Apple-Cinnamon Coffee Cake

Today is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. In celebration, my four year old and I baked apple-cinnamon coffee cake for breakfast. Happy Birthday John Chapman!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert) is a fun picture book with repeated phrases that children love to read out loud along with you. This book is a favorite at our house. To extend the fun, I created this accompanying play set.

 

I originally intended to make flannel board letters out of felt but instead opted to add magnets to the back of the tree and use them alongside our fridge magnets. This turned out to be a good choice.

Even the teenagers are having fun with this!

Reading Buddies- Stuffed Friends

Today I'm sharing one of the fun reading activities we do at our house: Reading Buddies.

I don't always have time to listen to each child read aloud as often as I would like so I have paired favorite books with a matching stuffed animal. My sons select a stuffed friend and read the book out loud to the animal. When they are finished with the book, they must return both to the display. Even my 14 year old occasionally grabs one of the books :-). It's a fabulous way to encourage a reluctant reader and reading out loud improves fluency, whereas silent reading does not.

Here are the animals out for display this week:

Several of the stuffed animals in our collection were gifts but most were purchased for under a dollar at the local thrift store and washed in the washing machine. (I always dry them on fluff/no heat to keep the fur looking nice.) On my iPhone, I have a list of animals I want to keep an eye out for during my frequent thrift shop escapades. (Currently my list has a giraffe, a hippo and a brown mouse, among others.) Nearly all of our books were Christmas or birthday gifts or were purchased for 50 cents at the thrift store.

It's also an easy way to rotate books off our shelves that are passed over. Sometimes, the boys even ask if the stuffed friends can join us when I am reading out loud. I currently only have picture books in the rotation but have considered doing the same thing with chapter books and novels. Look for a future post with an update on that....