Book Series for Boys

Since Xander has been reading since before he was 2 (you can see my post on how we did that here), he now reads insanely fast.  For a while I thought there was no way he was actually reading as fast as he was turning the pages, but he can answer questions about what he reads.  I've also watched his eyes, and yes, they really do go back and forth crazy fast!  

Anyway, that means he plows through books!  Because he's graduated to chapter books, we're always on the hunt for new series he likes and I thought I'd share some of his favorites.  Before writing this I, we sat down and organized some of his books and he told me about the ones he would recommend to other kids. This list was the result!  (I should note that he generally reads books between a 1st and 4th grade reading level).

# 1. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

by Betty MacDonald

Grade Level: 2-5
Xander received three of these for his birthday and has read through them all more than once.  As one of the first chapter series he read, they were a nice transition into chapter books.  Each chapter is its own story, so reading them in order or straight through is not all that important.  It's about a weird lady in town that "cures" children of naughty behaviors.

# 2. Wayside Stories

by Louis Sachar

Grade Level: 3-7
Goodness, it made me feel old when Xander started reading these.  I remember reading these in elementary school (Xander started at 4...).  They were another great transition into chapter books since each chapter is a self-contained story.  They're all of these silly, impossible stories about a school that was accidentally build sideways.
 

#3. Dragon Masters

by Tracey West

Grade Level: 1-3

There are currently only 4 books in this series, but Xander used his own money to have me reserve the 5th.  He LOVES these books and has read each several times.  They're about these kids that train their own dragons and go on adventures.  Xander is pretty fond of the wizard that helps the kids.

 

#4. The Secrets of Droon

by Tony Abbott

Grade Level: 2-5

We picked up the first one of these at a consignment the other day, he sat down and read the whole thing in one sitting.  He then immediately asked for the second.  Since then I think he's read four or five of them from the library (he would have read more if he didn't want to read them in order).  They're fantasy books about kids who discover a portal to a magical world called Droon.

 

#5. The Magic School Bus Chapter Books

by Multiple Authors

Grade Level: 2-5

We both love and still read most of the regular Magic School Bus books we have, so trying out the chapter books seemed like a natural progression.  Xander enjoys learning about science, so he said he really likes these books.  He also likes that he learns facts that I don't know and can show off to me.  These books follow the class on various educational adventures with the help of Ms. Frizzle and the Magic School Bus.

#6. The Magic Tree House

by Mary Pope Osborne

Grade Level: 1-4

Holy cow!  There are a ton of these books, but Xander eats them up, so I guess that's a great thing!  These are about two kids who have a magic tree-house that transports them through time.  They go on many historical adventures.

#6. Flat Stanley Worldwide Adventures

by Jeff Brown

Grade Level: 2-5

Xander has several of these and has expressed the desire to mail himself like Stanley.  They're about a kid who gets flattened, so then goes around the world on various adventures.
 

#7. A to Z Mysteries

by Ron Roy

Grade Level: 1-4
This is a pretty large series of mystery books for kids.  Each one starts with a certain letter, but the stories don't seem to carry that letter.

    

#8. Adventures of the Bailey School Kids

by Marcia Thornton Jones and Debbie Dadey

Grade Level: 2-5

 In each of these books the kids suspect someone of being some sort of monster.  Xander's always had a thing for "bad guys" and monsters, so it works out well.
   

#9. Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew

by Carolyn Keene

Grade Level: 1-4

Ok, so these books are probably more aimed at girls, but Xander enjoys them anyway.  They're Nancy Drew books for kids.  Nancy and her friends investigate mysteries and look for monsters.
  

#10. DC Comics Backstories

by Multiple

Grade Level: 3-7

Just like they sound, these are the backstories of different super heroes.  Xander eats anything up that's about super heroes, so he's already asking for the next one.
 

#11. Secret Hero Society

by Derek Fridolfs

Grade Level: 3-7

Sadly, there's only one book in this series so far, but Xander is a fan and excited for the next one.  It's about Batman, Wonder Woman and Superman as kids going to a prep school.  They end up banding together and solving mysteries.

#12. Eerie Elementary

by Jeff Chabert

Grade Level: 1-3

Xander thinks it is cool because it is silly and a little spooky.  This series is aimed at readers new to chapter books.  It's about a school that is actually alive and the main character has to save the students from it.

 

#13.  Goosebumps

by R.L. Stine

Grade Level: 1-3

Xander has always enjoyed spooky things so we rented the Goosebumps movie last month.  He really liked it and wanted to read some of the books afterwards.  We found one at Goodwill and he read it a few times, so we also got some from the library.  I was worried they might be too scary for him, but he hasn't had a problem.  He seems to particularly like the creepy dummy... maybe because I find it so creepy.

   

Up Next?

I have a couple of series I'm thinking we'll check out next (Field Trip Mysteries, Beasts of Olympus), but I'd love to hear what your kids are reading!  Leave a comment here or on Facebook.

 

V for Viscosity

Although we made it from A-Z in our Alphabet in Simple Science, I decided that I'd add some here and there.

Science Notebook Page (Click the picture to print).

Background

I defined viscosity as how much a liquid resists flowing.  High viscosity liquids flow slowly and low viscosity liquids flow easily.  Usually thick things are high viscosity and thin things are low viscosity.

Making some Observations

To start off, I put some water in one cup and an equal amount of corn syrup in a second cup.  I only filled the cups about a fourth of the way full, so that Xander could tip, swirl and play with the cups to make observations of the liquids.  I asked him to describe what he was observing, then I asked which liquid had the higher viscosity and why.  Water and corn starch are VERY different, so it was easy for him to come to the right conclusions.

Then I got out an art try and put 1 teaspoon of various fluids around the tray.  We observed which ones spread out a lot, because they were able to flow easily (low viscosity) and which ones didn't spread out as much because the didn't flow well (high viscosity).

I had him choose which one he thought was the highest viscosity and the lowest viscosity.

Time to Test it Out

Then I had him test out his hypothesis.  We picked four of the liquids, including the one he thought was the highest viscosity and the one he thought was lowest viscosity.  We put a little blob of each at one end of the tray, then tipped the tray up to see which one made it to the other end first.  While we just measured qualitatively to see which made it first, you could time it to bring in more math.  However, if you're going to do that, maybe avoid the ketchup or mustard, they didn't flow very well at all.  The mustard did more and the ketchup kind of all slid as a blob.

Xander must have really been missing out science experiments.  Afterwards he asked what experiment we could do next!  I'd better get thinking!