Christian Book Series for Boys

Boys' Book Series that Instill Christian Values

Many boys aren't interested in books, especially books that challenge them more than Captain Underpants and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. It doesn't help that most early childhood and elementary teachers are women, and that moms are usually more involved in their sons' education than dads are. (Don't get me wrong--I appreciate women in education; I just wish more men would be involved too!)
To make it onto this list of great Christian book series for boys, the series has to be fun to read and in line with Christian values if not overtly Christian. Most importantly, it has to pass the T test. T is my ten-year-old son. He has read and enjoyed books from all the series on this list. (That's him reading in the tree.)

The Sugar Creek Gang - Wholesome adventure books for boys

The Sugar Creek Gang series of 36 books follows the adventures of Bill Collins, Poetry, Dragonfly, Big Jim and the rest of the gang as they fish, solve mysteries, get into fights, make up, and generally try to do what's right. These page-turners, written between 1940 and 1970, build faith and inspire boys as much today as they did when first published. The kindle versions are less than two bucks apiece when you buy the six-packs from Amazon.

Trailblazer Books by Dave and Neta Jackson - Christian historical fiction for kids

Dave and Neta Jackson are the authors of the Trailblazer Books, a series of 40 historical fiction adventure books in which young protagonists interact with heroes of the faith like David Livingstone, William Tyndale, and John Bunyan.

Roundup of the Street Rovers with an orphan named Kip as protagonist, chronicles the lives of street kids in New York at the turn of the last century and how Rev. Charles Brace started the Children's Aid Society of New York and the orphan trains that took street children from New York to be adopted by families in the Midwest. My son has read most of the series and named this one as his favorite after much deliberation.

The Chronicles of Narnia - Read before or after watching the movies

C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia are my son's favorite books (mine too actually). Any boy who hasn't yet met Peter, Edmund, Eustuce, Caspian, Shasta, Aslan, Tumnus, Reepicheep, and Puddleglum are in for a treat!

These books can be read and enjoyed at many different levels, and at every stage in life. T's favorite is Prince Caspian, and mine, for the moment, is The Silver Chair.

Do you have experience with any of these books? Can you recommend others? Please leave your comments and recommendations! (I originally posted this article on a different platform. T is now 16, and his brother, D, is now reading these books.)

Good Night, Gorilla: A Teacher's Review

Good Night, Gorilla - Activities, Lesson, Plans, Teaching Ideas

 

Good Night, Gorilla is, without a doubt, the most requested readaloud at my preschool. Besides "good night," there are only ten other words in the book, but that belies the richness of the conversations and the possibilities for learning that the book provides. Every time I read this with the children, they discover something new, and new questions arise. Among the many wonderful surprises in Good Night, Gorilla are the pictorial nods to other standards of early childhood like Curious George, Babar, and Sesame Street.

"Good Night, Gorilla" could be the first book your child "reads"

The pictures in this book are bright and simple, yet extremely detailed on a closer look. Children want to see it over and over. Because they see it so many times and the few words are either repeated over and over ("good night") or have strong visual cues (names of animals), before long children as young as two or three can "read" this book. Being able to read a whole book instills confidence and an appetite for reading.

Good Night, Gorilla Video - A teaser of the Scholastic production

"I wanted to teach sign language to gorillas, but after taking a class in signing, I realized what I'd rather do was draw pictures of gorillas." --Author Peggy Rathmann

Good Night, Gorilla Activities, Lesson Plans, and Projects - Resources for parents and teachers

There are tons of projects, lesson plans, and activities that relate to Good Night, Gorilla. I've curated some of the best ideas from the web to help you get the creative juices flowing.

• Good Night, Gorilla - unit study
  Homeschoolshare.com has a great cross-curricular unit study on Good Night, Gorilla. Topics covered include counting, colors, close observation, baby animal names, drama, and a snack idea (banana dippers). Be sure to check out their excellent printabl
• Good Night, Gorilla - preschool printable activities and crafts
  First-school.ws provides ideas for several activities such as sequencing and vocabulary work, dramatic play, and a snack (ants on a banana bus). Particularly valuable are the printable Good Night, Gorilla finger puppets in color or black and white.
• Good Night, Gorilla - guided discussion and vocabulary work
  This is a pdf with several guided conversation ideas and a big list of vocabulary words that you may want to introduce or practice.

Pair "Good Night, Gorilla" with "Little Gorilla" by Ruth Bornstein for more gorilla fun. Or even get a gorilla puppet and let the gorilla tell its own story. (Images link to amazon product pages.)

Please leave a comment with your "Good Night, Gorilla" ideas.

It's Monday! What are you reading 8/19/2013

There's a children's book exhibition on in my town and one book that caught my eye was A Rock Is Lively by Diana Hutts Aston and Sylvia Long (affiliate link).

The illustrations are bright and beautiful. The text is hard to classify.

Is it poetry? "Bubbling like a pot of soup deep beneath the Earth's crust ... liquid ... molten ... boiling"

Is it geology? "Depending on what type of rock it is, a rock melts at temperatures between 1,300 and 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit ..."

 However you categorize this book, the illustrations and poetic writing will satisfy your artistic side while the informative text will thrill your inner rockhound.

Draw... Then Write: Workbook for Reluctant Writers

Struggling to motivate a reluctant writer?
I bought Draw...Then Write a few years ago to use with my English language learners. Since then, it's been great, not only for ELLs, but also for native English speakers who are reluctant to write or just need a little prompt to get the creative juices flowing.

The concept behind Draw... Then Write is simple. Students are given easy, step-by-step instructions for drawing high-interest objects--mostly animals, people, and vehicles. The drawings are so simple that no child will fail and not too much time will be spent drawing at the expense of writing.  The students' drawings become the basis for fun writing activities. Each drawing has writing prompts at three levels of difficulty to facilitate differentiated instruction. The activities range from completing sentences with a choice of preselected words, through brainstorming and writing sentences, all the way to composing complete paragraphs.

I make copies of the (legally reproducible) pages for my students, but the drawings are so simple that I could see a teacher copying them by hand on a whiteboard and prompting writing that way. My Draw... Then Write book is recommended for grades one through three. There is also a version of Draw... Then Write for grades four through six, which I have not used. See sample pages for both books on amazon.

Do you have a favorite way to motivate reluctant writers? Please share in the comments.

Top Three Circle-Time Songs

Anyone who has worked in a preschool or as a camp counselor knows that a good song can break the ice, set a fun tone for the whole day, and get kids in a great mood. These are three of my favorites. I've written  in detail about them all elsewhere, but thought it would be nice to round them up here.

1. Going on a Bear Hunt teachers rhythm, and attentiveness; can be useful as an introduction to a study about bears, and provides the scary-fun feeling that little ones love. I wrote a web page about the Bear Hunt song that includes lyrics, activities, lesson plans, printable worksheets, and a zany video of Michael Rosen performing a version of the song based on his classic book.

2. Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar? is another clap/slap icebreaker chant that helps kids in a group remember one another's names. It gives a little rush of adrenaline when children hear themselves accused of the dastardly act of stealing a cookie. I wrote a web page about the cookie thief song too that will help parents and teachers extend extend their children's learning.

3. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes is great for getting the blood flowing when children are a little sleepy. It's good for learning parts of the body, and you can try out some alternate lyrics for even more fun and learning. Here is my page about Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Question: What is your favorite circle-time or campfire song. Please share in the comments.

Borrow Kindle Books for Free from Amazon

Amazon has recently announced that its prime members who own kindles can now borrow a book a month for free. This is exciting news because there are already 5300 books available for the Kindle Owners' Lending Library including over 100 current and past New York Times Bestsellers.

Kindle Books to Borrow for Free

Several of these books are featured on the Lending Library Home Page, but others are hard to find. For those who are interested, here is a link to

all 5000+ titles that are available to borrow for free from the Amazon Prime Lending Library.

Besides the ebook lending program, Amazon Prime members get free 2-day shipping on most purchases and free streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows.

I have a Kindle that my son and I fight over. It works great for us living in Japan because we we can order books and start reading them right away without having to pay overseas shipping. He especially likes the built in dictionary feature where you just take the cursor to a word and the definition pops up.

Question: Do you have a Kindle? If so, are you intrigued by the lending library?

Don't Turn That Page!

Here's a simple habit I've developed for reading picture books to little ones, especially my littlest one.

I don't turn the page until the child has interacted with the story in some way.

Usually he asks a question about the story or picture. Sometimes he makes a comment. Occasionally he traces a picture or runs his finger underneath some words. Only rarely does he want me to turn the page right away. Taking our time as we read stories makes the time more special for us and helps him to acquire the skills of a good reader.

Cowboy Small is in heavy rotation with my four-year-old.

How Much Attention to Give a Book

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.” --Sir Francis Bacon from his essay, "On Studies"

"Pile of Books in Prague Library" by Callum Scott

With the explosion of available reading material, Bacon's words are more relevant than ever. I am pondering how to teach my students to read discriminately (in the good sense), and how to make it fun.

One piece of that for me will be reading Lit!: A Christian Guide to Reading Books by Tony Reinke. I recommend his blog too. In fact, that's where I got the Francis Bacon quote above.

Question: How do you decide whether a book is worth your (or your students') time, and how much attention to give it?

Summer Reading Programs 2011

Summer reading has been proven to help children retain their vocabulary, maintain their decoding skills, and improve their comprehension. Help your children avoid the summer slump by trying a summer reading challenge. There are several national summer reading programs, some of which offer free books, gift cards, prize packages, and even cash. Each program has its own form to fill out, but you might also want to print out a reading log to keep track of your child's reading. Your local library probably has a summer reading program too.

My kids love to read, but a little extra motivation never hurt, so I compiled this big list of summer reading programs for 2011. Check it out!

Summer Reading on the Beach

Wonderful Wordless (or Nearly Wordless) Books

Wordless books (and nearly wordless books) spark conversation, invite close inspection of illustrations, and are less threatening to reluctant emerging readers. Here are some of the most popular wordless books among my students and my own children.

Anno's Counting House

Mitsumasa Anno is a Japanese former math teacher who became an author and illustrator of children's books. He has written several books that lead naturally to understanding of math. Anno's Counting House, out of print, but still easy to find used, illustrates ten children moving from one house to another. One house gradually empties of people and belongings as the other house fills up. Cut-outs in the pages pique children's curiosity as they try to figure out which character will move the the new house next. Children are exposed to the the important concept of the conservation of number, which is crucial to later success when balancing equations in algebra. Interestingly the book can be enjoyed from back to front as well as from front to back I first blogged about Anno way back in 2007.

Good Night, Gorilla

Peggy Rathmann's Good Night, Gorilla is the most requested readaloud at my preschool. Other than "good night," there are only ten words in the entire book. The pictures are simple, yet full of fun surprises for those who look closely. Try to find the flyaway balloon in each photo. How many silhouettes can you see in the neighbor's window? Does the elephant really have a plush Babar? Here are even more fun illustration finds and several Good Night Gorilla activities.


1, 2, 3 To the Zoo

Animals. A train. The zoo. Eric Carle hit on several of kids' favorite things in his first picture book, 1, 2, 3 To the Zoo combines colorful animal pictures with bright clear numbers, and doesn't let words get in the way. Children enjoy finding all of the animals in the fold out page of the zoo at the end of the story. This just may be the book that your child learns to count with. Homeschool Share offers a 1, 2, 3 To the Zoo printable lapbook to go along with the book.

Hug!

Besides his name, hug was the first word my toddler read, thanks to Hug, the nearly wordless book by Jez Alborough. The story story follows a baby monkey who sees several animal mothers and babies hugging one another and realizes that he has lost his own mom. A kind elephant takes him around the jungle until he finds his mother. All the animals rejoice with him. the word hug appears several times, but the only other words to appear are mommy and Bobo (the baby monkey's name).

Question: Do you have a favorite wordless or nearly wordless book?