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November's author for the Virtual Book Club is Tomie DePaola. 

 

We read a few of his stories during Thanksgiving week starting with The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.  A young man is more interested in art then being a warrior.  We used an exemplar sentence from the story about being remembered in a different way than others as our journal prompt.  The idea was too deep for the kiddos, but at least they thought for a few minutes.

While packing away my fall decorations, I found these Tomie DePaola books:

They were freebies with a book order several years ago.  I have a few left and would like to share if anyone's interested.  Please leave a comment answering the journal prompt, "How would you like people to remember you?" and I'll randomly choose a winner the evening of December 16.

Next, we read Tom.  It's an autobiography of Tomie's relationship with his own grandfather.  We wrote about a special relationship the children have with an older person.  This was more on their level with some cute answers.

Last, we learned about some Italian traditions.  Tony's Bread describes how panettone came to be. Days of the Blackbird is about January's coldest days of the year.  The kids seemed to enjoy these stories, especially his simple, but detailed illustrations.

And now, A Christmas Story.

 

We only have twelve hectic days until Christmas break.  I keep our routine the same, but use Christmas stories for read-alouds and guided reading lessons.  When we lived in Ohio, I taught Kindergarten.  My aide, Mrs. Cook made all the characters and props out of felt for this story and I always start December by reading it: 

Winnie the Pooh, The Merry Christmas Mystery 

Santa accidentally mixes up the presents in the Hundred Acre Wood.  They trade around until everybody gets what they really needed.  I miss Mrs. Cook everytime I read it.