Book Tuesday: A+ Workbooks

Well, bonjour and happy Tuesday to you!

Very quick post today. Both the kids are out of camp, and it's hectic trying to post. Just three more weeks until public schools start again. Summer went by so quickly. I can't believe it's almost time to go back.

Along those lines,  for Book Tuesday today, I thought I'd talk about the books, er workbooks, we've been using lately. I guess you could say I've been a bad parent over the summer, contributing to the hated "summer loss" teachers talk about. We've done nothing school related.

So, at Target recently, I saw these A+ workbooks. And they're great for kids to get them back in the school mindset. I bill them to my kids as "activity books" because they usually have at least one or two fun activities in them, and they are great for recapping math and reading principles kids learned in school. The books are $1 apiece at Target (though if you wait, there's usually a regular $1 bin purge that will put them at half price for even better, 75 percent off).

I got addition and subtraction for my daughter and multiplication and division for my son. They also have interesting books on astronauts, presidents and other interesting topics. We've been doing half-a-dozen pages each day, and so long as I call them "activity books" the kids do them with good cheer.  So, if you're looking for something fun and educational for your kids to do, check these out.

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

Free Camp for Low-Income Middle School Kids

Innoworks Science Camp still has some slots available for middle school students who receive free or reduced-priced lunches.

At the free camp, students will learn about science, technology, engineering and mathematics through science experiments.  The camp is at the University of Maryland College Park Aug. 13-17. It runs from  9 am to 4:30 pm.

For more information on the camp, or to apply, visit http://www.innoworks.org/newinno/studentapplication.php.  Applicants are encourage to apply as soon as possible.

Weekend: Sharks, Cooking & Flying Phenoms

Photo courtesy of Shiyam ElkCloner via wikicommons

Happy Weekend to you all. Isn't it wonderful when Friday finally rolls around?

So, there's lots of exciting stuff on tap to do this weekend.

Firstly, if you like sharks, check out the National Aquarium DC, which is doing its Shark Weekend. Saturday & Sunday, from 10 am to 4 pm, they'll have family friendly activities involving sharks. They'll have a shark feeding, scavenger hunt and shark-tooth touching (not while the tooth is still in the shark's mouth, though). The DC Aquarium is at 1401 Constitution Ave., and Shark Weekend activities are included in the price of admission. For more information, go to http://www.aqua.org/visit/dc/calendar/shark-weekend?EventID=%7b04CBB577-599C-42F9-ABD3-17F237867FCD%7d.


Next up, the Greenbelt Library branch is having a free show discussing Amelia Earhart, the famous pilot who disappeared on a trip. The show is for all ages, so long as they can sit still and listen, and starts at 2 pm.

Also, this weekend, if your kids like cooking, they can attend a Wegmans Kids in the Kitchen class, at the Woodmore Town Centre location. The theme Saturday is Southwest Fiesta. According to Wegmans, "It’s fiesta time, so come party with some of the yummiest veggies ever! In this class you’ll prepare 2 veggie-licious dishes: Pineapple, Jicama & Cucumber Salad (what’s a jicama? You’ll find out!) and Veggie Queso Nachos." The class is for kids 4 and up and costs $5 per child for those with a Wegmans card. For more information, go to https://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PressReleaseDetailView?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=398972. There are two classes, one at 10 am and one at 2 pm.

Well that's about it for me. We're aquarium members, so we'll probably check out the Shark stuff this weekend. I hope you all have a great one.  More fun things can be found on our calendar.

-Hyattsville Mom

Summer Sickness

Image courtesy Mcrfarlandmo's Photos

The kids have caught a summer cold and given it to me.

I HATE being sick in the summer. A runny nose and cough in 100 degree temperatures is just no fun.

With that info, this is the extent of my post today. I'll have a weekend roundup post tomorrow, with all the exciting weekend happenstances.

-Hyattsville Mom

Happening today: Spinny Johnson will perform at 2pm at the New Carrollton Library, 7414 Riverdale Rd. For more information about the FREE performance, contact the children's librarian, 301-459-6900.

Research Wednesday: Spatial Skills & Internet Signs of Depression

I get lots of news releases about research, but I hardly ever use it. So, I thought I'd take Wednesdays as a day to blurb any interesting research on kids, parents, health, er, anything that looks useful to folks with kids.

So, today I've got two interesting things.

1. Spatial games will help your kids with math. New research from the University of Chicago finds that kids who are good at fitting shapes together to make recognizable objects are also better at the number line and math problem solving. “These results suggest that improving children’s spatial thinking at a young age may not only help foster skills specific to spatial reasoning but also improve symbolic numerical representations,” said Susan Levine, co-author of the paper, "The Relation Between Spatial Skill and Early Number Knowledge: The Role of the Linear Number Line," published in Development Psychology. "This is important since spatial learning is malleable and can be positively influenced by early spatial experiences." For more information on the study, check out the university's news release on the research: http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2012/06/13/learning-about-spatial-relationships-boosts-understanding-numbers.

2. Doing 9 things online means you may be depressed. Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology recently found that college students who are depressed use the Internet differently than others. The researchers used real-time network data to suss out 9 things college Internet users who were depressed were more likely to do. Among the culprits are using more file-sharing services, chatting online more often, and frequently switching Internet applications. The last attribute may be caused by trouble concentrating, which is a sign of depression. The study is unique in that it did not rely on self reporting. Instead, it tested its 216 participants for depression, then gave each participant a random id number to use on the network and tracked their usage. The users who had tested positive for depression had the usage patterns mentioned above. More information on the study is available here: http://news.mst.edu/2012/05/internet_usage_patterns_may_si.html.

Have a good one.

-Hyattsville Mom

Happening Today: New Carrollton library's drop in craft series. Stop by the library, 7414 Riverdale Rd., from 2-4 pm today to make a craft. For kids of all ages.

Book Tuesday: Bared to You

I received a pitch letter for Sylvia Day's book that described it as erotic fiction along the lines of Fifty Shades of Grey. The plus on this being that Day has been a finalist for the RITA award, the top writing prize for the Romance Writers of America.  So presumably Bared to You would be pretty well written, as that is one of the common criticisms of Fifty Shades--intense, compelling but not the best written.

With those things in mind, I sat down and read Bared to You.  The book is an easy read and moves well enough to keep you from setting it down for long stretches.  It follows the romance of Eva Tramell, a young wanna-be ad exec in New York and the fabulously rich Gideon Cross.

Like all good romances, Eva and Gideon cross paths and feel an instant attraction, but do nothing about it. Gideon propositions Eva on their next meeting, which she finds sexy, yet offensive at the same time. The two eventually become lovers and endure and up and down relationship that would rival even the best yo-yoist (I'm hoping that's a real word; if not, what do you call a yo yo operator?).   There are a host of other characters that pop up in the book-- Eva's neurotic, mother; Eva's filthy rich step father; Eva's working class father; Eva's best friend Cary; and Gideons ex girlfriend; and Gideon's odd family.

Overall, I'd say the book is an easy breezy summer read. But, having the book compared to Fifty Shades in the sales literature made me compare it to the book, and I must say the characters are not as well drawn or memorable as those in Fifty Shades. Also, because of this, it's a bit hard to understand why the characters are acting the way they do. They seem flighty and fickle. The writing is well done, comparatively, but I don't think Bared has the same intensity or pull as Fifty.

Bottom Line: If you're looking for a quick read that's enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, check it out.

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

A Rockin' Bedtime Experience!

Rocking Bed (http://shinerinternational.com/wordpress/?p=31) 

Well, I was on Facebook the other day, and I saw an ad for something that piqued my curiosity: a rocking bed.

Yes, a rocking bed! Perhaps I'm the only one who's never heard of this, but it looks totally awesome.  I can't say exactly why, but I am so drawn to this bed. I feel like it was created just for me. It totally rocks!  And if I were single, it would be mine.

But, I'm not single (which is, on most days, a good thing). Today is not one of those days. For when I showed my husband this bed,  he said no way. "That looks awful to sleep in." Apparently, he likes the shape, but feels as a practical matter, he would not like his head dipping whilst he slept.

Sigh. Even though my hubby's not on board, I'm not giving up yet. I'm going to bide my time, and keep  leaving subtle clues about the merits of rocking to sleep.

So, wish me luck, because I'd really like that bed to  rock my world!

-Hyattsville Mom

Shakespeare, Dragons Ahead this weekend!

How to Train your Dragon live show

Happy weekend to you!

Lots to do this weekend. I'm taking my kids to see Ice Age 4 finally. I've heard good things about it, so it should be exciting. And hopefully a better experience than The Amazing Spiderman. I was mighty disappointed, as I'd seen this trailer and was expecting some answers that did not occur in the film (In fact the scenes where the villain says: "If you want the truth about your parents, come and get it!" and the scene where someone says, "do you think what happened to you was an accident?" are not even in the film! I read that some last minute editing occurred and they moved certain plot points to the sequel). That said, it's not a bad movie if you don't expect answers to those questions, but if you do, you walk away feeling cheated. The movie sheds very little light on Peter Parker's parents.

The Dark Knight Rises opens today. The trailers didn't excite me and it's almost 3 hours, which is a long time to spend with something that doesn't look that exciting, so I'm not sure I plan to see that. And it's tough to go to a non-kid movie, find a sitter, etc. if the movie doesn't excite.

Well, now that I've got movies out of my system, let's talk about other fun things to do this weekend. I've listed a couple things below. As always, you can find lots of activities in our calendar.

Shakespeare in the Park: This free production at the Montpelier Mansion grounds starts at 7 pm tonight. It will include an abridged version of all of Shakespeare's works (say what?). Yes, that's what they said. So, if you're interested in more details, call 301-446-3232 or check out this flier.

How to Train Your Dragon Live: This Dreamworks live show is playing at the Verizon Center through out the weekend. It's a little pricey, but there are dragons that fly above your head and if you like live productions, this may be for you. More information is at http://dreamworksdragonslive.com/.

Cupcake Decorating: The New Carrollton library has a free cupcake decorating class Saturday at 2 pm for kids ages 11-18. Registration is required. To find out more or register, call the adult information desk, 301-459-6900.

That's it for me today. Hope you have a great weekend, especially since it will be nice and cool.

-Hyattsville Mom

Only 12 years in does he think to tell me he's allergic to...

We were on vacation recently, and my husband told this story of this time when he felt helpless because his mother was oblivious to his discomfort.  He was a 11 and had gotten sick, vomiting constantly. The doctor prescribed an anti-vomiting drug (compazine) for him, and he had an allergic reaction. He cramped and became stiff and unmovable. His jaw contorted and froze so he couldn't speak. He was lying there in bed and his mother realized he didn't feel look, but didn't realize anything was wrong. She said, "you look like you could use a cool towel on your face." 

She got him a towel, put it over his face, and was very kind, but was not getting that he was in distress. He said,  "I thought I was going to die with this towel on my face. She was so helpful, but she didn't get it. I wanted to say help me. I'm going to die." But he couldn't move his jaw. His father came in after a while and they realized it was a real problem, and took him to the hospital (they literally had to carry him because he couldn't move). 

What is interesting about this story, is that in 17 years of knowing my husband (12 of them married), he has never once mentioned this story.  When he finished, I said, "You know, if you'd fallen ill yesterday and the doctors asked me, 'is he allergic to any medications?'  I would have said, 'no.'"

It was so weird that I'd never heard this story. But, I guess it goes to show, even when you know someone, you can miss crucial bits of info. 

That's it for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

Beaten by the Heat!

I know they say you gotta beat the heat when it's this hot out. But, I totally feel like I've been beaten by the heat.

My a/c is working overtime but it's still overwhelmingly hot. If it would just cool off at night, I'd feel better. But, lows in the 80s with 60 percent humidity just don't cut it.

We've been doing some hanging out at the libraries--there's usually a fun activity going on at some library, or at least a nice book to read. We've gone swimming, and turned on the sprinkler here at home. We've also been heading to the movies (Greenbelt Academy 8 is just $5 before noon and $5 all day on Tuesdays). And I've even taken the kids to a bounce place once or twice this summer (check out Joyful Jumps' Facebook page; they often have deals; Monday's deal was $5 per kid; almost half the regular price).

So, what do you guys do to beat the heat? Or are you feeling just as beaten as me?

-Hyattsville Mom

Book Tuesday: Free ebooks!

Today, I thought I'd talk about something we could all use: free ebooks.

While I like good, old-fashioned paper books for my kids, I could go either way for books I read myself. Ebooks tend to be cheaper than paper books and there are many of them that are free.

Now, how free they are depends on your e-reader. If you have a Kindle, you're going to be dependent on Kindle's proprietary file format. If you have a Nook, Sony or other reader, you'll have a little more choice, but you'll be prohibited from reading Amazon's free books because they're all in the proprietary Kindle format. If you use a device other than a dedicated reader (ipad, smart phone, or computer), then you have a plethora of free books at your disposal because you can simply download the appropriate app to read the book.

A quick primer on file formats
We'll start with the big dog in the room: the Kindle format. Kindle is Amazon's e-reader and it uses a modified .mobi file format. This is important because Kindles will read things in .mobi file format, as well as the Kindle format.  However, Kindles do not read word documents, PDFs or Epub (which has come to be the standard file format).  So, if you own a Kindle, you pretty much have to buy from Amazon.

The most common other readers--Nook, Kobo and Sony--tend to support Epub, PDF and text files. Some, like Sony, support .mobi files, while others support Microsoft word files. Nook also supports it's own proprietary stuff.  So, when you are getting a free book file, you need to find out what format it is in, to make sure your reader can read it.

Enough already! Where do I get the free books?
While Amazon supports the least file types, it is the most generous with free book deals.  If you've never downloaded a free book from Amazon, go to Amazon's free collection page, and look through what's there. A lot are classics and have expired copyrights. But, a lot are new books, including self published authors and authors who have successful series they'd like to get you addicted to. For example, I got Gemma Halliday's Spying in High Heels for free. It's a pretty good book, and the first in a series, which she, I'm sure she wants me to buy more of.  Also, I got the great Malcolm Gladwell book, The Tipping Point for free, a year ago. I also got a self published book, The Halo Revelations by J.S. Colley free on special a couple of months ago. The thing with Amazon is that they make books free temporarily and then at some point, charge for them again, so you really have to be on your toes to catch the best deals.


Don't have time to check Amazon constantly? Neither do I. So, there is a great site, http://ereadernewstoday.com/category/free-kindle-books/, that tells you what new books are free on the Kindle each day. You can either check the site daily (ok) or (better) sign up for the free newsletter that daily sends you an e-mail of the new free books. It takes about 3 minutes to look through each day. But, if you like free books, it's wonderful!


Now, for those who aren't interested in Amazon books, you can check out the following sites for free books.

Overdrive. This is the company that manages ebook lending for libraries. Each library has it's own restrictions or rules for borrowing books. The PG county overdrive site is: http://pgcmls.lib.overdrive.com/0ECCDFB1-F519-4431-BA31-DD55B9C4F504/10/439/en/Default.htm. Overdrive is a great way to read new ebooks, as many of the free sites offer older, out-of-print books.  Overdrive lends in Epub or Kindle format (in most cases; For those who are interested, there's been a huge backlash from publishers over the Kindle format lending, and some publishers don't allow Kindle format lending for their books. It's a complicated story, but because of the Kindle formats' proprietary nature, some publishers don't feel they get the same protections against theft; and they'd like Kindle to read Epub. Amazon has continually pushed against that.)

Nook Free Books: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/Free-eBooks/379003078/. This site is great if you have a Nook. It's not as extensive as Amazon's, but has some good choice. You also have to be a little more mindful on this site, as they have a lot of "free samples" where you just get 5 or 6 chapters of a book free, rather than the whole thing.

Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/. This site has transferred a number of out-of-copyright texts to electronic format. Most books are available as text, Epub or Kinlde format.

Open Library: http://openlibrary.org/. This project has a number of books that you can download for free. Like Project Gutenberg, many of the free downloads are for out-of-copyright books.

Sony Free books: http://ebookstore.sony.com/category/free-ebooks

Kobo Free books: http://www.kobobooks.com/free_ebooks

And that is it for me for today.

-Hyattsville Mom

Exciting Crafts at the Libraries!

Hope you all had a great weekend. My  hubby was away, and it was just me and the kids. So, that's always interesting. We treat it like an adventure, but it's a tiring adventure by the end of each day.


As you all know, I'm always looking for fun activities for the kids to do, so I was very excited when I popped into the New Carrollton library and learned they have a new set of activities for kids. And it's not even listed on the library site; it's only on fliers posted at the library itself.

The Crafternoons series takes place from  2 - 4pm Wednesdays at the library branch. Crafternoons will feature a fun craft activity for all ages,  a new theme each week.

The craft sessions scheduled are:

July 18: Monster Crafts
July 25: Owls
Aug. 1: Beading.

For more information, contact the New Carrollton children's librarians, 301-459-6900, 7414 Riverdale Rd. in New Carrollton.

That's if for today. Tomorrow's book Tuesday.  Catch you later.

-Hyattsville Mom

Jazz Festival, History Playground Top off Exciting Weekend

Happy Friday to you all!

There's lots going on this weekend to help you have a good weekend.

First up, if you like music, there's plenty of it. The Lake Arbor Jazz Festival (http://lakearborjazz.com/) will be going strong starting at noon Saturday. Acts performing include Yvonne Johnson, Marcus Young and Frederic Yonnet, as well as the bands On Kee, Secret Society and Frame Werk.  The festival is FREE and on the grounds of the Lake Arbor Community Center, 10100 Lake Arbor Way in Mitchelville.


If you like local history, also on Saturday check out the Blast in the Past: Hands on History Playground at the Montpelier Mansion in Laurel. The event just costs $1 per person and provides access to the grounds where they will be offering hands on demonstrations of what life was like 200 years ago.  A lot of fun, and closer than Williamsburg!

It's going to creep back up in the heat this weekend, as well, so fun activities, like checking out the new Ice Age flick or going to the Newseum, might be fun.  The Newseum is running its kids-get-in-free special, so any paying adult can bring up to 6 kids with them at no additional cost.

Also, today you can get a free chilled Refresher beverage from Starbucks from Noon to 3 pm. Details are here.

That's all for now. Hope you have a great weekend.

-Hyattsville Mom

Hungry? Me, too

Asian Salad from Nourishingmeals.com. Yummy!

Hey there! Hope all is well with you.

Short post today. One, the hubby is well and going to work today. The vomiting all stopped (yippee) Tuesday night. Wednesday was recuperatory, and he was easy to take care of as all his tummy would handle was crackers and sports drinks.

I, however, was hungry! And a friend of mine pointed me to a totally cool website with tasty, yummy recipes: http://www.nourishingmeals.com/p/recipes.html.  Just the name of the site, Nourishing Meals, makes me salivate. Everything looks tasty and nutritious. And, even better, if you scroll down the left sidebar, they have a cool subsection called Summer Recipes. This is excellent because it's nice to have recipes that fit the summer weather and require little oven use (so they don't heat up the house).

Well, that's it for me today. Catch you tomorrow.

Hyattsville Mom

Happening today: Margie Lynch, the Bubble Lady at the Beltsville library. For more information, visit: http://www.pgcmls.info/SRP2012A.  Check out our calendar for cool items to do around town.

Book Wednesday: Underworlds

"Isn't it supposed to be Book Tuesday?" you ask. Alright, alright, I can't slide anything past my wylie audience. 

Yes indeedy, it is supposed to be Book Tuesday. However,  Book Tuesday was thrown off by my husband, who was home sick, vomiting most of the day. The kids and I actually fled (vomit is vomitrocious, as Muffy Crosswire [from Arthur] would say) for the morning [we had some planned stuff at the library to do, but I was glad to be away from the sounds of retching and vomiting that seemed to carry through the house].  However, when we returned, we brought our love and tender care, as well as Pedialyte popsicles and Gatorade, which eventually went down and stopped any hydration issues.

As such, it's Tuesday night about 11:45 pm, and I'm just getting around to writing this, and I suspect it will be after midnight (hence Book Wednesday) when I finish.

Today's mention is a great new series from Tony Abbott: Underworlds. The children's author is probably most famous for his Secrets of Droon series, which includes almost 50 books (44 to be exact, if you believe Wikipedia; and this late at night, I tend to be pretty trusting of the site).  

A couple people told me my kids would love Droon. They didn't. Though, this may just have been a reflection on the time of life they were in, or personal tastes, or something more nebulous that I'll never figure out (though, truthfully, I didn't analyze the situation too deeply; I mean, who has time for that kind of analysis? I'm sure it's a great series; just wasn't for us). 

However, my son started reading the new Underworlds series a couple months ago and loves it. There are currently two published books in the series: Underworlds 1: The Battle Begins and Underworlds 2: When Monsters Escape. The series is for kids 7 and older and follows a trio of friends who get immersed into a magical world of ancient mythical creatures and gods when their friend, Dana, disappears into the floor of the school in front of their very eyes. The books is action-packed from page 1. I know, because I happened to pick up the book to see what my son was reading and thought, "Wow, this is good!" Also, it's nice that the book gives kids exposure to many of the famous creatures from varying cultural myths, including Greek, Roman, Norse and Egyptian.

The third book in the series, Revenge of the Scorpion King, is due out in August.  So, if your kids are looking for an exciting chapter book to read, check this one out. It would also be fun as a bedtime chapter book to read aloud to kids.

That's it for today. Hopefully, tomorrow (and today for that matter) will be less vomitrocious than the not-so-book-Tuesday.

-Hyattsville Mom

I see London, I see France; Wait, you're not wearing any ...

Recently,  my daughter attended a ballet recital. She acquitted herself well on stage. However, now that everything's all said and done, I would like to get some feedback on one thing.

A couple of weeks before the recital, the ballet teacher had a quick meeting with the parents to talk about the recital. The girls in my daughter's class are 5- and 6-year-olds.  The ballet teacher suggested they not wear underpants to the performance. If your mouth has fallen open, do close it (it's quite possible to do, as I managed to keep mine shut when she said it--despite the urge to shout: "What you talkin' 'bout Willis?")

She went on to say that the recital leotards were cut narrow and you might get panties showing. She mentioned that some girls in previous shows were upset they had polka dot underwear showing, so I totally get her forewarning parents. However, I think the warning about the cut of the performance leotard should have been enough. The suggestion that you have 5-year-olds go without their skivvies for the sake of appearances is, well, a bit much, in my opinion.  I can only assume everyone was giving her the same, "Are you nuts?" stare as myself because she kept receding in her suggestion as the meeting went on. She offered to talk to the girls about the prospect of going au naturel in case some of the girls balked at the idea (gee, you think!). Then she said again how embarrassing it was for the girls who had the polka dots peeking out. Then she finally suggested the girls wear flesh toned underpants.  (In the end, we settled on white underpants, to match the leotard color -- however, it was kind of a moot point, because their was a skirt that covered the bottom portion of the leotard anyway.)

I'm totally into having kids look nice when they're performing, but some things, like whether or not to wear underpants under your clothing, really shouldn't be presented to children by their ballet teacher.  If a parent chose that as a solution to the cut of the leotard, that's fine. But, I didn't really like the idea of her suggesting that should be our solution, or offering to talk to the kids about it.  I don't know. Maybe I'm just too old fashioned. While I get that people with a vehemence for visible pantylines go buff, I totally love my underpants, and my kid does, too.

So, I am curious what are your thoughts? OK to suggest bare behinds? Or too much?

-Hyattsvillle Mom

Happy Birthday, America!!

Happy 4th of July to you! It's our great nation's birthday. So, every birthday needs a birthday cake!

Here are some links to fun Independence Day cakes (and other treats)!

The edible eagle!

Edible eagle: http://familyfun.go.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july-recipes/patriotic-recipes/edible-eagles-699768/

Fresh Fruit Flag: http://familyfun.go.com/4th-of-july/4th-of-july-recipes/patriotic-recipes/fruit-flag-686767/

Cake: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2011/07/01/independence-day-cake/

Red, White & Blue cake

Red White and Blue cake: http://unusual2tasty.blogspot.com/2010/06/cake-tuesday-red-white-and-blue.html

Another Red, White and Blue Cake: http://thewhimsicalcupcake.wordpress.com/2011/07/04/independence-day-cake-red-white-and-blue-vanilla-cake/

Patriotic Cupcakes: http://diaryofaladybird.blogspot.com/2010/07/independence-day-cupcakes.html

Patriotic cupcakes!

Well, now I'm salivating!

Have a happy 4th. I'm going to be hanging with the family the next few days.  I'll start posting again next week.

-Hyattsville Mom

Book Tuesday: Patriotic Reading for kids

Well, in honor of our patriotism week, I thought for book Tuesday, we'd look at some books and websites that teach kids about American patriotism, and in particular about the 4th.

Here are a few books:

The Story of the Fourth of July. By Alice Dalgliesh.   The publisher says of the book: "Two-time Newbery Honor author Alice Dalgliesh makes history come alive in this accessible story of America's birthday."

Fireworks, Picnics, and Flags by James Cross Giblin. The publisher describes the book: "This spirited look at our national birthday explores the stories behind the familiar symbols of the Fourth of July and tells how they have come to be associated with the holiday. It will make the Fourth of July more meaningful for readers young and old."

Independence Day: Birthday of the United States by Elaine Landau.


















Each of the above titles is available at the public library. The PG county system also has a special section on holiday books, including the 4th of July, here: http://catalog.pgcmls.info/polaris/Children/default.aspx?catid=5.


If you're looking for good websites, check out these two:


http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/fourth-of-july/


http://holidays.kaboose.com/july4-why.html


That's it for today.


-Hyattsville Mom

Patriotic Week

We need more than just a single day to celebrate our nation declaring its independence from those tea-taxing Brits. So, this is our July 4 week of posts. Each day, we'll post something related to celebrating the 4th of July or our great nation.

Today, here's a primer to help you get ready for fireworks. If you don't want to fool with the crowds on the National Mall, check out these local jurisdictions offering fireworks.

• Buddy Attick Park in Greenbelt (Crescent Rd. near Kenilworth Ave.). Fireworks start at 9 pm. The Greenbelt Concert Band will play from 5:45-6:45 pm, and there will be a Community Drum Circle from 7:15-8:30 pm. For more information, call the fireworks hotline, 301-474-0646.
• University of Maryland in College Park. Hosted by the city and university, the evening starts at 7 pm with a free concert by The Fabulous Hubcaps on the campus' Lot 1. Fireworks start around 9 pm, and will last 30 minutes. Detailed location information is online at  http://newsdesk.umd.edu/uniini/release.cfm?ArticleID=1918. 
• Allen Pond Park in Bowie (3330 Northview Drive) will be the site of the city's annual fireworks. Some form of entertainment is excepted beforehand, but not listed on the city's website. Fireworks are scheduled to start about 9:15. For more information, visit http://www.cityofbowie.org/Government/CommunityServices/SpecialEvents/fourthjuly.asp or call 301-809-3011.

Have a good one.

-Hyattsville Mom