By The Numbers

 

KidzKorner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How high can you count?  With the help of these books you’ll be able to count to ten and beyond, no worries.

 

The M&M Counting Book by Barbara Barbieri McGrath

 

Can there be a better way to learn about counting than using M&M’s?  Not for me!  This book uses photographs to illustrate the concepts presented.   Kids from 3-6 years old will enjoy counting with these candies.  Buy a bag and go for it.

 

Ten Apples Up on Top by Theo L. LeSieg

 

In case you don’t recognize the author’s name, it is an alias for Dr. Seuss so you can be sure this book is a delight.  Animals balance apples and learn to count  at the same time.

You can plan a fun activity also by making stacks of ten, like ten pennies, ten cookies, ten blocks, ten Legos…well, you get the idea.  Older kids can make a graph of how high the stacks are and you have an instant math lesson wrapped in fun. Kids from 4-7 will enjoy this book.  Some will be able to read it too.

 

Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

 

Five monkeys get into all kinds of mischief and bump their heads...well, you know the rest.  This rhyme appeals to the youngest children, everyone knows it and it never seems to get old.  The book has cute illustrations, too.  A five star book!  Kids from 2-6 will enjoy this book.  Here’s a fun rhyme to go along with it:

Five little hot dogs frying in a pan.  One got hot and it went BAM!

Four little hot dogs frying in a pan. One got hot and it went BAM!

Three little hot dogs frying in a pan.  One got hot and it went BAM!

Two little hot dogs frying in a pan. One got hot and it went BAM!

One little hot dog frying in a pan. One got hot and it went BAM! (clap when you say bam!   The kids love it)

 

The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins by Dr. Suess

 

Poor Bartholomew.  You must remove your hat out of respect as the King passes by but Bartholomew can’t seem to rid himself of his.  Older kids will enjoy his predicament and how it unfolds.  A fun opportunity to talk about numbers.  Kids from 6-8 will enjoy this book.

Until next week, keep on reading!

 

Divergent by Veronica Roth *Spoiler Alert*

 

  Rating 4 1/2 STARS

 

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprise everyone, including herself.

 

 

Beatrice Prior doesn’t belong.  In her faction of society, everyone is selfless and Beatrice feels like she is missing something in this way of life.  So on her Choosing Day, she opts to become a Dauntless, the faction she has admired from her schoolyard for their bravery and freedom.

Becoming Dauntless is not a walk in the park.  As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite.   Since there are only some openings in the Dauntless, the trainees have to fight for their places.

 Beatrice changes her name to Tris and is beat up in competitive fights with her peers, learns to use weapons and becomes strong and agile.  She is strongly attracted to Four, her trainer who runs hot and cold towards her unlike Peter, her sworn enemy who even goes so far as to try and eliminate Tris from the competition.
After facing her worst fears in a simulation, Tris is accepted into the Dauntless faction and the next morning all hell breaks loose.

 

Tris is brave and clever and smart.  She is fearless in her determination to become a Dauntless.  I liked that she kept some of the traits of her former faction and her ties to her family because of it.  I could just imagine her, a tough little thing, fighting for her place and figuring out who she really was.

Four is an enigma that any young girl would want to investigate.  He is dashing and brave and seemed totally fearless.  His relationship with Tris is intriguing from the beginning.

Her fellow trainees are believable teens and I liked the bond some of them formed through their trials during training.  I also understood the enmity that was bred with some of the other trainees since violence is such a part of their world.

I would have liked to learn more about Tris’ parents, who are both mysterious in their own ways.  I would have liked Tris to get a chance to investigate her parents’ past.

*I felt disappointed that Tris didn’t get the opportunity to really be a Dauntless for a short while.  I felt like we all got cheated when war broke out the very next morning after Tris became Dauntless.

Sometimes all the violence got to me but under the circumstances it was inevitable.  Nobody wins a war without it.

If you don’t mind the violence of war, Divergent is a good read.  You should try it. 

Back to School

  KidzKorner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for school!  How many times did I say that to my own kids?  Well, countless probably.  The next best thing to going to school is reading about it so here are a few that stand out for me.

 

 

 

School Bus by Donald Crewes is a classic picture book for young ones ages 2-5 years old.  They love the bold graphic pictures and it is the perfect companion to the song, The Wheels on the Bus.

 

The Night Before Kindergarten and The Night Before First Grade byNatasha Wing .  These two books are based on that old favorite Twas the Night Before Christmas.  The illustrations are cute and the cadence is familiar and soothing for those first-day jitters. Pick the one that’s right for you. Appropriate for ages 4-7.

 

 

 

 

 

Miss Nelson is Missing by Henry Allard Jr. and James Marshall.  Miss Nelson’s class has been misbehaving so, when she is absent, a nasty old substitute teacher takes her place.  A funny story about behavior in school with great illustrations by Mr. Marshall, one of the artists I admire. Appropriate for ages 5-9.

 

I came across a new favorite which I only picked up because of my son’s love for all things Star Wars.  The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger is a hilarious tale of a weird boy whose Yoda finger puppet dishes out sage advice to sixth graders and  changes a misfit into a hero.   Appropriate for ages 9-12.

 

Until next week, reading keep on!