Listen Up: Dust Bunny

Hi friends,

So glad you could join me for another great story. Today we listen to John Sciezka's "Under the Rug" a short story in the collection Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/b0e66b_5db819b41560444599d50fc064ad01d6/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

I love this book.

It has a really interesting back story, the author wrote The Mysteries of Harris Burdick in 1984, which was a collection of 14 drawings with only a title that invited the reader to come up with their own story. What a cool idea! A few years later, a whole bunch of great authors were asked to write about the original illustrations for the book Chronicles of Harris Burdick. The authors include Kate DiCamillo, Walter Dean Myers & Lemony Snickett.

1. Can you remember any of the idioms Grandma said in the story?

Think about why the author chose to use these idioms in the story. Do you have any idiom (or proverbs) that you hear in your own life? The story reminds me of a proverb my dear old dad used to say when we children were, well, dilly-dallying about chores:

procrastination is the thief of time

So what is the difference between idiom & proverb?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6loOu3pLD8

2. Chores: Walk the dog. Take out the trash. Dust the piano. Unload the diswasher. Bring in the mail. Cut your toenails. Scrub the jell-o that is now dry & sticky under the table when you forgot to clean it up yesterday. Le sigh. Especially these days when many of us have been spending lots more time at our homes. Maybe you already have lots of chores or maybe you have someone at home who does many things for you. Either way, chores are a necessary part of our lives. Think about how it might make someone feel if you surprise them by doing a chore:)

One of the things that can be really exciting to think about (especially while you are procrastinating) is inventions that could do a chore for you. Tools! Machines! Robots! Yes! Take some time to make a list of the chores you do. Next to each chore, write down some ideas about inventions that go along with the task. Sometimes an invention is a totally new thing, other times it is just modifying something to make it better. Check out these kid-inventors:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiuU1mlFeEc

3. Think about the description of the dirt & grime as it evolves from Dust Bunny to Dust Tiger to Dust Demon....cat food, chicken bones, dust & hair...pretty gross. Ask your caregiver if they can save the lint from the dryer next time they do laundry OR you could offer to help with that chore & earn some brownie points;) Anyway, so there's all kinds of cool projects you could do with dryer lint. Here's some ideas or watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svKRPfSECrs

Today's book was: The Chronicles of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg

You can learn more about Chris Van Allsburg & his beloved books (including Polar Express & Jumanji) here or watch an interview with John Sciezka about his story.

Thanks to Pexels contributers for providing awesome video clips.