![]() So I decided to use this as a chance to test some online math programs in the meantime. He loves it but the delivery of our next book had been delayed. ![]() ![]() Long version – I use Life of Fred math with my home schooled 10 year old. And for 1st and 2nd graders, don’t forget to share Tomie de Paola’s The Popcorn Book.Prodigy Math Game Review – Short version – I gave money to a stranger on the internet for an upgrade to Prodigy Math game, a math program that I wasn’t initially a fan of and for something that I already had the free version of. Popcorn facts, science experiments and math activities abound on the web. The instructions are printed right on the template. Text-weight paper works fine, though a heavier weight would make the box a bit sturdier. I’ve hand-written a fun fact on my box: The oldest ears of popcorn, dating back 5,600 years, were found in the Bat Cave of New Mexico. The template is designed for 11×17 paper, because that produces a (small) movie-size box and provides a decent footprint for writing. It’s a fold-up popcorn box that I’m willing to call a book … provided kids write something on one or more of its panels. And to help your class celebrate, here’s a festive project. This goofy “holiday” can lend itself to all manner of explorations-social studies, science, math, reading. Thursday January 19th is National Popcorn Day. Posted on JanuJanuCategories All ages, Libraries, Links We Like, Math, Poetry, Pop-Ups You can read about this pop-up edition and see all the spreads here. ![]() So I was especially pleased to see them revisited-with a twist-in the artist’s book P&P from Green Chair Press. The edition that I first read had illustrations by Hugh Thomson (1894) and they have remained my favorite. Above you can see the beginning of a nifty, highly condensed cartoon version here on NPR’s online book page. It’s celebrating a big anniversary this week-200 years in print. Of the passages of prose I know by heart, the longest comes from the novel that would be my Fahrenheit 451 book, that is, the book I’d dedicate my life to memorizing in order to save its life. “The best argument for verse memorization may be that it provides us with knowledge of a qualitatively and physiologically different variety: you take the poem inside you, into your brain chemistry if not your blood, and you know it at a deeper, bodily level than if you simply read it off a screen.” … So why undergo the laborious process of memorizing a poem these days, when-tap, tap, tap-you have it at your fingertips? “Anyone equipped with a smartphone-many of my friends would never step outdoors without one-commands a range of poetry that beggars anything the brain can store. (I can conjure up many snippets but can only reliably recite two whole poems, Lewis Carroll’s The Jabberwocky and Jack Prelutsky’s Homework! Oh, Homework!) If you’ve ever wondered about the value of memorization and recitation, I recommend Brad Leithauser’s Why We Should Memorize from the New Yorker’s Page-Turner blog. I wish I’d been inspired, even required, to memorize more poetry as a kid. Here in San Francisco, library-card holders can check out a FamilyPass that provides free admission to 24 museums, historical sites, the zoo, swimming pools and one of the nation’s two remaining Liberty Ships. I’d love to hear from readers about other out-the-ordinary library loans. I love libraries (as regular readers of this blog may know), I love the inventiveness of librarians, and I love last week’s New York Times story about the children’s room, pictured above, at the Ottendorfer branch of the New York Public Library that’s been lending out an American Girl Doll named Kirsten. BTW, the illustrator of the picture to the left-Quentin Blake-celebrated his 80th birthday last month and will receive a knighthood this year. But physics students at the University Of Leicester have calculated that the right number is 2,425,907 seagulls. Roald Dahl wrote that it took 501 seagulls to carry the Giant Peach, James and his fellow passengers across the Atlantic. I spotted this comic strip here on the Book Patrol blog it was created by this artist. Here’s my pick for a great way to assess children’s books and kids’ reading abilities:
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