We read a lot of great literature this year.

Literature:

• The Aesop for Children by Milo Winter.  I never realized there were so many of Aesop's fables.  Before reading them this year, I could think of maybe 2 or 3.  There are many, many more.
• Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb
  • "Midsummer Nights Dream"
  • "The Tempest"
  • "As You Like It"
  • The Winter's Tale"
  • "King Lear"
  • "Twelfth Night"
• Selections from The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
• Selections from Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling.  I find Kipling very humerous.  There was some very "interesting" ideas of how things came to be and it did give us a great opportunity to discuss what was a made up story and what the Bible has to say.  But each of these stories made me laugh.
• Selections from Parables from Nature by Margaret Gatty.  Good book with great morals and lfie lessons.  Some of the stories were long and I wasn't sure where some of them were going at times.  I think our favorite two stories were the ones about the caterpillar who didn't know she would turn into a butterfly and the bee who led a revolt and was very unhappy not doing the work he was created to do.

History:

• An Island Story by H.E. Marshall.  We read chapters 1-21 and it covered the beginning history of England.  It was interesting to Cameron as it was filled with many battles and conquests.
• Selected chapters from Fifty Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin
• Chapters 1-11 of Viking Tales by Jennie Hall.  Cameron's favorite stories from this was about the sea battle.
• Benjamin Franklin by Ingri D'Aulaire.  I have to say, I love D'Aulaire books.  They have wonderful illustrations and a very pleasant way of telling the story.  Cameron's favorite part of Benjamin Franklin was how he used a kite to pull him along in the water while he was swimming.
• George Washington by Ingri D'Aulaire.  Cameron's favorite part was about Washington's dealings with the Indians.
• Pocahontas by Ingri D'Aulaire.  We were supposed to read Buffalo Bill but no library in our county had this book so we read Pocahontas which was one of our free reading books.

Geography:

• Paddle to the Sea by Holling C. Holling.  We were supposed to draw this book out over many weeks but we borrowed it from the library so we finished it in about 2 weeks instead.  It was one of his favorites.  Holling is another must read/have author.  I learned my Great Lakes in school but not like this.  I can't believe that the shapes that Holling's described didn't pop out at me.  I'm looking forward very much to the three Holling's books we will be reading 2nd.

Nature:

• James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot.  We read this entire book for Kindergarten.  We borrowed it from the library and re-read some of our favorites.  Another great book.
• The Burgess Bird Book for Children by Thornton Burgess.  I learned so much about birds this year.  Cameron knows more about more birds than I ever did.  Reading this book has really sparked our interest in birds and it amazes me the different birds that I must have been seeing my entire life but never paid attention.  We made a Bird Notebook of the birds that we decided to study this year from BBB.  The ones that we have seen this year are bolded.
  • House Wren
  • House Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, Tree Sparrow, Vesper Sparrow (We still aren't very good at telling all the Sparrows apart.  We aren't sure who we have seen.  We have heard the Chipping Sparrow numerous times though)
  • Bluebird
  • American Robin
  • Golden-wing Flicker
  • Redwinged Blackbird
  • Downey Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Red-headed Woodpecker
  • Cowbird
  • Baltimore Oriole
  • Purple Martin
  • Barn Swallow
  • Crow
  • Blue Jay
  • Ruffed Grouse
  • Rusty Blackbird
  • Cardinal
  • Catbird (We haven't seen it but we've heard it. It sounds much like a cat crying or, to me sometimes, a baby.  I woke Cameron one night by checking on him because I thought he was crying.  He was semi awake and asked what I was doing.  When I told him he sweetly and sleepily said, "It must be that silly Catbird again Mama.")
  • Towhee
  • Indigo Bunting
  • Shrike
  • Ruby-throated Humming bird
  • Chickadee
  • White-breasted Nuthatch
  • Brown Creeper
  • Junco
  • Pine Grosbeak
  • Redpoll

Poetry:

• A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Now We Are Six/When We Were Very Young by A.A. Milne.  Very humerous.
• Oxford Book of Children's Verse Iona and Peter Opie (I think.  But now that I look at it, maybe not.)

Free Reading:  We did these mostly at bedtime.

• Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
• King of the Golden River by John Ruskin
• Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
• St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
• The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
• Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

We were supposed to read Peter Pan  James M. Barrie but we read it for Kindergarten and I didn't want to read it again.  Also, we never got around to The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang