Nevermore

Here's another easy geography game to make. I bought a pack of party flags in a strip from Hobby Lobby on clearance for 2 dollars, cut them apart and made cards with a small picture of the flag on one side and the name of the country on the other.







We are also going to concentrate more on spelling this year, with the help of Spelling Power. If you are looking for a fun, hands on spelling program check it out.









Here are the rest of our spelling games, activities, and manipulatives.






The whole reason we went to Hobby Lobby yestarday was to buy some decent construction paper for our push-pinning, since the cheap stuff tears unevenly and fades super-quickly.

While I was there I noticed they had all their summer craft stuff and most of their furniture on clearance, the small tables, chests and shelves were only five dollars marked down from 35! So I ended up filling my cart with three small pieces of furniture, and tons of craft supplies, all for only 40 dollars.

Among all my treasures I bought a pack of long black feathers which the kids went nuts for.

"Are they raven feathers?"
"Ooh, Are they from The Raven?"

"Well, they've probably been dyed..."

Faces fall.

"Yes, they look real to me, right off the bird."

They were so excited they each took a feather and began chasing eachother all over the house, tickling eachother.

When they tired of that they began sneaking up on me at the computer and leaving their feathers.

Then they would hide and giggle maniacally to eachother, "We left our black plume as a token!"

So what could I do but scream, "Leave no black plume as a token, of that lie thy soul has spoken, leave my lonlieness unbroken/quit that bust above my door!"

And their absolute favorite part, "Take thy beaks from out my heart and take thy forms from off my door!"

You can guess what they told me...

"Nevermore".

Deep down within the waters dark, There lurks the dangerous Mr. Shark

One of the eccentric family's all-time favorite authors is Roald Dahl.

We actually stumbled into the Harry Potter series from reading an article comparing JK Rowling's style to his. How funny is that? Here the entire world was going gaga around us singing the praises of HP and I was completely disinterested.

What an idiot!

I swear sometimes I enjoy the HP novels more than the children. I stayed up all night to read the latest one, which was preordered in hardback edition and arrived in my mailbox promptly on the day of release! I have never done that with any other book. I still haven't read a single word of it aloud, I decided to save my breath and wait for the library to get the audio. Those books are just getting too darn long for read-alouds.

The kids are so jealous.

Anyway, back to Roald Dahl.

We've read nearly all of his novels. The lonely remaining two (I think), The BFG and The Witches, are already waiting on the shelf. We're only about four chapters into The Hobbit and I am already itching to start one.

The kids love The Hobbit, and they are learning a ton of new vocabulary, it's not that. It's just that our latest bit of memory work is Mr Dahl's poem, "The Shark", which has me all riled up for more.

If you love good-quality, funny, innocuous but sometimes bordering-on-rude children's poems (think: Shel Silverstein) then you should check out RD's Vile Verses. It's got hysterically funny poems from many of his best-loved novels including James and the Giant Peach, The Enormous Crocodile, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I would also highly recommend reading those books. Matilda is another favorite. And don't be satisfied that you've seen a movie version or two, the best part about Roald Dahl's books is the humor contained in his writing style and rhymes, you lose much of that in a movie version. We always read the books first, and whenever I ask my kiddos which they liked better, they have always chosen the books.

In addition to poems from some of his novels, Vile Verses also contains amusing verse retellings of many classic children's stories which your kids are probably already familiar with. He puts his unique spin on Snow White, Goldilocks (that "brazen little crook" ..."Had I the chance I wouldn't fail, to clap young Goldilocks in jail"), The Tortoise and the Hare, etc.

So anyway, back to "The Shark". The language in "The Shark" is rich and not dumbed down, it has the complex sentence patterns you want in a memory poem, and it manages to reamain young-child-friendly and full of fun after many repeated readings/recitations.

Here is an excerpt from the ending stanza of "The Shark" to give you an idea of what a treat you are in for...

He lay there gnawing, nibbling, munching
Chewing, burping, grinning, crunching,
Until the whole of little Jim
Was pretty much inside of him.
He murmured as he ate the feet
"Small boys are awefully good to eat."

Check out Vile Verses, and spice up your poetry memorizations!