more ideas for any book study

Since we love book/literature studies, I like to have a lot of different ideas to use. And as children grow and change, it's good to give different things to try. Here are some more ideas to use with any independent book study:

1. write a poem (you can give a certain kind if desired-haiku, cinquain, etc) about a certain person or object in book

2. write a song about the story

3. write a book review

4. give an oral book report

5. draw a poster encouraging others to read the book

6. change the ending to the story (but must stay true to the story too)

7. compose theme music for the story

8. research the author and write a brief biography about him/her

9. make a word find or crossword puzzle about the story

10. make a character silhouette for one of the characters

literature study ideas for any book

I wrote before about why literature studies are one of my favorite approaches to children's book studies. Here are a few of my favorite activities to include on these type studies:

1. organize a folder with cover page

2. brief summary of story

3. write a journal entry as one of the characters

4. create a collage of symbols and pictures important to the story

5. cook a food mentioned in the book

6. make a shadowbox of an important scene in the book

7. design a jacket for the book

8. place a review of this book on Amazon.com

9. watch the movie version of the book and write an essay comparing and contrasting the movie to the book

10. memorize an excerpt from the book and recite it

independent literature study

It's been a while since I gave my daughter an independent literature study. She is currently working on one for the book Tuck Everlasting. Here are my favorite things about these types of studies:

1. a fun, different approach

2. the child works independently

3. the child is responsible for his/her own work and choices

4. provides many different types of activities for completing one project

5. the child has some choice in how and when to complete each assignment

6. allows for some creative expression

7. while still getting in some of the core objectives

8. encourages the fun of reading

9. works well for variety of ages

10. teaches the child to manage his/her time in order to complete project by due date

relief dinner

Today our church did a relief dinner for some folks hit hard by the recent hurricane. Here are a few of my favorite things about helping with that:

1. helping those in need

2. seeing all of us work together

3. seeing some of the kids work

4. being thankful for our blessing

5. more than enough food

6. making spaghetti to share

7. making homemade cookies to share

8. having my nephews help me make the cookies

9. seeing how far we have come since the storm

10. seeing how much more needs to be done....

Galveston Restaurants

A list of businesses opening today in Galveston, TX was released on Galveston.com. Many restaurants will be open now, or will be by Nov. 1. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. Casey's Seaside Cafe

2. Joe's Crab Shack

3. Landry's

4. Rainforest Cafe

5. Fish Tales

6. Chili's

7. Shrimp N Stuff

8. Saltgrass

9. Tortuga's Cantina

10. Pappa's Pizza

local yellowpages

As I become more and more dependent on my trusty internet service, I tend to use it to find even the most basic information. I literally use it like a local yellowpages . I love finding all my info in one place. Here are a few of my favorite things:

1. Doing a local search to find what I need close by

2. having all the information in one spot is convenient

3. I like to read reviews about places I want to visit

4. We love finding new local restaurants to try

5. accurate driving directions are a must

6. business hours are very helpful

7. business contact information is often needed

8. available 24 hours a day

9. free

10. it's fun to leave my own review after visiting a local business

dad's out of town

When my husband goes out of town, I really don't like it. But this week I have tried to find a few of my favorite things about it anyway:

1. not much cooking

2. the whole bed to myself

3. hearing his voice when he calls

4. knowing he misses me too

5. ordering pizza for dinner

6. going back to bed after my son leaves for school

7. learning how to juggle my schedule

8. I actually like doing a workout in the middle of the afternoon

9. getting a lot of reading done

10. knowing he'll be home tomorrow!