Silly Dreams

Silly Dreams

Every night I go to sleep I never stay in bed.

I go to faraway places, but only in my head.

Just the other day I had tea with the queen.

She was not very kind and really rather mean.

I can to to space, I will dance with the moon.

If I'm feeling hungry I eat him with a spoon.

The stars are tasty too with sugar and cream.

I eat until I burst it is only a dream.

I will ride a lion with a pink nose and purple tail.

I will race against a blue whale.

The jungle has lions and bears.

They all wear dresses and have feathers for hair.

Sometimes I fly and sometimes I soar.

The grass is my sky and the cloud's my floor.

I am graceful like the birds, I am faster than a rocket.

When I need to rest I sleep in a cloud pocket.

Today when I dream I will think about clowns.

They know how to chase away frowns.

I will play cards with fish. Sleep the middle of the sea.

I will share a piece of cake with a bumble bee.

My Side of the Mountain 6-3

 My Side of the Mountain                        6-3

    My Side of the Mountain tells the story of Sam Gribley, who has decided to live in the woods with only his diary and a few animals for company. These include Frightful, the falcon that Sam has raised from a chick; a weasel that he calls The Baron; and Jessie C. James, a raccoon.
    It is September. Sam notices that The Baron Weasel's fur is turning white. He knows that winter will arrive soon. It will be cold and food will be hard to find. He makes some fur clothes to keep himself warm. He decides to build a clay fireplace to heat the hollowed-out tree he lives in. It takes days to get the fireplace to work right.
    By October, Sam begins to look for ripe walnut and hickory nuts to store for the winter. He needs to gather them quickly because the squirrels are also after them. Soon he has a storehouse filled with nuts. Next, he competes with the squirrels, raccoons, and a skunk for apples. The animals are fattening themselves up before their winter sleep.
    On Halloween night, Sam throws a party for his animal neighbors. The squirrels, foxes, raccoons, and opossums come for their treats of nuts, rabbit meat, apples, and crayfish. Sam has always been careful about not leaving food out. On this night, however, he forgets to protect the food he has been storing in his house. Sleeping outside, Sam wakes up to noises in his tree. The animals have found all his food! Now that he has invited all of the animals over, he doesn't know how to make them go away. He finally snarls and makes loud noises to frighten them. His guests leave. Halloween is over.

The Golden Lion Tamarin Comes Home 6-2

 The Golden Lion Tamarin Comes Home            6-2

    The nonfiction selection The Golden Lion Tamarin Comes Home is about the work people are doing to bring a kind of monkey called a golden lion tamarin back to its natural habitat, the coastal Brazilian rainforest. The rain forest was once 1500 miles long, but most of the trees have been cut down or burned to clear the land. Only a small part of the rainforest remains. As the forest disappeared, so did the tamarins. The Golden Lion Tamarin Conservation Program was begun to help bring the tamarins back into the wild.
    Today zoos around the world breed tamarins. But zoo tamarins do not know how to hunt for food or how to survive in the wild. One zoo in Washington, D.C., has been trying to prepare tamarins to live in the wild. Then the zoo sends the tamarins to the Brazilian rainforest.
    The tamarins are flown to Brazil and taken to a reserve. First, they are put into cages in trees to get used to the sights and sounds of the forest. Then, when they are ready, they are set free. Observers watch the tamarins closely to see how they are doing. Some of the tamarins wear radio collars so observers can keep track of them.
    Tamarins need the most help just after they are released from the cages. They can get lost or injured very easily. The observers give them plenty of food and water at first. When the tamarins become more independent and know their way around, the feedings stop. Unfortunately, only about thirty percent of these tamarins survive for more than two years in the wild. The goal of the conservation program is to make the number grow.

The Grizzly Bear Family Book 6-1

 The Grizzly Bear Family Book     6-1

    The Grizzly Bear Family Book is a nonfiction selection about grizzly bears in the Alaskan wilderness, especially in Denali National Park. The author and photographer, Michio Hoshino, spent a year in Alaska observing grizzly bears.
    The selection begins in winter, during which grizzlies are asleep in their dens and mother bears give birth to their cubs. In the spring, the bears wake up and leave their dens. Grizzlies are thinner at this time because they haven't eaten in months. As the weather gets warmer, the bears eat roots, grasses, ground squirrels, and other animals.
    During the summer, grizzlies fish in rivers and streams. They are skilled at catching fish and especially like salmon. Although they usually prefer being alone, bears come together when fishing. The stronger, or dominant, bears get the best fishing spots. Mothers bring their young cubs food. When the cubs turn two, they can fish by themselves. They learn how to catch fish by watching their mothers.
    In the fall, the grizzlies start eating enough food to get them through the winter. They fill up on berries, which are high in sugar. Sometimes, bears eat berries for twenty hours a day! They hardly stop to sleep.
    Then the daylight hours grow short and winter arrives again. The grizzly bears return to their dens and settle in for another long winter's sleep.

Elena 5-4

 Elena 5-4

    Elena takes place in Mexico in 1910, at the beginning of the Mexican Revolution. Elena's husband, Pablo, a sombrero maker, has to leave town on business. Elena is worried for his safety. Armed soldiers are everywhere. The rainy season has just ended, and the road is not in good condition. Sure enough, there is a landslide, and Pablo and his horse fall into a ravine. Villagers lift him to safety, but he is badly injured. Before he dies, he tells Elena that she and their four children must leave the village to be safe.
    The army of Pancho Villa arrives in their village. Villa is fighting to free Mexico from a cruel dictator. But Villa is a former bandit who does not respect the law. Elena hides her son, Esteban, in a kitchen cabinet, afraid that Villa will force him into his army.
    Villa himself knocks on the door. When he finds that Pablo has died, he asks if there are any sombreros left. Elena sells him the last one. She knows that it is time for her family to leave.
    Elena and her family leave all their belongings behind, They board a train and travel north to the city of Juarez on the United States border. They are able to cross into the United States and end up settling in Santa Ana, California, because it reminds them of their home.
    Years later, the family finds out that their old village was burned by soldiers. Only then do they realize how Elena's courage saved them all.

Black Cowboy, Wild Horses Theme 5-3

 Black Cowboy, Wild Horses Theme 5-3

    Black Cowboy, Wild Horses is about the African American cowboy, Bob Lemmons. With the help of his stallion, Warrior, Lemmons hers mustangs, the wild horses that live on the plains. He herds them by making the mustangs think that he is one of them.
    The selection shows Lemmons on the job. First, he looks for the herd's hoof marks. Then he rides Warrior and catches up to them as a storm breaks. It is important that he doesn't get too close too soon. If the mustangs see or smell him, they will run off. He moves Warrior very slowly, trying not to make a sound, getting closer as the herd grazes. The stallion leading the herd looks around before he goes back to grazing. The mustangs sense that Lemmons is near, but they think that he is a horse.
    Lemmons rides into the middle of the herd. He tires to keep himself flat across Warrior's back. The next day, a colt is bitten by a rattlesnake and dies. As the stallion moves the herd away, Lemmons decides that this is the right moment to take over the herd. He and Warrior gallop to the front. Warrior rears up and kicks his legs into the air. Then he charges the stallion. Warrior and the stallion fight, kicking at each other. Warrior wins the battle, and the mustang stallion leaves the herd.
    Lemmons is now in charge of the mustangs. As he rides back home, the herd follows him. After a two-day ride, he leads the mustangs straight into the corral. The other cowboys take over the job and Lemmons rides off with Warrior.

Pioneer Girl 5-2

 Pioneer Girl 5-2

    Pioneer Girl is the true story of Grace McCance and her family. In 1885, the McCance family filed a claim on land in Nebraska. They moved from Missouri to the shortgrass prairie and became homesteaders.
    Homesteaders had to watch the weather carefully. Hailstorms could destroy crops. Lightning could spark a fire if the weather was dry. Grace never forgot the first prairie fire that she saw as a child. Luckily, it died down right before it reached their house. A few months later, a rainstorm hit their homestead. Their sod house shook; the roof was torn off. Everything on the walls and shelves was either smashed or blown away.
    But there were also good memories. Before their first Christmas on the prairie, the McCances received three barrels full of molasses, apples, walnuts, and clothes from Grace's grandparents in Missouri.
    Most of the McCance's neighbors were European immigrants. Many came to farm the land, but some also came for religious freedom or to avoid paying high taxes. Most were poor. Everyone in the family had to work six days a week, including children as young as three and four.
    At age five, Grace herded the family's cows. She drove them to the fields each morning, stayed with them during the day, and brought them home at night. One young cow had especially bad temper. She charged grace one day and left her with a bad cut. Grace's father sold the cow a few days later and Grace kept herding. life on the prairie was never easy.