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For the Birds ~ Book and Activities for the Week of January 31st

Next week's focus book will be A Mother for Choco written and illustrated by Keiko Kasza.


Choco wishes he had a mother, but who could she be? He sets off to find her, asking all kinds of animals, but he doesn't meet anyone who looks just like him. He doesn't even think of asking Mrs. Bear if she's his mother-but then she starts to do just the things a mommy might do. And when she brings him home, he meets her other children-a piglet, a hippo, and an alligator-and learns that families can come in all shapes and sizes and still fit together. Keiko Kasza's twist on the "Are you my mother?" theme has become one of the most highly recommended stories about adoption for children.

Discussion ~ Brynne and I will discuss what a mother is, what she does, characteristics, etc., and then read the book discussing each encounter she has and why she thinks each character is or is not Choco's mother.

Compare and Contrast ~ We will make a Venn Diagram about the similarities and differences between her and I.

Art ~ She and I will work together on a picture of the two of us doing something that we enjoy.

Cooking ~ We will make Chocolicious Bread Pudding Muffins found here.

Bird Feeders ~ We will discuss adoption and then "adopt" our backyard birds by making some new birdfeeders to hang from trees. I plan to make one out of a gallon milk jug and one out of toilet paper tubes and pipe cleaners.

Edible Nest ~ Next week is also "N" week for us, so we may make these edible nests posted at Brainin Trainin. If we don't get to them next week, we'll save them for the week when we read The Perfect Nest.

Movie ~ We will watch the movie Stuart Little to show an example of a loving adoption of someone completely different than you.

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