Christmas in July ~ Summer Loves

What are your Summer Loves? Mine are:

Lazy Days ~ Summer Heat ~ Swimming at the Y

Watermelon and Cantalope ~ Sewing in the Summer Rays

Wet Hair and Reading a Good Book

The Kids and I have been reading quite a bit this summer. Arbordale Publishing has a FREE Summer Reading Program where we can read 25 of their ebooks for FREE and once we have Gigi will receive a FREE book to keep. The kids love FREE books! They learn all about different animals around the world, their habitats, what they eat, who their predator is and how they keep safe. Many of the ebooks make the animals sounds when you touch their bodies and well I never knew that the sounds of a zebra aren't anything like a horse or a donkey, or that giraffes make the sound they do. We've truly been enjoying their books.

Some of the books we've been reading:

         

Garage Sale Fun:

Friday we stopped at a kids & teacher garage sale. It's a good thing I didn't take more than $10. Books were .50 or $1 and there were a few toys too. I gave each of the kids a dollar and told them I had the right of veto. Usually I'll let them buy what they want but I can veto the sale if it's broken or sounds awful. If I see something usually I'll have them check it over in case I missed something that is broken. It works well for us. The car track thing has been our best purchase this year. It was $3 and they have used it as a marble run, a car track, a little people race trace, a water slide and more. They love it. So far, I've only had to confiscate it once because Miss G was throwing marbles....

Swimming at the Y:
We have been making an effort a couple times a week to go swimming at the Y. This year I had the option of raising my daycare fees to help cover the summer expenses & then I had a GREAT brainstorm: Parents can purchase each child a Monthly Youth Membership for $15 and we can go swimming as much as we want. It has been so nice knowing we can go swimming in a clean pool and we don't have the rough kids who plow everyone down at the splashpads nor do we have to deal with huge daycares/schools who bring 20-30 kids who take over. There are usually only about 10-20 people there and it's a wonderful pool. I only have 2 kiddos this summer right now - Connor (almost 10) and Gianna (3.5) so it works out great for us. She has gotten so much more comfortable in the deeper area of the pool and getting her hair wet. Loves to crab walk in the 0 Level entry. It's been perfect for us and it's one of the few places Gianna doesn't throw a fit for me. I do make her take a nap before going tho. Non-Negotiable!

What have you been doing?

Big Cat Little Kitty ~ Book Review

Big Cat, Little Kitty 

by Scotti Cohn

Pubished by: ArbordalePublishing

$16.95 (hardcover)

$8.95 (paperback)

$7.95 (ebook with auto-flip, auto-read, spanish/english)

Available in Spanish or English

Introduction:

Big cats are fierce predators that roam the world from the mountains to the deserts. How are these wild cats that hunt for their food the same as pet cats that might chase a mouse or ball of yarn? How are they different? 

The award-winning prequel to this book, One Wolf Howls, introduces children to counting and the months of the year as they watch the seasons changing. This sequel introduces children to the days of the week as they travel to seven different world habitats to meet the big cats, and then back home to compare and contrast the domestic cat’s behavior to that of its relative. Compare/contrast big cat predators to little kitty cats each day of the week.

The illustrations are beautiful!

My thoughts:

This book teaches how Big Cats & Little Kitties are different in their behavior and the sounds they make as well as the following: big cats, domestic cats, days of week, habitats, math, life science, maps, the senses, tiger, cheetah, lion, snow leopard, cougar, jaguar, bobcat and cat. It's one of Gianna's favorites and she really gets into listening to the sounds. 

At the end of the book there is a section called For Creative Minds that she can enjoy. Since she's only 3.5 most of the activities are over her head still but some can be tweaked and she surprised me by being able to talk about the cats shown on the world map and understanding which ones roar and which ones don't. There is also a Teachers Activity Guide available online at the books homepage. With 30 pages of worksheets, math, writing and science activities there is something for everyone to do (click on the title of the book above to see everything available to you). This book has won the Mom's Choice Awards Gold.

About the book:

Scotti Cohn is the award-winning author of One Wolf Howls, the prequel to Big Cat, Little Kitty, and is currently working on a third book in the series about migrating animals. She is the author of eight nonfiction books. Scotti’s short stories and poems have appeared in numerous magazines for young people. She has two grown children. Scotti and her husband, Ray, share their central Illinois home with five “little” cats. For more information, visit www.scotticohn.com 

Disclaimer: I wasn't asked to review this book nor compensated for the review. We read it as part of the Summer Reading Program that Arbordale offers. 

Arbordale Publishing's Summer Reading Program

This summer Gianna and I have been participating in Arbordale Publishing's Summer Reading Program featuring 25 of their ebooks which they have provided to families to read this summer FREE of charge. She is enjoying reading the stories and I will let her pick the book she wants to read next. Usually she will pick the same one over and over and then I will pick one or two that I want to read. We've been reading the books on my phone and always get an error message that my phone screen is not compatible - but I can click on the OK and still read it aloud to her myself. The books feature animals, habitats and other nature things found around the world and many of the pictures have clickable sound links. Gianna has had a lot of fun touching the animals and listening to the sounds of the animals roaring, making unusual sounds like the clicking of a beetle or the purring of a Big Cat who wasn't made to roar (?!?). I had no idea that a zebra doesn't sound like a horse! and a Giraffe DOES make noise - I always thought they were silent!

They provide you with a Passport and Stamps that the kids (or you) can cut out and then the kids can paste them into their passport.  When your child has read all 25 books you can mail in their passport and your child will be sent a book of their very own to keep. 

So far we have read:
        

I also own several of these myself and it's been fun to listen to the noises and read them again!

It's NOT to late to join the Summer Reading Program: 
You can read them online or via their Book App. (See the note below)

*****NOTE*****

The Summer Reading Program takes a few clicks to find. You will click here and then you will click on the image that opens up. That will lead you to the Summer Reading Program.
Scroll down on the first page and you will find downloads for bingo, the passport and a link to crafts, etc on pinterest.

Who is Arbordale?
For those of you who aren't familiar with Arbordale - they publish fascinating storybooks (and ebooks) for kids 3+ that are based on the animal world and feature Math and Science concepts. Each book includes a 3-4 page bonus activity section at the end of the book and teachers, homeschoolers and parents with enquiring kids can find another 30 pages of FREE learning worksheets, activities and more online. I've worked with them for about 7-8 years and have we have loved all the books we've read. 

All of their books are completely vetted by teachers and all facts and information is accurate and up to date.

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Disclaimer: I wasn't asked to review this book nor compensated for the review. We read it as part of the Summer Reading Program that Arbordale offers. 

WIN 7 Fall Titles from Arbordale Publishing, 12/15, US

Welcome to the

'Tis The Season Giveaway Hop

Hosted by Planet Weidknecht

and LeahSay's Views!

From December 1-15, 2015, you can hop to each of the bloggers listed on the linky below and enter to win fabulous prizes on each blog. Prizes are worth a minimum of $25 each and if you're lucky enough, you could win them all!

I don't do many giveaways anymore and I'm very excited to be able to offer this AWESOME Prize during the Tis The Season Giveaway Hop! One very lucky winner will receive a FULL set of Arbordale's FALL Titles! That is 7 beautiful paperbacks with a delightful story as well as 4 pages of learning ideas in the back of each book and a full set of Teaching Aids online! You will receive:

Prize: 7 Fall Titles in Paperback from Arbordale Publishing, 

Value $69.65, Ends 12/15, US

Giveaway Rules: Please note - in order to be eligible to receive this prize if your name is drawn you must leave your full shipping address, phone number & email within the gadget on entry number 1. I and Arbordale are the only ones that will see this information and neither of us sell or use this information for anything except the delivery of your prize. If this information is not left in full on entry #1 then a new winner will be chosen. Thank you for understanding.

Entry-Form

Be sure to enter as many of these giveaways as you want. There are some good ones & like you I will be playing Musical Blogs for the next couple weeks! Good Luck!!!

Disclaimer: This giveaway has been sponsored by Arbordale Publishing for the Tis The Season Giveaway Hop and they are responsible for the delivery of the prize to the winner. Facebook and Twitter are not responsible and have nothing to do with this event. Thank you for reading and visiting GivingNSharing!

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Contest Tuesday

A pair of bear books

Arbordale Publishing could easily be added to our Brain Boosting Books series of books for kiddos age 4-8'ish. The books are bright, eye catching, very detailed for the kids & there are oodles of teacher's helps on the ArbordalePublishing.com website in their Creative Minds, Teaching Activities and Reading & Math Quizzes. To see other books they have available go to their website, click on "Store" and then on the right sidebar there is a list of available resources as well as a preview for each book. You can purchase the book directly from Arbordale by clicking on the title of the book or on Amazon by clicking on the type of book. The Spanish books are available on Arbordales website.

On to 2 wonderful Bear Books - Gianna's favorites!

Blackberry Banquet

by Terry Pierce

ISBN: 978-1934359280

$15.26 (hardback)

$8.95 (paperback)

$9.95 (Spanish paperback on ArbordalePublishing.com)
$8.95 (Kindle)

About the book:

Mmm-mm! Forest animals squeak, tweet, slurp, yip and chomp over the sweet, plump fruit of a wild blackberry bush. But what happens when a bear arrives to take part in the feast? Young children will enjoy following the story by making the animal sounds, and the chaos that strikes upon the bear's arrival will surely bring on the laughter. The cumulative, rhyming text makes for a great read-aloud.

My thoughts:

This fun book will catch your littlest preschooler/toddler's attention when you pull it out. It's illustrated in a colored pencil style that makes the animals attractive to littles and makes them seem alive. Each page is a big double page spread with text on one side. The text on most of the pages is 2 lines and then the sounds the animals make as they eat starts in.... Slurp! Mmm-mm; Tweet! Mmm-mm; Squeak! Mmm-mm – my two younger kiddos joined in with the sounds as I read and Gianna had to examine the animals and when she saw a bear she had to keep hitting the bear until I made the appropriate sounds of awe. One thing I did like as I read was that the animals weren't named. I don't usually mind but when you are trying to teach a toddler animal names and sounds naming them it sometimes confuses them I think.

Animals featured in this book are the black bear, bluebird, deer, fox, mouse, squirrel, then continue on to explore animal relationships further with the following topics: Blackberry Fun Facts, How we eat blackberries (with smoothie recipe), Plants are at the bottom of the food chain, Plants and animals, How do animals help plants?, Are plants always good?. You can go online to arbordalepublishing.com and download another 15-30 pages of activities.

Details:

Age 4-8, 32 pages, available in English/Spanish & ebook/auto-flip pages w/ audio formats

Reading Level Aligned: Accelerated reader: 1.3, Flesch-Kincaid: 3.2, Lexile: 680 NC, Fountas & Pinnell: K

About the author: Terry Pierce is the author of 16 children's books, including picture books, easy readers, joke books & non-fiction. She was a Montessori pre-primary teacher for 22 years, before deciding to follow her dream of writing for children (what she calls, “the best mid life crises ever!”). Learn more at www.terrypiercebooks.com.

__________________________________________________

Polar Bears and Penguins

a Compare and Contrast Book (a photo journal)

by Katharine Hall

ISBN: 9781628552096

$10.68 (hardcover)

$ 8.87 (paperback)
$ 8.87 (Kindle)

About the book:

What do polar bears and penguins have in common and how are they different? While they both live in polar climates, they live at opposite ends of the Earth. One is covered in fur (a mammal) and the other is covered in feathers (a bird). Compare and contrast these polar animals through stunning photographs.

My thoughts:

Polar Bears & Penguins has bright beautiful photographs throughout the entire book. The animals are pictured in detailed, close up views. Several pages also include a picture of the globe that points out where the penguins and the polar bears live as well as the various types of bears and penguins in the world. Your kids will see a black bear, giant panda bear, grizzly bear, sloth bear, sun bear and polar bear and they will also see the many different types of penguin such as the African, Emperor, Adelie, Rockhopper, Yellow-Eyed penguins and a Little penguin. A couple of these I personally had not heard of and often I'll comment “I didn't know that”!

Some of the words your kids will hear in this book are: colonies, habitat, Antarctic, Arctic, continents, Southern Hemisphere & Northern Hemisphere. They will also learn about the differences – bears have fur and birds have feathers, small groups vs groups of hundreds or thousands, winter and summer, darkness and sunshine.

Polar Bears and Penguins has the following activities for your families:

Found at the end of each book is a section called For Creative Minds where your kids can learn more about penguins and polar bears.  Polar animals can be very different as we learn in Polar Bears & Penguins. After comparing and contrasting these cold weather creatures, children are able to engage in learning activities that include: Seasons, Polar Bear True or False and Penguin Matching. This particular book's section is more information based instead of activity based & I feel the activities are for older kids. As always, you can go online to arbordalepublishing.com and download another 15-30 pages of activities.

Details:

Age 4-8, 32 pages, available in English/Spanish & ebook/auto-flip pages w/ audio formats

Reading Level Aligned: Accelerated reader: 3.3, Flesch-Kincaid: 3.2, Lexile: 670L, Fountas & Pinnell: N

Awards: Outstanding Science Trade Book; International Literacy Association ILA Literacy Excellence Children's and Young Adults Book Award; Science Books and Films Best Books of 2014 in Zoological Sciences

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Disclaimer: I received this book from Arbordale Publishing in exchange for my honest review. Regardless I only recommend products or services I have personally read or used & think my readers will enjoy.

The Tree that Bear Climbed

This week we continue learning about Brain Boosting Books. 

The Tree that Bear Climbed
by Marianne Berkes
ISBN: 9781607185376
$ 9.95 (paperback)
$ 17.95 (hardback)


About the book:
Everyone knows about the house that Jack built, but this is The Tree That Bear Climbed. What makes this tree so fascinating to Bear? Starting with the roots that anchor the tree, this chain of events told in cumulative verse explores many different things that help a tree stand tall. It also lends itself to further discussion with fun repetition and detailed picture clues, stimulating a child's curiosity. Why does the bear climb the tree and what happens when he arrives at his goal?

My thoughts: 
(Part of this review was originally posted on my old literacy blog 'Classic Children's Books' and I have updated to share our experience now.)

Then: My kids LOVE this book. The story is very repetitive and familiar to the ear. The pictures are huge and really get the kids involved in the story. Usually when I read a story like this I hand it to the kids when I'm done and both Sierra (3) and Connor (5) will try their hand at "retelling" the story. During our reading of the story we talk about the parts & the various needs of a tree - there is soil, the sun, rain, blossoms, leaves and so on making this a great beginning science book for kids 3+.

Now: We now are sharing this book with 19 month old Gianna. She loves to be the bear (or lion depending on the book) and do the RAWWRRR of the bear. She points out the "quirrels" and the birds in the sky or the tree. It's actually pretty funny. I love how BIG the pictures are and the fact that they are a double page spread. The verbiage & text is easy to read and there are enough "big" words to help even the little little kids enhance their language and comprehension skills.

This fall I will be running several reviews on Arbordale Publishings books. All of their books are Science & Math based and include 4 pages of activities at the end of each book. Many of the activities you'll find are math, classification, matching, or refer to different information you'll find throughout the story. Not all of their books are an actual story - sometimes it is a non-fiction story that explains perhaps about a job a Vet or a Marine Biologist does, or may the person in the book is a Animal Rescuer. 

Each book also includes a link to approximately 40 pages of activities for teachers or homeschoolers to use in their curriculum. Since most of the books & activities are for kids age 4+ or grades K-3 you will need to tweak them to make them fit your preschooler or older toddler. All the books are Aligned to Standards and you can find previews of all books in English and most in Spanish as well. You will find all this information as well as the activity guide on the Home Bookpage at Arbordale. 

Click the title to find the Activity Guide & the home bookpage for this book by clicking on these links..

Disclaimer: I am reviewing this book as a service to my readers. I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Regardless I only recommend products or services I have personally read or used & think my readers will enjoy. I was not required to have a positive review & no $$$ exchanged hands.

Some of our favorite books....

Over the last 4-5 years I have been closely working with a publishing company called Sylvan Dale (now called Arbordale) Publishing. They publish the nicest science & math books for kids that feature the animals & habitats of our world. Each book has a teacher's guide, are created also as a eBook in English and Spanish and you can preview them before buying. All books are aligned to standards so whether you are a teacher or a homeschooling family you can know that your children are learning what they are supposed to be learning & as a bonus Arbordale has triple checked that the information contained in the book is accurate.

In the next month or two I will be reviewing several of their newest titles and including them in Tot School for Gianna who is almost 2 years old. I know your probably wondering why I would be reading a preschool book for kids 4+ (grade level K-3) to such a little girl - let me see if I can explain:

Gianna has been reading chapter books with us this summer. She doesn't sit for the whole session but she sees me get out our latest Treehouse, climbs up in my lap and even though there aren't pictures on every page she listens. I don't think she truly understands yet but that will come through listening. Being read to has been shown to increase verbal skills, reading readiness, attention span and more and so even though she doesn't have a clue why a treehouse is spinning in a tree or why Annie & Jack are running from (or towards) a dinosaur she is listening to the inflection of my voice and seeing the other kids focused on the book and that is a beginning.

Here are some of the books Gianna will have the JOY and Privilege of reading this fall:

    

Now granted at almost two she won't be ready to read all of these books (I have a 4 year old that will take care of reading the whole book) but we can talk about the animals we see, count the number of "Quirrels" we see, roar like a lion and sneeze with Little Bear. We can get out the little Toob animals and play with them in our sensory bins and maybe make up a little book for Gianna to carry around with her (most of my books end up in the car) and I'm sure we can figure out some other fun things to do like a trip to the zoo.

So, stay tuned for my reviews probably in September. I am really getting excited about Tot School this fall and getting to introduce Gianna to my love of reading even more!

Articles of interest:

10 reasons why you should read to your kids

Reading aloud to young children benefits brain development

Why Read Aloud to Children by Jim Trelease

Disclaimer: I am reviewing this company as service to my readers. 

Regardless I only recommend products or services I have personally read or used & think my readers will enjoy.

I was not compensated for this post in any way.