Making a Blog

Completing this assignment was quite a challenge. We celebrated my parent's 40th. Wedding Anniversary with a beautiful reception and dance on the 20th. Two-three days later, we survived Hurricane Dolly here in Brownsville mainly because I was on a family road trip for the past 8-9 days! Nevertheless, the family who stayed behind is safe and the only thing was that our wooden fence on one side of our house was knocked down. Can be fixed! No biggy! As we were driving through our beautiful country: Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, back through Missouri.... back to our great Lone Star State...I read, read, and read. I even found that I read some books I didn't have to read anymore from the given lists; Safe and Hold Up! HA! Awesome books though. By the way, here is a picture of my family and me at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! Regardless the fact that reading some of those young adult books were hard to read due to the content; way out of my comfort zone my favorite was Touching Snow. I highly recommend it!

I know much of of the content found is this book is reality in many of our students lives but like I mentioned in some of my blogs being a parent we just wish our children were safer and didn't have anything or anyone hurting them.

2X2 List

Babies in the Bayou by Jim Arnosky tells of the different animals that live in a bayou; animals with long tails, ringed eyes, webbed feet, and yellow tails; animals living on floating logs, hanging from trees, on lilypads, in the water. It briefly tells how the mother animals teach their babies how to dig for food and how they protect them from danger.

This book has beautiful illustrations that add to the short sentences on each page. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to show the different animals that could possibly live in one ecosystem.

2X2 List

The Perfect Nest by Catherine Friend is a hilarious story of Jack, a cat who builds a perfect nest that will eventually give him his perfect omelet. Well, never thinking that chickens were not the only animals in the farm that would lay eggs, creates a huge problem for him when a duck and goose also do the same on the perfect nest. At first he is delighted because he is thinking of the three omelets he will be enjoying, but soon realizes he can't get his hands on the eggs because the chicken, the duck, and the goose won't leave the nest. He tries to scare them away by yelling, "Fire!", "Flood", and "Wolf!", but nothing seems to work until he tells them there is a better nest in the next farm. He anxiously awaits for them to leave, and they do, and just when he is getting read to get the eggs..... they start hatching! The three feathered babies want their mothers' attention and there's nothing much Jack can do but attend to them.

This was just a hilarious story! One, I for sure know children, anyone would enjoy reading.

2X2 List

Pip & Squeak by Ian Schoenherr is a story that reminded me of the times when we have been in a hurry to leave to someplace and halfway to our destination we realize we have forgotten something we were supposed to take like a camera, shoes, jacket, THE GIFT, or my PURSE! Many times we have had to stop to buy the forgotten item and other times, there is no choice but to go back! Pip and Squeak are two mice in a hurry to their friend Gus' birthday party. On their way their they realize they don't have his gift so they start looking for something to grab along the way there to take as a gift. They finally agree to get this orange object at the top of a snowman thinking it's cheese! When they finally get it, they realize it's a carrot and have not option but to take it to Gus not being sure he'll like it, since it's not cheese. Gus, the rabbit, ends up liking it!

2X2 List

Bob and Otto by Robert O. Bruel. Eventhough this book is intended for children between the ages of 4-8, I would most definately use it with my 5th. Graders in Science class when teaching them about (metamorphosis, the Nitrogen Cycle) how we are all different and the same in many ways, but most importantly how we are all dependant on each other in some way or another. Bob, a caterpillar, and Otto, an earthworm are great friends who love to spend time together and never notice anything different amongst themselves. One day, Bob decides to climb a tree and time later comes back to the ground completely changed as a butterfly. This makes Otto feel different but they come to realize that without each other, they might not exist.

Moral of the story: Eventhough we are the same and different, we all need one another.

BLUEBONNET

One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice is a story that made me question myself as what would I do if I found a pot that would double whatever item I placed in it. What would I want more of? Most of us, would probably place money in it. In this story, Mr. and Mrs. O'Grady are two characters that love each other very much and are happy with the little that they have. Even though they don't have much, they make ends meet at the end of the day. One day they find this pot that they soon realize can double whatever item you place it in. They make enough just to live a good life and decide to put buried in the ground for someone else to benefit from it. I wonder, how many of us would not be selfish or greedy and do the same. What would you do? Humm?

2008 Notable Books for Children

The Many Rides of Paul Revere by James Cross Giblin is Paul Revere's biography. In this biography we find that his roots came from France with his father's name of Apollo Rivoire. Early in his life, Paul Revere's father was sent away to live with his Uncle Simon, who then sent him away to America. To make it easier for Americans to pronouce his name he changed it to Paul Revere. Here in America, Paul Revere (Sr.) married a woman named Sarah. Later, they gave birth to the Paul Revere we know and read about in books. Paul Revere was given proper education and became a great silversmith and engraver. Back in his days, if anyone wanted to see a photograph of anything, they must have bought an engraving of the event or person. This is another way Paul Revere made money. One of the most important things he engraved was the Boston Massacre on King Street where British soldiers massacred townspeople after a British soldier was accused of being a thief. Among other things he was also part of the Boston Tea Party incident, one of the fastest horseriders, gunpowder maker, paper money maker, and someone who was alive when our first U.S. President died.

This book contains pictures of some of Paul Revere's belonging such as his leather saddlebags, a silver spur made and worn by him, examples of paper money engraved by Revere, a gold urn made to hold a lock of hair from President Washington, and a poem written by Longfellow named "Paul Revere's Ride." At the very end of the book, one can find a Paul Revere timeline and a map of some historic sites to visit related to Paul Revere.

From this book not only do you get to read how many rides he did from city to city to warn people of British soldiers, but one can see the many other sides of him as a husband, soldier, silversmith, father, etc.

It was interesting to find out the many other things Paul Revere did other than just anything to do with the American Revolution.