Book It! Program

Don't forget to enroll your homeschool in the Pizza Hut Book It! Program for the upcoming school year.  There's still time!  You have until September 1st to enroll.

Here is the link to the Book It! Program page where you can request materials.

These are the requirements:

• You must be a parent homeschooling your child(ren), and the child(ren) must be in kindergarten through 6th grade as of September 1, 2013.
• Book It! certificates are only to be used to motivate reading.
• Selling, purchasing, copying, altering, transferring, or exchanging the Book It! certificates is strictly prohibited.
• One order per household will be accepted.
• Homeschool group and co-op orders are no longer accepted.

It's Simple:

• October through March
• Kindergarten through 6th Grade
• Set the reading goal.
• Reward the achievement.
• Redeem the certificate.
• Get praise, Passport to Reading, and Pizza Hut pizza.

It's Flexible:

• Set goals by the minute, by the page, or by the book.
• Adjust the goals as needed.
• Have others read to pre-readers.

It's FREE!

I just enrolled...and it only took a few minutes.  :)

Pizza Certificate

On October 1st, the Pizza Hut Book It! reading program began for this school year.
At the end of the month, T was awarded a certificate for achieving his reading goal for the month of October.

We went to Pizza Hut for lunch today to celebrate his accomplishment...and since T's papa had a vacation day from work, he came with us!

T received a reading passport...

and a personal pan pizza...

Mmmm!

which was very hot...

HOT!!!

and ever so yummy!

Good work, T!  :)

Turkey Time

Since the month of November is almost gone, I suppose it's about time I mentioned some of the books we read this month....

For week 1 of the Book-It! Program, we read books with a turkey theme.

We read:

• I'm a Turkey!                                                by Jim Arnosky
• Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam                               by Brian Schatell
• Turkey in the Straw                                          by Barbara Shook Hazen

The information-filled book, I'm a Turkey!, gives the reader an up-close-and-personal look at life with Tom the Turkey as he flocks, squawks, and flees (dangerous animals) his way through the story.  The book is a spoken-word song which can be downloaded from the Internet.

The book, Farmer Goff and His Turkey Sam, is about a farmer and his prize-winning, pie-eating turkey.

The book, Turkey in the Straw, is a tale of a farmer who would rather fiddle than farm, a wife who was born a worrier, and a shy daughter named Emmy Lou.  Emmy Lou's pet turkey dances a do-si-do to the farmer's music, and the rest is history!

For week 2, we read books with a Thanksgiving theme.

We read:

• I Am the Turkey                                              by Michele Sobel Spirn
• A Turkey for Thanksgiving                                    by Eve Bunting
• Beauty and the Beaks (A Turkey's Cautionary Tale)            by Mary Jane and Herm Auch

I Am the Turkey is an "I Can Read!" book (level 2 - high-interest stories for developing readers).  In the story, Mark is so excited to be the turkey in his class Thanksgiving play -- until he discovers what the turkey's real role was in the first Thanksgiving dinner!

The holiday story, A Turkey for Thanksgiving, captures the spirit of Thanksgiving sharing in a fresh and funny way.  While setting the table for Thanksgiving dinner, Mrs. Moose tells her husband that she wishes they had a real turkey (not just turkey decorations) because everyone always has a turkey for Thanksgiving.  So, Mr. Moose sets out to find one for her.

In the book, Beauty and the Beaks, Beauty and her friends think Lance is one conceited bird.  The turkey swaggers around The Chic Hen beauty shop, boasting that he is the only bird invited to a special feast.  But while Beauty is practicing her favorite "eggsercise," flying, she accidentally finds out just what kind of guest Lance will be at the feast.  Beauty comes up with a plan to save Lance before his life "eggspires."

We enjoyed the variety these books had to offer.

Leaf Man

One of the books we read for week 4 of the Book-It! Program was Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert.  (~See my post dated Saturday, October 29, 2011.)  However, it wasn't until just today that we worked on this craft.

T made a leaf man out of leaves we gathered from trees in our yard.  (I saw the idea for this on another blog...but I can't remember which one.)

"A Leaf Man's got to go where the wind blows."
     ~from Leaf Man

T's Leaf Man

Linked to:



Update - Monday, November 28, 2011:

Okay...I figured out where I saw this idea.  The website is 2 Teaching Mommies.  :)

Autumn Falls

For week 3 of the Book-It! Program, we read books with a fall and/or harvest theme.

We read:

     Autumn Harvest by Alvin Tresselt
     Possum's Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter
     When Autumn Falls by Kelli Nidey
     Peepers by Eve Bunting

"Leaves on the trees fall--
 red,
 gold,
 yellow,
 brown,
 and
 orange
 come
 down."
      ~from When Autumn Falls

For week 4 (this week), we read books with a fall leaves theme.

We read:

     Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert
     Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
     Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber
     Leaf Trouble by Jonathan Emmett

T loved this finger-painting activity...because he didn't have to get his hands in the paint!  (--a sensory issue for him, related to Down syndrome)

You can see how he "gets into it" more and more as the activity progresses!

I found this terrific idea for no mess finger-painting at Sandy's site, Moments of Mommyhood.

Photos of the fall leaves we made with T's artwork are forthcoming.  :)

Update - Monday, November 14, 2011:

Here are T's fall leaves...hanging in our kitchen window.  ~Fall beauty at its best!

Fruits and Harvest

The books we read for Book-It! last week had a fruit and/or harvest theme.

We read:

• Eating the Alphabet                                         by Lois Ehlert 
• Lily's Garden                                               by Deborah Kogan Ray 
• Pick, Pull, Snap!                                           by Lola M. Schaefer 
• Harvest                                                     by Kris Waldherr

We found Lily's Garden to be a very informative book.  The author created a calendar of the year seen through the lens of things planted, grown, and harvested.

We enjoyed the large, creative illustrations in Pick, Pull, Snap!  T had fun opening the fold-out pages to reveal the fruits grown and harvested.

We loved the watercolor illustrations in Harvest.

Strawberries

The Pizza Hut Book-It! Program began on October 1st.  This week, T and I have been reading books with a strawberry theme.

We've read:

• Cook-a-doodle-doo!                                                                              by Janet Stevens
• The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear                                                                                                  by Don and Audrey Wood
• The First Strawberries:  A Cherokee Story                                               retold by Joseph Bruchac
• The Very Hungry Caterpillar                                                                   by Eric Carle

We so enjoyed the book, Cook-a-doodle-doo!  What a delightful story!!  Big Brown Rooster (with the questionable help of his friends) manages to bake a strawberry shortcake which would have pleased his great-grandmother, Little Red Hen.

T and I made our own strawberry shortcake...

which T thought was the "most wonderful, magnificent strawberry shortcake in the whole wide world."  :)