This years Summer Reading decorations had a wild, jungle theme. That meant, trees, vines, leaves and a few jungle critters! Here's what I came up with... starting with the bulletin board.

(Animal tails coming out of books)

 

Any left-over leaves I had were just stuck to the walls in a couple different places. 

Remarkable Women: Beaches and Oceans

Biographical picture books about adventurers, scientists and environmentalists 

🐋

Ocean Speaks: How Marie Tharp revealed the Ocean's Biggest Secret  by Jess Keating

Published: June 30, 2020

As a young girl, Marie Tharp loved exploring the world with her father. As she grew up, she wanted to study science and become a scientist, which was a man's line of work. When WW2 began, many men left for war and Marie got her chance to study science. Soon, she was able to get a job working in a laboratory. 

Her greatest achievement was creating a map of the ocean floor and therein by, discovering the largest mountain range - which is underwater.

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Dare The Wind by Tracey Fern

Published: July 7, 2020

Published: April 13, 2021

MaVynee loved to spend time at the beach her grandfather purchased in Jacksonville, Florida. At a time in American history when many things where segregated, this beach was bought with the purpose to be a beach open to everyone. It was names American Beach. 

Over time, the beach became dirty and littered with trash. MaVynee returned to the beach as an adult and set to work, making it the beautiful place she new it to have been. When builders chose American Beach as the perfect location to build condos, MaVynee fought to have the beach declared protected.

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 Shark Lady by Jess Keating

 Published: June 6, 2017

 When Eugenie Clark visited an aquarium one day, she was fascinated with the creatures and knew she wanted to work with fish -sharks to be exact. Her mother helped foster this passion by buying her a fish tank and Eugenie did all she could to educate herself about sharks and fish. She earned a degree in Zoology and went on many dives, where she encountered sharks. 

She was the first scientist in the world to prove that sharks can be trained.

                                                                    _______________

 For the YA area, it looks prettier in person, promise. 

The little text cut-outs are facts about Asia.The publisher file of those was accidentally deleted so I don't have a copy of all included facts to share 😞

The next day the display was slightly reorganized...

I Survived the Destruction of Pompeii, AD 79 was our January 2020 book of the month. For this book club meeting, we had fruit - apples and grapes. I always try to pull a snack inspired by the text and apples were specifically mentioned as being sold in the market. 

Our meetings always follow the same general outline: Snacks and discussion then activity/craft.

Mosaic Tiles

The pros: Super pretty!!

The cons: For this craft, our first step was gluing the stones onto our base and letting it dry. 

We took the first 10 minutes of book club doing this. 

However, the problem started when we had TWO new families come in late, after the group had already glued the stones down and while we were talking about the book/ snacking. I had no volunteers and it might have been easier to manage if I did have help. But those two instances threw this off a tad.

Also, the craft always ends up being 10 times messier than when I do my trial run of a craft. 

• Mosaic Tile Adhesive
• Wood Base ( This is what I used )
• Premixed Tile Grout
• Sponges
• Pretty Stones
• Spatula tool thing
  
• Bowls with water 

optional: Q-tips to spread the glue

optional: I knew they wouldn't be dry by the end of book club, so I made cardboard carrying cases for them. 

First Step

Glue stones to base. Let dry. 

Second Step

Once stones have dried to base, you're ready to grout! 

Use the spatula tool thing and spread out the grout around the stones.

Third Step

Using a sponge and water, gently wash away excess grout.

After that, let it dry! 

Ok, obviously, that is the most basic general idea. But that's the gist. 

If I were to do this book club meeting over again, I would choose a less complex craft. 

Something like, the sticker mosaic crafts from Oriental Trading or coloring mosaic style patterns on white ceramic tiles. 

Of course, you can always do something with the volcano - to be honest, I forgot why I was so focused on doing mosaics for this.

Click here for my chapter by chapter breakdown of the book.