A Quilting Adventure

This month we started a new adventure--quilting!

Thanks to a great lady, whom we'll call Ms. Kathryn, Georgie is learning so much about the art of quilting, and so am I.  Our plan is to meet with Ms. Kathryn at least once a month and make a quilt square, each based on Georgie's favorite book that month.

Ms. Kathryn supplied Georgie with fabric pens, and Georgie drew the cover to this month's favorite, Zero the Hero. 

At the end of the year, she will have made a quilt representing each month of her 6th year, and by the time she's 6, it should be finished. At least, that's the goal.

Ms. Kathryn had the idea of making the borders out of different strips of fabric, maybe even made out of some of her clothes, and sewing or writing the titles of books on the strips so that they look like book spines. Great idea!

A book quilt is thoroughly Georgie. I can't wait to have it, but will enjoy the journey immensely.

Literary Theater

At our house, it's often not enough just to read a book--we have to have a theatrical presentation, complete with sets, costumes, and masks.

Yesterday we had two such performances.

First, we read Sir Cumference and the Great Knight of Angleland.  She was Radius, and first made her own medallion (protractor) out of construction paper (her idea).  Then, as I read the book, she acted out every part of it. I had to wear the princess hat, since I was Lady Di of Ameter (and all the other characters that weren't Radius).

Now she has a great grasp on angles (straight, acute, and obtuse), and how to measure parts of a circle, and she didn't even know she was being taught! She did it her own way, and learned.

Later in the day, she made me a mask so that I could play the Maestro in Belinda and the Glass Slipper (and all the other characters).  She had to be Lola, the main character.  I read the book as we acted it out, complete with the dancing.

It amazes me how she loves to make sets and costumes, and act stories out. She does this with her history and, as with Sir Cumference, even her math! Theater can be a great teacher.

Will her name be in lights one day? I don't know, maybe, but she's found a fun way to learn that really helps her remember. Much better than studying for a test, any day!

Little Pituitary Gland

Yesterday I read Georgie a few facts about nerves, and she really picked up on the pituitary gland. For some reason, that's what she mainly got out of the lesson, although we had a great time playing "Secret in a Sack"--a game where I put different objects in a paper bag and she feels them to guess what they are and describe their texture.

Later that day, she starts chatting about the pituitary gland (remembering the correct pronunciation perfectly), and showing me where the gland is on a baby doll.

Later than that, she was in the living room playing and starts singing a little song about the pituitary gland. It went like this:

Little Pituitary Gland
Little Pituitary Gland
At the back of your little head
Telling you to grow from a baby
And then a toddler.
Grow and grow and grow
To a big kid and then a grownup--
Little Pituitary Gland
Helps you do it.

Not bad for 5!

One Small Step for a Man, a Milestone for Georgie

Well, last night was a monumental night in the Jones family. In honor of turning 5, Georgie got her very first library card, and checked out her first book. The book was Knuffle Bunny Free, a very appropriate choice, since it's about a little girl starting to come of age and find some independence.

She was so excited all day before we went to the library that she didn't feel like playing the "Rabbit Shoots the Sun" theatrical that she'd planned the night before, complete with costumes (I believe we will be doing it today though, by her implications last night).

After she checked out the book, library manners were put aside as she scampered about shouting, "I checked out my very first book!!!"

We went to Pizza Inn to celebrate.

You have to understand, books are a major factor in little Georgie's life. She has no interest in television--she doesn't have any idea what comes on. She will watch a DVD every now and then, but lose interest after a while and ask to be read to again. I read to her at least 3-4 hours a day. At the very least.

Soon, she will be able to read these books on her own, and I'll have to watch in silence while she's in "the Bookworld," as Jasper Fforde calls it.  I'll enjoy reading to her all I can, while I can, and I'm getting a better education this way than I ever did in college!

But, now, she can check them out herself.

Georgie's Book List

This is the list of books Georgie and I read together this year while she was 4. Georgie has a mind that's just on another plane of existence, on so many levels, and she listens to chapter books voraciously. In fact, we've had many a tearful tantrum in our house because "No one would read to her!" This list doesn't count the dozen or so chapter books her Grandma read to her this year.

The Magician's Nephew
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle
Little House in the Big Woods
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator
The BFG
Matilda
Esio Trot
The Magic Finger
Danny: The Champion of the World
James and the Giant Peach
The Giraffe, The Pelly, and Me
The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Charlotte's Web
Stuart Little
The Trumpet of the Swan
The Hobbit
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Through the Looking Glass
A Christmas Carol
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Land of Oz
Ozma of Oz

Also, understand that this list includes only chapter books, not the hundreds of children's books we've read throughout the year.