Tangrams and Frogs - What My Child is Reading July 17, 2010

Our reading this week, followed our learning, again. First of all, after our tangram toast, I found Grace Maccarone's Three Pigs, One Wolf, and Seven Magic Shapes.



It uses tangrams to tell a story about three pigs (not those three pigs), and a wolf (not that wolf). And, it comes with a tangram cutout in the back.



Since, our book was from the library, I traced the shapes, and cut them out of the cardboard from a pop carton. My youngest had some difficulty matching the shapes to the pictures, so I traced out patterns for her, in a notebook.



Then, I taped a Ziploc bag, on three sides, to the front of the notebook, to keep the shapes safe.



Now, she can retell the story with the tangrams, long after we've returned the book to the library. Then, later we can add more patterns to the notebook, as we choose.



And, as I mentioned yesterday, we checked out a number of frog themed books from the library, thanks to D's frog sighting. Our favorite by far was Tadpole Rex by Kurt Cyrus, telling the tale of a tadpole developing into a frog in the days of the dinosaurs. It's fun because it follows the most of the normal life cycle of a frog, but in unusual surroundings. We enjoyed the twist.

I also appreciated Frogs, Toads, Lizards, and Salamanders by Nancy Winslow Parker, and Joan Richards Wright. It has a really simple rhyming story on the right hand pages, with accompanying scientific information on the left hand pages. Although it doesn't contain any information about our Montana frogs, it does give a very nice look at the inner organs of frogs, and lizards, that we found quite informative.



You can find more children's book reviews, and recommendations at this week's What My Child is Reading blog hop, hosted by Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns.




It's great to be a homeschooler.