Tuesday Book Look ......The Moon Might Be Milk

This Tuesday's Book Look book is The Moon Might Be Milk written by Lisa Shulman.

The book is full of colorful pictures and the children will be able to relate to the books heroine, Rosie, as she and her friends wonder what the moon is made of.

From Booklist:

Awakening before dawn, Rosie looks past the cat on her windowsill to the moon and says, "I wonder what it's made of." Cat replies that the moon is a saucer of milk. Rosie concedes that it might be, but she gets dressed, goes outside, and asks several other animals the same question. Hen thinks that the moon is an egg. Butterfly believes it's made of sugar, Dog says "butter," and Mouse is sure that it's made of flour. Each animal joins Rosie on her quest. Finally, they arrive at Rosie's grandmother's house, where Gran combines milk, egg, sugar, butter, and flour to make moon-shaped sugar cookies, satisfying everyone. The final page offers a recipe for Gran's Sugar Cookie Moons, for those who want to extend the story into the kitchen.

Activities for The Moon Might Be Milk

• Make Moon Cookies Using the recipe in the back of the book,  have the children make their own moon cookies. The children can help measure and mix ingredients, and flatten the cookies with sugar.  
• Learn about the phases of the moon. The kids can even make crescent shaped cookies.

•  Write a Story about the Sun  At the end of the book, Rosie wonders what the sun is made of.Why not have the kids make their own story about the sun. 
• Find and Read Folktales about the Moon, Sun and Stars. 
• Make a Mobile of the Sun, Moon and Stars
• Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky, an African folktale

Musical Monday......John the Rabbit, a traditional African-American folk song

Oh, John the rabbit  ( Yes, Ma’am)
Ya got a mighty bad habit  ( Yes, Ma’am)
Jumping in my garden  ( Yes Ma’am)
Eating all my cabbage  (Yes Ma’am)
My sweet potatoes  (Yes Ma’am)
My fresh tomatoes  ( Yes Ma’am)
And if I live  (Yes Ma’am)
To see next fall  (Yes, Ma’am)
I ain’t gonna have  (Yes Ma’am)
No garden at all  ( Yes Ma’am)


John the Rabbit is a traditional African-American folk song. It falls in the category of Call and Response songs. Like echo songs, call and response songs requires the song leader and the group to take turns singing. But unlike echo songs, the group/children's sung response is different from the leader/teacher's part of the song. 

 This is a good video of kids singing John the Rabbit although you'll note that they have added their own verse in the beginning. The second verse is more like the original, traditional song.
The girls (and the teacher) are singing the "call" and the little boy is singing the "response". They have also added movements which you are always free to do. It makes the song even more fun.



Activities for John the Rabbit

1. Make a Song Rebus 
2. Make a Salad using ingredients mentioned in the song or other vegetables normally found in a garden
3. Find or draw pictures of the items in the song (rabbit, tomatoes, cabbage, sweet potatoes, garden). You can also label the pictures and use them as flashcards.
4. Have the kids make up additional lyrics to the song.
5. Read classic rabbit stories: The Velveteen Rabbit, Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit etc.
6. Find out more about Rabbits
7. Learn more rabbit songs. For example: 
   Little Peter Rabbit
   (to the tune of "Battle Hymn of Republic")
   Little Peter Rabbit had a
   fly upon his ear.
   Little Peter Rabbit had a
   fly upon his ear.
   Little Peter Rabbit had a
   fly upon his ear.
   And he flicked it till it flew away!

Arnie the Doughnut.....Tuesday Book Look and National Donut Day

June 4th is National Donut Day.
According to wikipedia:

National Donut Day is on the first Friday of June each year and follows on the Donut Day event created by the Salvation Army in 1938 to honor the women who served donuts to soldiers during World War. The holiday celebrates the doughnut (a.k.a "donut") — an edible, ring-shaped piece of dough which is deep-fried and sweetened.

In honor of National Donut day, I've naturally chosen a book about a donut. Arnie the Doughnut was written by Laurie Keller. It's a really fun and silly book that the kids will love. Here's the official book description:

Arnie is proud to be chocolate-covered, with bright-colored candy sprinkles. His first day on the planet is a big one. He is 1) cut into a ring 2) deep-fried 3) cooled 4) iced 5) sprinkled and 6) named Arnie. What he doesn't realize is that step 7 is being eaten by a human. So, when a customer, Mr. Bing, starts to put him in his mouth, he screams, "What are you doing?" Arnie is further crushed when he calls the bakery to warn the others only to discover that all the other pastries are "aware of this arrangement."

As you can see, Arnie is just the book to read on doughnut day. The kids will love the idea of a doughnut that doesn't want to be eaten.
The perfect activity to accompany this book is, of course, making doughnuts. The simplest way to make "donuts" with kids is to make Biscuit Donuts. I've made these with kids numerous times and they are always a big hit.
This is a good video about making Biscuit Doughnuts. A recipe follows the video.


Biscuit Doughnuts
ingredients:
2 cans of large buttermilk biscuits
oil for frying doughnuts
cinnamon sugar, sprinkles or icing to decorate

Directions:

1. Heat 2 inches peanut oil in a large pot or Dutch oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Lay out the biscuits on a cutting board 
3. With a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out a hole from the middle of each biscuit. 
4. Fry the biscuit/donuts in the oil until golden. Use tongs to flip the donuts over.
5. Don't forget to fry the donut holes. 
6. Drain the donuts and the holes on paper towels 
7. Now you can sprinkle the donuts and holes with cinnamon sugar or put icing on them and decorate with sprinkles.