Education | Page 16 of 39

50 Wacky Things Animals Do makes kids want to learn about critters

The other week I took 50 Wacky Things Animals Do to our first graders class when I was the mystery reader. Parents, be sure to take advantage of being the mystery reader at your child’s school as often as you can. It’s one of those feelings in the whole parenting thing that really makes you realize that you’re awesome. We ask the kids to pick a number between 1 and 50; then we turn to that animal’s designation in the book.

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Noodleheads See The Future, folk tales with a Fly Guy twist

Chimichanga. We called our youngest son that once when he did something silly. The name stuck and we still call him chimichanga when he’s being silly or makes a basic mistake. Noodleheads See The Future is an early reader chapter book that uses noodles as the main characters. There’s Mac and Mac who are the main characters, they are actually noodles in body and myth.

It turns out that ‘noodles’ or ‘noodleheads’ have been slang for people who don’t think for generations. It makes sense and I’ve heard the term before, but didn’t realize that it was a worldwide thing. However, in Italy, Turkey, England and beyond people have been referring to fools as noodleheads for a very long time.

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The Secret Project, a most unlikely picture book for upper elementary

Imagine a book written about the most destructive thing that man has ever created. Now imagine a book written about a device that saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of lives and ended a world war. Depending on your perspective, both situations are correct in one of the most unlikely picture books you’ll ever read. The Secret Project is the story about the scientists that worked under deep secrecy to create their ‘gadget’, the Atomic Bomb.

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Kid Beowulf, The Song of Roland makes you want to read epic poetry, really

I never read Beowulf. The only thing I know about that book is that it’s a long poem that does not involve a wolf. With that in mind it’s all the more ironic that I really enjoyed Kid Beowulf, The Song of Roland by Alexis E. Fajardo. Much like its namesake there is not a wolf in the graphic novel and there is no theme song for Roland. Perhaps it’s because of-or in spite of these things that the book managed to do a difficult thing; it made me care about and want to read more about European history around the time of the crusades.

It even feels weird typing that. Kid Beowulf, The Song of Roland is a graphic novel that is based on the French poem of the same name. It centers on a battle that took place in 778 with King Charlemagne’s best warrior, Roland, plus some Christian armies, Saracens (Muslims), family and betrayal. This is potentially complex subject matter with a cast of dozens that are spread out over an entire country. It’s a big scale story with equal parts legend, lore and adventure where it’s just as likely that you’ll encounter a giant as you will a traitorous family member.

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Stinky Spike, early chapter books that boys will sniff out from the pack

We recently reviewed Agnes and Clarabelle, the first books in the Read & Bloom book series from Bloomsbury. They’re early chapter books with basic vocabulary and big illustrations to bring in young readers so that they want to read the books by themselves. That particular series will be more attractive to young girls. Stinky Spike is the next series of books in the Read & Bloom lineup and will be of interest to boys more than girls.

Stinky Spike is not exclusively for boys. I’ll approximate it as an 80/20 boy to girl preference. The first book is Stinky Spike, The Pirate Dog. In this one Spike is a dog that lives by the sea in a busy port with all manner of boats. Spike is known for his nose and his ability to correctly identify (usually horrible) smells. One day while sniffing around the docks he slips and is swept out to sea where he meets up with a band of pirates.

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Toilet paper rolls fly high at Launch Party for National Geographic Kids

One thing that most kids do well is collect things. Even our 5 year old has little stacks of ‘prizes’ that pop up around his room like lemmings. Kids are also great at wanting to be the greatest at things. National Geographic Kids and Toyota Highlander are teaming up to set a Guinness World Record that you-and your kids can be a part of.

To make things even cooler this Guinness World Record attempt allows kids to collect something that you’re already using in your house, toilet paper rolls! National Geographic Kids wants to make the world’s largest toilet-paper-roll sculpture and they need your help to make it happen. To make things more symmetrical to the shape of a toilet-paper-roll, the sculpture will be in the shape of a rocket.

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BIG National Geographic Kids book #giveaway #NatGeoKids

National Geographic Kids is one of the largest publishers of kid books on the market. Not only that, but their style, size, reputation and quality are the sort that families immediately recognize and go to as a fun source for kids of all ages. This is a BIG giveaway for Ultimate Ocean-Pedia and How Things Work from National Geographic Kids, as well as, Tales From The Arabian Nights, a National Geographic book of fables.

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The Marvelous Thing That Came From A Spring, a true Hollywood Slinky story

Our 5YO loves Slinky. Every time he gets the chance to enter a ‘prize bag’ where he gets to choose something he’ll always go for the Slinky. Of course, this isn’t the real metal Slinky that works, these are the cheap plastic versions that don’t really work but allow him to lasso other toys. The Marvelous Thing That Came From A Spring is the true story of how inventor Richard James’ accidental idea sprang into a toy that would last for generations.

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