The Case of the Missing Baseball Card (and other exciting news)...

With summer of course comes summer reading activities. As a former teacher I understand all too well how important it is to keep my kids reading over the summer months. However, the older they get and the more involved they are in their sporting activities, the harder it is to keep them focused on books. Each summer I do my best to pull together a reading program that keeps the kids excited and motivated throughout the summer. My oldest son was showing a lot of interest in mystery books toward the end of the school year. He was more than halfway through the A-Z Mystery series by the end of the year and said he hoped to finish the rest over the summer. Knowing he will likely finish that series within the month of June I wanted to be prepared by having more books on hand that would be of interest to him. I did some digging on-line and found some great resources that I thought I'd share for other parents of kids who are into mystery books! Click here, here and here for a great assortment of mystery book options. One of the best "general" book lists I've found so far is here. I just love how they have categorized the books by topic or interest...if you click on any of the images it will take you to a list of related books your reader might also enjoy. I also printed a reading log for my boys from this site to keep track of the books they've read over the summer along with graphic organizer activities that are so very helpful for emerging readers.

We officially started our summer reading program this morning and I wanted to do something fun for the boys. When they woke up I told them I had a very important case for them. I asked if I could hire both of them to solve "The Case of the Missing Baseball Cards". They learned that I had two baseball cards in my possession this morning and sometime between making breakfast and going upstairs to get ready for the day I misplaced the cards. The boys went off in search of the cards asking A LOT of questions about where I'd been and what I'd done so far this morning. My oldest son was getting close when he started asking about the lunch boxes as he put together his timeline of activities. I think he might be onto something.

Today's "detective themed" lunch includes: roast beef, white american cheese sandwich, watermelon slices, almonds, snap peas, celery & peanut butter

If you have kids entering 2nd or 3rd grade and they aren't familiar with the A-Z mystery series you might give it a try. My son LOVES this series!

Now, in other EXCITING news....

I received word yesterday that This Lunch Rox is being featured on Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution Blog as June's Blog of the Month! This is such an exciting thing for me as I truly had NO IDEA when I started this blog that there would be so much interest. I've been having a blast with this project and to be recognized by the Food Revolution Team, a team I so admire for their work in bringing awareness to the travesty of most school lunch programs, is truly an honor. A huge thank you to all of my readers for your continued support and the words of encouragement!