Curriculum and Children's Books

Vada is feeling a little under the weather today. It started over the evening last night which caused us to end up with very little sleep, so we took it pretty easy today. We watched a lot of Sesame Street and did even more reading (in between the numerous changes of clean clothes and training pants!). 

With Vada's lack of energy I took advantage of the little extra time I had from not doing class with her and tried the Vegetable soup recipe from the Lois Ehlert book that I recently read when I was we were on a gardening kick.

I've got to say, this book really did come with a bonus having come with this recipe at the end. Yes, it is so easy and all it really consists of is a whole lot of different vegetables but it was delicious and it's fun being able to do projects based off of books like this one. I will cook this recipe again and again with my girls and especially with Vada as she grows older. If for no other reason than for the memories it may create!

I still remember a similar project that we did when I was in school. I had to be in Kindergarten, maybe between first through third grade but for sure, no older than that. The story was Stone Soup and the project was after we read the book at the beginning of the week in the class we were told by the end of the week to bring in our favorite vegetable for our own version of some "stone soup".  I have no memory of how the soup tasted or even what vegetable I brought but what I remember is the class project, the book and more importantly, the story. 

Reading is important to me. I want to help make reading just as important to my children. By thinking up fun and exciting activities to go along with the stories I believe can really help to do just that! So while the soup was cooking and Vada was snuggled back into my lap I began to go through my book called Creating Curriculum Using Children's Picture Books. 

Mentally, I began to adjust the lesson plans to better fit Vada's age and and areas of interests. I  planned out which books I would do first, second, third and so on. I was excited! I then grabbed my iPad to see if I could find a second version of this book or something similar to it. I was hoping that there was more like this one out there, considering this book has only eighteen different story books to choose from, which is a great beginning selection and the selection is just that, great! But I just had to see what else was out there! That's when I ran across Five in a Row, also known as FIAR. Have any of you heard of this? In short it is suppose to be this great literature program of sorts that deals with one story that you focus on for five days in a row. If I have mis-spoke wrote, feel free to correct me. I barely know about this program. I am only mentioning it here and now because FIAR also has a starter program called Before Five in A Row for ages two to four year olds, which is what I have ordered for Vada and I to begin together either after or throughout the remainder of the above book. I'm very, very interested in what FIAR has to offer and if any of you out there have used it or are currently using it now, good or bad, please, share your experiences with me. I would love to hear them!