amandaspace1330

Last week we read Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem, Paul Revere's Ride. Ana said she was tired of it after the first read, but Tristan enjoyed hearing it every day, and he did a very nice job reading the poem to us on Friday. I enjoyed hearing him read formal poetry! Of course, the poem is based on the true story of Paul Revere sounding the alarm about the British movement on the colonial supplies. We did not delve into too much history last week. Two summers ago we spent the whole summer learning about George Washington and the Revolutionary war. We quickly reviewed, and we read a book about Boston. We also defined poetry and discussed colonial style architecture. We got two different illustrated versions of the poem. Ted Rand's is the one recommended by Five in a Row. Charles Santore's illustrations are also beautiful. They are very different styles, but both well done. We differed in opinion on which book had the best illustrations. ...

Two weeks of Five in a row have passed since my last post. We have enjoyed How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, Marjorie Priceman and Night of the MoonJellies, Mark Shasha. We own How to Make an Apple Pie... because the library did not have it available when I went through this week with Tristan. The children love this silly book about sourcing ingredients for a recipe from around the globe. This story provides opportunity to analyze, where does food come from? It is a light-hearted, fun story with bright pictures and simple text. Night of the Moonjellies is a beautiful story! It comes from a real place in Mark Shasha's past and has all of the nostalgia of childhood summer adventure as well as rich family values. I appreciated the author's note at the end of the book. Mark dedicates this story to his parents, though they are not mentioned in it. I was able to remind the children that the extra text in books is often important and interesting, (introductions, forwards...