Myself and 60 other bloggers participated in the 2014 Love Book Summer Exchange which is hosted by Educators' Spin On It. You can find out more information about this book swap and learn how to start your own here. Follow on social media using hashtag #lovebooks.
When our package from our swap partner the children were really excited. Our swap partner was Discovering The World Through My Son's Eyes. Be sure to head over to her blog to check out all the great resources she offers. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Google +. Frances did a fantastic job choosing a book and activities for my children.
Frances sent us a copy of a fabulous book called Baba Didi and the Godwits Fly. The book is illustrated by Annie Hayward and written by Helen Clark. Both of my children are huge fans of books with animals so this was totally up their alley.
This book is about a little girl named Isabella, her grandma named Baba Didi and the important lessons that a little bird called a godwit teaches others. While at the beach enjoying thier day together Baba Didi tells Isabella all about the life of the 15 inch brown long-billed bird. She explains to Isabella that they spend half a year on one side of the planet and then fly to the other side for the rest. We had never heard of a godwit so we were very intrigued and couldn't wait to learn more.
We learned so much about the godwits and their 18,000 mile migration, including the countries they visit on their journey across the Pacific. But there was another magical lesson taught in this book too. While Baba Didi is teaching her granddaughter about the godwits she also shares about her migration from Croatia to New Zealand. And about the Maori's migration to New Zealand as well. Baba Didi explains how it takes courage and resilience to keep going to reach a safe destination for both animals and people. This book is really inspirational and magical and reminds us to keep going even when the going is rough and the road is long!
The illustrations in the hard back book are really beautiful too. This book taught great lessons in history, science and geography! And a portion of the money from the sale of each book is donated to UNICEF.
Included in our package were also some great extension resources including a godwit coloring page, mapping activity and godwit beak experiment. The map activity provided a great geography lesson for the children as they marked the godwits migration route. And the godwit beak experiment made a great little science lesson. The children used chopsticks (which resembled a godwits beak) to pluck pennies (which resembled pipis) out of a wet sand filled jar. They had a lot of fun with this activity and turned it into a game!
See how much a book swap can be! This swap took place between bloggers around the world but you can easily put one together with for your homeschool group, friends, church group, etc!
For even more inspiration check out these past swaps at the Educators' Spin On It!
30+ Picture Books and Activities from the 2013 Summer Book Exchange
20 Pictures Books and Activities from the 2012 Summer Book Exchange
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