Read Across Lawrence for Kids

 

After months and months of preparation, I'm so excited to share with you a community-wide reading event with the goal of getting kids "on the same page".

For 10 years, the Lawrence Public Library has been hosting a city project, Read Across Lawrence, where everyone reads the same book at the same time. This year will be the very first year we also have a parallel program for kids, Read Across Lawrence for Kids, featuring the highly acclaimed, bohemian fantasy, The Cabinet of Wonders by Marie Rutkoski.

 

Yesterday, over 200 kids attended our Read Across Lawrence Pizza Party Kick-Off to enjoy delicious Wheat State Pizza, pick up a FREE copy of the book, watch the offical book trailer, and learn about the variety of events offered throughout the month of September. Lots and lots of events!

• Cover Art Workshop: Local cut-paper artist Angie Pickman will be hosting an art workshop inspired by the cover art of The Cabinet of Wonders.


• Book Trailer Workshop: Kids will learn how to make a stop-motion claymation movie and create a book trailer for The Cabinet of Wonders to premiere at the Read Across Lawrence for Kids Author Talk Finale


• Tour of the City's Own Cabinet of Wonders: Watkins Museum in Downtown Lawrence is going to grant access to library patrons to explore their attic, which looks like a cabinet of wonders. There will also be a short book discussion and craft activity following the tour.


• Cabinet of Wonders Scavenger Hunt: Using pre-programed GPS devices and clues based on the book, kids can navigate downtown Lawrence in search of hidden treasures.


• Cabinet of Wonders Installation: The library is creating it's own community Cabinet of Wonders!


• Book Club: Our monthly children's book club, The Secret Book Club, will be reading and discussing The Cabinet of Wonders for their September meeting.


• Teens Read it First: Drawing in the Teen Zone for advanced readers copies of Marie Rutkoski's YA novel, The Shadow Society, due out this October.


• Read Across Lawrence for Kids Author Talk Finale: Kids will have the opportunity to virtually meet The Cabinet of Wonders author Marie Rutkoski. The book trailer for The Cabinet of Wonders made by the kids of Lawrence will also premiere. Attendees also have a chance to win a copy of the next book in The Kronos Chronicle Series, The Celestial Globe.

The whole month is chock full of activities that take the reading experience one step further.

 

Along with promoting the events in the library with displays and word-of-mouth, the local teachers and school librarians have been the BIGGEST advocates. Twenty classrooms ranging from 3rd-7th grade have either already started or soon will start reading the book as a part of their language arts curriculum. School librarians have been encouraging their students to read the book and continuously keep them updated on upcoming events. They've been a dream to work with! Gotta love teachers and librarians!

With the kids program underway and the adult Read Across Lawrence program kicking off later this week, I feel confident in saying it's going to be a great month of reading here in Lawrence, Kansas.

Stay tuned...

Adventurs as Annie in EGYPT

This was the last Magic Tree House Adventures session until the school year picks up again in the fall. I now feel that I have a small understanding of how a teacher feels on their last day of school. Going to miss those kids. We didn't have a crazy 50+ group like in the past few sessions. It was graduation weekend and being a university town, everything is affected by what's going on with the school. But we did have our tried and true core of 30 kids in attendance.

Off we went to the marvelous and mysterious Ancient Egypt...

Where Are We? Who Are They

Just like in the previous Magic Tree House Adventure sessions, our first activity is "Where Are We? Who Are They?", a slide show guessing game about the place and time period we're visiting for the day. We discussed the pyramids, famous pharaohs, the culture, the religion, mummies, tomb raiders, King Tut's discovery, and so much more. If you'd like the full presentation outline, please feel free to email me.

Mummy Wrap Race

I have to start by saying this did not go as expected.. but the kids still had fun nonetheless.

We divided the group into teams of 5. 1 person was the mummy, 2 were the mummifiers, and 2 were the excavators. We handed out 2 rolls of toilet paper to each mummifer. With the mummies and the mummifiers in each group standing and the excavators sitting we timed how long it took for the mummifiers to wrap their mummy. The toilet paper was thin and kept tearing, but the kids were laughing and didn't seem to care. The first group to finishing wrapping their mummy won. Then the excavators/tomb robbers were next. Their job was to see own fast they could unwrap the mummy carefully with as few toilet paper tears as possible.

Masks, Cartouches and Gold!

There were so many inspiring crafts for Ancient Egypt, that my partner"Jack" and I decided to make three, so we set up three rotating craft stations around the room in which the kids had 10 minutes at each station.

Cartouche Creations: There was a cartouche station where the kids learned about how to write their name in hieroglyphics. A co-worker found some awesome Egyptian stamps downstairs that we used as well.

Golden Jewels: We made necklaces of "lapis" and "gold" (my favorite of the crafts) were they strung together spray-painted rigatoni noddles on elastic string. I'm pretty sure all the kids ended up wearing their necklaces around.

Mummy Masks: The third station, was King Tut mask making. We pre-made and cut out the masks by tracing an image of King Tut's mask from a book and enlarging it onto 11x14 paper using our printer. After the copies were printed, we cut the eyes and shape out. All the kids had to do was color! The below image of King Tutankhamun's burial mask was left up on the projector from "Where Are We? Who Are They?", so the kids could use it as a guide. We also encouraged them to color their masks in whichever way inspired them. This idea was inspired by Imagine Explore Create.

The crafts were a big hit! They liked making them so much that they didn't want to stop when time was up. They finally let up on their crafting when I let their parents in to pick them up. As they were leaving, they were allowed to select as many Ancient Egypt books to check out from a table display in the back.

Among them were a couple books we used for the craft ideas:

The Ancient Egyptians by Fiona McDonald

The Egyptians by Ruth Thomson

Magic Tree House Adventure Journal #4:

As always, along with whatever the kids made that day and library books based on the theme, they also took home their Magic Tree House Adventure Journal. Here's an abbreviated peak at what's inside. Continuing the learning and the fun.

5 minutes after the kids were supposed to be released from the session they insisted on staying! We had to invite the parents and caregivers to come in the auditorium to collect their children.

I'll take that as as sign that they liked it.

Looking forward to continuing the adventures in the fall!

image sources: pyramids, king tut

Adventures of Annie Aboard the Titanic

Before starting the Magic Tree House Adventures: Tonight on the Titanic program last Saturday, a parent came up to me and said, "You know this ship is going down, right?"

Last weekend, was the third edition of Magic Tree House Adventures. February theme was Hour of the Olympics and March was Leprechaun in Late Winter. Since our April's session happened to fall on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's demise and Kansas City's Union Station is currently featuring a Titanic Artifact Exhibit, this month's theme was based off of Jack and Annie's adventure's in the Magic Tree House book, Tonight on the Titanic.

On Saturday, "Jack" and I set sail using the Magic Tree House as our guide...

Where are we? Who are they?

Where are we? Who are they? has become a regular activity for Magic Tree House Adventures. It’s a power point guessing game where we flash an image on a large screen and the kids guess the location of the picture, what is going on in the picture, or who is/are the person/persons in the picture.

For the Titanic session, the primary focus was the timeline of events during the Titanic's voyage, but also included  important figures such as Captain Smith, Thomas Andrews, and Robert Ballard, iceberg facts, and what it was like traveling as a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd class passenger.

For example, when this slide was displayed, I'd ask the kids... "Where is this? Is it someone's house?" And their reply was, "No, it's in the Titanic!". Then I would ask is this part of the Titanic the 3rd class travelers occupied? Was it 2nd? Or 3rd? Then we would talk about the different areas of the ship and the people who traveled on the Titanic.

Titanic Timeline Match Up

Posted around the room were clocks with pictures with pictures underneath in chronological order of important events on the Titanic voyage from April 10-April 18, 1912.

The kids received a worksheet where the dates and the events were out of order. To match them correctly, they had to go around the room and find the accurate matches. These were the events used:

April 10, 1912: Noon - Titanic Leaves Southampton, England
April 10: 6:30pm - Titanic stops in Cherboug, France
April 11: 11:30am - Titanic stops in Queenstown, Ireland
April 11-14 - Titanic travels toward New York. Passengers enjoy journey.
April 14: 11:40pm - Titanic strikes iceberg
April 15: 12:25 am - Passengers begin to be loaded into lifeboats
April 15: 2:20am - Titanic sinks
April 15: 4:10am - Carpathia reaches survivors
April 15- April 18 - Carpathia sails toward New York
April 18: 9pm - Survivors arrive in New York

Titanic Rescue Activity

The plan was to do this outside with two teams, but we had severe weather warnings over the weekend and had to make do inside.

The plan outside was to have two Titanic ships (outlined in yarn) about 25 feet, side by side. And two rescue ships 20 yards away parallel the Titanic ships, also side by side. One team will step inside one Titanic boat, and the other team in the other. Using one hula hoop each team, acting as a lifeboat, kids have to figure out how to fit as many passengers into one hula hoop (lifeboat) at a time, walk to the rescue boat, and then one passenger, "the hero" is what we named this person, had to come back in the hula hoop (lifeboat), and fill it up with more passengers, and return to the rescue boat. This would be done as quickly as possible, and over and over, until the Titanic was empty.

A race to see which team can get from the Titanic ship to the rescue ship without “throwing anyone overboard” and in the least amount of time.

Since we played the game inside, we only had one Titanic ship and one rescue ship outlined in tape and the teams took turns.

Titanic                              Lifeboat                                                                      Rescue Ship

(If you can make any sense of this diagram, the little circles are the kids.)

The first time the kids only had 1 hula hoop (lifeboat). The second time the kids used two hula hoops (lifeboat).

The activity was meant to show the kids how much quicker their ship emptied with two lifeboats opposed to one, which is why after the Titanic sunk a rule was put into effect that every ship has to have more than enough lifeboats for every passenger aboard. If the Titanic had enough lifeboats, this tragedy might have been avoided.

This was probably the kids' favorite part of the session. In context, a bit morbid, yes. But I feel the point came across loud and clear.

Iceberg Demonstration

The majority of this activity and facts about icebergs came from Beyond Penguins .

The day before, I made mini icebergs by filling water ballons with water, leaving them in the freezer, and then right before the class started, cut and peel away the balloon. With a couple clear glass bowls filled with water, some salt, and a little blue food coloring we had a couple iceberg models.

After the game, I brought out the iceberg models and the kids sat around me and we discussed these questions:

1. Why did I put salt in the water? A: we are simulating sea water (35 gms of salt in 1000ml water)


2. Why does the ice float? A: It’s less dense- ice is .92, water 1.0


3. Where do you find icebergs? A: largest and highest number in Antartica


4. Is more ice above or below the surface?

More facts about Icebergs:
A common misconception among students of all ages is that heavy objects sink and light objects float. While this belief may explain many examples, massive icebergs show that the density of an object, not its weight, is the cause of flotation.

Water is one of the few substances that is slightly denser as a liquid than as a solid. This is why ice cubes float in water.

Second, and slightly more interestingly: Most icebergs actually contain a lot of air. Far from being the solid blocks of ice many people imagine, icebergs are riddled with billions of tiny, trapped air bubbles, giving the huge bergs their white appearance.
Third, icebergs are made from fresh water. Because of the dissolved salts in ocean water, it is denser than freshwater, adding bouyancy to the icebergs.

The Titanic Today

With only 8 minutes left, the kids watched a clip of what the Titanic looks like today documented from The History Channel's Titanic's Final Moments: Missing Pieces.

At that point, the hour was up and it was time for the kids to go home!

As always, books were left on the table for them to check out of which they always raid...

... and they were also given their newest companion journal. Below is a sneak peak inside:

My co-worker, "Jack", really does an incredible job putting these journals together.

Had a great group of kids who seemed like they learned a lot and had fun doing it. Win!

Another adventure under the belt.

In May, we are off to the deserts of Egypt...

Magic Tree House #3: Mummies in the Morning

image sources: titanic illustration, titanic staircase, history channel dvd, mummies in the morning

Tournament of Kids Books WINNER

It's all over. Out of 16 titles, one came out victorious.

After weeks and weeks of voting throughout March, the Tournament of Kids Books came to a close last Saturday when Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling was announced as the winner.

Over 400 kids participated in voting!

And good ol' Harry claimed the championship by 3 votes....

The Lawrence Public Library was very fortunate to have two special guests from the University of Kansas Men's Basketball Team, Justin Wesley and Jeff Withey, assist in announcing the Tournament of Kids Books winner. They also selected the grand prize raffle winners and each read a picture book to an awe-struck attendance.

Each week a raffle winner was chosen for a stack of books provided by the Friends of the Library, but kids who voted throughout the month were ALSO eligible for the grand prize raffle: A signed basketball by the 2011-12 KU Men's Basketball team OR a stack of the newest titles by the authors represented in the tournament.

At the Winner's Ceremony on Saturday, after announcing Harry Potter as the winner (Justin Wesley opened a wrapped library copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Jeff Withey decorated the bracket with a poster of the book's cover), the athletes each selected one raffle winner. Unfortunately, it was a little anticlimactic because both winners were not present, but they were very excited to receive the phone call later that evening!

After the tournament winner was announced and the raffle winners selected, the audience was treated to a couple of tall tales. Yeah... bad joke.

Jeff Withey read the classic Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? by Bill Martin Jr.

Justin Wesley read his childhood favorite, The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.

And that was that! It's all said and done.

Best part of all?

The kids loved it.

They embraced the Tournament the whole way through.

Especially, last Saturday, when all their heroes... basketball heroes Jeff Withey and Justin Wesley...  and book heroes Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, Jack and Annie, Geronimo Stilton, Greg Heffley etc. were all under one roof.

For the love of basketball and most importantly for the love of reading.

Keep on reading kids and Rockchalk!

13 in 16

Alright..So this is the thing. Had a few hiccups in the plan and I didn't read all 16 Tournament of Kids Books in 16 days.

I know. I'm so ashamed. So, so ashamed...

If you haven't the faintest idea of what I'm talking about, here's what's going on. In honor of the Tournament of Kids Books at the Lawrence Public Library, I made the goal of reading all 16 books in 16 days. 16 in 16. Mostly I was doing this because the 16 books selected to compete were the top circulating books in our children's department in 2011 and I had previously only read one (Harry Potter). Quite a big disconnect between what I'm reading and what's being read.

But I did complete 13 of the 16 books in 16 days, and have what I think are some good reasons for not finishing the last three. 13 in 16 isn't that bad after all.

Below are the books I read and those I wasn't able to finish. Overall, it was a great exercise and am really glad I did it. I feel much more connected with with the interests of the kids who visit the library and have a better understanding of the books they just can't get enough of.

Happy Birthday Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel

I really liked Bad Kitty. I'm familiar with the picture books, but this was my first time reading the young fiction series. It was actually really funny goofball sort of humor, and this particular book had interesting cat facts intertwined. Large type and lots of pictures, I look forward to recommending this series to readers ready to step up to chapter books.

Big Nate Strikes Again by Lincoln Peirce

This was one of the books going into it I thought was going to be "meh". I was so wrong.  I loved this book. A cleaver and humorous book alternating between text and comic strip layout, Big Nate Strikes Again also integrates interesting historical tidbits. For example, main character Nate is working on a research project about Ben Franklin and starts to create his own take on 'Poor Richard's Almanac" with "Poor Nate's Almanac". Did you know Ben Franklin was also a cartoonist? I didn't. Big Nate was by far my favorite title in the 16 in 16 challenge. Well, other than Harry Potter.

Geronimo Stilton: Mummy With No Name by Geronimo Stilton

Kids love Geronimo Stilton. Like the Magic Tree House series, they carry stacks of these books to their parents, pleading to checkout more. Personally, I'm on board with Geronimo. It's not my #1, but it was a fun read with lots of colorful font types and pictures. I also liked that in the back of the book there was a how-to guide to throwing you're own "Chilling Mummy Party". It, also, is loaded with side historical facts relevant to the story being told.

My Weird School: Mr. Tony is Full of Baloney by Dan Gutman, illustrated by Jim Palliot

Eh... I can see why kids like the My Weird School series. It is goofy. I get it. But even so, I thought it was pretty flat compared to a lot of the other young fiction books in the tourney.

Junnie B., First Grader: Dumb Bunny by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Burkus

I'm 50/50 about Junie B. She's alright. Don't hate her, but I don't love her. Like the My Weird School Series, I can see why kids would like reading this series. And if it gets kids to read books I'm 100% on board with that.

Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows, illustrated by Sophie Blackall

I really liked Ivy & Bean. I thought it was a great story that young readers, especially girls,  could really get into. Really glad I finally got around to reading this great series by Annie Barrows, who also wrote the widely popular adult book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society.

Summer of the Sea Serpent by Mary Pope Osborne

I'm already a fan of the Magic Tree House series, and Summer of the Sea Serpent is no exception. Kids learn so much from reading this series and enjoy it to boot; one reason why so many teachers and librarians are Magic Tree House fans as well.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid The Ugly Truth was good. I didn't like it as much as I liked Big Nate, but I liked it a lot. Author Jeff Kinney has harnessed an incredible voice that speaks to so many kids. Girls or boys. Old or young. And when I say old, I mean parents. Just the other day a dad was commenting on how he felt the scenarios in the Wimpy Kid series were just the kind of things he would get himself into as a child.

Dragonbreath: Attack of the Ninja Frogs by Ursula Vernon

This was another young fiction series I had never cracked open, but I'm glad I finally did. The illustrations are great and the story is equally so. And I now can see why so many kids had such a hard time choosing between Dragonbreath and Diary of a Wimpy Kid in the first round of the tournament.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling

This was the one book I had already read. The first time I read it was in high school, and like most who have been bit by the Harry Potter bug it remains to be the most loved series I've ever read. I've actually been surprised it is still doing so well in the tournament because it was one of the lower"seeds", ranking number 15 in the top 16 most circulated children's books in our library in 2011. The kids keep voting it into the front line and it continues to dominate.

Eleven by Lauren Myracle

I had never seen or heard of this book until I received the list of most checked out children's books for 2011. The second of The Winnie Perry series, Eleven reminded me exactly what it was like to be an eleven year old girl. I thought it extremely well written, main character Winnie Perry lovable, and am thankful to have another solid book to recommend to middle grade readers.

Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane by Suzanne Collins

I read Gregor the Overlander some time ago, and remember enjoying it very much. I regularly recommend the series at the library, but I haven't read beyond that first book. Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane, the second book in the series, was outstanding.

The ones that didn't make it...

Fading Echoes by Erin Hunger

Warriors: Omen of the Stars: Fading Echoes is the second book in the fourth (FOURTH!) series of Warriors books. I had to read the prologue three times and the first chapter twice, because I had no clue what was going on. Hawkfrost, Ivypaw, Ravenpelt, Yellowfang, Jayfeather... all cats of clans I could hardly keep track of. So, I decided to return Fading Echoes in exchange for the first book in the Warriors series, Into the Wild. Hopefully, that will go a bit more smoothly.

The Icebound Land by John Flanagan

Not to the severity of  the Fading Echoes, but I also had a difficult time getting into The Ranger's Apprentice, book 3, The Icebound Land. So I traded this one in as well, waiting for the first title of the series, The Ruins of Gorlan.

The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan

My problem with The Lost Hero was I waited to read it until the 16th day. It's 551 pages. That's like, Harry Potter thick. As a bookseller, I read The Lightning Thief, which The Lost Hero is a continuation of. An action-packed book laden with Greek mythology for today's young reader. This was the first seed in the tournament and is still going strong in the brackets.

Below is the current progress of our Tournament of Kids Books bracket.

Looking forward to seeing who comes out on top!

image sources: lost hero, eleven, mr tony is full of baloney, dumb bunny, icebound land,  big nate strikes again, harry potter, fading echoes, summer of the serpent, gregor, mummy with no name, ivy and bean,  dork diaries, happy birthday bad kitty, dragonbreath, ugly truth

Adventures as Annie in Ireland

Magic Tree House Adventures went to 19th-century Ireland for the second edition of our new library program for kids 5 & up based on the popular series Magic Tree House by Mary Pope Osborne.

Like many cities, St. Patrick's Day in Lawrence, Kansas is quite the event. But aside from the parades and green get-up, what is it really all about? For the March session of Magic Tree House Adventures we decided to find out as we journeyed back in time, as Annie and Jack did in Leprechaun in Late Winter, celebrating this popular holiday by learning about Irish history and folklore through activities and and a very special guest performer.

These were our adventures in Ireland...

History Through Music

Music was and is to this day a very large part of Irish culture . Lucky for us, Lawrence, Kansas is a part-time home to an extremely talented, nationally renowned Celtic folk singer, Ashley Davis. Ashely graciously accepted the invitation to sing for and with the Magic Tree House Adventures group.

(You can listen to excerpts of Ashley Davis' albums HERE, and if you're in New York City this St. Patrick's Day she will be preforming at The Barge at 8pm.)

Where Are We? Who Are They?

"Where Are We? Who Are They? is a game we played at The Hour of Olympics session and might become a staple for every Magic Tree House Adventures session. It's a power point guessing game where we flash an image on a large screen and the kids guess the location of the picture, what is going on in the picture, or who is/are the person/persons in the picture.

For example, the first picture was the picture below. When it came up on the screen, I asked, "Where is that? Is it Kansas? Is it a beach in Florida?" And then kids would contribute their guesses. After three guess, I would tell them where it was (Ireland) and a little about the place. Our performer, Ashley Davis, knowledgeable about Ireland's history and culture, contributed facts too.

Facts for the topics chosen where found in Leprechauns and Irish Folklore, A Magic Tree House Research Guide by Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca, and Natalie Pope Boyce. We showed images and talked about Ireland, Irish Folklore/Oral Tradition, Lady Augusta Gregory, Fairies, Leprechauns, Trooping Fairies, Irish Music and Dancing, and "Real or Not Real". For the last slide, "Real or Not Real", we used this famous image below of the Cottingley Fairies and asked if the kids believed in fairies by a hand-raise vote.

I followed up by saying there were actually fairies and leprechauns in the very room they were sitting in.

And if they looked carefully... they will find them.

Fairy Scavenger Hunt and Craft


I had pasted several different images of leprechauns and fairies into a word document, printed them, and cut them out. Before the kids came into the auditorium for the hour the leprechauns and fairies were taped all around the room. You wouldn't have been able to tell that 100 wee folk were all around unless someone pointed it out.

The capture of the fairies ensued and after each child had a fairy or leprechaun, they were given mason jars to make a fairy jar, a place to keep captured fairies. Tables were set up with spanish moss (straw like material found in large bags at a craft or floral store), reeds, twigs, dried plants found outside, buttons, glitter, ribbon, rocks, marbles, and seashells.

After they finished decorating their jars, it was suggested that they glue a short reed or stick to the back of the fairy so that stand up straight, and then seal them in the jar.

Important Note: Do not use heavy rocks. Actually.. my advice would be to not use rocks in the fairy jars AT ALL. We had two drop and break due to the rock inside. Other than that, it was a great activity and craft. And if you have the option to do it outside, I think it would make the activity even more fun.

Rainbow Demonstration

After the fairy scavenger hunt and craft, we all sat back down for a science session devoted to rainbows. In the tale of the leprechaun, it is said that if you find the end of the rainbow, you'll find the leprechaun's gold. This is where I asked the kids, "But did you know that rainbows never really end?"

"Huh?" was the dominate reply.

I sat down on the floor in the middle of the group with a clear glass bowl filled with water, a compact mirror, and a flashlight.

With all the kids facing me, I turned on the flashlight and all the lights in the room (which is windowless) were dimmed. Holding the flashlight near the ground with the light on a side of the bowl of water,  I diped the mirror in the bowl of water so the mirror was reflecting the light from the flashlight-- See diagram below.

Doing this reflected light onto the ceiling and when angled just right, reflects a rainbow. I explained that white light, like the light from the sun, is actually a lot of different colors. The different colors don't appear unless they are refracted, or broken up, by water or a prism.  Once the rainbow appeared, they all oooo'ed and ahhh'ed. I continued to explain that a rainbow is formed when sunlight meets raindrops in the air and the raindrops separate the sunlight into all these different colors. Also, because rainbows are made in the sky they don't touch the ground. So no mater how far you walk towards a rainbow, it will always look as though it's on the edge of the horizon. Which is why, truth be told, no one will ever find a leprechaun's pot of gold, because rainbows don't ever end. Clever little men, no?

I used this website as a reference for this demonstration.

A Leprechaun Tale

To end, I read The Story of the Leprechaun, an adaptation of an Irish folktale, to the kids.

And that was the hour.

They went home with their very own Magic Tree House Adventure Journals,

which included what we talked about,

and a few activities from the Magic Tree House website.

Not to forget books for the kids to check out on their way out.

Next month, Magic Tree House Adventures will take place on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking.

Get ready to set sail in April, Tonight on the Titanic.

image source: ashley davis, ireland, cottingley fairies, rainbow,  the story of the leprechaun