A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Books for Upper Elementary

Using Books to See Canada

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Just wanted to share with you some books we are using in our study on Canada.  We don’t use them all the time, nor do we use the entire book.

Books that my son reads and then narrates.  The point of these books is to introduce the lad to some great Canadian people over the years, from scientists through to engineers or history makers.  Courage, conviction, patience, strength…many virtues to be seen.

Seeing Canada Overall, Catching glimpses of our great nation.   Sometimes walking through the provinces, other times just seeing specific moments or places.

Seeing Canada through the annuals of history.  Several of these books are quite good, others we need to pick through.   The Story of Canada is fascinating, and Canadian Exploration is an easy read.  Vimy Ridge we haven’t gotten to yet because the World Wars haven’t been reached yet.

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©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Review: The Amazing Animal Adventure

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The Amazing Animal Adventure is a large, hardcover book, filled with illustrations from all around the world.  A look and find book that teaches about different ecosystems.  Let me show you through this book eh?

This is such a neat book, one of the things I like about it is, it doesn’t just talk about the typical ecosystems, it does mention the taiga and the rainforest and systems like that.

BUT it also ventures into the lesser known ecosystems like the Japanese Hot Springs, the mountains of the moon and hydrothermal vents.  I have NEVER seen an ecosystem book talk about hydrothermal vents so I was most impressed.

21 different ecosystems, each with a two page spread.  Each system has a small write up about it and numerous items for the reader to locate.  Along with another challenge to complete.

It’s simple enough for a child to complete, yet challenging enough to intrigue older people as well.  Some pages I really had to hunt to find the hidden items, and other pages were fairly simple.   It’s all in how the eye looks and the brain processes what it is seeing.

As you can see, each two page spread is in full colour, with lots of details added.

The teaching block is written clearly, with good lettering and size.  Making it easy to read along with your children if desired.

I very much appreciated how each of the items you are search for has a picture beside it as well as a brief description with it.  Did you know that the burrowing owl uses old prairie dog burrows?

I found the add-on challenge a nice little touch, giving the reader an extra item (or three) to look for when they are done the main search.

This is a great resource to have on hand if you are studying ecosystems.  You can easily give to a student and, depending on age, ask them to find out more about any of the systems in the book and give you a report on it.

You could use it with younger students to simply introduce the huge variety in ecosystems that can be found on this great planet of ours. 

If you are concerned that you won’t be able to find all the hidden items, there is a solution page at the end of the book as well as additional resources such as animal world records, endangered animals and how animals are classified. 

It’s a wonderful book that we won’t be letting go of quickly as it’s fun to have around and gives me ideas for research subjects for the lad.  🙂

Just as a sidenote: the book binding was superb.  It’s very sturdy, my lad noticed the yarn showing through on the pages and said “neat!”.  Not something often seen in a book now. 

The Amazing Animal Adventure: An Around-the-world Spotting Adventure
Illustrator: Brendan Kearny
Publisher: Laurence King
Pages:  64
Age Range: 6 and up
Size: 10.55 x 14.1

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

 Amazon.ca: The Amazing Animal Adventure: An Around-the-World Spotting Expedition

Amazon.com: The Amazing Animal Adventure: An Around-the-World Spotting Expedition

Art Series: Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting

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It is my total delight to introduce DoodleMom to you, also known as Kirsten to the blog today. I put a call out for people to do an art book post for the blog and Kirsten stepped up to the challenge. 🙂

Kirsten blogs at  DoodleMom’s Homeschooling Life and is a new to me blogger this year.  Let me tell you…she is a gal who makes me think and ponder in a way I sometimes don’t expect and that is a good thing eh?  🙂  Keeps me from being stagnant and who wants that eh?

 Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting

I did not notice until recently that a very proper and very, very smart nun with a history of teaching English and Art was also a master of polite sarcasm. 

My kids and I were watching Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting (available free on Docuwatch) and reading another chapter in her book of the same name. Art history with Sister Wendy reinforces and makes additional connections to the events and people of the history the kids are learning, as well as helping them to understand composition and technique. And Sister Wendy is also teaching my kids the fine art of polite sarcasm. 

My children sat on either side of me, magnifying glasses in hand so they could investigate each tiny detail of the paintings discussed in the text. We were looking over Sister Wendy’s comparison of illuminations from England, France, Ireland, and Spain, all from the same rough time period.
And we came to this statement, “Like the Irish monks, the British also produced manuscripts of great beauty, this being one of the very few periods in which the least visual of national groups, the English speakers, attained international fame as artists.”
“Hmmm,” I thought to myself.
As we continued, my children began to pick up on the sarcasm as well. 

We got to the section discussing the Bayeux Tapestry and Sister Wendy wrote, “It displays the same jerky animation that we find in English manuscripts. A sort of Anglo-Saxon glorified comic strip…”
Finally we read through the section on French illumination in which Sister Wendy wrote, “A lovely missal survives…,” and “…with a magnificent pictorial “O” and…”
“OK,” said my son. “She definitely likes the French best and the English least.”  While her sarcasm stings and is quite apparent, it is also exceedingly polite. A grand way to show her preferences and dislikes. 

And, once my children recognized her sarcasm, the whole activity of studying art became an interactive one. First understanding Sister Wendy’s preferences, the reasons behind them, enjoying her wit, and finally forming their own opinions on the art or artist in question.
All in all, a perfect way to study art.

Where to Find More

Book:
Amazon.ca: Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting

Amazon.com: Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting

Documentary: Sister Wendy`s Story of Painting (6 episodes)

 

 

About Kirsten

Kirsten West is a Christian Homeschooling Mom who blogs at DoodleMom’s Homeschooling Life. 

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Books Read in February

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February was a good month for getting some books read.  I hardly know where to start!

Books read with the lad

– Haunted Canada – a series that the lad loves and I need to take a break from.  Spooky stories from around Canada about paranormal activity in Canada.

Fiction book based on the life of Jesus and people’s thoughts about what a redeemer would be all about.  Hard times learning the truth, and seeing a new way.  I loved this book as a child, and now my boy loves it too.  🙂

 Recommended reading.

 The lad and I have enjoyed all the books in this series.

This one focused on the tropical Rainforest habitats that are found all over the world.

Great images contained within.
Lots of information of a variety of plants, animals and more.

Excellent book.

Scene is the Israelites in the desert.  Story of a girl with her family, just a great story that had my lad so intrigued.

Recommended reading.  🙂

This book was not quite what I expected, written for a younger age group as a reader/study book.

When I asked my lad if I should put it away and pull out something different he refused.  He wanted me to read it to him anyways.  He found it interesting to learn what wheat becomes and how oil refineries work even in a simple terms.  

C is for Canada.

A great picture book for a first introduction to Canada.
Surprisingly meaty.

Books read on his own:


This is a book my lad read on his own.  One person a day, and then narrating what he learned about that person.

He’s learning who some of the important people of Canada are.

Good stuff us Canadians have done.

He’s working through another book right now

 
The lad continues to work through the warrior cat series by Erin Hunter.

Books read as reviews

My reads:

I’ve read a couple books this month but failed to write down what they were (been too busy lately)!   Man!!!! (frustrated about that)  I’ve taken up reading through three non-fiction books and posting on them once a week (I’ve missed this week and will hopefully catch up with weekend).   

I’ve recently started reading “Shepherd, Potter, Spy and Star Namer”.   It’s a good book. Looking forward to finishing it.  🙂

Art Series: 642 Things about Me.

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You know how art is about more than drawing, painting, cutting, gluing and making.  How art is also about words and how to use them beautifully?   Here is a book to encourage beauty in both of those formats for your young artists and writers.    642 things about me.

Chronicle Books has come out with another 642 things book!    This one is geared for the 8-12 year old writer and artist.    

As you can see there is plenty of space to write and to draw, sometimes to do both for the same topic.

Some of the things you might be asked to write about are:

  • something you collect
  • a cheer you could chant
  • describe what thunder sounds like
  • the music at the dentist office

Things to write and draw

  • an historical figure image, quote, question to ask
  • an artist that inspires, art work, a project you could do

Things you can draw:

  • treasure chest at the bottom of the ocean
  • colossal bike ramp
  • flag of your country
  • a valentine 
  • a merit badge for bravery

So many things to write, to draw.
So many things to see and to listen for.  Thoughts to consider, quotes that inspire.

Get this book into the hands of your young artist and watch them get busy being inspired to learn, draw, grow, and develop.  A good thing yes?

You can find my reviews on 
642 Big Things to Draw
642 Places to Draw.

If looking for the complete series of the 642 books visit Chronicle books.

642 Things About Me: Young Writer’s & Artist’s Edition
Chronicle Books
7.5 x 8.95 
304 pages
Ages 8-12

Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

 

Art Series: One Last Word

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Today I have a different sort of an art book for you.   It’s the art of words, words in poetry that can touch you heart and elicit emotions and conversation, that can have a child go “meh” and a mom go “I like this one”.   (and have the reverse happen).  A book of verse containing works of art that cause a boy to say “I like that one mom”.

This type of art is also good.  🙂

So let me then tell you of this book “One Last Word”.

This book is a tribute to the Harlem Renaissance poets.  Quite honestly I had NO idea what the Harlem Renaissance was, but the beauty and the imagery found within these poems had me searching for what it was.   According to History.com “Spanning the 1920s to the mid-1930s, the Harlem Renaissance was a
literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that kindled a new black
cultural identity. Its essence was summed up by critic and teacher Alain
Locke in 1926 when he declared that through art, “Negro life is seizing
its first chances for group expression and self determination.” Harlem
became the center of a “spiritual coming of age” in which Locke’s “New
Negro” transformed “social disillusionment to race pride.” Chiefly
literary, the Renaissance included the visual arts but excluded jazz,
despite its parallel emergence as a black art form.“

So a time when people of Negro descent were learning to take pride in who they were and not be beaten down by their past.   If you want to learn more…read more from The History site.

I read this poem in particular, and books like the Book of Negroes pops into my head, and I can imagine that pride of remembering who you are, and the carefulness of remembering where you have been.  How hard it must have been to separate the two.

Many of the poems in this book touched my heart…the art work and poems take up 94 pages in a 120 page book, hardcover.  The remaining pages are biographies of the poets and artists.

94 pages of beauty … some with hurt felt…but mostly of the joy and pride of a person or people recognizing who they are.  Some see God in the picture, others don’t.

Three sections: Emergency Measures has seven poems.    Calling Dreams has 14 poems and To a Dark Girl has 9 poems.

The poem “We Wear the Mask” made me think of more than just negroes who suffered but all the different people who struggle with hidden issues, hurts and sorrows, mental or physical frailities, but not wanting to diminish the pain of the black folks who suffered so.  Just made me think beyond you know what I mean?

 So much beauty in words and images, chances to see inside the soul of another person.. it is good, you know?   Art!  In its own way.

I thought I would leave you with one more poem to intrigue your heart.

IF you are learning about black history… do take in this book as it’s important part to consider.  If you like poignant poetry, or are searching for poems for your child to memorize, get this book.  It’s a great book of poetry and should you get your child intrigued, could provoke conversation…or just be nice to listen to!  🙂  you will find my affiliate links below, thank you for your support.

 One Last Word – Wisdom from the Harlem Resistance.
By Nikki Grimes
Published by Bloomsbury Children’s Books
128 pages
Age Range: 10-14 (or up through adult)
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books.

Amazon.ca: One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance

Amazon.com: One Last Word: Wisdom from the Harlem Renaissance

January Book Reads

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January was a good month.  It was .   It had it tough moments with the church closing, but overall.. a good month.  I am finally, for the most part, healthy.   Hubby had a good night of sleep (though needs many more).  We finally have SNOW again!!!!!   Perhaps hubby will be able to get away for a couple of nights of camping yet!!!  🙂

Anyways, we got some books read this month and I thought you might like to know about them.

Books that I read with my lad

World History Encyclopedia

This was a great book for us to read through.  One two-page spread per night, and we learned so much.  Tons of pictures, maps, artifacts and so much more. 

 
 

I love these 100 facts books.  This one was on World Wonders.  Again, we read a two page spread every night, and often paused to look things up that interested us.   It caused me to say “hey, I could do up a worksheet on that, or this would make a great ebook”.  🙂   But that will wait.

We read these three biographies and found them fascinating.  The smallest one was about Sojourner Truth… An interesting black lady with a strong will and mind.  Learned the importance of obedience, learned the importance of standing for what was right, a fervent fighter for freedom from slavery and women’s rights.  She was a speaker who travelled far and wide

Sharing: the story of the Mayo Clinic.  
This was a read that told us how the Mayo Clinic started and gave a reason for why the Mayo Brothers shared so easily with others.

Facing a Challenge: the story of Terry Fox.
My son never understood who Terry Fox was or why he’s so important, and now he does.  🙂   Fighting cancer, fighting to be who he thought he was, fighting to help others…his story continues to this day.

I read a variety of books for reviews:

Current Reads:
War Plan Red (review)
Dog in the cave (review)
The Overlook (for fun)
The nature book (with the lad)
Snakes (with the lad)
Bronze bow (with the lad)
Tirza (with the lad)
Nieces book that I can’t tell you anything about other than … IT”S GOOD.
Rainforest Journey (with the lad)