Lunch Walks Among Us

Do you have a child who sometimes worries about fitting in?  Perhaps it would help to introduce them to Franny K. Stein in Lunch Walks Among Us by Jim Benton.

The possibilities are almost endless with this fun book.

Here are some of our favorite tie-ins:

Talk about what makes a good friend and how to be a friend.

Work some free printable worksheets. 

Work on grammar with a Noun Chomping Monster 

Check out a few Monster math games.

Then, take a break and have a sandwich for lunch.  Don’t forget an extra slice or two of lunch meat for making monsters out of.

Make your own toxic industrial waste.

Play a build your own monster game.

Make a bat or two 

And learn to draw Franny 

Have Crab Ravioli in Pumpkin Sauce for dinner.

And, play a little baseball before bed.

Hooked on little girl mad scientists? Never fear! Franny’s next adventure is:

Attack of the 50-Ft Cupid

Want more books like Franny K. Stein? Try these!

Iggy Loomis, Superkid in Training by Jennifer Allison

The Adventures of Ali Baba Bernstein by Johanna Hurwitz

The Curse of the Bologna Sandwich by Greg Trine

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

My Weird School by Dan Gutman

Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

And always remember:

 

Breakout at the Bug Lab

Let’s have some fun with bugs, shall we?

Breakout at the Bug Lab by Ruth Horowitz is fun easy reader that will especially appeal to boys.

The bug lab features robber flies,

dung beetles,

grubs,

gold beetles,

and the star of the show: the hissing cockroach.

 

Ever seen one?  Come on! You’ve got to see this!

Before reading the book, review your sight words with this free bug game.

Do a little math. Learn to shoot a rubber band and aim for the paper bugs mounted on your wall or other surface.  Decide how many points each type of bug is worth, earn points for each bug you hit and add up your points.  Create a graph to show how many times each type bug was hit during the entire game.

Have snack of bananas: Spit them down the middle and spread on some peanut butter so your bugs will stick to the treat. (raisins, dried fruit bits, granola, chocolate chips, etc).  Don’t forget to leave your banana peel in an appropriate place for it to compost and be eaten by animals and insects in your area.  How long does it take for your peel to disappear?

Go on a bug hunt and create a discovery book documenting what you find and fun information about them.

The bug lab is located in a large environmental science building.  “The people who work there help keep our air, water, fish, and plants healthy.”  Take your learning a little further.  If you were to work in such a building which area would you want to study? Air, water, fish, plants or bugs?  Choose one category and think of a way you might help keep that part of our world healthy.

Need more ideas? Check our pinterest board.

And of course, here are some more awesome bug books:

Hi, Fly Guy! by Tedd Arnold

Beetle McGrady Eats Bugs by Megan McDonald 

Bean Thirteen by Matthew McElligott

The Bugliest Bug by Carol Diggory Shields 

Ultimate Bugopedia by Darlyne Murawski

Hissing Cockroaches: Cool Pets! By Alvin Silverstein

Swindle by Gordon Korman

(lexile: 710; AR book level: 4.9; 252 pp)

Meet Gordon Korman, author of Swindle.

Swindle offers a wide variety of exploration activities: It's a story of haunted houses, baseball cards, money troubles, friends, and big plans.

First of all, is there a haunted house near you?  What is its history?  How could you go about sorting out what was fact and what was fiction about the house?  Would you spend a night in the house if you were given the chance?

Suppose you found something valuable inside- what would it be?

What do you think of Griffin's decision to try and steal the card back for the dishonest dealer?  Do his reasons justify the act?  What would you do in his situation?

Let's do a little math. 

The baseball card in Swindle was estimated to be worth a million dollars.  If you were to design the ultimate heist, who would be on your team to retrieve this baseball card? What would their specialty be? How many ways would the money be divided and how would each team member envision spending their portion?

Now let's get ready for the big heist.  Hone your observation skills by playing this game.  

And, learn to play backgammon- you never know when you might need to distract a nosy neighbor.

But, alas, even the best laid plans can go wrong.  You've gotten yourself caught and grounded.

Never fear.  Use your time wisely, by inventing a new gadget that will make you millions of dollars instead of a life of thievery.

Plot a way to convince your parent to let you have a doberman to train as a guard dog.

Or, design your dream skate park.

Even better news?  You will have plenty to read while incarcerated in your room.

Swindle, Zoobreak, and Framed, the first three books in this series are all on sale for the kindle during the month of November.  Score!

Need more to read?

The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Millions by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Scat by Carl Hiaasen

A Week in the Woods by Andrew Clements

Holes by Louis Sachar

Then, when you finally earn time off for good behavior, there's even a movie adaption of Swindle.