tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66685424631034310262024-03-04T23:05:54.566-05:00Sugarcake Diary... educational adventures of two sweet girls and their well-intentioned but clueless mother<br>بسم الله الرحمن الرحيمBasbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.comBlogger104125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-88868361420137928342014-02-20T14:32:00.001-05:002014-02-20T21:57:10.459-05:00A day in our lifeI've always enjoyed reading other people's "typical homeschool day" posts, and since we're now pretty settled in a happy routine, I thought I'd write one of my own. This is what happened on a day when we had no fixed commitments outside the house, but the morning portion, in any case, would be more or less the same, regardless of the day. On days when we have afternoon activities, though, we do make sure to get Quran done before we leave the house. Math happens maybe twice a week, on average.<br />
<br />
7:30 - everyone wakes up, wanders upstairs, and the girls (Basbusa, 5.5, and Kunafa, 3) eat their Breakfast, Part 1 (toast and marmalade - it's a multi-stage meal, these days!)<br />
<br />
8:00 - the girls head downstairs to build a fort out of cushions and blankets, and play in it with flashlights, for about an hour. (Let's call that engineering and teamwork.)<br />
<br />
9:00 - I call them upstairs for Breakfast, Part 2 (strawberry smoothies), and then we move to our Project Room, which is where we do most of our homeschooling. Kunafa wants to "play chess," which means me following her very complicated instructions for which pieces go where, how they move, and how they can be traded from person to person. She runs off to borrow Baba's chess set, while I remind Basbusa that she mentioned yesterday that she wanted to learn a new design on her <a href="http://www.rainbowloom.com/">Rainbow Loom</a>. She's all excited about it, so I get her a laptop, show her how to use Google to search for "Rainbow Loom videos," and leave her to her own explorations. Kunafa and I "play chess" for about 15 minutes, and then I read her some picture books. (So, I guess that was technology and research skills for Basbusa, and, hmmm, game design and literacy for Kunafa? I also consider all this Rainbow Looming as part of Basbusa's project work. Her interest in sewing has lately expanded to include some crochet and this rainbow-loom work, but it all seems related.)<br />
<br />
9:30 - Basbusa has <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuw82lBIfTc">chosen a design</a>, and gotten the elastic bands all set up, but needs some help understanding how to loop them. So I ask Kunafa to play by herself for a while (she chooses to climb in and out of our new loft a zillion times in different ways, usually using me as part of her stairs, so let's say that's P.E. and problem-solving). Then I sit with Basbusa for a full hour while she tries to figure out what the lady in the video is doing. It really is pretty complicated! But eventually, with some suggestions from me about which of the umpteen little elastic bands each step in the video might be referring to, she gets the hang of it. (So, that covered a whole bunch of fine motor skills, following complex instructions, a whole lot of perseverance, and some design and creativity).<br />
<br />
10:30 - Basbusa still hasn't finished the bracelet, but her concentration is pretty much shot, and anyway it's time for Breakfast, Part 3 (whole-wheat crepes, this time). So she and Kunafa tidy up a bit, and they eat their crepes while I read them some chapters from our current Read-Aloud. Then I send them downstairs to get dressed to go outside, since it's a beautiful day.<br />
<br />
11:30 - we head out for a walk, for about an hour (so, P.E. and nature study, I suppose).<br />
<br />
12:30 - The girls go off to play in their fort again, while I make pizza for lunch.<br />
<br />
1:30-2:30 - The girls play in the fort and in the project room for about an hour.<br />
<br />
2:30 - I round them up for Quran (which takes 15 minutes for Basbusa, and about 5 for Kunafa. Basbusa is up to Surat el Inshira7, and Basbusa is working on Surat el Ma3oun. For Basbusa, this time includes Arabic reading as well as hifz, because I have her figure out for herself what the day's new ayah says.) Then a super-quick math lesson for Basbusa (Lesson 66 from RightStart level A, which I'm hoping to finish up before the new baby arrives in May, insha'Allah). Kunafa played with play-doh while Basbusa and I did math.<br />
<br />
3:00 - we head out to the library, the craft store (Basbusa is almost out of those little elastic bands for the loom), and the thrift store.<br />
<br />
4:30 - home again, and the girls are free for the rest of the day, while I get dinner. Basbusa chooses to<br />
watch a "Signing Time" video after dinner, and although I'm usually 1000% anti-screen-time, she does seem to be interested in learning ASL lately. So she watches while I clean the dishes, and she teaches me the new signs that I "didn't have a chance" to see.<br />
<br />
So, for Basbusa, today included engineering, teamwork, technology, research, design, fine motor skills, patience and perseverance, PE and nature outdoors, Quran, Arabic, math, and ASL. Oh, and she also read maybe ten picture books, and half of two different chapter books (I didn't mention her reading explicitly in the schedule above, because Basbusa spends so much time with her nose stuck in a book that it doesn't even cross my mind to notice it any more.) I think that sounds like a good combination of learning for a Kindergartener. Kunafa got most of the same, which is pretty good for a preschooler.<br />
<br />
We didn't get in as many picture books as I usually do with Kunafa, and we didn't spend as much time outdoors as I would like. That's a problem I've been trying to solve for a while... hopefully it will be easier once the weather warms up a bit, insha'Allah.Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-24442113711961496412014-02-06T23:42:00.001-05:002014-02-06T23:43:31.791-05:00Homeschool Progress: Basbusa, 5.5 years old<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">Last year, I wrote a <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/12/homeschooling-progress-starting-out.html">post</a> about what level Basbusa had reached when she turned four, just as we started homeschooling , covering the main academic and social areas that I cared about. I had forgotten all about that post, and when I came across it just now, I was surprised by how much my thinking has changed after only a year and a half! Nowadays, it would never cross my mind to break down her learning into such rigid segments. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">All the same, though, when I thought about what I would say now, given the same list of prompts, it was exciting to see how much Basbusa has grown. So, just for the record, here's what the new update would be, half a year into what-would-have-been-Kindergarten:</span></span></div>
<ul style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13.333333969116211px; line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">
<li><b><b>Favorite Interests:</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Reading still tops the list, for sure. She also spends hours intensely involved in fabric arts of various kinds - she's very interested in sewing, has learned how to crochet a chain, and has figured out several different patterns on her rainbow loom.</span></b></li>
<li><b>Quran:</b> working on Surat al Tin, al7amdulillah. Surat al Bayyina took FOREVER - over three months, I think - but al7amdulillah we both learned a lot about how to make hifz easier for her during the process.</li>
<li><b>Reading:</b> Our main difficulty now is that she's pretty much read every chapter book in the English language whose content is age-appropriate. I'm having to hunt high and low for stories that don't focus on social situations that are just way beyond the experience of a five-year-old. Al7amdulillah, it's a good problem to have, but I'm really starting to wonder what she's going to read for the next two years. It seems like most of the rest of the books on my "to be read later" list are really aimed at nine- or ten-year-olds. Recently, for example, she enjoyed Kate DiCamillo's "Tale of Despereaux," and David Elliot's "Evangeline Mudd and the Golden-Haired Apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle." What we need is a whole lot more books like the "Daisy Dawson" series and the "Iggy and Me" series, but they don't seem to exist. </li>
<li><b>Writing:</b> She can write a whole bunch of short words and names without help, but is only starting to get into the idea that she can use invented spelling to communicate. She seems to think that a word is either one she "knows" or one she "doesn't know," and doesn't usually spontaneously take a guess at how to put it together. I think she'll get there soon, though, insha'Allah. She still uses all capital letters, so I've recently offered her one or two invitations like copying out her favorite poems, for example, just to raise her awareness that not everything is always capitalized :) </li>
<li><b>Art:</b> Interestingly, she isn't drawing anywhere near as much as she did as a toddler and preschooler. The pictures she does draw tend to be quite similar to each other (with the most frequent being a cat or a girl with pigtails). She's adding more detail each time, though, and creating backgrounds for the figures. She now cares about color, and the items she includes in her scenes are more in proportion these days. But at the same time, she has recently started copying some illustrations from book covers, capturing even the facial expressions almost perfectly. She's up for painting occasionally, but doesn't usually turn to it unless her attention is caught by seeing someone else at work. She builds very competently with the glue gun, using all sorts of materials. As I said above, though, she spends a lot of time on fiber arts.</li>
<li><b><b>Arabic:</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> al7amdulillah, she's gotten the hang of reading in Arabic, although she goes slowly. It's been a big help to her hifz, al7amdulillah, now that she can remember what the word or ayah looks like, as well as what it sounds like.</span></b></li>
<li><b>Motor Skills:</b> She's very brave in the gym these days (although still not a dare-devil!). She loves jumping from bed to bed, adored her first set of swimming lessons, very much enjoys ice skating, and loves her gymnastics class. </li>
<li><b>Social Skills:</b> She has pretty-close friendships with maybe five other girls her own age, and gets along very well with both older and younger kids in our various homeschool groups. She is steadily becoming more comfortable and confident talking to adults, whether she knows them or not, and is starting to get the hang of how to integrate herself into a game that other kids are already in the middle of. </li>
<li><b>Science:</b> Still haven't found a topic that really catches her attention. She's interested in things that impact her directly - for example, she cares about which foods do or don't have good nutritional value, since that affects whether or not I'll be likely to let her eat them; she's interested in how germs work when she has a cold, and in how teeth work when she has to go to the dentist. But she hasn't latched on to any particular topic for its own sake yet.</li>
<li><b>Math:</b> We're almost finished with RightStart Level A, and I'm just delighted by how comfortable she is with numbers. Love this curriculum. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 20.799999237060547px;">So, al7amdulillah, things are going well! Things go most smoothly, and most satisfyingly for both of us, when I keep the morning hours protected for project work, Quran, books and occasional math lessons, and we don't head out for activities until the afternoon. There are so many fun things going on, though, that it's always a question of priority-juggling!</span></span></div>
Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-62936769578849698572013-06-12T17:16:00.000-04:002013-06-12T17:16:00.060-04:00Ramadan PlansLess than a month left until Ramadan, insha'Allah! So I've been thinking about what to plan for the kids. Iftar will be past their bedtime this year, so I think we won't make it to the masjid very often. So we'll have to make it all the more celebratory at home, insha'Allah!<br />
<br />
Preparations:<br />
- Decorate the house! (Yay for millions of fairy-lights picked up in the post-Christmas sales!)<br />
- Make lanterns. I'm thinking like <a href="http://theimaginationtree.com/2013/05/upcycled-lanterns-from-kids-art.html">these</a> (because we certainly have plenty of artwork to upcycle!) or <a href="http://growmama.com/tutorial/ramadan-crafts/">these</a> (scroll down a bit to see them on that link).<br />
<br />
During Ramadan:<br />
- Explain what Ramadan is;<br />
- Read our favorite Ramadan picture books*;<br />
- Encourage sadaqa - make a special little jar for Basubsa, maybe?<br />
- Make a good-deeds tree (like <a href="http://www.diaryofamuslimhomeschool.com/2012/07/this-years-ramadan-good-deed-tree.html">this one</a>, maybe?)<br />
- Names of Allah: I was thinking I might try to have a little "tea time" with them each day in the afternoon, where they'd get a drink in a fancy teacup, and a nice snack. I was thinking we'd have the 99 names of Allah in a box, let them take turns to choose one. We could chat about the meaning a bit over (their) tea, and then we could add each one to a pretty ribbon, to serve as a kind of Eid count-down calculator. Maybe they're a little young for discussions about the meanings of the names of Allah... Hmmm... I guess we could try it and see how it goes?<br />
<br />
* Our favorite Ramadan picture books, in case you were wondering, in order of increasing age-appropriateness:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511-ptForEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511-ptForEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Under-Ramadan-Moon-Sylvia-Whitman/dp/0807583049">Under the Ramadan Moon</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ddmS6oSdL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ddmS6oSdL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ramadan-Moon-Naima-B-Robert/dp/1845079221/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280202301&sr=8-1">Ramadan Moon</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lhHuSEOGL._SY300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51lhHuSEOGL._SY300_.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Moon-Watchers-Shirins-Ramadan-Miracle/dp/0884483215/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280203183&sr=1-2">Moon Watchers</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MaUTYckVL._SY300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MaUTYckVL._SY300_.jpg" width="163" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Party-Ramadan-Asma-Mobin-Uddin-M-D/dp/1590786041">A Party in Ramadan</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-47009509078653237952013-06-10T16:45:00.002-04:002013-06-10T16:45:29.376-04:00Qur'an progressI wanted to update on how Basbusa's Qur'an memorization is going, just so I can keep track of our progress. (I'm saying "we" because her learning Qur'an is definitely closely related to my learning how to teach it!)<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Overall, I'm really happy with it, al7amdulillah! We're definitely not setting any speed records, but a few weeks ago - almost exactly a year after we started memorizing for real - Basbusa recited the last quarter-hizb (from surat al Qari3a to the end) - without help, and with only four mistakes, al7amdulillah. That's a long time for a small number of pages, but it took us a long time to figure out how to go about memorizing! The pace picked up a lot during the last few months, when we arrived at this routine: </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Qur'an happens before we start any other activity. That doesn't mean I start chasing the girls as soon as they're out of bed, but once they're up and have had breakfast, we work on Qur'an before heading off to the library, or before starting project time, or before heading out to playgroup, or whatever the day's schedule might be. Al7amdulillah, we really have been doing it daily, so at least a good habit is being formed, regardless of how much Qur'an is being learned!</li>
<li>The basic routine for memorizing is that Basbusa and I recite her current "new" sura together three times, and then she recites one page of the pages she has previously memorized, just so they don't get forgotten. (The main reason the first quarter-hizb took so long was that I didn't have a good routine for review, so by the time we got to al Qari3a, we had to start over with most of the rest of it!) </li>
<ul>
<li>This takes between five and ten minutes, total. I know that's not long, and that an almost-five-year-old could probably handle more if I knew how to keep it interesting for her. But at this point, if it gets longer than that, she gets fidgety. And from then on, progress gets slower and slower, because more and more time is spent trying to retain her attention rather than actually reciting. </li>
<li>If she has memorized most of a "new" sura, then we might just recite the troublesome bit three times rather than the whole thing (so that the sticky bit gets the maximum amount of her freshest attention).</li>
</ul>
<li>Rewards: I'm still embarrassed to say it, because I still feel like I'm failing somehow if she isn't memorizing Qur'an purely for the sake of al aakhira, but she still gets a choose a piece of penny-candy each day after Qur'an. And she gets a dollar from Baba for each sura she recites for him perfectly. And she got a small gift (a long-coveted, pink-and-white jewelry box from a thrift shop) when she completed the quarter hizb. I don't know... It just makes the whole thing so much more fun for her, and the whole process is so much easier, faster and happier when she's looking forward to it. And if she memorizes the whole Qur'an for $114, that's a good deal...!</li>
<li>We've also settled on a new bedtime routine that I think is also helping. After Kunafa's two picture books and Basbusa's chapter from a chapter book, I turn out the light and recite all the Qur'an Basbusa has learned until they both fall asleep. I think that's been helping with retention.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Kunafa (currently aged 2.5) "learns Qur'an" with us - she recites Al Fati7a along with me, and then either Al Nas or Al Falaq. She can do Al Fati7a by herself now, and gets most of Al Nas, al7amdulillah. </div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-369156942004858992013-04-09T01:36:00.000-04:002013-04-09T01:36:00.300-04:00Homeschooling life so farOur homeschooling life so far is just blissful, al7amdulillah! It's going just as well as I had hoped and dreamed, both in terms of lifestyle and in terms of learning. Al7amdulillah :)<br />
<br />
While everything is roses and sunshine, I want to note down a quick description of our daily and weekly rhythms. All the homeschoolers I know, whether in real life or online, seem to have ups and downs in their homeschooling experience, so I want to have something concrete to refer back to if we, too, hit some sticky patches!<br />
<br />
This is still really a preschool year for Basbusa, since she won't be five until July insha'Allah. So even if we were planning on introducing formal academics, we wouldn't be doing much of that just yet, especially since she's picking up <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/12/homeschooling-progress-starting-out.html">plenty</a> on her own, al7amdulillah. For now, our only curriculum-based learning is RightStart math, level A.<br />
<br />
The girls wake up around 6:30-7:30. After breakfast, saying goodbye to Grandma, and taking Baba to catch the train, Basbusa usually plunges into a pile of books while I finish my cup of tea and tidy the kitchen. Then all three of us head toward our project-room, where we have all our books, art supplies, and project materials. (Plus lovely natural morning light, and a bird-feeder right outside the window. The other day, Kunafa, currently 2 1/4, astonished her Baba by teaching him enthusiastically how to tell the difference between a tufted titmouse and a dark-eyed junco, and how to differentiate between a "mama cardinal and a baba cardinal" and a "mama house-sparrow and a baba house-sparrow." And she was the very first one out of all four of us to identify a bird we had never seen before, as a woodpecker. She was right. It was a downy woodpecker, but I had to go check it in her favorite bird-book book before I believed her. Sub7anAllah :)<br />
<br />
So, once we're in the project room (usually by around 8:30 or 9:00), I read stories to Kunafa until Basbusa finishes up her reading, and then read aloud to her, too, if she wants me to. Then we do Quran. And then, it's up to the girls. Would they like to do art? Project work? Math? More stories? We hang out in the project room until about 11am, with a snack in the middle. If the girls have lots of energy to burn, we head downstairs for some bed-bouncing and gymnastics, or go play in the garden. (Increasingly, as the weather gets warmer, we're doing books and Quran in the garden, too.)<br />
<br />
On Mondays and Fridays, we have nothing scheduled in the afternoons, so our morning activities usually extend a bit longer. Then we have lunch, and then I send the girls off to entertain themselves while I do a little work on some projects of my own for an hour or so. And then we usually head to the park and the library. On Tuesdays, we head out to our playgroup, which lasts until 2:30 or 3:00. On Wednesdays, we meet another family for a playdate and some informal Arabic reading and writing lessons for the girls. On Thursdays, our schedule changes: we head out to gymnastics at 8:30am (picking up a friend along the way), and the girls spend the next three hours bouncing and jumping and running and climbing with some of their closest friends.<br />
<br />
Al7amdulillah, this routine is simply idyllic. Al7amdulillah, the girls are happy, and are learning faster than I ever expected - even Quran, which I had been so worried about. They have many close friends of all ages, but more importantly, I can see them becoming closer friends with each other with every day that passes, al7amdulillah. They're getting plenty of playtime outside; they don't have to wake up early and rush out the door. And as for me, I get to hang out with amazing mom-friends three times a week, while our kids are playing together! So al7amdulillah, homeschooling so far is just wonderful. Al7amdulillah.Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-30981654562229071442013-04-04T00:56:00.000-04:002013-04-04T00:56:40.968-04:00What Basbusa got from PreschoolHomeschooling is going gloriously well, al7amdulillah! But before last year fades into a distant memory, I did want to write up my notes on what Basbusa got out of preschool. She attended a delightful, play-based preschool for two mornings a week last academic year, from age 3 1/4 to (almost) 4.<br />
<br />
Basbusa enjoyed her mornings at school very much, and still thinks back on her time there fondly. Even now, almost a year since she was last there, what she mentions most frequently is how much she loved her two teachers. I know she liked playing with her friends, and exploring the manipulatives, but those weren't the things she focused on when telling us about her day at school. No, what Basbusa liked to describe was the fascinating rhythms and routines of their daily activities. She loved the way the teachers assigned people particular "jobs" for the day (with "line leader" and "room checker" being her favorites). She liked knowing how the day was going to unfold, both in terms of daily activities and in terms of little things like the exact words the teachers would use to call them in from recess. Preschool involved many new experiences for Basbusa, who is usually somewhat cautious when she's approaching something new. I think she came to feel that new experiences were nothing to be apprehensive about, as long as they were slotted into a framework built from nice, familiar, predictable routines!<br />
<br />
Perhaps the most valuable part of the whole experience was getting to know her first "best friend." Oh, the cuteness of three-year-old friendships! I don't think of this as part of the past, though, because luckily we're still very close to this friend and her family, and see them at least once a week, al7amdulillah.<br />
<br />
I, too, learned a lot from Basbusa's preschool experience. For example, I had already known that Basbusa's general style was on the more reserved end of the spectrum, and that was confirmed by the way she approached preschool. She never cried when I left her, but every single time, right through the very end of the year, she would spend the first five or ten minutes standing slightly separately from the other children, observing. She wanted to find out who was where, what was happening, what was new. She wasn't distressed or afraid, but she wanted to know exactly what was going on before deciding to participate in it.<br />
<br />
This attitude was exactly on par with what I had seen before she started preschool, but previously, I had been worried that this was something that needed "fixing." I thought that it might be a sign that she hadn't had enough exposure to other children, or hadn't had enough independence, or that she was afraid or insecure, and that I must be failing to find a way to make her feel comfortable. I'm certain that if I hadn't sent her to preschool for a year, I always have wondered whether I had hampered her ability to build social skills by not putting her in a school environment. But now, I know it's just her style. Her extra-long warm-up period isn't a sign that she needs to become more comfortable in social settings; it *is* her way of becoming comfortable in social settings!<br />
<br />
I also learned not to let myself say, "Oh, Basbusa doesn't like ____," and give up on that particular activity. Because it turned out that according to the teachers, Basbusa doesn't like art activities, and does like building with blocks! This from the girl who - as far as I've ever seen her - is never without a pen in her hand, and who wouldn't stack two legos if there were no other toy available in the universe. So, I must remind myself that the same activity in a different context can get a totally different response, and re-introduce things every so often even if they weren't big hits previously.<br />
<br />
And finally, and very triumphantly, I learned that I can, in fact, bi ithn illah, get us out the door on time! In an entire school-year of days starting at 8:45am, at a school 20 minutes away, we were only late a couple of times. It's not impossible. Who knew? :)Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-27419926158411881022012-12-13T18:48:00.003-05:002013-04-04T01:07:04.749-04:00Homeschooling Progress: starting outI wrote the draft of this post way back in August, before we started our first year of homeschooling, and never got around to editing it! I guess it's about time to make note of where Basbusa started out, since it's almost time to write about how things have gone during the first semester.<br />
<br />
So, here's a quick summary of what Basbusa was doing as of last August, when she had just turned four.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b><b>Favorite Interests:</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Reading, being read to, pretend play, and making up stories (for hours and hours).</span></b></li>
<li><b>Quran:</b> memorized up to Surat Al Nasr al7amdulillah. She's not very solid on most of it when reciting alone, but reciting quite smoothly and confidently along with me.</li>
<li><b>Reading:</b> Everything, independently. Typical chapter books she reads alone are <i>House at Pooh Corner</i>, and <i>Milly Molly Mandy</i>. She's completely at ease if she already knows the plot; a bit slower if it's new to her.</li>
<li><b>Writing:</b> can write her name, "Mama" and "Grandma" without thinking about it; asks for spelling for everything else. Still writing in all capitals. She mostly uses writing to label her drawings to show who they are presents for; she writes some "letters" and notes to friends.</li>
<li><b>Art:</b> draws all day long, with a pen. Not very interested in coloring in her pictures, nor in exploring other art media (even markers or color pencils or crayons), although she'll sometimes paint if it crosses her mind.</li>
<li><b><b>Arabic:</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Knows the alphabet, more or less. (Speaks fluent Egyptian Arabic with us - al7amdulillah, it has never even occurred to her that she could try talking to her sister in English - but her language is pretty much stuck at the very-good-non-native-speaker level that she hears from me. Oh well.)</span></b></li>
<li><b>Motor Skills:</b> Finally enjoying jumping off things, more willing to test her own abilities, less hesitant in playgrounds.</li>
<li><b>Social Skills:</b> Getting better all the time at the art of playing with one other person (whether a new or existing friend); more willing to start up a conversation in playgrounds with children she doesn't know. Still learning how to go about joining other children's games-in-progress. </li>
<li><b>Science:</b> Hmmm.... Interested in gardening, but I think hanging out with Grandma is more of a draw than the garden itself. Not really into collecting things from outdoors; not particularly excited about nature walks etc.</li>
<li><b>Math:</b> In Arabic, counts to 10. In English, all the way up to 100 if you tell her what's after 19 :) Can do simple addition and subtraction (such as, "If Grandma had 5 candies and gave you 3, how many would she have left?"). No problem with patterns like ABAB, AABAAB, ABCABC.</li>
</ul>
Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-60661408687358486712012-12-10T23:30:00.000-05:002012-12-13T15:06:21.221-05:00What's Kunafa Reading?<br />
Yet another much-too-long silence! But during these first few months of "real" homeschooling, I've been focusing more on doing it than on writing about it.<br />
<br />
I have a million books to write about, but just to start off with, here are some books that my younger daughter, who just turned two, has loved lately. She's truly moved beyond board books now; these are all picture books that I think are perfect for kids who just at the stage when they can follow and enjoy a simple plot.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HeiEIo2GL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HeiEIo2GL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Can-Help-David-Hyde-Costello/dp/0374335265">I Can Help!</a> was a hit with Kunafa for about two months of daily readings. The story-line is simple, plausible and charming: on each two-page spread, an animal gets into trouble, and his helped by a friend. On the next page, that friend runs into problems too, and is helped by someone else. And so the pattern continues, until the chain of helpers circles back around again to the curious little duckling who started it all in the first place. Kunafa loved this one partly because the plot was so easy to grasp, and partly because the animals have difficulties that are very familiar to two-year-olds (like getting lost, getting a splinter, or falling off something). She also still loves looking at animals, so she liked this cast of characters too. I thought the illustrations were delightful; appealing without being cutesy.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5161pQD6UEL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5161pQD6UEL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fluff-Billy-Nicola-Killen/dp/1402797818/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355196208&sr=1-1&keywords=fluff+and+billy">Fluff & Billy</a> is my least-favorite of the five I'm reviewing here, but Kunafa loves it. This is the story of two penguins going about their day, which entails doing and stating the obvious (twice over, for each activity: "'I am jumping up!' said Fluff. 'I am jumping up!' said Billy.") Kunafa, however, seems to delight in the predictability of Billy's echoing every dull sentence of Fluff's, and finds the climax - the one time when Billy says something slightly different from Fluff - correspondingly exciting. What Billy actually does at this moment is to throw a snowball at Fluff, and Kunafa seems to find deep meaning in the fact that he hurt his friend, but that he didn't mean to. All is happily resolved and the friends reunite, repetitively. Two thumbs up from Kunafa.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511-jh4ZDfL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511-jh4ZDfL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Sing-Lullaby-Brave-Cowboy/dp/144244276X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355196669&sr=1-1&keywords=Let%27s+Sing+a+Lullaby+with+the+Brave+Cowboy">Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy</a>, like <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/01/whats-basbusa-reading_12.html">Rhyming Dust Bunnies</a> by the same author, never fails to have both Basbusa and Kunafa collapsing in giggles. In fact, this one is an even bigger hit with Kunafa, because its humor doesn't rely on a kid's ability to understand the concept of rhyme. The plot is simple - a scardey-cat cowboy keeps needing to be reassured by his cows that nothing is sneaking up on him while he tries to sing them to sleep - but it still manages to end up with an unexpected twist. Kunafa loves chiming in with the cows as they say, "No, Cowboy, it's just a flower!", or "No, Cowboy, it's just me!" and both girls love how the cowboy keeps interrupting his lullaby to say, "Eeeeeeeek!" instead of "Good Night."<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/6193C55PYHL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/6193C55PYHL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Each-Peach-Pear-Picture-Puffins/dp/014050639X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355197004&sr=1-1&keywords=each+peach+pear+plum">Each Peach Pear Plum</a> with Basbusa when she was three, but she wasn't wild about it. I think maybe it was a little young for her at the time? It's just perfect for Kunafa, at two, and she has this one memorized, even without the book in front of her as a prompt. Each spread has a sentence describing the main action of the illustration ("Mother Hubbard down the cellar"), followed by a hint pointing to you find another character hidden in the picture ("I spy Cinderella!"). The "hidden" characters are just visible enough to make the challenge interesting rather than frustrating for a two-year-old, and there are lots of interesting details to look at in the pictures beside the main subjects, like the frog who rescues Baby Bunting's pacifier or the sheep eating a slice of plum pie with Bo Peep. Each scene can stand alone, but all the "I spy" scenes actually link up to describe how all the characters are preparing for a picnic together.<br />
<br />
When I read this with Basbusa, I think I felt that the subject-matter of this book was a bit awkward: I thought that children who would love the simplicity of this language and plot would be too young to have much acquaintance with the storybook characters who crop up in this story (Cinderella, Tom Thumb, Mother Hubbard). And it's certainly true that Kunafa has no clue who Mother Hubbard or Baby Bunting are, outside the context of this story (hmmm, nor do I, now that I come to think about it!). But it doesn't seem to bother her in the least, and she's just as interested in "spying" them in the pictures.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DYSve2k1L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DYSve2k1L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
One monkey finds a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Banana-Ed-Vere/dp/0805092145/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355198232&sr=1-2&keywords=banana">Banana</a>, a second monkey wants it, and eventually they both realize that sharing it will make both of them happy. The only word used in the text is "Banana!" (oh, and one "please"); the expressions on the monkeys' faces explain whether it's meant as a cry of jubilation, a plea, or a full-fledged tantrum. Kunafa totally got the concept of wanting to share but having to ask nicely, and she liked acting this one out as we read it, mimicking the monkeys' faces and gestures. A fun read.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
If you're looking for other books for this age-group, I have reviewed four others <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/07/whats-basbusa-reading.html">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Linking up with </span><a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/12/13/read-aloud-thursday-more-christmas/">Read-Aloud Thursday</a><span style="background-color: white;"> and <a href="http://www.whatdowedoallday.com/2012/12/best-kids-books-2012.html">The Children's Bookshelf</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19bgJc0xmG91_aDU7KdLTgjKUhm6lgzQy9RgeIOb-zWfaBtWcBuJKyV605ew5pwJZuZaQRp9XiF51rIqfgl_0iCtnG0naAMbNn_CAz_3OeF3o9J00KRecUT6_BIXVMWSugPVV1oSCBCQG/s1600/ChildrensBookshelf.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg19bgJc0xmG91_aDU7KdLTgjKUhm6lgzQy9RgeIOb-zWfaBtWcBuJKyV605ew5pwJZuZaQRp9XiF51rIqfgl_0iCtnG0naAMbNn_CAz_3OeF3o9J00KRecUT6_BIXVMWSugPVV1oSCBCQG/s1600/ChildrensBookshelf.png" /></a>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-80380077164723161712012-09-09T09:52:00.000-04:002013-12-12T16:11:19.329-05:00Blog Hop: How Do You Teach Quran? As I explained in my <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/interested-in-not-back-to-school-blog.html">last post</a>, I'd love to know more about how exactly other moms go about teaching their children to memorize Quran. So, here is a place where several Muslima mamas have shared how they do it. Please feel free to add your link to this if you have one!<br />
<br />
Jazaakum Allahu khayr, and may all our children benefit insha'Allah.<br />
<br />
Another link:<br />
<a href="http://ummihomeschoolsme.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/murajaah-quran-revision/">http://ummihomeschoolsme.wordpress.com/2013/12/11/murajaah-quran-revision/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<!-- start InLinkz script -->
<script type="text/javascript">
document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src=http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=190537&' + new Date().getTime() + '"><\/script>');</script>
<!-- end InLinkz script -->Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-15016135036807396182012-09-08T23:21:00.000-04:002012-09-10T23:32:03.964-04:00How Basbusa memorizes Quran<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Since I'll soon be hosting a blog-hop focusing on how, exactly, other moms go about teaching their children Quran, I wanted to share what we've been doing so far. Not that I'm an expert!! On the contrary, I feel spectacularly clueless when it comes to this whole issue, and I have no idea whether I'm even headed in the right direction, never mind taking the most efficient route to get to the final destination. But for what it's worth (any feedback soooooo welcome), here's our current system.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">Basbusa turned 4 early in July, and we started memorizing Quran a month before then. So, we've been working on it every day for about three months now. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">I'm aiming at one new ayah per day, taking a break every fourth day to focus only on review. (We do review a few old surahs each day along with the new ayah, but only go through the whole thing on days when there's no new ayah to learn.) At this pace, she would learn about 240 ayat in a year, which would mean she'd be somewhere in the middle of Surat Al Ghaashiya when she turns 5. (Is this ok? Too slow? I have no idea.) </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">How do we go about learning a new ayah? Well, first I say the new ayah for her, a word or two at a time. She repeats the words back, and we talk about what they mean. Then we put the whole ayah together bit by bit, both in terms of how to connect the words and phrases, and in terms of what the overall meaning is. Then we say the ayah ten times together, and then Basbusa says it five times on her own. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;">This whole process takes about ten minutes. If she's still fresh and happy, we do a bit of review, and if it's been a struggle to keep her focused or she's just not into it, we stop after finishing the new ayah. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.78333282470703px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;">And as for incentives... well... much as I wish I could say that my daughter memorizes Quran purely for the love of it... Basbusa gets to choose a piece of penny-candy when she's done. I think this is probably dreadful, and I'm worried that she'll end up loving the Quran because it's a route to tooth-decay rather than a route to Jannah insha'Allah. But when we started out (and we had tried several times before, when she was younger), Basbusa was completely uninterested in the whole process, even though she sees me memorizing each day, and we often have Quran playing in the car, etc. Her lessons kept turning into a battle of wills more than anything else, taking way longer than they needed to because of all the time spent trying to get her to focus. The candy helped us get past that initial tension. </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;">Learning Quran has now become part of our routine, which Basbusa happily expects and participates in al7amdulillah, so I guess I should plan to phase out the candy. But so far, I've been chickening out, because the whole thing is so much more fun for both of us when Basbusa is excited about it. Also, although I've often told her how great the rewards are for learning Quran, I think Al Aakhira is still kind of vague to her four-year-old mind. But when I tell her that the candy she gets now, from me, is just a teeny tiny hint of all the rewards she will get from Allah later insha'Allah, it seems to be much more meaningful to her... No matter how I try to justify it to myself, though, I still can't help feeling that it can't be a good thing to bribe your kid with candy. Argh. Advice, anyone? </span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="line-height: 20.766666412353516px;">I'm really interested in hearing other people's stories and ideas on this topic! Or do you have a favorite site or blog or khutbah to recommend? </span></span></div>
Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-30384109559480259392012-08-25T13:45:00.000-04:002012-08-25T13:55:10.237-04:00Interested in a Not-Back-to-School blog hop?I've seen all kinds of interesting <a href="http://www.ihomeschoolnetwork.com/4th-annual-not-back-to-school-blog-hop/">Not-Back-To-School Blog-Hop</a> posts as we get nearer to the end of the summer, with lots of homeschoolers sharing their curriculum choices, schoolroom set-ups and daily schedules. It's all very helpful, since I plan to start our "official" homeschooling in a few weeks. But there's one thing missing: I haven't found any examples of how people plan to go about teaching Quran, which is the part of homeschooling I feel least confident about. When it comes to academics - reading, math, and so on - I'm pretty sure that all that will be fine insha'Allah, especially since Basbusa is only four! But for Quran, I'm always worried that I'm pushing too much (or too little?), or approaching it the wrong way, or being too picky (or not picky enough?) about perfect pronunciation, or getting the balance wrong between new surahs and revision... Maybe because I wasn't raised Muslim myself, or maybe just because it's such a big responsibility, I feel so clueless when it comes to teaching the girls Quran.<br />
<br />
<b>Would anybody else be interested in a Muslima-focused version of a Not-Back-To-School Blog-Hop, where we could share posts about our goals, methods and curricula for Quran and Islamic Studies with our kids in the upcoming academic year?</b><br />
<br />
I'm totally open to suggestions, but what I was thinking, for example, is that anyone who would like to participate might write a post on their blog covering something like:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>age of kids</li>
<li>goals for how much you'd like them to memorize this year insha'Allah</li>
<li>all the technical details of how you go about the process. How long do you spend per day? Do you use a tutor or an online program or website, or do it all yourself with your children? How do you balance review and new memorization? Do you have any kind of reward system?</li>
<li>any questions or worries you have about it (children not focused, reluctant, pronunciation difficulties, whatever)</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Then I'd host a linky here, and we could all share our posts. If that went well, we could do another one on Islamic Studies. What do you think? Please leave a comment if you'd be interested! Jazaakum Allahu khayr :)Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-17003333968053373962012-08-25T11:43:00.000-04:002012-08-25T11:43:20.119-04:00Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (4)For the last week of our preschool "Ramadan Club," we had waaaaaay too many letters left to cover: ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي. But we gave it a try anyway :) I only have two new games to share this time, because some of the others were repeats from previous weeks, and not all of my new game ideas were as popular with the kids as I had hoped.<br />
<br />
<b>Wow!! </b><br />
- This wasn't really a stand-alone game. I just wrote a big letter و on a piece of cardboard and taped it to a stick. Throughout the class whenever anyone got something right or did something well, I waved it around and everyone yelled out, "wow!!" :)<br />
<br />
<b>Playdoh letter-building circle</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I pre-rolled some long playdoh "snakes" and dots, because I didn't want the kids to get too distracted by the fun of playing with playdoh during class.</li>
<li>I gave each kid a paper plate, a snake, and two dots, and asked them to sit on the floor in a circle.</li>
<li>Then I asked the kids to use their snake-and-dots to build me a ف on their paper plate.</li>
<li>When everyone was done, I asked them to pass the plates to the person on the right, and change the letter they received into a ق.</li>
<li>And so on, changing back and forth from ف to ق, as I gradually sped up how fast I called out the letters and how fast they had to pass the plates around the circle.</li>
<li>Sometimes I'd try to trick them by calling out the name of the letter they already had, rather than the opposite one. </li>
</ul>
<br />
I was trying to get them to remember that the difference between the two letters is that the ق has two dots and a "deeper" tail, whereas the ف has just one dot and a "flatter" tail.<br />
<br />
<b>Sand-Tray Letter Writing</b><br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>To help the kids learn ك and ل, I wrote the two letters side by side on a big piece of paper, and we talked about how their shapes were similar and different.</li>
<li>Then I set up three trays with about half an inch of sand in them, and a copy of the two letters right in front of each tray.</li>
<li>The kids took turns to use their fingers to "write" the letters in the sand.</li>
</ul>
<div>
It sounds pretty simple but the kids liked it a lot, and kept asking for more turns. This is a Montessori-based idea, and the theory is that the kids get two kinds of reinforcement at the same time: the see the shape with their eyes, and they feel the shape (and the motion of making it) with their finger. <i>Hint</i>: to save your floor, put a tablecloth or something under the trays of sand!</div>
<br />
<br />
For more in this series of posts, please see<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/07/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-1.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (1)</a> ,<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-2.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (2)</a> and<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-3.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (3)</a>.Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-89149289503745300762012-08-17T23:08:00.003-04:002012-08-20T09:05:33.987-04:00Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (3)We had a bunch of letters to cover this week in our preschool "Ramadan Club": س, ش, ص, ض, ط, ظ, ع and غ. We started with a review of the letters we covered in the first two weeks:<br />
<br />
<b>Letter Stepping-Stones:</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.noorart.com/core/media/media.nl?id=2584&c=459209&h=d39425f7dafa779e1b39" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://www.noorart.com/core/media/media.nl?id=2584&c=459209&h=d39425f7dafa779e1b39" width="200" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>I got out our <a href="http://www.noorart.com/arabic_alphabet_puzzle_mats_medium_size">foam letters</a> and pulled out letters ا through ز.</li>
<li>I spread them out in a row, spaced jumping-distance apart.</li>
<li>The kids lined up and took turns to jump down the row, saying the name of each letter before they landed. (In the end, everyone ended calling out the letters together, for each of the jumpers, which worked even better. More practice for everybody, and helpful for the kids who weren't so sure of all the letters.)</li>
<li>Then we moved on to hopping down the row instead of jumping.</li>
</ul>
<div>
The kids were really enjoying it so we could definitely have kept on going with other kinds of jumps, but since it was only review, I wanted to move on to the new letters of the day. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Build-A-Letter:</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>For each kid, I made a set of letter parts like this (you can click to make it bigger, and then print it):</li>
</ul>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_XUPZNRtYs2xFDlh35dFiG_BFghaknkTGqv02yAl_cEXFi2-ZKLT8MfD0UsmGySxxO7RrPU24Adq4m18XDcqCO2n7_Nl0vlGixwJ2RDzN6rEknRGuo9dUblb23k4bMjAtVXQZyW6I-GnL/s1600/letterBits.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_XUPZNRtYs2xFDlh35dFiG_BFghaknkTGqv02yAl_cEXFi2-ZKLT8MfD0UsmGySxxO7RrPU24Adq4m18XDcqCO2n7_Nl0vlGixwJ2RDzN6rEknRGuo9dUblb23k4bMjAtVXQZyW6I-GnL/s320/letterBits.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<ul>
<li>Then I wrote one of our eight new letters on the board, repeated its name and asked the kids to build me one like it.</li>
</ul>
<div>
That's it. Simple, but the kids liked it, and it gave me lots of opportunities to repeat the name of the letter over and over again while the kids were focused on the corresponding letter-shapes. </div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Dot-Jumping:</b></div>
<div>
We seem to do a lot of jumping in these games, I know! </div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I wrote our eight new letters on the board, and had the kids crouch down on the floor like frogs.</li>
<li>If I called out a letter that has a dot (or dots), the kids had to jump up in the air as high as they could. If I called out a letter with no dot, they had to stay still. </li>
<li>In the beginning, I helped out by pointing to the letter as I said it, and then moved on to saying the letter without giving them hints.</li>
<li>They were really enjoying the jumping, so in the end we had them jump three times for three-dot letter, once for one-dot letters, and not at all for no-dot letters.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Al7amdulillah, the kids had fun, and ended up with at least a basic grasp of the new letters. Eight new letters for a bunch of four-and-five-year-olds in twenty minutes is really too much, no matter how much fun you make it, but we're trying to get through the whole alphabet during Ramadan insha'Allah.<br />
<br />
For more in this series of posts, please see<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/07/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-1.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (1)</a>,<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-2.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (2)</a> and<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-3.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (3)</a>.</div>
</div>
Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-1974608301883246362012-08-01T09:50:00.001-04:002012-08-20T09:07:49.303-04:00Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (2)I have two more games to suggest from our "Ramadan Club" last week, when we covered the letters ج, ح, خ, د, ذ, ر and ز.<br />
<br />
<b>Add-The-Dot Race:</b><br />
We did this with ج, ح and خ, but you could use any group of letters that look the same except for the dots.<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>We divided the kids into three groups at one end of the room, and gave each group a piece of chalk. </li>
<li>I set up a big chalk-board at the front of the room, and wrote three big ح 's on it (one for each group).</li>
<li>When I called out a letter (ح, ج or خ), the kids were supposed to discuss where to put the dot, have one person run up to the chalkboard and put the dot in the right place, run back to their group again and yell out the name of the letter when they arrived. (If I had called out a ح, they just tapped the chalkboard without writing any dot.) </li>
<li>The group whose runner arrived back first won the race.</li>
</ul>
<div>
In reality, the kids didn't really discuss where to put the dot - whoever was holding the chalk just ran. I had been hoping they'd discuss it partly because our group is uneven in terms of how well the kids know their letters, so I didn't want some kids always getting it "right" while others always got it "wrong", and partly because I was hoping that they'd reinforce each other's knowledge by using the letter names in their discussion of where to put the dots. But never mind :) </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Bingo:</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGCvpGR0CT_f_hHkxi6B_57NKf86lsQhBXKTTRP8eow9qFLLLXvmUf7QTEzN5CkIj4F8HwNGfLC8VNAjy49ZcfG57aA_IR61CvPjRwg9WFDKXOZry4vBYlyS2Cqk6bEt36koDSqPMdR7U/s1600/bingo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijGCvpGR0CT_f_hHkxi6B_57NKf86lsQhBXKTTRP8eow9qFLLLXvmUf7QTEzN5CkIj4F8HwNGfLC8VNAjy49ZcfG57aA_IR61CvPjRwg9WFDKXOZry4vBYlyS2Cqk6bEt36koDSqPMdR7U/s1600/bingo.jpg" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I made this bingo sheet with the letters د, ذ, ر and ز.</li>
<li>I wrote the letters on four balls (but you could use pieces of paper, or anything else) and put them in a bucket.</li>
<li>I pulled out one ball at a time, held it up and said its name, and the kids had to find a matching letter on their sheets (each letter appears many times) and put an "X" through it.</li>
<li>First person to get a complete row of X's wins. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
For more in this series of posts, please see<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/07/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-1.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (1)</a>,<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-3.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (3)</a> and<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-4.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (4)</a>.Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-78038390323845197862012-07-30T18:50:00.002-04:002012-08-20T09:06:46.726-04:00Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (1)Some friends and I are running a "Ramadan Club" for our preschoolers, meeting for two hours once a week. We do a little bit of Quran memorization (we're aiming to finish Surat al Qadr by the end of the month isA), a little bit of Ramadan-related seerah, and a little bit of Arabic ABC's. We're splitting up the "teaching" between three of the moms, and I'm in charge of the ABC's part. Just in case they're of use to anyone, here are the games we used last week, when we covered ا, ب, ت and ث :<br />
<br />
<b>Jump-On-the-Letter Tag:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>I wrote the letters ب, ت, and ث on separate pieces of paper, the same number of copies as we had kids. </li>
<li>Then I stuck them all randomly to the floor, spread out a bit so the kids wouldn't be too close together. </li>
<li>I made one copy of an ا for myself. </li>
<li>Then I called out letters, and the kids had to run to jump on the letter I had named. </li>
<li>But since I was the only person with an ا , when I called ا, the kids all had to run after me and try to tag me. </li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Musical Mugs:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>I put a mug on the floor for each kid, arranged in a big circle.</li>
<li>The kids each had a set of flashcards with ا, ب, ت and ث on them.</li>
<li>I played the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoQfw9ToCWE">alphabet song</a> in Arabic while the kids skipped around in a circle (well, more or less).</li>
<li>When the music stopped, I called out a letter, and the kids had to race to the nearest mug, find the right flashcard, put it in their mug, wave their mug in the air and call out the letter. </li>
</ul>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>Pipe-cleaner ABCs:</b></div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>I put the kids into pairs (just so that kids who weren't too sure of their letters would have a buddy to guide them), and gave each pair a bunch of pipe-cleaners.</li>
<li>I called out a letter and they had to work together to make it out of their pipe-cleaners. </li>
</ul>
</div>
<br />
All three games went pretty well, but the first one was probably the one they liked best.<br />
<br />
<br />
For more in this series of posts, please see<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-2.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (2)</a>,<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-3.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (3)</a> and<br />
<a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2012/08/preschool-arabic-alphabet-games-4.html">Preschool Arabic Alphabet Games (4)</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-54947387344112251922012-07-27T11:09:00.000-04:002012-07-27T11:09:09.452-04:00PatienceI read <a href="http://supratentorial.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/me-time/">this</a> post on one of my favorite blogs a few days ago, and I loved Alice's point about how valuable and yet how difficult it can be to be generous with your time with your children. Oh gosh, so true. I think I do a relatively ok job, most of the time, of <i>pretending </i>to be patient with my kids, even when my stock of patience is running pretty low. But sometimes.... well, I guess it's inevitable that a mom of a four-year-old and a one-year-old will spend a large part of her day waiting - for someone to finish tying their shoes, for someone to finish eating their yogurt, for someone to drag their nose out of their book long enough to respond to what you're telling them... the list seems endless.<br />
<br />
Most of the time, I truly don't mind. Other times, it drives me batty :) I usually manage to hide my impatience well enough that the kids don't realize it's there (I think), but sometimes it's all too obvious from my reactions that their pace is messing up My Schedule. I've been disappointed with myself for so long about this, because first of all, they're little kids and can't help it, and second, where do we really need to be in such a hurry? Nowhere in particular, is the answer. But I couldn't seem to convince myself to relax and just go with a little-kid-paced lifestyle.<br />
<br />
And it's not just with the kids, either. That little bit of time after the kids are in bed is so precious to me that I kept finding myself feeling resentful when my husband needed my help with anything extra during that window of time, and obviously that kind of attitude never made for a happy end to the evening.<br />
<br />
So, Alice's post made so much sense to me, although I wouldn't have phrased it myself in quite the same terms she used. And then that evening, at the end of that evening's juz, I got to this aya:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://c00022506.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/3_92.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="54" src="http://c00022506.cdn1.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/3_92.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
which, translated, would be something like, "You will never attain righteousness until you give freely of that which you love, and whatever you give, truly Allah knows it well." Well, for me, "that which I love" would be my free time, for sure. One of the rarest and most precious things I have. It's made such a difference to realize that even if nobody else does, Allah truly appreciates it when I close a long-anticipated book in order to play tigers (again), or file taxes! It's finally easier to join the game, wait for the shoe-choices, or sort through paperwork truly cheerfully. For me, that's been the biggest blessing of Ramadan so far this year. Al7amdulillah :)<br />
<br />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-81774247809849241862012-07-19T08:37:00.000-04:002012-12-10T22:01:56.381-05:00What's Basbusa reading?<span style="background-color: white;">Now that Kunafa, at one-and-three-quarters, is old enough to start enjoying picture books as well as board books, I've been especially pleased when we find a book that both girls love to hear together. Basbusa just turned four, so there's not a huge amount of overlap between their tastes most of the time, but all four of these books were big hits with both girls. You'll notice that they all involve animals, which has been a favorite topic of Kunafa's practically ever since she was born.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61EKBH2ZNAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61EKBH2ZNAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
"<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-Tico-Tango-Anna-Witte/dp/1841482439">The Parrot Tico Tango</a> had a round, yellow mango / But it wasn't quite as yellow as the lemon of Marcello. / And Tico Tango knew / That he had to have it too, / So he took it!" So begins the story of the greedy parrot who steals fruit after fruit from each of his friends, much to their dismay. But in the end his greed becomes his downfall, and he ends up contrite and willing to share. We liked the tango-like rhythm of the words, and we liked the rhyme (as we always do). The repetition of the ever-lengthening list of stolen fruit was fun for both of them, but especially for Kunafa, and both girls liked scolding Tico Tango for his behavior. They both liked the justice of Tico Tango's losing all his fruit ("Now the parrot Tico Tango / Didn't even have his mango!"), and of his having to make amends ("If you teach us all to tango, you can have a piece of mango.") The one criticism that Basbusa made about this book (every. single. time. we read it) was that Elena's fig, "which was purple, sweet and big" was actually more blue than purple in the illustrations.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51W58iqqEVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51W58iqqEVL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
We've had a mixed relationship with Mem Fox. Sometimes the girls love her books,and sometimes they seem to fall flat. But <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Two-Little-Monkeys-Mem-Fox/dp/1416986871">Two Little Monkeys</a> has zoomed right up to our all-time favorites list. The text is simple enough that Basbusa can read it with no effort at all, which she always finds encouraging at this stage, and the plot - the tale of two little monkeys who <i>almost</i> get pounced on by a leopard but escape up a tree at the last moment - is simple enough that even Kunafa can follow the action. It has just the right amount of suspense (it's not clear initially exactly what is prowling through the bushes) an exciting escape, and a happy ending. A perfect toddler story.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519HcvMPHLL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519HcvMPHLL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
One of our favorite destinations in Boston is the <a href="http://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/">Children's Museum</a>, which has, in the 3-and-under-area, a car that plays a song. Basbusa has loved that song ever since we first started going there, so when I accidentally discovered the book that goes along with it, I knew she'd like it. "Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow. Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow, we can stay all day. We're <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Going-Zoo-Tom-Paxton/dp/0688138004">Going to the Zoo</a>, zoo, zoo, How about you, you, you, You can come too, too, too, we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo." The text of the book is just the words of the song, and the illustrations are interesting, animal-filled, and full of a child's excitement at a trip to the zoo. I don't know if the girls would have enjoyed the book quite so much if we hadn't all been singing along with it (the music is included on the last page of the book, but there's no CD), but I think it would have been a good read in any case.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51htBEguOlL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51htBEguOlL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Me-Baby-You-Ashley-Wolff/dp/0525469524">Me Baby, You Baby</a> is another trip-to-the-zoo story. In a way, it's aimed at a younger audience, because the two children in the story are still very young toddlers. In terms of the length of the book, though, it's well-suited for older kids. The text and the delightful mama-and-baby-themed animal pictures work well for either age. (The words might have been a bit babyish for Basbusa, but she could read them herself, so she didn't mind.) The story covers one day in the life of two toddlers, from sunrise ("Stretch baby, yawn baby, Here comes the dawn, baby") to sunset ("Sleep baby, tight, baby, Turn out the light, baby"), and I thought it captured perfectly the pace and rhythm of life with a very young child. We renewed this one three or four times before finally giving it back.<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Linking up with </span><a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/07/19/read-aloud-thursday-star-of-light-by-patricia-st-john/" style="background-color: white;">Read-Aloud Thursday</a><span style="background-color: white;"> and What My Child is Reading.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-61868655687524227912012-07-14T10:47:00.001-04:002012-07-15T06:32:24.614-04:00Preschooler craft: Ramadan lanternsKul sena wentum Tayeebeen! Just in case anyone is looking for last-minute decoration ideas, here's what Basbusa and I made last week. We always make a whole bunch of <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2010/08/toddler-ramadan-craft-fawanees.html">these little lanterns</a> (so easy that even Kunafa, 20 months, can help), and although they're plain, they do look festive when you make a whole bunch of them and string them up like a garland.<br />
<br />
The new kind for us this year was these:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBv39hfAKy-04QXZxjsr5D5yxEtPVPYcezb6zfFhT7TTxh3hzS_HLH3gUsW0c2RoAhA1ncRhdiOX7_O1KzN8StiH30STTLx147zrgvmK5tTQ51AUHL95RJQQvTRAiVLSeHJT0odbmjfAzc/s1600/DSC00367.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBv39hfAKy-04QXZxjsr5D5yxEtPVPYcezb6zfFhT7TTxh3hzS_HLH3gUsW0c2RoAhA1ncRhdiOX7_O1KzN8StiH30STTLx147zrgvmK5tTQ51AUHL95RJQQvTRAiVLSeHJT0odbmjfAzc/s320/DSC00367.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNPK9p59vmS0cEku5kaFUM7RRl6x0czLzGsnqXR1cLu99eYdXUZWQdE6iDt4WauqhFaw4gjRMp1Pu8pEJsB3MtXAUwYjEvdwtrcwfvOXBOD8PIftCqk60KiU0lc6Behbgbyc6hycuqFTy/s1600/DSC00368.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGNPK9p59vmS0cEku5kaFUM7RRl6x0czLzGsnqXR1cLu99eYdXUZWQdE6iDt4WauqhFaw4gjRMp1Pu8pEJsB3MtXAUwYjEvdwtrcwfvOXBOD8PIftCqk60KiU0lc6Behbgbyc6hycuqFTy/s320/DSC00368.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
(They actually don't look quite as cool as that - I think the camera is doing me some favors :) They're totally not "traditional" in appearance, but they're pretty, and they glow, so hey, they'll do.<br />
<br />
<u>You need</u>:<br />
- white paper (we just used regular computer printer paper)<br />
- a white crayon<br />
- watercolor paints<br />
- tape, glue or stapler<br />
- oil (any kind)<br />
- an empty jam jar<br />
- a candle<br />
<br />
<u>Here's how we made them</u>:<br />
1) Scribble randomly on the paper with a white crayon.<br />
2) Paint over it with watercolors (because they won't adhere to the part where the crayon is). I just offered Basbusa three colors, because of the tendency for things to turn into a massive pool of brown when she has unlimited options! Basbusa thought it was pretty interesting to see the white crayon-lines "magically" appear.<br />
3) Wait for the paint to dry.<br />
4) Put a few drops of oil on the paper, and use your hands to spread it out all over the page (this makes the paper more translucent so that the light shows through better).<br />
5) Roll it up so that it's just about wide enough to cover your jar (we used tape, but a stapler would probably have worked better - the tape didn't really want to stick to the oily paper)<br />
6) Put a candle inside the jar, light it, and slip the cover over it.<br />
<br />
Just one note about the oil - we used canola oil, which worked fine, until I noticed that it was starting to attract ants! We'll use baby oil next time instead, insha'Allah.Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-27036530817632804262012-07-08T13:16:00.001-04:002012-12-10T22:04:07.568-05:00What's Kunafa reading? (Board Books)I've been meaning for the longest time to post a list of our all-time favorite board books, before the kids grow out of them and I begin to forget which ones we loved best. And since Kunafa (19 months) is just starting to be interested in picture books in addition to her beloved board books, I realized I should probably stop procrastinating! These are the books that both of my girls have read over and over and over again, and which I'm still enjoying myself, a million hours later. I haven't bothered to review the Eric Carle classics that every child in the western world must know and love (<i>The Hungry Caterpillar, Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See</i>), and both Basbusa and Kunafa enjoyed various books which just show photos of familiar objects. Other than that, here's our top ten list, in order of darling-little-baby to heart-breakingly-grown-up-toddler:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61iBK4j-eRL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61iBK4j-eRL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Peek-A-Who-Nina-Laden/dp/B001UPK2RA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341757097&sr=8-1&keywords=peek+a+who">Peek-A Who?</a> has just six peek-a-boo surprises, each one peeking through the cut-out on one page ("Peek-A..."), to be revealed completely when baby turns the page ("Moo!", "Zoo!", "Boo!" or "Choo-Choo!"). It's just the right length for the attention-span of the youngest babies, and has clear, bold but not crude illustrations. There's a mirror at the end ("Peek-A.... YOU!"), and the rhymes chosen allow plenty of scope for sound effects, which my kids always find entertaining (my impersonations of cows, ghosts and trains have reached their current level of professionalism almost entirely thanks to this book :). Plus, the cut-out in each page makes it even easier for little baby-fingers to turn the page over.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516n2m93exL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516n2m93exL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Everybody knows babies like pictures of other babies, and there are billions of books of baby faces. Everybody knows that babies like pictures of animals, and there are billions of books of pictures of animals. But <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Babys-Best-Friend-Rachael-Hale/dp/0316129623/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757351&sr=1-1&keywords=baby%27s+best+friend">Baby's Best Friend</a> is the only book I've come across that combines the two: there are some of the cutest babies I've ever seen in this book, along with some of the cutest animals. Each picture has a baby and a baby animal, color-coordinated in some way. The pictures are clear, appealing and varied: a baby with a mouse on his shoulder, a baby peeking over a sheep, a baby with turtle climbing up his back, a baby taking a bath with some ducklings. Plus it's longish for a board book, so you can dip into it frequently without going the whole way through each time. This means it takes longer for me to get sick of reading it :) I also like that the book does a reasonably good job of showing a multi-ethnic collection of babies. There's a very small amount of pleasantly rhyming text, which I would appreciate even more if I actually read it (I stick to Arabic at this age). There are several other books in this series, all of which we have enjoyed, although this one is the favorite.<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31LIWzNZvfL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click-small,TopRight,12,-30_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31LIWzNZvfL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click-small,TopRight,12,-30_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mommy-Hugs/dp/B007CWT3R0/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757390&sr=1-3&keywords=Mommy+Hugs">Mommy Hugs</a> has mommy animals, baby animals and lots of hugs. Could there be a more interesting topic for the under-one crowd? Both of my girls have liked the clear but attractive illustrations, and I like the wide variety of vocabulary used to describe each variety of hug (nuzzle, snuggle, squeeze, nibble). Or rather, it's not exactly that I like the vocabulary itself - because I'm totally not into "vocabulary-building" for tots, and we read this in Arabic in any case - but I like that it shows that lots of different words can express variations of the same meaning. The whole book is short enough for infant attention-spans, which is another plus, but our favorite feature of this one is that we can act it out. Any excuse to nuzzle, cuddle and tickle my babies is fine with me :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZmoMCHGxL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZmoMCHGxL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I'm sure there's no need to review any of Sandra Boynton's books, but we love
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Barnyard-Dance-Boynton-Board-Sandra/dp/1563054426/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757453&sr=1-1&keywords=barnyard+dance">Barnyard Dance</a> so much that I can't skip it. We love the dancing animals, and we love dancing along with them. I love all the motion verbs that she uses (prance, scramble, spin, twirl, trot, strut), and we all love waving back at the animals as they promenade away on the last page. "With an OINK and a MOO and a QUACK QUACK QUACK, the dance is done but we'll be back!" Oh, yes, we will. Many many many times :)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WX3siKLHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51WX3siKLHL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;">I'm not usually a big fan of "interactive" board books.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> Lots of books have tabs to pull or </span><span style="background-color: white;">flaps to lift, but either they tear so easily that the book doesn't last, or else they're too tough for little fingers to move independently. Even when you've gotten it open, what you see underneath the flap isn't usually particularly interesting after you've opened it the first few times and know what to expect. Furthermore, in so many "interactive" books, I often feel that the novelty-factor of the tabs or flaps themselves is the only interesting part of the book, and the plot and the rest of the illustrations are nothing particularly memorable. This book, though, is different. </span><span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bizzy-Bear-Farm-Nosy-Crow/dp/0763658790/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757495&sr=1-1&keywords=Bizzy+Bear%3A+Fun+on+the+Farm">Bizzy Bear: Fun on the Farm</a> (and the three others in the series, </span><i style="background-color: white;">Bizzy Bear:Off We Go!</i><span style="background-color: white;">, </span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>Bizzy Bear: Let's Go and Play!</i> </span><span style="background-color: white;">and</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><i style="background-color: white;">Bizzy Bear: Let's Get to Work!</i><span style="background-color: white;">)</span><span style="background-color: white;"> would be a good read even if there was nothing interactive about them. The illustrations have</span><span style="background-color: white;"> appealing animal characters, with lots to talk about in the illustrations in addition to whatever Bizzy Bear himself happens to be doing. And the "interactive" bits are not only incredibly sturdy and yet super-easy to move, but the scene that is revealed or the moving part itself actually adds to the richness of the illustration. Bizzy Bear's digger actually digs, for example, and the train he only just manages to catch then leaves the station. Plus, the interactive parts all move in different ways, so rather than a long series of flaps to lift or page after page of textures to feel, there are some tabs to pull, some sliders to slide (horizontally, vertically or diagonally), plus some more unusual elements like a sailboat that rocks in the waves and a rotary that spins. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5185CoIlFhL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5185CoIlFhL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/But-Not-Hippopotamus-Boynton-Board/dp/0671449044/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757557&sr=1-1&keywords=but+not+the+hippopotamus">But Not the Hippopotamus</a> is another Sandra Boynton book, so I won't got into much detail. Animals, rhyme, and a repeating pattern of text make it appealing for youngest kiddos; and then as they get older they can start to empathize with the feelings of the left-out hippopotamus. I've actually managed to tactfully remind my older daughter to include everybody at playdates by making a sad face and saying mournfully, "but not the hippopotamus!"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51r6oTXgSaL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51r6oTXgSaL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Big-Barn-Margaret-Wise-Brown/dp/0694006246/ref=sr_1_1_title_2_boa?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757598&sr=1-1&keywords=Big+Red+Barn">Big Red Barn</a> is another one that's too well-known to need reviewing. Suffice it to say that both my girls have loved following the animals through their day from dawn to dusk. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51whiqoYLWL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51whiqoYLWL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
For these last three books, the baby needs to be old enough to grasp at least vaguely the concept of "plot." Kunafa got to that point recently, and since then, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Clip-Clop-Nicola-Smee/dp/1905417047/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757650&sr=1-1&keywords=Clip+Clop">Clip-Clop</a> has been a huge hit. The pictures are fine but nothing extraordinary. The story, on the other hand, describing four animals who go for a ride on a horse, fall off, and get back on again, is apparently one of the glittering jewels of the world of literature :) It's too funny to watch Kunafa's reactions to this one. You can see the suspense building in her whole body as the animals get on one by one, and then start going faster and faster. What's going to happen? What's going to happen?! And then the climax: they fall into the haystack! Oh, the excitement! Then she reflects the horse's concern: Are they ok? Are they ok? And the joyful relief: Yes! They're fine! They want to do it again! As, more often than not, does Kunafa.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nXuKFYZWL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nXuKFYZWL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Silly-Sally-Red-wagon-books/dp/0152019901/ref=sr_1_1_title_2_boa?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757706&sr=1-1&keywords=silly+sally+board+book">Silly Sally</a> is the odd-one-out in this list, in that most of the plot is way over Kunafa's head (it's not that it's all that complicated, just that it's more suited for picture-book comprehension levels rather than that of board-book readers). However, neither she nor her sister before her seem to mind. They love the refrain, "Silly Sally went to town, walking backwards, upsidedown," and we all like trying to copy her. ("Look! I'm Silly Sally!," Kunafa exclaims, peering up at me from between her own knees.) Both girls also like looking further down the road in the illustrations, to predict which animals Sally will meet next, and we all like giggling once Neddy Buttercup shows up and turns Sally's stalled walk into a tickle-fest. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61FW7QHRTKL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61FW7QHRTKL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;">And finally, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Owl-Babies-Martin-Waddell/dp/1564029654/ref=sr_1_1_title_2_boa?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341757761&sr=1-1&keywords=owl+babies+board+book">Owl Babies</a>, which was Basbusa's favorite board book for what seemed like her entire toddler-hood, and which Kunafa has just grown into. Three baby owls wake up to find that their mother isn't with them. They even venture out of their nest to look for her, but she's nowhere to be found. They huddle up together on a branch, eyes closed, wishing and wishing that their mother would come. And then at last, their owl mother comes gliding home to them through the trees, and the joyful owlets flap and dance. (</span><span style="background-color: white;">I think kids need to have both a vague grasp of plot and a vague grasp of empathy to get the most out of this one.</span><span style="background-color: white;">)</span><span style="background-color: white;"> Both my girls seem to have found the plot enthralling, and sympathize passionately with the littlest owl who keeps repeating pitifully, "I want my mommy!" Basbusa's love for this book caused me huge amounts of guilt when she was a baby, because I was still working at that point, and was convinced that her identification with this plot must reflect her own alarm at finding herself deserted by her mother each workday. So it's a great relief to see that Kunafa, who has never been away from me for longer than about an hour and a half, finds it just as fascinating :) </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white;">Linking up with </span><a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/07/05/read-aloud-thursday-this-that/" style="background-color: white;">Read-Aloud Thursday</a><span style="background-color: white;"> and <a href="http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/what-my-child-is-readingjuly-7-2012.html">What My Child is Reading</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-6904178288570758432012-06-30T15:02:00.000-04:002013-04-03T23:53:23.705-04:00What's Basbusa reading? (Ramadan Edition)So it's nearly Ramadan again insha'Allah, and the girls and I are all getting excited! I think I've checked out every Ramadan-related picture book in the entire metro-Boston library network over the past four years, but I haven't found all that many that we're really crazy about - it's nothing like the vast array of Christmas-related picture books that spill off the shelves in the library. We do have two favorites, though, which have now become part of our Ramadan traditions:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511-ptForEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511-ptForEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Under-Ramadan-Moon-Sylvia-Whitman/dp/0807583049">Under the Ramadan Moon</a> is both Basbusa's and my favorite so far. It describes the practices and traditions that are part of every Ramadan, in preschooler-friendly language with beautiful illustrations. Basbusa likes all the opportunities it gives us to say, "just like <i>we</i> do, right, Mama?", as we reminisce about Ramadan last year, and she excitedly looks forward to the Ramadan that's about to begin isA. The book mentions fasting, breaking the fast as a community, visiting friends and family, watching for the crescent moon, giving in charity, going to the mosque, and hanging lanterns, among other things, and the illustrations manage to convey the joy and peace of the season. I also like that it seems to be set in the US (or somewhere in the West, anyway) - it's always good to have pictures confirming that being Muslim and being American go perfectly well together :) It's absolutely a book which is describing the <i>experience</i> of Ramadan, rather than trying to convey the underlying religious basis for it, but for Basbusa's age, I think that's just fine (and there is one page at the end, explaining what Ramadan is and why and how it is celebrated). The only thing that's slightly odd is that the mom in the family wears her headscarf in every single picture, even when she's at home in her own living room, but that's a small detail, and Basbusa didn't notice.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ddmS6oSdL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ddmS6oSdL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Our other favorite is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ramadan-Moon-Naima-B-Robert/dp/1845079221">Ramadan Moon</a>, a book I've written about <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2010/07/whats-basbusa-reading-ramadan-edition.html">before</a>. We still like it as much as we always have, but I'm surprised to notice that when I described it two years ago, I didn't mention the fact that most of the language was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy over my daughter's head. And it must have been, because she was only two then, and it's still beyond her now, at almost-four! Maybe I hadn't started reading English to her at all yet, so I just translated everything into toddler-level Arabic? In any case, the text is still too advanced, but there's lots to discuss in the illustrations ("Look, Mama, the children are still playing in the park, even though it's night time! It's because it's Ramadan! Can we do that too?").<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gzNhbujGL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51gzNhbujGL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Since giving to the poor is one major part of Ramadan, I've also been seeking out books about poverty, of which Basbusa doesn't really have much of a concept yet. Her two favorites so far are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Teddy-Bear-Books-Young-Readers/dp/0805064141">The Teddy Bear</a>, about a boy who ends up giving his bear to a homeless man, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Four-Feet-Sandals-FEET-SANDALS/dp/B0029PTFZU">Two Sandals, Four Feet</a>, about the friendship between two Afghan girls living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. The plot of <i>The Teddy Bear</i> was somewhat unlikely, in my opinion, but Basbusa didn't seem to question it. She focused on the tale of the bear lost and found, and enjoyed it, while I liked that it presented a homeless man realistically but sympathetically, and not as something to be feared. It showed his daily rounds of the trash cans, for example, simply as part of his daily routine, rather than sugar-coating his situation or dwelling heavily and explicitly on his plight. Not the best book we've ever read, but it was more or less what I was looking for.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pfOFhA8VL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pfOFhA8VL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<i style="background-color: white;">Two Sandals, Four Feet </i><span style="background-color: white;">was a truly touching book, about two girls who shared one precious pair of yellow-and-blue flip-flops, the only footwear they owned. Basbusa did enjoy the book and has asked for several repeats, but I think she'll get more out of it maybe two years from now. For now, she appreciated that the two girls had made friends, and that their friendship helped them and strengthened them in their difficult circumstances, and that it was sad that they had to say goodbye at the end. But she didn't quite understand how hard the girls' lives really were, or how much they had lost, or how much the friendship meant to them as a consequence. I don't think she quite appreciated</span><span style="background-color: white;"> how generous it was of the girls to agree to share the shoes, given how few possessions they had and how badly they both needed them. But at least now when we're donating to charities catering to refugees, I will be able to tell Basbusa that it's for children like Feroza and Lina, and she will have some idea what I mean. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Linking up with </span><a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/06/28/read-aloud-thursday-some-preschoolish-favorites/" style="background-color: white;">Read-Aloud Thursday</a><span style="background-color: white;"> and <a href="http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2012/06/what-my-child-is-readingjune-30-2012.html">What My Child is Reading</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-25922725434769670342012-06-21T08:03:00.002-04:002013-04-03T23:54:36.577-04:00What's Basbusa reading?Another too-long blog-silence, but not because of any lack of good books to write about! Since Basbusa has finished preschool for the year (making us officially homeschoolers now, I guess?), I've lost my handy one-child-in-school-and-the-other-one-napping blogging time. But they're getting better and better at entertaining each other, and with the lovely summer weather they can play in the garden much more, so I'm hopeful that I'll get twenty minutes to blog every so often!<br />
<br />
My list of to-be-blogged-books has gotten alarmingly long yet again, so I'm going to zoom through some of these reviews in order to catch up a bit.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SlrK7JkEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SlrK7JkEL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
These first two, however, were such favorites that they can't be glossed over. I found <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tallulahs-Tutu-Marilyn-Singer/dp/0547173539/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340021282&sr=8-1&keywords=tallulah%27s+tutu">Tallulah's Tutu</a> via a New York Times recommendation for the sequel, <i>Tallulah's Solo</i>. I actually wasn't thrilled with the sequel when we eventually got around to it, but the original story was just delightful. Tallulah, an effervescent preschooler with an adoring little brother, is convinced that she would be a wonderful ballerina - if only she had a tutu. A lavender tutu, to be specific. So, her mother signs her up for ballet lessons, which she loves right from the very first moment. The tutu she so confidently expects, however, doesn't seem to be ready yet... maybe it's being flown in from Paris, she wonders? Three classes later, with no tutu yet appearing, Tallulah's great disappointment leads to the discovery that ballet slippers are not ideal footwear for stamping your foot while shouting! Ultimately, of course, there's a happy ending. Basbusa loved the story of a girl just her age starting out to learn something new and exciting, especially since two of her real-life best friends take ballet. I loved that it was ballet-oriented without straying into the realm of overwhelming girly-ness and idolization of all things pink and frilly, and that the illustrations showed such enthusiastic and engaged little dancers - with the sticking-out tummies and not-so-streamlined profiles of real preschoolers rather than of miniature ballerinas. Plus, there were gentle and preschooler-friendly messages about working to pursue your dreams, being patient, and being flexible (the Tallulah's tutu, in the end, is not lavendar, but red).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eQTpXravL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51eQTpXravL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Next up is a slightly strange little book which Basbusa must have read about a million times. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Adventures-Mole-Sisters/dp/155037883X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340021341&sr=8-1&keywords=complete+adventures+of+the+mole+sisters">Complete Adventures of the Mole Sisters</a> is a compendium of ten (very very) short stories about the two not-particularly-cute moles shown on the cover. Plots ranged from the simple-but-cute (uh-oh, rain is coming into the mole-hole - let's dig a bath and swim in it!) - to the simple-but-odd (don't worry, little clump of moss, your life needn't be dull - we'll carry you up a hill and leave you there! Ummm... what?!?). These peculiarities didn't seem to bother Basbusa in the slightest, however, and she was delighted (as usual) with the small size of the book, and thrilled with how easily she could read the the easy-reader-like text. So, in the spirit of reflecting Basbusa's own true preferences, it's two thumbs up for the Mole Sisters.<br />
<br />
And now for some quick reviews (please excuse the lack of detail!)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-jQFJN19L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41-jQFJN19L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
We chose <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Blue-Polly-Dunbar/dp/0763638811/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340021388&sr=1-1&keywords=Dog+Blue">Dog Blue</a> because we had both really liked <a href="http://sugarcakediary.blogspot.com/2011/10/whats-basbusa-reading_08.html">Penguin</a> by the same author. In terms of plot, it's a little boy finally realizing his dream of getting a dog. Simple but sweet. I liked how the boy filled in with his imagination while waiting for his dream to come true, and I liked his creative solution when his dream-come-true turned out to be slightly different from his dream.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51drTqJkrYL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51drTqJkrYL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/While-Mama-Quick-Little-Chat/dp/0689851707/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340021450&sr=1-1&keywords=While+Mama+Had+a+Quick+Little+Chat">While Mama Had a Quick Little Chat</a> is a story about what happened to Rose while she was waiting for her mother to finish her conversation with Uncle Fred. Party suppliers, guests, caterers, a band and a magician all make their appearance, much to Rose's astonishment and Basbusa's amusement, and then hurriedly disappear again when Mama finally gets off the phone. I think the other main factor that made this one appealing was that any little child can sympathize with a mother's seemingly endless "just a minute"s!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PQUjvzWAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PQUjvzWAL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Go-Handprint-Staff/dp/1886910650/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1340021538&sr=1-16&keywords=Let%27s+Go">Let's Go</a> describes a boy's trip to the corner grocery to buy some apples for his mother, but we see the journey has he views it through his imagination. The two-block walk takes him through a deep, dark forest, a rocky mountain, a beautiful but pirate-filled sea, and finally on tiptoe through the pirate's camp. The text is minimal, and very new-reader-friendly. Basbusa loves imagination games, and found the text encouragingly accessible (she read this one all alone, right off the bat). The illustrations are appealing, with a slight hint of "where's waldo" as you search for the boy in the midst of his imaginary surroundings.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/619zcDsdtLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/619zcDsdtLL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Magnolias-Mixed-Magic-Lowery-Nixon/dp/0399209565">Magnolia's Mixed-Up Magic</a> was a fun, quick chapter book, just right for Basbusa's level: short chapters, exciting but preschooler-friendly plot, and a reading level that was a comfortable stretch. Magnolia and her grandmother discover an old magic book which turns out to have real, working spells in it - but the pages which explain how to undo the spells are missing. Mild mayhem ensues which is soon put to right, scaring off a thieving raccoon along the way.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
And finally, a request: can anyone recommend preschooler-level picture books about poverty? With Ramadan coming up, I want to introduce Basbusa to the importance of helping the poor and giving in charity, but I don't think she has much of a concept of what "being poor" actually means. Thanks for any suggestions!<br />
<br />
Linking up with <a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/06/21/read-aloud-thursday-the-phantom-tollbooth-by-norton-juster/">Read-Aloud Thursday</a> and <a href="http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2012/06/what-my-child-is-readingjune-23-2012.html">What My Child is Reading</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-84978048544958510922012-05-12T11:57:00.000-04:002012-05-19T21:00:09.615-04:00More on "21st Century Skills"Thanks to my mom, who works at a school which is committed to staying up to date with research about education in the 21st century, I'm lucky enough to get lists of resources and journal articles that I would probably never have stumbled across otherwise. It makes for very thought-provoking reading. The research is aimed at education in a school setting rather than in homeschooling, but it's still extremely useful when I'm trying to define what my goals are for my daughters' education.<br />
<br />
All of this research makes a distinction between content and skills; between the hard facts which kids should know, and the things which they should be able to do with that information. Most of the articles I've read devote more attention to the skills than to the content. Content is (comparatively) less important nowadays, these researchers argue, partly because the information age has made fact-finding so much easier and faster, and partly because the world is changing so fast that we can't hope to give our children all the information they'll need for their futures. So we should focus instead on giving the skills they'll need to educate themselves, and to thrive in a world of fast-changing, highly-interactive information.<br />
<br />
Here's a summary of those skills, drawn from several articles I really liked:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Problem solve</b> across multiple disciplines;</li>
<li><b>Communicate information and ideas</b> effectively using a variety of media and formats; </li>
<li><b>Collaborate</b> with others; </li>
<li><b>Think creatively</b>;</li>
<li><b>Apply critical thinking skills</b> to any field of study, including those that do not yet exist;</li>
<li>Preparation for responsible <b>participation in the global community</b>.</li>
</ul>
<br />
I don't really know what our homeschooling journey will look like, in terms of what subjects we'll study or how we'll go about studying them, but at least I now have this list of goals to refer back to when it comes to making choices for the girls' education. We don't exactly have a roadmap, but at least we have a compass :)<br />
<br />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-4188862456782011872012-05-12T10:08:00.000-04:002012-12-10T22:04:38.000-05:00What's Basbusa reading?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FKHHY7T2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FKHHY7T2L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
The garbage-truck book that always comes first to my mind is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/I-Stink-Kate-McMullan/dp/0064438368/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336827875&sr=1-1">I Stink</a>, which seems to be in every library display case in the country. We checked it out, but it didn't get more than a few reads, so I had thought maybe it was just more of a boy topic. But <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Smash-Mash-Crash-There-Trash/dp/068985160X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336676173&sr=8-1">Smash! Mash! Crash! There Goes the Trash!</a> proved me wrong, because it's been a favorite for the past two weeks. "Rumbling, roaring. <i>Dragons snoring?</i> Bumping, thumping. <i>Giants jumping? </i>Booming, banging. <i>Cymbals clanging? </i>Nooooo! The garbage trucks are here today!" The book then proceeds through all the usual chomping, mashing and pulping of icky garbage, to the delight of the two little kids (well, pigs, actually) who are watching. I, like Basbusa, much preferred this book to the ubiquitous <i>I Stink</i>, both because the language used is more expressive and because the truck itself isn't directing any of its roaring at the reader. The only thing I wondered about was whether kids today ever really hear the noise described in all these garbage-truck books? I remember the racket I always used to hear when I lived in New York City years and years ago, but all I've heard in recent years is the very polite "daaa-yeep, daaa-yeep!" beeping of our automated suburban waste disposal services.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414o9b5XRUL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414o9b5XRUL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guess-Again-Mac-Barnett/dp/1416955666/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336676231&sr=1-1">Guess Again!</a> is a very quick read, but totally worth checking out. It's a series of riddles, with pictures and a rhyme scheme that both trick you into expecting the wrong answer. And in addition to the hee-hee-tricked-you! humor, the real answers are funny both because they're so random and because the illustrations depict the wrong answer and the right answer at the same time. (It's a bit hard to explain, but you can see what I mean if you look at the preview on Amazon.) "He steals carrots from the neighbor's yard. His hair is soft, his teeth are hard. His floppy ears are long and funny. Can you guess who? That's right! My..." But no, it's not his bunny... :)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EUbm+yphL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51EUbm+yphL._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Z-Is-Moose-Kelly-Bingham/dp/0060799846/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336676300&sr=1-1">Z is for Moose</a> is the funniest alphabet book I've ever read. A zebra is directing a pretty routine production of A-is-for-Apple, B-is-for-Ball, etc, but Moose is so excited that he just cannot wait for his turn. D is for... Moose!!! No, no, Moose, not your turn yet. Moose spends the next few letters trying to sneak into the picture in any way he can, until they finally reach the letter M... and Moose discovers that M is for Mouse, in this particular lineup! ("I'm sorry. We decided to go with the mouse this time," says the zebra, checking it off on his clipboard.) Whereupon Moose throws a tantrum. He smashes his way through the N, O, P and Q pages, uses a red crayon to add moose-antlers to the ring and the snake on the R and S pages, and finally dissolves in tears. In the end the zebra takes pity on the sobbing Moose and finds a way to make things better. I just loved this one, and I still giggle even after umpteen readings. Basbusa liked it too, but she doesn't seem to find it quite as funny as I do. I guess maybe a perfectly-captured preschooler-tantrum comes across as more of a factual depiction, rather than a joke, if you actually <i>are</i> a preschooler?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516KQIjky2L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516KQIjky2L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I was going to say that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Laundry-Day-Maurie-J-Manning/dp/0547241968">Laundry Day</a> is an almost-wordless picture book, but I just noticed in the Amazon description that it's actually a "graphic picture-book," which I think sums it up really well. It's set in New York City at the end of the 1800s, and the illustrations give a fascinating and detailed glimpse of daily life in a city neighborhood. The story tells of a shoe-shine boy who is trying to return a red scarf to its proper owner, after it flutters down on top of him from one of the myriad clothes-lines strung above his head between the apartment buildings. By hopping up on a stack of boxes he makes his way to the first balcony, and from there he balances along clothes lines, shimmies up waterspouts and clambers along fire escape ladders, meeting all the diverse but friendly neighbors along the way. He eventually does find the owner of the scarf, and slithers down to street-level again, but now the whole city feels different. Before his adventure, the boy had seemed so alone in the busy, impersonal, street, but after meeting all his neighbors and seeing how their lives, like their clotheslines, were all interconnected, the busy street felt like a community. Basbusa and I both loved this one, and since there's so little text, Basbusa can enjoy it by herself just as much as she does with me.<br />
<br />
Linking up with <a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/05/10/read-aloud-thursday-russell-hobans-frances-stories/">Read-Aloud Thursday</a> and <a href="http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2012/05/what-my-child-is-readingmay-12-2012.html">What My Child is Reading</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-69784994360642141862012-04-28T09:33:00.000-04:002012-12-10T22:05:11.168-05:00What's Basbusa reading?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51c6RU+6DoL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51c6RU+6DoL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Enormous-Crocodile-Roald-Dahl/dp/0142302457">The Enormous Crocodile</a> is more of a chapter book than a picture book in length and format, but be warned, it's not actually divided into chapters! So a "just one chapter" promise can get quite long :) Basbusa loved this one, and we've read it cover-to-cover four or five times. I adored Roald Dahl's books when I was little, but I had forgotten that although the plots are easy enough for a little child to understand, the language isn't. Plus, some of the topics that are fun-scary for an older kid would be much-too-real-scary for Basbusa! But I think <i>The Enormous Crocodile </i>is a great introduction to Dahl for little kids. It's about a very big, very mean crocodile with "secret plans and clever tricks" to catch six delicious, juicy little children for his lunch. That might not sound like appropriate content for a three-year-old, but actually the characters are so clearly caricatures that it's funny rather than scary - even Basbusa knows that he's not <i>really</i> going to gollop anyone up at one gulp. There's also quite a bit of name-calling, which I usually avoid; but since the Enormous Crocodile really <i>is</i> planning to eat up yummy little children, I didn't mind reading aloud, "Oh, you horrid greedy grumptious brute!"<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51oXMUAbaoL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51oXMUAbaoL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I chose <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Littlest-Wolf-Larry-Dane-Brimner/dp/0060290390/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335267528&sr=1-1">The Littlest Wolf</a> because the author, Larry Brimmer, had written some Easy Readers we enjoyed. An unusual way to arrive at a good picture book, I know, but I'm glad we found this one. It's the story of a little wolf, the youngest of his siblings, who is feeling discouraged because he can't roll, run or pounce as well as they can. His father comforts him, and he ends up cheerful again. It's not much of a plot in terms of excitement, but the little wolf's emotions are very true to life, and his father's reassurances soothe him without minimizing his feelings. "'It is true that Ana runs like the wind, and you run like a soft breeze,' he said. 'That is just as it should be. ... Running like the wind comes later.'" Basbusa seems to really like that message - I've heard her use it herself once or twice when there's something she can't do. Two other things I liked about this story is that it's the Daddy doing the comforting rather than the Mama, which makes a nice change, and that the author uses very pretty language. "It was a perfect summer morning. Big Gray was watching his pups frolic in a poppy-dappled meadow. But not all of them frolicked. One pup, the littlest, peeked out at the others from behind the trunk of a great, gnarled oak." I was a bit disappointed in the illustrations, though - I thought they didn't live up to the pretty descriptions.<br />
<br />
<div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512CE9DMM8L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512CE9DMM8L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zuzus-Wishing-Cake-Linda-Michelin/dp/B003D7JWX8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335267567&sr=1-1">Zuzu's Wishing Cake</a> is the story of a little girl who wants to make friends with the little boy who has just moved in next door. In the end she does, and they end up sitting happily side by side and sharing the wishing cake. What makes this book unusually appealing is the very sweet young-child logic that Zuzu uses in trying to get to know him. He's not coming out to play? Hmm. Maybe he can't see what a nice day it is! He must need a telescope. Well, that's no problem; she can make him one! Which she cheerfully does, having unrolled all the paper towels to get at the cardboard tube. Basbusa is still very interested in the nuances of the making-friends process, so the plot was a hit with her, and she also liked that Zuzu narrates her thoughts to the reader with speech bubbles. I liked Zuzu's self-confidence, and how she makes things, paints things, cuts things and glues things just as a routine part of her play, rather than as specially-designed "craft project." I also liked that Zuzu, as shown on the cover here, is not particularly "cute," as illustrated preschoolers go. You don't often see children in books who just look like average kids.<br />
<br />
<div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FVtvVvbUL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51FVtvVvbUL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
And finally, like last week, I wanted to mention another set of Early Readers that we have enjoyed. The Rookie Readers series seems to come in three levels (A, B and C), and so far Basbusa has enjoyed almost all of them. I don't present them as part of a "reading lesson" or anything like that - I just leave them in a pile with all her other books, and she chooses whatever catches her interest. She has always loved books that are little, though, regardless of the content - her favorite book at moment is a pocket dictionary - so these do at least have that much going for them, right off the bat :) The Level B books (such as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bubble-Trouble-Rookie-Readers-Level/dp/0516264737/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335267621&sr=1-1">Bubble Trouble</a>, shown at right, which is her favorite to date) are just perfect for her reading level. She can read these without any assistance, and although the story-lines are necessarily somewhat curtailed by the limited vocabulary, the excitement of independence more than makes up for it! And even in my own opinion, the plots in the Rookie Reader books are ok. Not amazing, but by the standards of Early Readers, not bad. Pretty good, even. Other books she keeps returning to from this series are <a href="http://www.amazon.com/All-Wrapped-Up-Rookie-Readers/dp/0516219499/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335440470&sr=1-4">All Wrapped Up</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Carousel-Ride-Rookie-Readers/dp/0516264109/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335440452&sr=1-1">Carousel Ride</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Liz-Rookie-Readers-Level/dp/0516263609/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335440426&sr=1-1">Lightning Liz</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quite-Enough-Dogs-Rookie-Reader/dp/0531177823/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335440402&sr=1-1">Quite Enough Hot Dogs</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sara-Joins-Circus-Rookie-Readers/dp/0516273841">Sara Joins the Circus</a>.<br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></div>
Linking up with <a href="http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-my-child-is-readingapril-28-2012.html">What My Child is Reading</a> and <a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/04/26/read-aloud-thursday-the-who-in-the-world-was-series/">Read-Aloud Thursday</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6668542463103431026.post-23841046290988216422012-04-21T15:09:00.000-04:002012-12-10T22:05:26.121-05:00What's Basbusa reading?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71D6R1HJJNL._SL500_AA300_.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71D6R1HJJNL._SL500_AA300_.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
The illustrations in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spring-Story-Brambly-Hedge-Barklem/dp/0689830580/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335033470&sr=1-1">Spring Story</a> are so delightful that I would have been in love with this series without a single word of text. This book is the first of four stories about mice living together in a hedge in the countryside, and just look at all the charming details in their world (sorry about the blue-ish colors; they're phone pics!):<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzIq5xaWZXI1vgUBNxErQiy31iOry283SqR9TbPuXFD22QtWUueaX6khFvH0R_shNfbtVPssJ6tlGHrITflwWYqUlp6UR_Ivktcn68I2_HeeTyTJI3JwNuTBd3wTnod6w1vRfPcxYvAG_0/s1600/book2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzIq5xaWZXI1vgUBNxErQiy31iOry283SqR9TbPuXFD22QtWUueaX6khFvH0R_shNfbtVPssJ6tlGHrITflwWYqUlp6UR_Ivktcn68I2_HeeTyTJI3JwNuTBd3wTnod6w1vRfPcxYvAG_0/s640/book2.jpg" width="480" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEoL7Rig6JXQvSnWiCJM5tK08KMrllKws1zszsLuS7hdzQT9uL3dBOU9G6YftHg0jA8STOlFkTq0TlFG8t9yUqfErvjm6yffZ5IQsaZ_C1ZXU-HOcEz_NErst3k6qB-Q0VVT-zlZP9lU1/s1600/book1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcEoL7Rig6JXQvSnWiCJM5tK08KMrllKws1zszsLuS7hdzQT9uL3dBOU9G6YftHg0jA8STOlFkTq0TlFG8t9yUqfErvjm6yffZ5IQsaZ_C1ZXU-HOcEz_NErst3k6qB-Q0VVT-zlZP9lU1/s640/book1.jpg" width="497" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Basbusa did like this book, but her interest-level corresponded more to the plot rather than to the illustrations.The story-line in <i>Spring Story</i> tells of the surprise birthday picnic that the other mice organize for little Wilfred, and it's a sweet and pleasant tale, although it wouldn't have been particularly memorable on its own. We tried the sequel, <i>Summer Story</i>, but the plot focused on the wedding plans and eventual wedding day of two of the mice, and Basbusa couldn't really relate. Equally breathtaking illustrations, though.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kVXr+8qjL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51kVXr+8qjL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
This next book is one I really didn't enjoy much. In fact, the first time we got it out of the library (and renewed it twice), I refrained from blogging about it. But now that Basbusa has requested it <i>again</i>, and has hung on to it for yet another renewal, I guess I can no longer avoid mentioning that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-That-Eats-People/dp/1582462682/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335034923&sr=1-1">The Book That Eats People</a> was a big hit in our house. The title pretty much sums up the plot: this is one mean book. Make sure you don't have any traces of peanut butter on your fingers if you're going to read it, because this books is always hungry! The story gives this book's dark history of child-gobbling and book-ripping, and warns the reader to beware its voracious appetite. That's pretty much it. I don't get what exactly Basbusa found so appealing, but for the record, it definitely appealed :)<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xcyPQagJL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xcyPQagJL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Next up, a fantastic non-fiction picture book. Alice of <a href="http://supratentorial.wordpress.com/">Supratentorial</a> mentioned <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Yucky-Worms-Wonder-Vivian-French/dp/0763658170/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335032964&sr=1-1">Yucky Worms</a> in a post a few weeks back, and said that she and her toddler had both enjoyed it after exploring some worms in real life. Well, as it happened, my two girls and I had found a giant worm ourselves that very morning. Basbusa reacted with much alarm, and Kunafa with tremendous enthusiasm (oops! I'm so sorry, worm!). So clearly, this book was for us. The story has a basic plot - a little boy helping his grandmother in the garden - which was enough to catch Basbusa's interest (particularly the fact that the boy, like Basbusa herself, first responded to the worm with hesitation). The facts about worms which the grandmother shared with the boy, to change his mind about disliking them, were truly fascinating: did you know that worms have five pairs of hearts? Or that they breathe through their skins? I also liked that some of the facts were mentioned as part of the text, whereas other fascinating little snippets were mentioned in different font as part of the illustrations, written along worm-tunnels, for example. This meant that we could skip some detail on the first few reads without interrupting the flow of the text, and explore the extra factoids later after Basbusa was more familiar with the book. It was a clever way of including lots and lots of information without overwhelming a three-year-old reader. Plus, pretty illustrations with cats, birds and butterflies, which were the only part that really interested Kunafa. Clearly, worms in a book are nowhere near as fascinating as worms in real life, to a one-and-a-half-year-old :)<br />
<br />
Oh, and if you and your kids are interested in worms, you <i>must</i> go see this set of worm experiments for preschoolers that Maureen just posted about at <a href="http://www.spelloutloud.com/2012/04/observing-worms-with-preschoolers/">Spell Outloud</a>! (part two <a href="http://www.spelloutloud.com/2012/04/worm-science/">here</a>)<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51un8CvSd7L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51un8CvSd7L._SL500_AA300_.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I also want to mention a series of easy-readers we recently discovered. These books are about the size of chapter-books, but really they're more like picture-books in content - there are lots and lots of illustrations on every page, with very little text. They're silly, genuinely funny stories about unusual families and their usual-but-unusual occupations, and Basbusa is loving them. The text is relatively complicated by easy-reader standards - for example, "The next day Mrs. Wobble wobbled with a jellied dessert. The jellied dessert landed on the <i>manager's </i>head!" But there is so little text per page, and the pictures are so helpful in showing what's going on, that Basbusa can get through them by herself after a read or two with me. She enjoys these books just for the sake of the silliness in the stories, and I don't think she has actually noticed how much her confidence and fluency has improved in the week or two since we found them. So far we've read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Wobble-Waitress-Happy-Families/dp/0307317072/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335036261&sr=1-1">Mrs. Wobble the Waitress</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Master-Sailors-Allan-Amstutz-Ahlberg/dp/0140312404/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335035890&sr=1-1">Master Salt the Sailor's Son</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Brick-Builders-Illustrated-McNaughton-Ahlberg/dp/B000OSO0BI/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335036294&sr=1-1">Miss Brick, the Builders' Baby</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lathers-Laundry-Allan-Ahlberg-Amstutz/dp/B002ILC1Z6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335036334&sr=1-1">Mrs. Lather's Laundry</a>, and there are plenty more in the series to choose from! (It's a British series, and many of the books don't seem to be in print any more in the US, but try your local library - ours has the whole lot of them.)<br />
<br />
<br />
Linking up with <a href="http://learningwithmouse.blogspot.com/2012/04/what-my-child-is-readingapril-21-2012.html">What My Child is Reading</a> and <a href="http://www.hopeisthewordblog.com/2012/04/19/read-aloud-thursday-goodnight-goodnight-construction-site-by-sherri-duskey-rinker/">Read-Aloud Thursday</a>.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s1600/read-aloud211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="71" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizZe39Fdl1V_usrOfP_kfq7t7XZWHIDkMYWsOv6llDUah_7m_A-rq8ewONtjvt8utOtVAv3BHmBYd-Vh6gNX2kznH4IKPvu0gssHxY1ik5vALAKzDE18xV6nkD2tK4j_rNV5EG_FA5xy6D/s200/read-aloud211.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGje4_YZMq-DW6X0VQFMIl1rwJCBMgXUOKQhMz82DNQrp0vT-DV7DZwPE5aoDqgauqYeTl50M5kNT45Ci-OC685HDwXhfjj5yPtx-i709Mb9DzX7e1zn9u-AgPPne2iQphSqAhV3L1C0tI/s1600/whatMyChildIsReading.png" /></a><br />
<br />
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Basbusa's Mamahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16445633400020003785noreply@blogger.com3