Booking Across the U.S.A. - South Carolina

There are bloggers all across the United States sharing children's books that relate to their state or about a state they are interested in. I live in South Carolina and am going to share a wonderful book with you about animals that live long the Carolina coast called Hungry Mr. Gator by Julie McLaughlin

Hungry Mr.Gator is wonderful counting book that features animals found in the low country of South Carolina.  As Mr. Gator slips through the water he finds a number of groups wonderful animals to eat. If only they didn't try to get away or weren't too high in trees or weren't on his list of food interests.

JDaniel loved learning about animals that live in our state. He wasn't familiar with egret and the anhinga. I wasn't really either. It was fun to learn about them togehter. I also love this book's  wonderful illustrations by Ann Marie McKay. We had a book time trying to find Mr. Gator in each of them.

Both the words and pictures in this book draw you in and make you feel like you are visiting South Carolina.

Exploring the Hungry Mr. Gator

As you may know, I am big on reading books and exploring the concepts in the book. I host a weekly blog meme called Read.Explore.Learn. on Fridays that focuses on building a learning foundation by exploring concepts in children's books. JDaniel and I explored this book in two ways.

Painting a Mr. Gator

First we worked on creating a Mr. Gator painting. I drew and cut out the gator and JDaniel painted it. I tried to help with the painting, but it ended up being a one man show.

I think he did a wonderful job on the final product. He was most pleased about creating the color gray. I am not sure why. He just kept sharing that he was painting it all over the gator. I love how he layered colors. In some places he layered a lot of paint and others he kept to just one or two colors.

Mr. Gator Snack

Mr. Gator spent the whole book looking for something to eat. I made a Mr. Gator snack for JDaniel to enjoy. It is made of watermelon yogurt (Which for some reason came colored blue in the yogurt tube.), milk and food coloring painted bread, almonds slivers, and a black olive.

JDaniel chomped this snack down and wanted me to make another one.

We thoroughly enjoyed exploring this book!

Would you like to read posts from other blogs about other states? Here is a list of the other blogs that are participating in the Booking Across the U.S.A. event.

Alaska: Little Wonders’ Days Arizona: Simply Kinder and Think, Wonder, & Teach Arkansas: Homeschooling in Arkansas California: Juggling with Kids and The Outlaw Mom Colorado: Learners in Bloom and Living Montessori Now Connecticut: The Teacher Park Delaware: Mama Miss Florida: Teaching Stars Georgia: Fabulously First Hawaii: Teaching With Style Idaho: True Aim Education Illinois: Growing Book by Book Indiana: Teach Preschool Iowa: Surviving a Teacher's Salary Kansas: KCEdventures Kentucky: Chicken Babies Louisiana: New Orleans Moms Blog Maine: Maine Adventure Mom and Country Fun Child Care Maryland: Picture Books and Piourettes Massachusetts: Mama Smiles Michigan: Play DrMom Minnesota: The Wise Owl Factory Mississippi: Hey Mommy, Chocolate Milk Missouri- Ready. Set. Read! Montana: The Honey Bunch Nebraska: The Good Long Road Nevada: Boy, Oh Boy, Oh Boy Crafts New Hampshire: Growing Book by Book New Jersey: The Pleasantest Thing New Mexico: Enchanted Homeschooling Mom New York: What Do We Do All Day North Carolina: Realistic Teacher Blog North Dakota: ND HealthWorks Ohio: Smart Chick Teacher’s Blog Oklahoma: Herding Kats in Kindergarten Oregon: Journey of a Substitute Teacher Pennsylvania: Land of Once Upon a Time Rhode Island: Smiling in Second Grade South Carolina: Cookies and Kiddos and JDaniel4’s Mom South Dakota: The Wise Owl Factory Tennessee: No Monkey Business Texas: Curls and a Smile and Kid World Citizen Utah: Teach Beside Me Vermont: Burlington Vt Moms Blog Virgina: Once Upon a Story, and The Freckled Homeschooler Washington: Home Learning Journey and Boy Mama Teacher Mama West Virginia: This Week @ Great Peace Academy and Mamas Like Me Wisconsin: Reading Confetti Wyoming: No Twiddle Twaddle USA: The Corner on Character

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