2014 Texas 2x2 Reading List

For the past two weeks I have been introducing the 2014 Texas 2x2 Reading List books to the children during their class story time. Each child had the opportunity to select one of the new books to check out the day they came for story time. The children have been very excited to listen to and read these new books. Each class has started a reading log to show which of the twenty titles has been read and the children should have brought home their very own Texas 2x2 Reading List log to color. If you did not see one come home, you can print one here.

When you and your child have read all twenty of the titles on the 2014 Texas 2x2 Reading List and colored in all of the spaces, please send the reading log back to school with your child's name and teacher's name written on it, as well as your child's favorite book from the list. We will take a picture of your child and put it up on our Texas 2x2 Wall of Fame. I will also ask your child to tell me about the book they chose as their favorite. I will record these book talks and we will have them available for students to listen to in order to help them select a book to check out.

Tonight during Family Night @ the Library we read the following books:

• The Black Rabbit by Philippa Leathers
• Bug Patrol by Denise Dowling Mortensen
• Fraidyzoo by Thyra Heder
• Nat the Cat's Sunny Smile by Jez Alborough
• The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli

Here are some activities you can do at home in order to extend the fun we had in story time.

The Black Rabbit

• Shadow Puppets - create and play with your own shadow puppets after watching this video on Peep and the Big Wide World
• Shadow Tricks - learn about shadows and how they are made.

Bug Patrol

• Bugs Matching Game - select the theme: bugs; and the difficulty level then find all the matching pairs of cards.
• Coloring pages and Activities from Orkin

Fraidyzoo

• Online game - Alphabet Zoo - match the lowercase letter to the capital letter in this interactive game.
• A Trip to the Zoo - an online sotry about a visit to the zoo.
• Zebra Shape Paper Hat / Hat template - make your own zebra shaped paper hat

Nat the Cat's Sunny Smile

• Coloring pages - use the great pictures of the characters to retell the story, or create your own story with Nat the Cat, Hugo the Hare, and Billy the Goat.
• Watch and listen - as the author, Jez Alborough, reads the book aloud.

The Watermelon Seed

• Sock Seeds - try this cool experiment to see what you can grow at home!
• The Great Plant Escape - try to discover how a see grows into a plant.

We had a great turn out tonight for Family Night @ the Library and Story Time. Thank you to all of the parents who took the time to bring your children to the library. I hope you and your children had a great time. I know I did!