I’m doing a few things differently with this month’s Morning Basket to really focus our attention on a few small topics. We’ll still have our history read aloud books that come from curriculum that we use but I’m narrowing down the books in other areas so that we can take a deeper dive for science, music and poetry. We’ve been enjoying seasonal and holiday books in our Morning Basket for the last few months and now we’re going to share some winter themed books that aren’t holiday specific. Here’s a look at our Morning Basket book list for this month.
History and Read Aloud Books
Toliver’s Secret – This is our next read aloud for Storyteller. We’ve been leading up to the Revolutionary war and we’re finally here! Once we get through the war, we’ll be vegging out with Liberty Kids for a week or so.
Carry on Mr. Bowditch – If all goes according to plan (and it rarely does), we’ll be starting this book towards the end of the month. This is another American history book that appears on many homeschool history book lists. It also has a Brave Writer Arrow that we’ll be using copywork, dictation and writing exercises. I love being able to tie history in with language arts.
Twenty and Ten – This is the one book that Comedian has been looking forward to for three years! Back then I read it to Storyteller for 1st grade but we decided not to have Comedian listen in on this book. She was not happy at all. This is a a very gentle introduction to World War II and the Nazis but we still thought it was too much for her at 3 years old. It’s perfect for 1st graders and now it’s her turn.
Little House on the Prairie – This is the 3rd book in the Little House series. We’ve read about 1 a year and now we’ve come to the book I’ve been waiting for. I snagged the whole T.V. series on DVD at a garage sale a few years ago and I’ve been excited to share it with my girls…after we read the book. Brave Writer also has an Arrow for this book that Storyteller will be doing. Comedian has been begging to start doing”official” copywork so I’m going to have her give it a try for this book.
James Herriot’s Treasury for Children is another book on our Bookshark list to read for Comedian. This is a collection of beautiful stories (and illustrations) about a farm veterinarian. We read it a few years ago and we’re looking forward to sharing it again.
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Science and Math Study Books
Comedian is obsessed with space and has been for a few years now. She has many space books and, being in first grade, most of have been above her reading level. We’ve read many of them here and there but she really wants space to be a regular subject for her. So for this month, all of the science books I’ve picked for our Morning Basket are just for her. We’ll be diving into Astronaut Academy, 100 Things to Know About Space, National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Space, Constellations: A Glow-in-the-Dark Guide to the Night Sky and Big Book of Stars and Planets. We’ll also be reading and watching more about the InSight lander that recently landed on Mars.
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Music and Art Books
This month we’re focusing on Mozart. We’ll be reading The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart which is a beautiful children’s book. We also have 2 different versions of the opera on DVD. The Magic Flute for Children is a great was to introduce young kids to this opera. One of the characters narrates the story so that the kids can enjoy the music AND understand the story. This Magic Flute DVD is the full performance from the Metropolitan Opera. The subtitles help kids who can read (and adults) understand the story.
We’ll also be reading Who Was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart: The Wonder Child and Mozart: The Boy Who Change the World with his Music.
Poetry and Nursery Rhyme Books
A Child’s Introduction to Poetry – Poetry geared toward Storyteller’s age (4th grade). This comes with Bookshark’s level 3 and will be used throughout the year. We’ve really been enjoying this book and especially the CD! We are now getting to the part of the book that highlights specific poets. This month we’ll be reading about Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe and Walt Whitman. We’re going to take some time to read more poetry from them with Poetry for Kids: Emily Dickinson, Poetry for Kids: Walt Whitman and Poetry for Young People: William Wordsworth.
Winter Nature Themed Books
Snowflake Bentley – This is one of our favorite winter books. This is the story of snowflakes, a curious boy and the discoveries he makes with a microscope and a camera. Beautiful!
Frozen Wild: How Animals Survive in the Coldest Places on Earth – The names says it all for this one! It’s not only beautifully illustrated but it also has 5 fold out pages for an even better view of all these animals.
The Snowy Nap – I LOVE Jan Brett and so many of her books are perfect for this time of year. I adore hedgehogs so this is one of my favorites. The Three Snow Bears is another Jan Brett book we love. It’s her twist on the traditional Three Bears story.
The Snowflake: A Water Cycle Story – Our local nature center has an interactive water cycle display for kids but we live in a hot desert so it doesn’t mention snow. This book takes a snowflake starting in January and follows it all year through the water cycle. It may be a new idea for my kids to relate the water cycle to snow.
Over and Under the Snow – This is another book we read each winter. It looks like there’s a long wait list at the library this year so I wasn’t able to get it in time for this post but it should still get here in time for this month’s morning basket. This book takes a look at the busy animal world beneath the snow.
Hibernation Station and Snow are fun and easy picture books that are great for younger kids such as preschoolers or kindergartners.
Whew! That’s another Morning Basket packed full of beautiful and engaging books for elementary kids. I don’t think I could fit anything else in there! What are you reading this month?
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Twenty & Ten and the James Herriott book are two of our favorites!
We really enjoy them too 🙂