March is National Reading Month

Did you know that March is National Reading Month? It is a time to celebrate the joys of reading and shared reading time. My son, Boogs, and I love to read together every day. Since his first day of Kindergarten in August 2011, I have sent a story themed lunch with him to school. Making lunches  match the books we read is a great way to make connections with a story. Boogs often helps me figure out what foods we should use to represent the different parts of the stories we read. Laptop Lunches is celebrating National Reading Month by featuring lunches paired with books. I am really excited to see what books are being "bentofied".

Dr. Seuss' Birthday is March 2nd.  Celebrating the books of Dr. Seuss is a wonderful way to kick off National Reading Month.

 Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Boogs liked all of the places you can eat green eggs and ham. This lunch shows where to eat them.
In the Laptop Lunchbox:
- with a marshmallow fox in a graham cracker box
- on a pb&j train in the cheese rain
- in a broccoli tree
- blueberry sea
- dried apricots
- green boiled egg
- ham swirls


Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book

Van Vleck is yawning very wide and his yawn is contagious. This book shows who the yawn spread to and their sleepy-time routines.
In the Laptop Lunchbox:
- Jedd bed blueberry, raspberry, and blackberry pom poms
- salami & cheese moose sandwich dreaming of moose juice (yogurt)
- Babybel cheese Krox clock
- marshmallow sleep book
- carrots stilts with broccoli, tomato, and radish

Wolf! by Becky Bloom

Wolf is hungry and thinks he will make a meal of some farm animals. Wolf ran and howled at a pig, duck, and cow, but these "educated animals" were too busy reading to be disturbed by Wolf's noise. Wolf was intrigued by the idea of educated animals. He enrolled in school and learned to read. Wolf went back to the farm and proudly read to the animals, "Run wolf! Run! See wolf run." The animals were not impressed. Wolf went to the library and the bookstore. He practiced reading until he could read a story with fluency, confidence, and passion. Finally, the educated animals stopped reading their books and asked him to read more to them. Wolf learned that hard work and dedication helped him become a good reader. I love the message of this story. When Boogs and I read together we discuss fluency, inflection, confidence, comprehension, and other traits of a good reader.

In the Laptop lunchbox:
- pb&j wolf with fruit leather glasses reading a pita chip book
- Babybel Duck, boiled egg Pig, and marshmallow Cow listening to Wolf read
- grapes and blackberries
- salad


 Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco

The other day, Boogs was telling me about a kiddo in his class who gets extra help because he has dyslexia. Boogs wanted to know what that meant. We talked about it and then read this book. The book begins with Tricia's grandfather drizzling honey onto the cover of a small book and asking her to taste the sweetness. He says, "Knowledge is sweet, but knowledge is like the bee that made that sweet honey, you have to chase it through the pages of a book." Tricia was so excited because she knew she would soon learn to read when she went to school. At first, Tricia loved being in school but as time went on she began to be left behind in reading. Words and numbers looked like wiggling shapes. Tricia began to feel different and dumb. By 5th grade, Tricia was far behind the other students and some of the students picked on her because of it. Luckily, her 5th grade teacher discovered that Tricia needed help. He and a special reading teacher  began working with Tricia after school. Eventually, she learned how to read. After she read an entire paragraph on her own, she went home and took out her grandfather's honey book. She drizzled a little honey on it and tasted the sweetness of knowledge.

Boogs and I had a good discussion about effort, determination, and being kind to others. He said he liked this book because it reminds him to be nice to people who can't do what you can do. He said, "Everybody has different talents, skills, and gifts and that is what makes people different and special. People shouldn't be mean cause there is always someone who can do something better than you and there is always something you can do better than them."

In the Laptop Lunchbox:
- peanut butter book sandwich with honey from which Tricia tasted the sweetness of knowledge
- jumbled broken pretzel letters
- proud Tricia after she read a paragraph drawn on a marshmallow
- mixed-up carrot and radish letters on spinach, tomato, and broccoli salad
- mango with strawberry READ letters and a BEE A READER pick


The Essential Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Boogs absolutely loves reading Calvin and Hobbes comics. He was reluctant to read independently until recently. Comic books have made a huge difference in his desire to read on his own. This lunch was inspired by Calvin taking all of his dad's socks so he can put them on his ears and nose to look like an elephant.

In the Laptop Lunchbox:
- ham & cheese Calvin sandwich with bread socks
- Cutie orange with Hobbes drawn on it
- okra chips
- Zbar mud balls
- applesauce
- orange peppers for Hobbes' stripes
- broccoli, cauliflower and spinach


We have been using the Laptop Bento Box system since Boogs was in preschool. He is now in 2nd grade and we still love our Laptop lunchboxes. You can find them at laptoplunches.com
You can see Laptop Lunches Reading Month series of posts HERE.

Be sure to check out the wonderful sites I link to on my sidebar. If you want to see what other story themed lunches I have made, go to My Story Themed Lunches board on Pinterest. I have over 400 of our lunches there. I would love for you to leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by.