"Souper" Bowl Sunday

I have a great book for "Souper" Bowl Sunday this year- no other than the classic Stone Soup.  I could have gone with a book about football like  Family Huddle by the Mannings or You Can Do It! by Tony Dungy.  But let's face it, I like to eat Super Bowl snacks more than I like to watch the Super Bowl Game.  So no matter if you are cheering for the Broncos or the Seahawks, you will love this book.

Stone Soup is an old folk story found in many different cultures.  The version I am sharing with your today is written and illustrated by Jon Muth and uses and Asian culture to tell the story.

If you are unfamiliar with the story of Stone Soup it is a story of kindness and generosity.  You see in the story there are three travelers who come across a village who has seen very hard times.  Because of these hard times neighbors are strangers.  There is friendship or community, everyone is on their own, until the three travelers arrive.  Upon arriving in the village no one greets them or offers them a place to stay and the three travelers all agreed that "these people do not know happiness."  They decided to make stone soup.  The three travelers make a fire in the courtyard and fill a small pot with water.

A little girl approaches the men and asks what they are doing.  They tell her they are making stone soup and need three round, smooth stones.  The little girl quickly finds some stones for the travelers and even offers her mothers larger pot so that more soup can be made.  The travelers went on poking the fire and making their stone soup and as the fire grew so did the curiosity of the villagers.  They began coming out of their homes to see what stone soup was about.

As people asked about stone soup the travelers would make comments like, "This soup would be better with salt and pepper," or "Carrots would make the broth much sweeter."  With each suggestion on of the travelers made the villagers would full fill the request bringing carrots, onions, mushrooms and anything else they could think of to make the soup more delicious.

"Something magical began to happen among the villagers.  As each person opened their heart to give, the next person gave even more."

When the soup was finished all the villagers game together at one large table to share the delicious meal they had made from their generosity.  They shared stories, sang songs and opened their doors to give the travelers a place to stay.  The travelers had reminded the villagers that sharing makes us all richer.

So whether you are going to a Super Bowl party or enjoying the day at home with only your family, enjoy some soup today and have a truly "Souper" Sunday full of richness and generosity.

Here are some of my favorite soup recipes.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

*Cut in half if you are making for 4 or less people or you will have a lot of leftovers.

1 1/2 qt. water
3 potatoes peeled and diced
3 carrots
1 onion
20 oz frozen broccoli and cauliflower
3 chicken bullion cubes
3 TBS parsley flakes
pepper
2 cans of cream soup (your choice)
1 lb of Velveeta

Cook first 8 ingredients until tender.  Use immersion blender or regular blender to slightly puree the vegetables.  Return to the pot on low heat and add cream soup and Velveeta.  Stir well.

Chicken Stew with Tortellini

2 c. water
1 14 oz, can chicken broth
1 med. yellow squash cut
6 c. spinach or greens
1 green pepper
1 c. dried tortellini
1 med. onion cut in thin wedges
1 med. carrot sliced
1 1/2 tsp. rosemary
1/2 tsp. seasoning blend
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 c. cooked chicken
1 TBS basil

In dutch oven bring water and broth to a boil.  Add squash, greens, pepper, pasta, onion, carrot, rosemary, seasoning and pepper to dutch oven. Return to boil.  Reduce heat. Simmer covered for 15 min.  Stir in chicken.  Cook covered 5 min.  Stir fresh basil in soup.  Top with grated parmesan.

Don't forget reading recipes is just as great as reading books!

Happy Reading!
Laura

Snow Days

With much of the country covered in snow and in below zero temperatures I am sure there are plenty of kids at home enjoying a SNOW DAY!

This map shows the snow amounts across the country. 

In honor of the snow and cold temperature, this week's Throwback Thursday is dedicated to the classic by Ezra Jack Keats, The Snowy Day.  In the story Peter wakes up to every child's dream, the ground is covered in deep, cold snow.  He does not waste anytime, eats his breakfast, gets dressed and heads outside to play.  Peter explores the different ways to make tracks in the snow.  He walks with his feet pointed in, he drags his feet and he finds a stick to make a track with.  Peter continues to play in the snow.  He sees the big boys having a snowball fight, he makes a snowman and a snow angel.  The very last thing he does is make a snowball to put in his pocket to save for tomorrow.  That night when he goes to check on his snowball and it had melted.  But it doesn't matter because when he wakes up the next morning the snow is still there and new snow is falling.  

Ezra Jack Keats does a great job of painting a picture of every child's dream snow day.  There is not a single snow day activity that he missed, except for maybe the hot chocolate.  He was even able to capture the sounds of a snow day using words like,  crunch crunch crunch, s-l-o-w-l-y, and plop.  I can't think of a better book to share on a snowy day like today.  

So bundle up and get outside to play because we all know in a couple of months we will be wishing for cooler temps.  

Happy Reading!

Laura

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Every Christmas day we would pack up the car and head to Grandma's.  Grandpa always fixed something fancy for dinner (duck or veal with asparagus or something).  The table would be set, wine glasses for everyone (even the kids- but ours were filled with sprite).  The blessing would be said and the eating would begin.  There would always be a butterfluff roll eating contest between the cousins (I think my brother always won).  Then for dessert we would have figgy pudding.  We were always so excited about dessert but not to eat it, to watch Grandpa catch it on fire.  Lucky for us there would be something yummy for dessert too like ice cream and cookies!

After the dishes were washed and the kid's table put away it would be time to open up presents.  But before we could open up presents, my grandpa's good friend John had to read Twas the Night Before Christmas.  We would all sit at his feet and listen to the story in earnest, knowing that as soon as he finished presents would be passed out- one of my all time favorite traditions from when I was a child.  There is a video of John reading to us out there somewhere.  If I am able to find it I will update this post with it.

This is the end of my 12 Days of Christmas Read Alouds.  I hope you enjoyed it and maybe found a new book or two to read.  I look forward to sharing with you all the great books Santa will bring us tomorrow night!

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!

Laura

Throwback Thursday

Choo! Choo!  That is my life right now, trains, trains and more trains.  My toddler's favorite book is a classic and that is why I am sharing it with you on Throwback Thursday.

Freight Train by Donald Crews is a very simply book that will please any young lover of trains.  As an added bonus it uses colors to describe the different train cars.  The text is very simple and so are the pictures, which is one reason why I think my toddler loves this book so much, I am sure it has nothing to do with his train obsession! He requests that is be read to him several times a day by saying, "Choo Choo?" And we must read this book before he goes to bed. 

As you can tell I have read Freight Train enough that I have the book memorized.  I know a lot of parents with young kids are familiar with this.  As parents we often complain about reading the same book over and over and think to ourselves, "If I have to read this book one more time I will scream!"  I want to take this time to ask you to please not give into that voice in your head that wants to throw the book in the garbage so that you never have to read it again but instead take your child in your lap and read the book to them, one more time, again and again and again. 

Repeated readings are so important for learning early literacy skills.  It is through reading familiar books over and over that children begin to recognize letters, words, phrases and sentences.  If you read it to them enough they will have the book memorized and will therefore be able to "read" the book.  The next thing you know they will be able to recognize those same words in a different book.  

So please, as much as it might pain you to read that one treasured book 100 times a day, do it you are helping your child along on the road to literacy and there is not much you can do that is as important as that!

Happy Reading!

Laura

Throwback Thursday

This week's Throwback Thursday I am going to give you a new twist on an old classic.  I am pretty sure almost every child out there has Bill Martin Jr.'s Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? on their bookshelf.  On the same note, I am almost just as sure that parents tire very quickly from reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear over and over again (DISCLAIMER!!! It is very good to read the same book to your child over and over.  It helps them to develop several pre and early reading skills like tracking, memorization and one-to-one correspondence so even though it is boring to you your toddler loves it!). So I decided to spruce up on of my copies of Brown Bear, Brown Bear  to help my 17 month old with his color recognition.

What I did was very simple and everything I needed I had at home.

Materials
- the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You Hear?
- brown, red, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, black and orange construction paper cut into small one inch circles
- contact paper
-velcro

Instructions:
1) Cut out a circle about one inch in diameter of each of the colors mentioned above.  I used a water bottle cap to trace.
2) "Laminate" the circles by covering them in the contact paper.  Cut the circles out.
3) Put a piece of soft velcro on each colored circle and a piece of the rough velcro on each animal.
4) Attach the colored circles to the matching animal.
5) Viola you have just taken a classic children's favorite and transformed it into an activity that will keep your child entertained for HOURS!  Okay who am I kidding what toddler is entertained for hours in anything- but it does keep them busy for a little bit!

Here are some pictures of my finished product:

Here you can see the brown circle velcroed onto the bear's leg.  

Same with the frog. 

Here are all the colors laid out ready to be matched to the correct animal. 

So far my little boy has really enjoyed pulling the colors off each of the animals.  We are slowly working on matching the colors.  Of course I model for him how to put the right color on the right animal, but right now he just likes playing with the colors and feeling the velcro which is fine with me! Because of this easy revamp we can both enjoy reading a favorite once again!

Happy Reading!

Laura

Throwback Thursday

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen is a must have for every young child's library.

I am sure you have heard the story before- a family sets out on a bear hunt, they come to long grass.  Can't go over it.  Can't go under it.  We've got to go through it etc.  This scenario repeats over and over, just with different obstacles.

Eventually the family finds the bear, gets scared and has to run back through all the obstacles to their safe home.  It is a great story full of imagination.  But what makes this a classic book to read aloud?

First, the book has all sorts of repetition that older children will pick up on and begin reading with you while at the same time younger children will like knowing what to expect.  Second, this book has silly words like squelch, squerch, splash, splosh and swishy, swashy.  Kids love hearing those silly words being read aloud so much.  Just the sound of them makes them giggle. Lastly, this book is great because  motions and music can be added.  What kid does not like a book with motions and music?

We're Going on a Bear Hunt has inspired countless of other authors to write their own version.  Just a couple that I have in my own library are We're Looking for a Moose by Phyllis Root and It's a Tiger by David LaRochelle.  What books do you have in your library that were inspired by We're Going on a Bear Hunt?

Happy Reading!
Laura


Here is Michael Rosen (author) performing the book.  Watch to teach your kids the motions!