Truman's Aunt Farm

We've enjoyed reading Truman's Aunt Farm by Jama Kim Rattigan this week. L's Paraphrase: The book starts with Truman receiving a letter from his Aunt Fran. The letter was for his birthday. He was supposed to send away for LIVE ANTS! Instead he got AUNTS! He fed the AUNTS rice pudding for breakfast, jelly sandwiches for lunch and tiny hotdogs for dinner. There were too many AUNTS. He gave the AUNTS to other boys and girls. Then his Aunt Fran came and asked to see his ANTS. Truman had given them away. Truman had tickle practice with his Aunt Fran, but they were too full for headstands. Then they laid out on a hill looking at the stars. We learned again about homonyms. They were used Little Nino's Pizzeria. We've read several Amelia Bedelia books too. We're trying to use homonyms in everyday language...and that's been really fun. Nana talked about pruning the hedge, and Tyler laughed because he remembered how Amelia Bedelia used "prunes" to decorate the hedge in one of the books we read. We talked about Aunts... And Ants... In the Bible, God talks about ants... Proverbs 6 : 6-8 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. Proverbs 30 : 25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; We learned about how mail works. L worked on writing his address. He also wrote a letter to a friend. L put the stamp on and we took a trip to the post office. L invited his friend to have lunch with their dads and then play at the park. TAF ends with Truman and his Aunt Fran looking at the moon and stars. We've been enjoying star gazing this week too. One night, M helped the boys decorate their room with glow-in-the-dark stars. On the closet door is the Big Dipper... And on the ceiling... Another evening, M took the telescope outside for the kids to see the stars. He loves astronomy, so he's been a great teacher for the kids. Just being outside after dark, he's always pointing out the night sky to the kids. Here's what L remembers of our star party: I looked into the night sky and picked out a bright dot to look at. It was Venus. Without the telescope, it just looks like a star. Looking thru the telescope, Venus is rainbowy on one side and plain brownish/whitish/yellowish on the other side. We were lucky enough to read Our Stars by Anne Rockwell the next day. In her book we read... Sometimes before the stars come out, we can see a bright light dangling low on the horizon. It looks like a star, but it isn't. It is the planet Venus. Stars twinkle, but planets glow with a steady light.