Amazing Picture Books and Read Alouds

We took this week off as sort of a sick/holiday week. We started off the week with colds and everyone wanting to rest. Then I worked on thanksgiving, my husband had a four day weekend, and then we made a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. It was very difficult to stay on any routine this week, but we had fun and that is a bonus of homeschooling. We get to just kind of go with what life throws at us and not stress about it.

One thing we enjoyed a lot this week was reading lots of books. We love read aloud time, it is such a cozy time! We like to snuggle up on the couch with a blanket and a couple books and read. Mother Goose Time has been a fun addition to this time of day because they always include a really great picture book with the months supplies. And not only do they send a book, they also send fun extension activities that go beautifully with the book. This Month they sent a  story from the Takuna Tribe of South America. It's titled Chimidyue A Folktale of the Amazon Rainforest. It is retold by Leslie Falconer and the beautiful pictures are by Chris Lensch. We enjoyed this book several times this week along with the accompanying puzzle and the magnetic story pieces.

The magnetic story pieces is a new item that Mother Goose Time started including in their curriculum this year and they have been a great addition in my opinion. My kids use them every time we read the story and act out the scenes as I read. I think it helps keep them focused on the story and gives them a way to process the story in a hands on way. I also like that it provides opportunity for them to retell the story or even make up their own stories. It is fun to watch how they get creative with this. Here is a picture of my son acting out the story as I read it to him. 

These are very good quality and sturdy so far, they have held up all month with both of my kids playing with them. I keep them in a little basket along with the book and place it by the handy magnetic oil pan board that I got at an auto supply store. It was a cheap board and works perfectly with the magnetic story sets. 

Another great thing about getting these books in the curriculum is that after awhile you end up with a beautiful little library of gorgeous picture books that are fun educational reads. Look how many we have collected over our time with Mother Goose Time!

We go back to these books and reread them often, and my son loves to  pull them out and look at the pictures. He likes to look through the pictures and tell his own version of the story by what he remembers of the books and what he is seeing in the pictures. I love seeing him quietly doing this while I'm helping his sister with something or while we are having down time. If you are interested in buying just the story books from them you can! They are reasonably priced and with the holidays coming would be a great gift! Here is the link to the page to purchase storybooks

One last thing I wanted to share was our moldy bread project, I wrote about this two weeks ago in a post found here

After two weeks the damp bread has grown a lot of mold just like we guessed it would. The other two have grown no mold at all though, and that surprised us all. We are going to keep it up awhile longer to see if any mold grows on the other bread. We think the next bread to mold is the bread slice that came straight out of the bag. I guess we will have to wait and see. 

*Mother Goose Time has generously provided this curriculum to us in exchange for our stories and honest opinions*