The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

A city buried below the ground for over 200 years. The citizens have no clue that their dark sky is really underneath everything. More than 200 years underground is taking a toll on the city's electricity and resources. Blackouts are becoming more common as the city is falling apart. Doon Harrow realizes something is wrong, but without his friend Lina Mayfleet, the city may just die without a solution to be found.

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I'll admit, I was a little skeptical to read something called The City of Ember when I learned it was about people who were basically buried alive. However, when I started to actually read the story, I couldn't put it down. I liked reading about how the city worked and saddened when I realized they were underground and never had seen a blue sky. (I knew from the beginning they were underground, but it really hit me in chapter 10.)

I am looking foward  to reading the sequel, The People of Sparks.

American Girl's History Club: Felicity Merriman (1774)

To continue the American Girl History Club Series, we are going to focus on Felicity Merriman. I chose to showcase Felicity in the month of April largely because of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem Paul Revere's Ride. I remembered how much I like the poem as a child and decided April would be the best month to talk about the Revolutionary War.

To prepare for the program, I visited the Colonial Willimasburg website: http://history.org/ and http://www.colonialwilliamsburg.com/?WT.mc_id=663 . I also visited the American Girl's website: http://www.americangirl.com/ and the Mount Vernon website http://www.mountvernon.org/ (did you know the Mount Vernon site has a link to "Harpsicord Hero" http://www.washingtonsworld.org/harpsichord.html  how cool is that?!). I wanted to make sure I found some cool things for the girls to do and learn.

Two books that were extremly helpful in finding activites for the girls were Little Hands Celebrate America! by Jill Frankel Hauser and Colonial Kids: an Activity Guide to Life in the New World by Laurie Carlson.

The crafts I chose to use for the program were paper lanterns (to go with the poem Paul Revere's Ride by Hendry Wadsworth Longfellow), churning butter and making Wampum.

For the paper lantern craft, I found the instructions at http://familycrafts.about.com/od/chinesenewyears/ss/eplantern.htm . I found the instructions to be simple enough that on the third lantern I made, I no longer need to look at the instructions and felt comfortable teaching the kids how to make the lantern.

For the butter, wampum and rag rug crafts, I found them in the Colonial Kids book.

The wampum was really fun to make because I learned that you can dye pasta noodles with a little rubbing alcohol and food coloring. Since the wampum the colonist used when trading with the Native Americans was purple, I used red and blue food coloring. I tried a few different shades, and the one I like best was made of 10 red food coloring drops and 4 blue food coloring drops (the same you would use if you were dyeing eggs). All you have to do is drop the UNCOOKED noodles into the food coloring and let it sit for awhile. I let teh noodles sit for at least 10 minutes. Once they were dry, they were really cool!

The butter was really easy. All I did was put some heavy whipping cream in a baby food jar, tighten the lid and shake it vigorously until it thickened into butter. The liquid you see in the picture is just the buttermilk residue that comes when the butter seperates a little.

American Girl's History Club: Addy Walker

In February, I did another American Girl's History Club program and in honor of African American History Month, I chose to showcase Addy Walker. Addy Walker is the Pleasant Company's first American Girl of non-white origins and is still the only African American Historical figure for the company. Addy is a young slave who runs away on the Underground Railroad with her mother during the Civil War. Since quilts were such an important part of slave life, I had the girls design their own "Freedom Quilts" for their dolls. I had patterns that would have been used in the Freedom Quilts slaves owned, but also allowed them to make their own patterns. The girls had a blast creating quilts for their dolls.

American Girl's: Julie Albright

So, I have been a fan of the American Girls Series since I was 11 years old. (I know, a little old to start the sereis, but that's when I found them.) With finding the 2 newest historical figures, I decided I wanted to start a year long (10 month) series using the girls.

For January, I decided to do a study on Julie Albright whose story takes place in the 1970's.
Since Julie is from the 1970's I wanted to have the girls make something with a disco ball feel. I came up with a disco picture frame made from foam sheets and broken c.d.'s.

I grabbed some old c.d's (most of them from AOL) and started breaking them apart with a pair of kitchen shears. I cut different shapes and sizes and set them aside in a plastic baggie. Then I cut a sheet of  foam board in half and cut a hole in the center that was big enough to frame a 5 x 6 photograph. (roughly 7 x 8 for the boarder). I then glued the side with a hole to the other half of the sheet of foam board, leaving the top unglued so a picture could slide through.

On the day of the program, I grabbed several books that were published in the '70's and books that won Caldecott's and Newbery's and also a few books about the 1970's and major ecological events ( Love Canal and Three Mile Island) since Julie loves nature.

While I didn't have a huge turnout, the few girls that came loved making the craft and I was able to adapt the craft for the little sister who wasn't old enough for the program by replacing the c.d. pieces with foam flowers that she could stick on the frame.

Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians byBrandon Sanderson

Alcatraz Smedry has already told us, he is not a good boy. He's not even a nice guy. So how in the world is he now being considered a hero by a land most of us have never even heard of. Then again, most of us have never received a box of sand for our birthdays either, but Alcatraz did. That one bag of sand would lead Alcatraz on a journey that would forever change his life.

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I'll admit, when I picked up this book, I thought the title was slightly amusing. I mean really, how many times do you see a book that flat out calls Librarians evil on the front cover? I did not realize that when I opened the book I would be laughing nonstop. Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians is probably one of the funiest books I have ever picked up. There has been a laugh on almost everypage and it keeps me wanting more. I love this book. :O)

2009-2010 Sunshine State Books

The 2009-2010 Sunshine State Readers Book Lists have finally arrived! WHOO HOO!!!

The list for grades 3-5 is pretty exciting!

Drumroll please, . . .

The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin
Middle of Somewhere by J.B. Cheaney
The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davis
The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School by Candace Fleming
Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It by Sundee T. Frazier
Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Defiance by Valerie Hobbs
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonnell
Me and the Pumpkin Queen by Marlane Kennedy
Year of the Dog by Grace Lin
Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle
Punished by David Lubar ***
Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury
Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban

*** I was really excited to see Punished on the list this year. I feel in love with the story when I read it months ago.

This year's list has some amazing books on it and I think the voting will be kind of close at the end of the year.

reading "The Loudest Roar" during storytime