that first snowfall is all it takes to put people in the right frame of mind to face winter and get into the Christmas spirit!
Miss J is learning words left, right and center, but still insists that she “can’t read the story” on her own. Sometimes, to encourage her to participate in the storytelling, we scrap the text and just tell the story by “reading the pictures”. This can be a TON of fun – interpreting the images can lead to wild and crazy adventures (and can also give you a break from reading the same old text over and over again too!).
Some stories are actually wordless. This week’s children’s book is one of our family’s “winter favourites”. It’s about a little boy and his snowman and th
e adventures the go on as they explore each other’s worlds. In the award winning story The Snowman, author Raymond Briggs takes his readers on a wonderful adventure using more than 175 gently coloured images that are neatly arranged to illustrate this awesome little winter adventure that starts in the yard and home of the little boy and continues on a grand adventure. It’s a beautiful story and, as promised, one that can be extended in any number of fun ways to increase the learning for your little ones!
Extended Learning for Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman
Get Active: Build a snowman!
Dig Deeper: Mark Cassino’s The Story of Snow answers your snow-related questions!
Be Creative: Visit Lisa @ 5 Orange Potatoes and make your own Ivory Soap Snow!
Read More: Read the poem “The Snowman” by Shel Silverstein.
Watch: The Snowman on DVD or on Blu-Ray – story set to beautiful music!
Please share your favourite “Snowman Activies” in the comments below or on our Facebook Page and I’ll add them! If we pool our ideas together – favourite poems, stories, crafts, games, activities, we’ll have a TON of fantastic ideas to draw from when the “snowman” mood strikes this winter!
Ho! Ho! Ho! The Christmas season is upon us and the first step to getting things set-up in the House of Mac is always the BOOKS! I love switching up the kids’ Seasonal Home Library – it’s a chance to bring certain book choices to their attention and take a break from other stories that have been “read to death” in previous days. Continue reading
I’m taking you all back a few years with me tonight. This story is one from my own childhood. It’s not a typical feature for Read To Me Mondays; it’s a more thoughtful story than some of the other, somewhat “lighter” titles on the bookshelf. However, it definitely has a wonderful message and is well worth sharing with you all! Continue reading
Awhile back, I posted about author Mary Casanova’s amazing tale One Dog Canoe and I promised that I would share another of hers – Utterly Otterly Day. Again I love that an otter – a “lake” creature – is represented! Reminds me of watching the otters shell crayfish on the docks back home. In this story, Casanova weaves a a delightful cautionary tale about a mischievous little otter who doesn’t like to listen to his parents and as a result, ends up on quite an adventure! Continue reading
With blustery fall winds covering my lawn with fun piles of leaves (until we have to rake) and Halloween just a few nights away, I thought this book would make a great Read to Me Monday selection. Winnie Flies Again written by Valerie Thomas and Korky Paul is a funny little story with eye-catching artwork filled with amusing details. Continue reading
Stick Man lives in the family tree,
With his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three …
Julia Donaldson has done it again with this adorable tale of a Stick Man’s adventure and journey to get home to his family after being “captured” by a dog in the park one morning. I just can’t get enough of this amazing author’s ability to capture her readers both through her fantastic poetry and clever plots! Continue reading
We’ve featured Barbara Reid on our blog before – her book The Party is a fantastic story and you can read Kim’s review to learn more about this fun story! Today, I share Reid’s book Picture a Tree. My mother is an amazing artist and Miss J absolutely LOVES quality “painting time” with Nanny when they have the chance to visit one another. The most amazing thing about spending time with Nanny is that she has this incredible ability to help you connect with those deep corners of your imagination Continue reading
It’s Thanksgiving weekend. And where I come from, that means it’s also the hunting season opener … which means that pretty much every man in my hometown is gone for a week and most of the women are enjoying a quiet weekend with no turkey and next weekend will involve a lot of turkey dinners filled with family and friends. So, we received news from “up North” that my future brother-in-law was a successful hunter this morning!! He got his moose! YEAH! Continue reading
