Friday, February 28, 2014

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.

17 comments:

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    1. Jenn, thanks so much for taking the time to always stop by and leave kind comments!!!

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  2. Amazing. I always wonder if I was a deprived child because I had plain sandwiches and an apple in my lunch box for school.

    March is a busy month - Read an E-Book Week this week; World Book Day tomorrow (Thursday) and now National Reading month. I cant keep up!

    Jemima
    Join in the A to Z Challenge Theme Reveal blogfest

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    1. Isn't it fun that the month of March is all about reading!

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  3. What great fun for you and your son. It is a wonderful way to help a child make connections with the books you share.

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    1. Thanks! The lunches also serve as our reading log of books we've read together.

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  4. I knew you would do a Dr.Seuss Lunch Box series the minute I saw your blog post on the hop! I must say the Calvin Lunch box looks too cute :) Tweeting this!
    -Reshama @ Stackingbooks

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    1. Thanks so much Reshama. We LOVE Dr. Seuss lunches around here.

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  5. Green Eggs and Ham has always been one of my favorites. Even made my kids green eggs and ham for breakfast once. We had a ball. Loved your other lunch ideas also. Thanks for sharing on the Kid Lit Blog Hop. Cheryl

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    1. Did your kiddos eat the green eggs and ham? Thanks for the kind comment.

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  6. Sock-eared Calvin is so cute :) Love Green Eggs & Ham too, the marshmallow fox in the box is my fave, fun!

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  7. I just love your book lunches, such an inspiration!
    Thank you for linking up at Fun Food Friday!

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  8. LOVE all your lunches! You always find the essence of the book and make the perfect lunch! My favorite is the wolf in reading glasses but I do love them all!!

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