July Book Basket...

Since this month is dedicated to the beach and traveling I decided to do a 'water/beach' theme for the month. I came to the conclusion that I need more 4th of July books in our personal library but I'm not sweating it this year since I just did a complete history/America themed basket in May for our trip to Williamsburg. Note to self for next year. :)

Sailaway Home by Bruce Degen
The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole
The Magic School Bus at the WaterWorks by Joanna Cole
Curious George Goes to the Beach by Margaret and H.A. Rey
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell by Lucille Colandro
Sheep on a Ship by Nancy Shaw
Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long and David Shannon
Greetings From the 50 States by Sheila Keenan
Olivia Forms A Band by Ian Falconer
Coconut Mon by Linda Milstein
The Jolly Mon by Jimmy Buffett and Savannah Jane Buffett
Vivienne and the Giant Boots by Patrick FitzSymons
The Big Big Sea by Martin Waddell
A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle
Wally the Whale Who Loved Balloons by Yuichi Watanabe
The Fish Who Could Wish by John Bush and Korky Paul


Like I said yesterday, we are in the process of completely reorganizing several rooms and moving things around. One of the things that we did is move one of the bookshelves that Andy made a few years ago to the den. It has six cubby spaces and some red collapsible bins to hold small toys/board books. One cubby contains some of the kids most loved authors including Mo Willems, Ian Falconer, and Anna Dewdney. The other open shelf is now my designated 'book basket' space. I've been wanting to have a designated shelf/space for themed books for awhile now. (Like the last few years!) However, it just didn't work till now. I really wanted it to be in a common/shared space in the house and not tucked away in one of the kids rooms. That way we can pull them out to read together on the couch. Since we moved the shelf in to the den the kids have spent more time pulling out the books and making use of them. (Which makes this teacher's heart very happy.) I also put on the shelf two ocean themed puzzles on the shelf for them to use. I can see us making good use of this as we head in to the second half of the year. I have a vast collection of themed books for the months ahead and I look forward to displaying them.

Pictures to come! Once I get everything the way I want it. We are still quite disheveled at the moment. I'm also mulling painting this fall. I ready to change up some of the colors in the house...