I love this time of year. Packages come in the mail day after day with books and curriculum for next year. I have to admit that I get as excited (or more excited) with all of these packages as I do at Christmas time when all the gifts start rolling in! And I think I am more excited about it this year because I didn't order a set curriculum package, but rather I put together my own book list and am working on coordinating it all into cohesive units. It is so rewarding and fun to see all my ideas coming together and turn into a great school year that I cannot wait to get into and teach.
There are some really neat books that I think Aaron will really enjoy. I am currently reading through all of them and dividing them into "read alone" books for Aaron to read and report on, and "read aloud" books for us to read together and discuss. So if you are wondering if I am ignoring my family to do nothing but read when you see my book list growing and growing, never fear! Most of the books I've added in the past few weeks are on a 3rd - 8th grade reading level. It has also been really fun for me because children's literature is my thing. I have had a personal goal to read more great children's literature for some time now, and it is good to be doing it.
One of the books has been really fun to read. This is Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges. This book is a retelling of Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene.
Check out that dragon! You can really get a sense of the bravery that must be within the knight to be willing to go up against that dragon.
The pictures in this book are amazing! The scenes just draw you in and make you want to know more about what is happening in the story.
It is clear to see why this book won The Caldecott Medal!
Trina Schart Hyman is an amazing illustrator. I am always amazed at what the illustrator adds to a text. You can have a great story, but for a child it can be lost in the jumble of words. But when illustrations like these are added, those same words open up a whole new world to the child reading them!
As it turns out, Aaron got my "book bug"! He has been as excited about each new package as me! I have had to ask him not to read the books for next year's school so that we do not have them all read before school even starts!
3 comments:
O my goodness, let him read them now! :-D I don't know if I could resist that pile of books, myself!
I have never heard of that book, but now I wanna read it!
Wow, that's a lot of cool books!
Looks like fun. I LOVE new books.
Any chance you homeschooling gals can help me out?
Our kids go to British schools. We are extremely happy with their schooling so far (did you know that they still have prayer in school here? They even have R.E. religious education- and it is a subject they are graded on)
I would like to supplement their education at home with some age-appropriate American history and geography. Can you recommend anything specific?
:-) Thank you!!!
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