Circle Time at Pinewood Castle Part 2 - Book and CD Links

(Links and more links)

Here are the basic books I use for circle time:

• A Child's Seasonal Treasury by Betty M. Jones
• Sing a Song of Seasons by Mary Thienes Schunemann (with CD)
• A Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme by Heather Thomas
• any good Catholic hymnal (the numbers I use are for Gather)
• a saint book you like (we use Saints for Young Readers for Everyday and display holy cards we collect in a holy card box)
• a children's bible story book

 

 

This year I am also planning to incorporate Tea Time on some of the Marian feast days using Meredith's new book Mondays With Mary and will include page numbers for the corresponding teas. This book can be purchased from her blog site - just look on the sidebar. We have also enjoyed Alice's Tea Time ideas!

Certain times of the year we use the following (all of these come with a CD):

• The Christmas Star by Mary Thienes Schunemann
• Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly by Mary Thienes Schunemann
• This is the Way We Wash A-Day by Mary Thienes Schunemann
• the above are also available at Nova Naturals
• Wee Sing America
• Wee Sing Silly Songs
• Wee Sing Bible Songs

I am also fond of throwing in some music from these CDs:

• Kids Sing for Jesus
• Laurie Berkner
• Danny Schneible's Sing Little Children (available through Seton but cannot find it online right now) love this album!

Instruments I use almost daily:

• a two octave chromatic glockenspiel
• a soprano recorder (wooden or plastic)
• various rhythm instruments for the children

Also helpful are:

• a CD player with a remote
• colored silk play scarves
• a children's calendar (we use magnetic and puffy ones)

Tables:

• a season's table/nature table (ours in on the sideboard)
• a liturgical table with a candle, holy cards, holy water, liturgical art and aim & flame (top of a classroom bookshelf)

*** a note about A Child's Seasonal Treasury - I can't believe this book costs $57-63 on Amazon!!! I seriously doubt if I paid this much. It must be out of print. I suggest googling the title to shop around for a lower price. Honestly, though, if circle time is something you feel called to do in your homeschool I think this book is worth a few extra dollars!

Coming Up Next: my typed up plans for Fall using the books listed in this post