COVID-19 Children's Reading

Madeline's Rescue, The Smartest Giant in Town, The Very Noisy Bear,
That's Not my Dragon, That's Not my Piglet

The girls have been home for some time now, thanks to the precautions and restrictions of COVID-19. For the most part, they have been happy friends who have enjoyed running around the house outside together and making up stories. So much of their days have been outside basking in the perfect Brisbane weather. They have also been reading.

I took this photo at the end of March, when we were just starting to settle into the social isolation. Rachel was literally sitting on Sophie's lap while Sophie read to her. It was so beautiful, and my prayer was that they would continue to be such good friends as the days at home lengthened into weeks and months.

Princess Pracilla, My First Book of Japanese Words,
Tigger, Dr Seuss' Sleep Book, The Singing Mermaid

Time passes, and I don't particularly know why, but I started to photograph the books that we were reading each day. Maybe because I had to show the girls' teachers what I was "home schooling" with them, and also because I was using it to show my day care families what I was doing with their children.

Dr Seuss Books

Some days I would read all of these, other times, the girls would read a book or two. Hop on Pop, and Fox in Socks were the books that Rachel literally used to teach her self to read before my eyes. Unbelieveable.

I'll Wait Mr Panda, Possum in the House, Sebastian Lives in a Hat,
The Bad Guys, Christopher Robin and Pooh come to an Enchanted Place

I've gotten really good at knowing where are the good places to read, and how to position myself so the kids can all crowd around to see. Interestingly, sometimes it's easiest for me to sit on the floor with my back to the couch, so three or four children can sit on the couch and see over my shoulder, while two children can sit either side of me on the floor. Who knew!

A Squash and a Squeeze, The Sandcastle Contest
Each Peach Pear Plum, Hairy Maclary and Zachary Quack

Sophie needed to work her way up to longer reading stints, so sometimes we would take turns reading pages of books together. Stopping to sit down and read with my girls and the day care kids really took me back to when Sophie was much smaller, and we would spend large chunks of our day together with books. It was wonderful then, and it's wonderful now. Even more so because of the greater variety of books.

Dr Seuss, The Message Bible,
Rabbit Organises Almost Everything, Winter Story

Some of these books are current favorites of the girls, while others had been out of rotation, forgotten on the shelves for a while. It was nice pulling out some old favs to mix in with the new. All of the Pooh books are first-time reads for these girls. We are slowly working our way through the entire collection of Pooh stories.

Little Koala Lost, Handa's Surprise,
Pooh Invents a new Game

When I was reading some of these really jumped out at me as excellent teaching tools. Little Koala Lost, for example, has numbers, Australian animals, emotions and feelings and literary devices. My teacher hat was well and truely on for that one. I hope you enjoy looking at the variety of books that we have been reading as much as I do. As I posted these pictures up to their teachers, I was excited to see the different books that we had read each day.

Sofia Valdez Future Prez, Rosie Revere Engineer, The Tiger Who Came to Tea,
How to Build the Perfect Cubby House, Tell Me About Your Day Today

Do other people have such a vast library? I wonder, and sincerely hope so. I may have spent a large fortune on books (and been gifted a vast number as well), but it was worth every cent. We've read nearly 40 books! And I didn't photograph every day. Isolation time well spent I think!

Possum Magic, Giraffes Can't Dance,
Why Do I Have to Eat off the Floor?, Rosie's Hat

And, just so you know, over six weeks into social isolating, these girls are still friends, who are sitting together to read.