A Quote to Start Things Off

""I'd love to go to Santa Fe at some point, Emmett said, but for the time being, I need to go to New York. The panhandler stopped laughing and adopted a more serious expression. Well. that's life in a nutshell, aint it. Lovin' to go to one place and havin' to go to another. Amor Towles in the Lincoln Highway.

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Pictures of Memories I

Pictures of Memories I
Snow kidding! These "kids" now range from 17 to 23
Showing posts with label For Reading Out Loud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label For Reading Out Loud. Show all posts

Monday, March 11, 2024

📚 Kids Read Aloud | INTERRUPTING CHICKEN by David Ezra Stein

Today at school was the readathon day. Instead of having core classes (Math, Social Sciences, ELA, & Science) are middle school students were able to read in those classes and have teachers and other staff read to them as well.  

As a building sub I don't usually know who I'm going to be that day.  Today I subbed for a paraprofessional in one of our SPED classes.  This particular class is rather low functioning so the books read to the students were geared for much younger children. There was one book the teacher read called Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein. The title reminded me of the old knock knock joke:

A: Knock Knock
B: Who's There
A: Interrupting Cow
B: Interrup
A: Moo

I was able to find a read aloud version of the book on you tube.  This is not that difficult of a thing to do.  I have considered in the past having an A  to Z challenge of children's books being read aloud on you tube videos.  

Here is one of the versions I found on You Tube,


Thursday, April 14, 2022

L is for Lima Beans, (E)L Caballo and Llama

#AtoZChallenge 2022 Blogging from A to Z Challenge letter

 Good morning  and welcome to day 12  of the A to Z challenge. This year I chose 3 themes for the challenge: Limericks, MLB sluggers in my lifetime, and A to Z wordles. For more information about these themes click here


Part I: A to Z Limericks

I don't mean to go to extremes
But the worst food in the world is lima beans 
I do not know who
Thought of those in Peru
But they certainly did not know beans!



Part II: A to Z Homerun hitters of my lifetime



Carlos Lee is definitely in my nick name hall of fame.  They call him El Caballo which is spanish for the horse.  I loved watching El Caballo play for the White Sox from 1999 to 2004. He got traded to the Brewers and I was glad that we got Scottie Pods in that deal and I know that Podsednik was a major part of our World Series Championship but I was still a little sad that Lee left. Lee played in the MLB from 1999 to 2012. He hit 315 of his 358 career home runs from 2000 to 2010.  In that time span, he hit 136 for the White Sox, 110 for the Astros, 60 for the Brewers, and 9 for the Rangers.  



Part III: Wordle Starting Words from A to Z



Note: Correct letters in the correct places will be shown in bold. Correct letters in incorrect places will be shown in italics.

Some of my a-z wordle opening guesses have multitudes of meaning to me and my family. Llama is one of the most significant.  There was a period of my life when my kids were growing up that I could not keep myself from saying the word llama.  It got so bad that I offered to pay the kids a nickel each time I said the word.  One night they as before bedked me to read some books to them for bedtime, which was big part of our not time routine so I wasn't suspicious until they pulled out books like Is your Mama a Llama, and Llama Llama Red Pajama.  They made some big money that evening!

For the letter K, I opened with Krill and for L I opened with Llama.  I find it interesting that I ended one opener  with a double L and then came back the very next day to start the word with the very same double L

L
L L A M A - got an a in the wrong place
B R E A K-  Placed that A in the right place
S Q U A DAdded a D but in the wrong place. 
D I V A N - Did not find out anything new.
T O D A Y- 5th guess, added t,o, and y and got the word 


For more A to Z challenge click here.  


Saturday, June 30, 2012

You're Only Old Once!

Today was my folks' 50th wedding anniversary. We celebrated with a big picnic at a nearby forest preserve. It was really nice to see all the extended family and friends who came out to celebrate! My parents renewed their wedding vows, and even had their best man and maid of honor standing up with them. My brother also gave a nice speech. The "show" aspect of the picnic ended up with 10 of their 11 grandchildren doing a dramatic reading of Dr Suess's book, "You're Only Old Once." The book is hilarious! It was enjoyed by everyone. It was nice to see the older cousins helping out the younger cousins with reading their parts. It's a blessing to have a heritage of marital longevity to remind us to keep the course. Amy's parents celebrated their 48th Anniversary last week, so I'm glad to see it runs in the family.

Friday, April 13, 2012

Is Your Mama a Llama (Original Song)

 AS IN LLAMA

I love a good catch phrase.  It probably comes from spending my formative years watching 70's t.v. it seems each show had at least one good catch phrase.  But instead of merely being happy with Dyn-o-mite, Heyyyy! or Shaz-bot, I like to make my own catchphrase.  A few years ago I took to inserting the word llama into every conversation I got into, much to the chagrin of my children.  It got so bad that somehow I agreed to paying them 5 cents each time I said llama in a month long period.  The kids played a terriffic joke on me when they asked me to read 2 bedtime stories to them, and pulled out Is Your Mama a Llama and Llama, llama red pajama which their co-conspirator, Amy took out from the library.  After the month we were all richer for the experience, them literally and me figuratuvely. 

So when I was trying to figure out what to post about today, I thought back to my carefree llama days of yore. I also found this cool video on you-tube where they make a song out of Is your mama a llama.  





That must have caught a pretty penny to produce.  Not to mention the nickels.

Speaking of change don't forget that by commenting on this post you enter into the drawing to win a collection of  50 state quarters.  Click here for more details.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I thought Super Hero Movies were for Kids.


Friday Fragment Time here at the pretty good Coral.

First of all let me start out with a rant. My temp job ended on Tuesday, so I have had the ability to do things between 3 p.m and 11 p.m. that eluded me when I was working. So, Wednesday I went to see Green Lantern. Over the past 5 years there have been a plethora of super hero movies, the majority of these films feature the comic book heroes I grew up with.

Now when I think of super heroes, I think of 6 - 12 year old boys. If I were making Super Hero films they would be my target demographic My problem is that with few exceptions almost every super hero movie that has come out in the past ten years is not one I would want a 6-12 year boy to go to. Especially not my 6-12 year old boy.

Green Lantern is no exception. It is a dark scary movie that would certainly give my son nightmares. There is also sexual content that would preclude me from having good old Spider Droid watch it.

Over the past 5 years I have previewed many of the super hero movies, Iron Man, Spider Man 1&2, Fantastic 4 among others and there was always something in those films that kept me from letting Spider Droid watch it.

What bothers me is that many of these movies are marketed for children and that children would love watching super hero movies. My son is always disappointed when he asks about a movie I have screened and I tell him it's not for kids. He always gives me a look that says a Super hero movie that's not for kids, what's the point of that?

For Fragment 2 I will move from rant to review.


I recently had the joy of reading a great book to my kids. It is called Marvin Beeederman, Super Hero - The curse of the bologna sandwich.

The thing I really liked about this book is not just that it's funny, it's how it's funny. It uses one of my favorite methods of humor, repetition. It repeats parts of the book over and over until the mere mention of certain words are pure hilarity. I am looking forward to reading other books in this series.

Fragment 3

Continuing the superhero theme. Here is a video of one of the super heroes of the animal kingdom, the mighty dolphin.




Well that's all the fragments I have time for today. I have had a super time. For more Friday Fragments click here.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Little Town on the Prairie



Little Town on the Prairie is the 7th of the nine Little House books written by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It takes place in De Smet, South Dakota (then just called the Dakota Territory.) The book follows The Long Winter and precedes These Happy Golden Years.



If you have not read any of these books before you might wonder why Laura Ingalls Wilder refers to herself in the third person. This is because when she originally submitted her book as a first person narrative, it was rejected by the publisher. When she changed it to referring to herself in the third person, it was then accepted.


As I said in yesterday's post, I like to read these books aloud to the children because they go back to a long ago time, and while doing so, I can teach values that are timely even for our modern age.


In this book, we see the return of Nellie Olsen, Mary goes to college, and also the beginnings of the Almanzo Wilder/ Laura Ingalls relationship which develops more in the next book. I love Almanzo and even though he only shows up once every 50 or 60 pages, I am always glad when he does.


One of the best parts of this book is Laura's determination to study hard so she can become a teacher. What is most interesting to me is that Laura does not even want to be a teacher. She only wants to do it so she can provide money to her family so Mary can go to and stay in a special college for the blind. Especially touching in the book is Laura and Mary's last walk together before Mary and her parents take the train to Iowa to take Mary to her college.




The book is also very humorous and especially fun for reading out loud. From Pa's dream of getting his haircut, to the exploits of Kitty, the Ingall's cat, who is a scourge to gophers and a nemesis of local dogs, this book is every bit funny as it is poignant. I guess that's why I like these books. Modern life is sometimes stressful, funny, miserable, inspiring and heartbreaking all in the same day. It seems that life on the prairie was no different.


In researching this review, I found biographical information on Laura and her family. One thing I read said that when Laura's daughter Rose died in October 1968,and that she was the last direct descendant of Charles and Caroline Ingalls. I am not quite sure if that is true. Thanks to Laura's fine chronicles of her family, I think that the descendants of Charles and Caroline include anyone who reads and absorbs these fine Little House books.


Next Time: The Lost Art of Reading

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Things Fortnightly

I am a few book reviews behind and have decided that these reviews will be my "things" for this edition of things fortnightly.
Review 1: Down To The Wire By David Rosenfelt


David Rosenfelt's Andy Carpenter books are series that my wife and I enjoy very much. Down to the Wire is Rosenfelt's second foray outside the series. The result is a much more satisfying read than his previous Carpenterless contribution: Don't tell a soul.
While I still prefer the Andy Carpenter books, Down to the Wire takes some of the more evocative elements from Don't Tell a Soul and even a secondary character and creates a vibrant, humorous page turner.

Review 2: A Mountain of Crumbs by Elena Gorokhova
This book is a memoir of Soviet life from the late 1950's through the 70's. Gorkhova presents a sometimes sentimental and sometime sardonic view of growing up Russian.
Having lived in Russia from 1992 to 1994 this book really struck a chord with me. While my Russian experience was in a different continent (I lived in Far East Russia and she lived in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg ) in Europe and both Gorokhova and her mother (the 2 principal characters) in the book were both residing in New Jersey by the time my Russian adventures began, Their Russia and my Russia were eerily similar.

This enchanting memoir really swept me off my feet. Her use of the English language is much more powerful than my own and it is not her native language. I would have liked to have read more about her husband and daughter. But like most good books, you are left wanting more.


Review 3: Autumn With the Moodys by Sarah Maxwell


A few years ago I picked up this book at a home school seminar. It is the second a four book series. My daughter Emma really enjoyed it, so this Summer I read it to the whole family, a chapter at a time after dinner.

It is the story of a home school family with 4 children and a 5th on the way. This particular book follows their exploits through the season of Autumn. While the book is based on the author's own family, it reads like a fiction in comparison to our own family. The children get along with each other and are generally obedient and compliant.

I was actually pretty surprised that all 3 of my kids like the book when our own life is so different than theirs. I would highly recommend this book, but be prepared if your family doesn't stack up. Another feature of a good book is that it leaves you wanting more for yourself.




Those are all the things I have for today. If you would like to share your things link them below.




Next Time: A rant about a beer commercial

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Robin Hood - A Review

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle is by any definition a classic work of children's literature.

I just read the above pictured edition (Available at Amazon).

Even if you are well acquainted with the legend and have seen the movies and television programs there are many stories here that I have not seen in film. Even the familiar tales of Robin Hood's first meetings Little John and Friar Tuck both come to life here in more detail than I had previously encountered. The encounter with Friar Tuck is my kid's favorite part and they often quote it and make themselves laugh in the process.

The book originally published in 1883 still has a freshness and originality to it. The adventures are as enjoyable and intriguing as if they were just told for the first time. One aspect of the writing that both dates the book and casts it in a bad light is it's stereotypical treatment of Jewish people. This may have been acceptable in the late 1900's but I was surprised these crude comments weren't edited out of modern editions. Unlike Mark Twain's derogatory language in Huck Finn, I don't see any purpose educational or literary to keep them in the book.

The Maid Marian is the only notable figure missing from Pyle's stories. This makes the book heavy on adventure and light on romance. This suited me and my Son quite fine. (He hates it when his adventure stories are interrupted with kissing).

The edition pictured above features some fine discussion questions by Arthur Pober Ed. D. Next fall I am going to read the book to my kids as part of school and use some of the discussion questions for writing assignments.

Next Time: Home School Conference.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Collecting State Quarters (Crazy Dave's Give-a-ways)

I started two valuable collections in 1999.


I started my collection of children and my collection of state quarters. Legally, I can only give one of them away on the Internet. Before I tell you about my state quarter give-a-way, let me tell you why collecting state quarters works for me.


When the quarters first came out I got one of those Extra large size books for a family collection. I enjoyed collecting so much that I decided to get 3 smaller size books for each of the children. In the apartment years finding quarters was easy, I'd go through the quarters before I used them in the laundromat. I also paid $8.00 in tolls a week mostly in quarters so I had plenty to work with. Getting A transponder for tolls and buying a house with a washer dryer nearly killed my quarter collecting. But I trudged on. Anytime we got change in our house I sifted thought it quicker than (insert speedy reference here).


Then a couple years ago the kids wanted to start getting an allowance. Perfect. That requires me each payday get a roll or two of quarters and sort through them before the kids had a pay-day of their own. The kids always exuberant when we find new quarters. It is interesting how their personalities manifest themselves in which state coins they like. Emma likes Kentucky because of the horses, and prefers other coins with animals on them. She is a little upset that no state has the motto "The bunny state" with cute little rabbit coin to match. Charlie likes Indiana because of the Car, Ohio and Florida because of the Astronaut stuff. I had to stop Lucy from putting a nickel in her mouth today so she hasn't really acquired a taste for quarters yet.


So when the Hawaii quarter came out at the end of last year we waited in anticipation to complete our collection. They didn't come to our local bank until February. By then we already had the 4 we needed to complete our set. But that wasn't enough for me. I still had the collecting bug so I have in the past 2 months collected a 5th set just for the fun of it.



So that's why State quarter collecting works for me. To find out what works for other people go to Kirsten's Works For Me Wednesday site at We Are That Family. But before you do, I want to tell you in honor of today being my 50th post I am giving a collection of all 50 state quarters away.


You could use them to start a collection of your own. Or that's $12.50 you can use to stimulate the economy. Or you could use them to learn how to flip quarters from your elbow and catch them in midair. Click here for a demonstration.


To enter just leave a comment on this post or on my face book feed of this post. The sidebar has the official rules. The contest runs until 8:00 p.m EST 3/23/2009

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Next Time: March 11th


A to Z 2023 Road Trip

#AtoZChallenge 2023 RoadTrip