Stanley and Katrina's Blog, page 30

Pet Projects: Smiling Wolves Reading Books Inspire Yet Flummox Me

Stanley and I hope you have had a wonderful week and that your weekend ahead is happy and fun.

Our Week in Review: Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom & Knowledge's Word of the Week: FlummoxQuote of the Week, SeussStanley's Animal Fact of the WeekZorg's Lesson. Alien Languages: Martian, Lesson 5We visited the Philadelphia ZooCool Mom shared a Lapbook of The Glorious Flight Over 5,000 views to our blog to date. Popcorn filled us in on the news and said that for two pets who didn't really get serious about blogging until the end of December, that we are doing well. If I picture how many treats 5,000 is - that makes me excited. Very Inspiring Blogger. Cool Mom was given/nominated for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award for our website by the amazing mom, Lisa from Squishable Baby. We have been a bit slow to share this news. ANYWAY, Way to go, Cool Mom - thank you for getting the word out about us EVERYWHERE. Stanley and I visit the Squishable Baby website as much as Cool Mom does - it is a lovely site and most definitely very inspiring. She makes comfy clothes for little ones; shares her adventures in homeschooling (guess what she is reading now?); as well as many other great topics. We are happy we have had the pleasure of getting to know her and her family virtually. Maybe in the upcoming weeks, we'll get Cool Mom to follow-through on the award requests (sharing about herself and nominating others).Taking the summer off - Stanley and I are discussing taking the summer off from any formal scheduled blog posts and daily updates. We'll still let you know if something exciting happens but we plan to focus on finishing our second book and relaxing a little. Tentative hiatus: June - August. Thank you for reading and sharing,


Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge
**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets for only 99 cents Now on AmazonListen to our Podcasts on iTunes

The Glorious Flight: The Joy of Discovering an Old Lapbook

In the midst of a massive spring cleaning project, I rediscovered a small stash of lapbooks. 

These are lovely lapbooks that Neighbor Girl and I created together when she was younger. Ahhh, back in the days when I apparently had a tremendous amount of time on my hands. 

Five in a Row made a huge impact in our early homeschooling days. We enjoyed the books selected in the program and loved the activities associated with them. The Caldecott winner, The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen became one of our favorites. 

This lovely picture book shares the story of Louis Bleriot. His tremendous persistence in creating an airplane that will cross the English Channel, is told in an amusing way.

Rather than doing a formal book review, I will share a selection of pages from our lapbook from The Glorious Flight. It is difficult to believe that we made this five years ago. Time sure flies.  

Note: For great book activities check out HomeschoolShare.

 Title: The Glorious FlightAcross the Channel with Louise BleriotWritten & Illustrated by: Alice and Martin ProvensenFirst Published in 1983 by Viking Penguin Inc.Awards: The Caldecott Medal (1984)Themes/Topics: Airplane History, Inventions, Geography (France, English Channel), PersistenceOpening: "It all began one morning." 
The Glorious Flight Lapbook The cover of our lapbook contains our alternative title ideas.
Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang FlightGood Flying, Bad LandingsMaking it Across the ChannelAll of Papa Bleriot's PlanesThe Bunny Rabbit Flight

Since this was Neighbor Girl's lapbook, I had her sign and date the inside cover. Gotta love it.

A picture of a channel.


This book introduced Roman Numerals in the names of Papa Bleriot's planes.


We discussed different ways to travel. My favorite: "On a Dinosaur."

A fun way to introduce onomatopoeia: allow your child to come up with their own word-sounds. She had so much fun finishing these sentences.

For descriptive writing, I cut out pictures for her to describe to me.

I highly recommend Five in a Row (FIAR) for an early year unit study curriculum. You may use as much or as little of the activities as you wish - which is right up my alley. I honestly, do not think we would have enjoyed most of the books that we studied using FIAR nearly as much as we did with all of the supporting activities listed in Five in a Row. Don't get me wrong, they are all fantastic books but when you read a book and do a week's worth of activities with that book - it becomes an experience rather than just a good book. Being five years on the other side of this, we both still remember the books well and I only wish that my stash of lapbooks was a much larger pile. 


Click to tweet about this post.
On another note, Stanley and Katrina are thrilled to be a part of JeanzBookReadNReview's Middle Grade Giveaway. Rumor has it that Stanley and Katrina will be interviewed by Sandra, the blog's hostess, soon! They will let you know when their interview is posted.  

Click here to tweet about Sandra's giveaway now.
Of course, stay tuned for Stanley and Katrina's exciting giveaway for this month - below is a sneak peek picture!



This post is part of Kid Lit Blog Hop #15

Click to tweet about the Kid Lit Blog Hop

This post is also part of Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday Hop 





Hi! I am a homeschooling mother to one precocious tween daughter. Most of my reading consists of preparatory reading for upcoming history, math, science, geography, literature, (you get the idea) lessons. However, sometimes I am lucky enough to fit in a book just for fun and will review these "fun" books for my dear friends, Stanley and Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge. You may call me Neighbor Girl's Mom or Cool Mom. 



**********************************
Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook 
Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets Now for only 99 cents on Amazon

Visiting the Zoo

Stanley and I surprised Neighbor Girl & Cool Mom, today, by sneaking on their trip to the Philadelphia Zoo. It was a gorgeous day to be out and about. 
We had a lovely time and hope that you had a great day, too! 
Thank you for reading and sharing,


Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge
**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook 
Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets Now on Amazon
Listen to our Podcasts on iTunes

Pet Projects: Be Yourself Even if That Means Writing Preludes for Operas About Giraffes Who Use Tissues

Hi! We added a welcome message on our website this week. Have you heard it? Stanley and I hope you have had a wonderful week and that your weekend ahead is happy and fun.
Our Week in Review: Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom & Knowledge's Word of the Week: PreludeQuote of the Week, Be YourselfStanley's Animal Fact of the WeekZorg's Lesson. Alien Languages: Martian, Lesson 4Enter Jemima's A to Z Giveaway!Neighbor Girl attended the Lorane Elementary School Fun Day last SaturdayAnother 5 star review received on Amazon: "Loved it. A Kid's Review" Thank you for reading and sharing,


Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge
**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets for only 99 cents Now on AmazonListen to our Podcasts on iTunes

Snippets of our First Public Book Reading

Hi! 

Popcorn the Technical Ferret has been busy this week learning a new video editing software.

She was kind enough to testing it with snippets from the book reading Neighbor Girl (and friend) attended this past Saturday. Popcorn does wish that she could get rid of the background noise but it apparently does give you a true sense for the noise level in the room at the time. Neighbor Girl said it was distracting but great practice.

We hope you enjoy this short snippet and please forgive the background noise. Thank you to both Neighbor Girl and Friend for helping us out this weekend! You are both wonderful.


View video on Youtube.Thank you for reading and sharing,



Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge

**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook 
Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets Now for only 99 cents on Amazon Kindle
Listen to our Podcasts on iTunes

Pet Projects: Lions and Martians Looking at the Same Piece of Food is Quite a Predicament

[image error]Hi!

Before I review our week, I would like to share the details about Neighbor Girl's scheduled visit to the Lorane Elementary APT Family Fund Day - Car and Motorcycle Show & Community Event (that is quite a name!). She will be signing books for us, once again. Stanley's dog house will also be there and Neighbor Girl will have supplies for you to make a Stanley or Katrina (that's me) popsicle stick puppet. Join Neighbor Girl and one of her friends at 1:15 PM for a reading from our book! We are so thankful for her assistance. Neither of us does very well with crowds of humans. 

Be sure to stop by to say, "Hi!" to Neighbor Girl! This picture is from the last event Neighbor Girl covered for us.

Lorane Elementary APT Family Fun Day Saturday, April 20th9AM - 3PM699 Rittenhouse Dr, Reading, PA 19606


Stanley and I hope you have had a wonderful week and that your weekend ahead is happy and fun.
Our Week in Review: Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom & Knowledge's Word of the Week: PredicamentQuote of the Week, Fred Rodgers: HelpersStanley's Animal Fact of the WeekZorg's Lesson. Alien Languages: Martian, Lesson 3Kid Lit Blog Hop #14, A Super Cute Review of Judy Moody Goes to CollegeEnter Jemima's A to Z Giveaway!Neighbor Girl will attend the Lorane Elementary School Fun Day on April 20th - tomorrow!Another 5 star review received on Amazon: "Highly original. Very entertaining. A great fun 'tail' that delves into the minds of ... a dog ... and a cat." Thank you for reading and sharing,


Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge

**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets for only 99 cents Now on AmazonListen to our Podcasts on iTunes

Book Review: A Fun Review from a Younger Neighbor Girl

We are traveling back in time this week as we are treated to a younger Neighbor Girl reviewing  the book Judy Moody Goes to College. 
Title: Judy Moody Goes to College (Book #8 in the Series)

Author :  Megan McDonald

Illustrator : Peter Reynolds

Series: Judy Moody

Publisher: Candlewick Press

Reading Level: Ages 6-9

Year Published: 2010 - Reissued EditionDescription (from Amazon): Judy Moody is in a mood. Not a good mood. And definitely NOT a math mood. The substitute teacher in Class 3T thinks Judy's math skills need improving. So Judy has to start meeting with a math tutor. Does this mean flash cards? Does this mean baby games? Does this mean school on weekends? But when Judy meets her tutor — a sick-awesome college student with an uber-funky sense of style — and gets a glimpse of college life, Judy's bad math-i-tude turns into a radical glad-i-tude. Pretty soon, Judy's not only acing her math class; she's owning it. Time to say good-bye to Judy Moody, old skool third-grader, and say hello to Miss College! Small-tall upside-down backward non-fat capp with extra whip, anyone?


Review (view on YouTube): 
Clean Read? Yes.

Cool Mom Note: If you don't like kids with attitude, this won't be the right book for your child (you). Judy definitely has one most of the time. We talked about that when my daughter started reading the books. That being said, my daughter really enjoys the humor in the book. Two years later, this book has survived multiple times of thinning out our books - high praise in our home.

Be sure to visit both Megan McDonald's website and Peter Reynold's website both are refreshingly fun.
View Judy Moody Goes to College on Amazon

On another note, Don't forget to enter Jemima Pett's A to Z Giveaway and stay tuned for our exciting giveaway in May - below is a sneak peek picture!



This post is part of Kid Lit Blog Hop #14

**********************************
Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook 
Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets Now for only 99 cents on Amazon
Listen to our Podcasts on iTunes

Jemima's A to Z giveaway

Pet Projects: A Failure to Examine Frogs Causes Martians to Eat Hamburgers

Hi!

Stanley and I hope you have had a wonderful week and that your weekend ahead is happy and fun.

Our Week in Review: Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom & Knowledge's Word of the Week: ExaminationQuote of the Week, Thomas Edison (Failure)Stanley's Animal Fact of the WeekZorg's Lesson. Alien Languages: Martian, Lesson 2Kid Lit Blog Hop #13, Picture Book Review: Officer Buckle and GloriaEnter Jemima's A to Z GiveawayNeighbor Girl will attend the Lorane Elementary School Fun Day on April 20th - a week from Saturday. Hope to see you there!This Kid Erik reviewed our book. Thanks, Erik!Thank you for reading and sharing,


Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge

**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook 
Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets for only 99 cents Now on Amazon
Listen to our Podcasts on iTunes

Picture Book Review: Officer Buckle and Gloria, 1996 Caldecott Medal Winner

Hello, all! 
In an effort to help the Kid Lit Blog hop reach 100 links, I'm throwing in a second book this go around.
Officer Buckle and Gloria is one of my personal favorite picture books and I happen to know that Stanley enjoys this book as well.
It is easy to see why this book won the Caldecott Medal in 1996. Peggy Rathmann's illustrations bring the story to life in an entertaining way. The details of the letters sent to Officer Buckle from the children of Napville elementary school are perfectly precious.
Officer Buckle is a kind police officer who takes his job of delivering the safety speech at the local elementary school extremely seriously. However, it isn't until he gains a precocious canine partner, Gloria, that he begins to truly entertain his audience. While we, as the reader, are in on the secret to his success, he does not have the slightest clue. Eventually, he discovers that Gloria has been stealing the show (what an illustration that is). It is then that he is faced with learning his most valuable lesson of all.
While Scholastic gives this fun book an interest level of grades K-2, I believe readers of all ages will enjoy this book. Even after reading it countless times, I still enjoy Officer Buckle and Gloria immensely.
With no detail ignored, Rathmann included extra safety lessons for the reader on the inside cover pages. My favorite is "Never eat mayonnaise that has been sitting in the sun."
Here are a couple of online resources with supporting activities/books to go along with Officer Buckle and Gloria.
TeachingBooks.net Offers a page of link to activities for Officer Buckle and GloriaEduscapes has a page of links for Officer Buckle and Gloria activities as well
I don't know if you caught it, but Katrina even used a quote from Peggy Rathmann as her Quote of the week a few weeks ago. She is one smart cat.
Officer Buckle and Gloria easily get 5 out of 5 stars from me. Our family also enjoys 10 Minutes Till Bedtime and Goodnight Gorilla (also by Rathmann) for wonderful bedtime books.

Connect with the Author Online:Peggy Rathmann's Website
The Reviewer: Hi! I am a homeschooling mother to one precocious tween daughter. Most of my reading consists of preparatory reading for upcoming history, math, science, geography, literature, (you get the idea) lessons. However, sometimes I am lucky enough to fit in a book just for fun and will review these "fun" books for my dear friends, Stanley and Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge. You may call me Neighbor Girl's Mom or Cool Mom. 

This post is part of the

**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook 
Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets for just 99 cents on Amazon Kindle Now
Do you have time for a few clicks?

Pet Projects: Criminal Martian Bloodhounds Throw Bookshelves to Remove Book Expectations

Hi!

Stanley and I hope you have had a wonderful week and that your weekend ahead is happy and fun.

Our Week in Review: Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom & Knowledge's Word of the Week: ExpectationsQuote of the Week, Roald DahlStanley's Animal Fact of the WeekZorg's Lesson. Alien Languages: Martian, Lesson 1Help Zorg with his Machinima EntryKid Lit Blog Hop #13, Book Review: 5 Stars to an Enchanting Adventure StoryEnter Jemima's A to Z GiveawayNeighbor Girl will attend the Lorane Elementary School Fun Day on April 20th - mark your calendar!Our book is in the #22 spot for best rated books in the top 100 Kindle Children's Pet Books. Our paws are dancing!
Thank you for reading and sharing,


Katrina von Cat the Master of Wisdom and Knowledge

**********************************Follow Stanley and Katrina on Twitter  * Join Stanley and Katrina on Facebook 
Buy The Perpetual Papers of the Pack of Pets for only 99 cents Now on Amazon
Listen to our Podcasts on iTunes