Weekly Wednesday Book Talk- Independence Day

India's independence day is around the corner and I shortlisted some books that I would be reading to my kids.  Though the books don't really talk about India's independence, I feel they are great discussion starters about India. I love doing an India unit during this time and the books provide us with a lot of information. 

This is an alphabetic book on India and the author has used each letter of the alphabet to tell something special about our country. It covers quite a lot from food, festivals, cities and dances to the diverse culture of India.

 

Books from Scholastic always have great illustrations. Get this book if your kids like non fictional text. The real life pictures add to the beauty of this book and it does give a lot of information about India.

I loved Prodeepto Das "I is for India" and had to get a copy of this book too. This book is perfect if your kids are visiting India for the first time. It is told in first person and offers a fresh perspective of India. 

If you would like to talk about the capital of India, this book is a great read. It talks about popular monuments, important places and even the Delhi Metro. A great peek into the capital city!

In case you would like to talk particularly about the independence, you can grab my printable copy from HERE

Get Your Children To Spell !

Today i will share few activities to help your kids learn spellings without stress. My activities are based on a farm theme since that's what my kiddos are learning at the moment but they can be adapted to any theme/unit.

I first let the kids get exposed to the words through different mediums like books, word walls and videos. I point at the words that i want them to know and allow them to read the words out loud.

Put words in a pocket chart for your child to read.

Jumble up the pictures and words for the child to put them correctly.

Next give some letter tiles and help your child to make words.

 Have them trace the words or if you want to skip this step, just give the child a paper with the pictures to spell on his own.

Make a spelling dictionary and add the new words learnt.

Use spelling board books from scholastic. Children have a lot of fun spelling using such manipulatives.

Try these activities with your kiddos and never hear them moan about learning and writing spellings.

Under the sea...Books and Songs

I am going to share the names of few books that i read with my children during the unit of sea animals.

Commotion in the ocean was used to introduce the topic. The book has rhyming words and colorful illustrations.
                                                           
Rainbow fish by Marcus Pfister and Swimmy by Leo Lionni are always liked by students. These books can also be used to talk about concepts of sharing and group work.
                                     
Any book by Eric Carle is a huge hit in my class. We read A house for the Hermit Crab and Mr Seahorse.
                                             
                                      
As a follow up activity, children made their own crafts.
                                 
                                      

We also did a reading of non-fictional books by scholastic. Children loved exploring the books on killer whales, dolphins and sharks.

 I felt the content of these books were meant for the age group of 6-8 years. However the illustrations were great and language can always be modified for young children.
If you would like to purchase these books in India, you could go to Flip kart.com

The link for the book"Killer Whales" is given below:
http://www.flipkart.com/killer-whales/p/itmd73md4fw3mzej?pid=9780531254790&otracker=from-search&srno=t_7&query=whale+scholastic&ref=a979f3d4-09fe-41ab-88d3-a35d924b26ae

The link for the book"Sharks" is given below:
http://www.flipkart.com/sharks/p/itmd67gzw2myfy2h?pid=9780531209073&otracker=from-search&srno=t_6&query=sharks+scholastic&ref=533f0188-1a62-479c-b4f9-a96552f6a6b5

The link for the book"Dolphins" is given below:
http://www.flipkart.com/dolphins/p/itmd2wfkfyjzxs5m?pid=9780531210758&otracker=from-search&srno=t_9&query=dolphin+scholastic&ref=4a015ac5-c36c-40fa-a5f7-bbe78fe21898