Summer Reading List 2011

Coral's Summer Reading List:

Ariel and the Aquamarine Jewel a Disney Magical Story
Aurora and the Diamond Crown a Disney Magical Story
Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
I Hatch Chicks (ICarly Reader) by Scholastic
Lila Bloom by Alexander Stadler
101 Places You Gotta See Before You’re 12! by Joanne O'Sullivan
The True Story of Pocahontas by Lucille Rech Penner
The Fairy Berry Bake Off by Daisy Alberto
The Tiara Club at Ruby Mansions 2: Princess Jessica and the Best Friend Bracelet by Vivian French
A Brilliant Streak the Making of Mark Twain by Kathryn Lasky and Barry Moser
Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk
Painting the Wind by Patricia & Emily Maclachlan and Katy Schneider
Alice in the Country of Hearts, Volume 5 by QuinRose and Hoshino Soumei
A Violin Maker's Gift
Planet Earth by Deborah Chancellor
Penny Star by Brent Sudduth
Even More Parts by Tedd Arnold
Fruits Basket, Volume 16 by Natsuki Takaya

Jamestown Online Adventure

I found a great history game tonight, the Jamestown Online Adventure on HistoryGlobe.com. Using the London company's instructions, the player attempts to see if they can do better than the real colonist. They will receive a report on how they did based on the following factors: food, health, wealth and moral.

Microscope Fun

Yesterday during lunch I took a trip to Goodwill to look at the books, and left the store with a new microscope set for $6.50. What a great buy. This same set retails on Amazon for $79.99. The one we purchased had a box that looked like it had been through the ringer and then stuffed in a closet for a few years, but all of the pieces pictured above were still taped neatly in their styrofoam compartments. The one I bought also came with safety goggles, and methylene blue and eosin. The original price tag had been scratched off, so this was probably a discarded birthday or Christmas present. Their loss.

I brought it home last night, and Coral played with it until about 11 pm, until I finally made her go bed. It was also the first thing she played with when she woke up in the morning. After running errands today, she went right back to it when we got home. I think I've already got my $6.50 out of it for sure.

Foreign Language Lessons on YouTube

I've been exploring the foreign language videos available on YouTube. It looks like there is enough Latin, French, and Japanese there to keep both of my girls busy for the up coming school year.

This is a list of my favorite YouTube users for each of the three languages. For Japanese I like JapanesePod101. For Latin TuTubusLatinus is very good. For French I like DJArmonLhane. These are just a few that offer a wide range of videos for each of the language. I've created three individual play lists for each of the languages. They can be found here.

Kristen will be using the videos to supplement her Japanese courses at TCC, and Coral will be using the videos in addition to text books CD, and Mango Languages available through the Tulsa Library website for free.