September 2016

Let’s Read Together

4 Grandma’s Letter
5 The Adventures of Spot™
6 Tex and Indi™: Thank the Bees page 20
12 Mine!
20 Meera and Kiran: Kiran’s Laces
26 Bella’s First Day

Let’s Puzzle It Out

10 My First Hidden Pictures™ Puzzle
page 10
16 Climbling a Rainbow
18 That’s Silly!™
24 Look and Look Again: Earthmovers

Let’s Do It
32 Cheese Crackers
34 Dance Your Way page 32

Bonus Pages
Build a Bot
A Highlights™ Genies Card Game
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Grandma’s Letter
By Carrie Finison • Art by Paula J. Becker
Grandma sent a letter.
Now I’m sending my reply.
Draw it. Write it. Sign it. Fold it.
Find an envelope to hold it.
Stuff it. Seal it. Stamp it. Send it.
Please be careful not to bend it.
Won’t Grandma be surprised!

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September 2016 https://vk.com/readinglecture
 TM

By Marileta Robinson • Art by Ron Zalme

What’s this? Splinter gives it a tap.

This ball is fun to play with! She taps it again.

Where did the ball go? Yarn is fun to play with, too!
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September 2016 5
Thank the Bees
By Lissa Rovetch • Art by Amy Wummer

Tex and Indi and their dad were visiting

a honeybee farm.
“Welcome!” said Mrs. Dee. “Who wants
to see how honey is made?”
“I do!” said Indi.
“Me, too!” said Tex.
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September 2016 https://vk.com/readinglecture
 x and Ind
e

“OK,” said Mrs. Dee. “First, the field bees collect sweet,
juicy nectar from the flowers in our fields. Then they
carry it to the hive. The worker bees in the hive take the
nectar from the field bees and put it in the honeycombs.
Once the nectar is thick and gooey, the worker bees cover
it with wax.”
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 Mrs. Dee put on a special outfit to protect her from
bee stings. Then she used smoke to calm the bees while
she opened the hive box. “Each hive has thousands of
worker bees,” said Mrs. Dee. “And one very important
queen bee.”
“Does the queen bee wear a crown and sit on a tiny
throne?” said Indi, giggling.
“No,” said Mrs. Dee, smiling. “But she is much bigger
than the other bees.”
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September 2016 https://vk.com/readinglecture
 Mrs. Dee broke off sticky chunks of the honeycomb
and gave everybody a piece.
“Yummy!” said Tex. “This is the best honey I’ve
ever tasted. Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” said Mrs. Dee. “Thank the bees.”

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September 2016 9
 My First

Puzzle
Find t h ese objects hidden in the big picture.

Gift Paintbrush Button Candle

Pencil Cloud

Pizza Fork Belt

Four Little Sheep

By JaNay Brown-Wood

Four little sheep have lost Bo Peep.

“We hope that she will find us.
Too far we have strayed,
And we’re feeling afraid.
But look! There she is—behind us!”
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10 September 2016
Art by Emilie Chollat
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September 2016 11
Mine!
By Eileen Spinelli • Art by Rose Mary Berlin

Little Bunny’s sister, Baby Bunny, learned a new

word: mine!
She said it when she played with Mama’s wooden
spoons. And Papa’s keys. And Granny’s purse.
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12 September 2016
 Then Baby Bunny
toddled into Little Bunny’s
room. She pointed to
Little Bunny’s truck.
“Mine!” she said.
“No,” said Little Bunny.
“This is my truck.”

Next, Baby Bunny pointed to Little Bunny’s

backpack. “Mine!” she said.
“No,” said Little Bunny. “This is my backpack.”
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September 2016 13
 Then Baby Bunny pointed to the teddy bear on
Little Bunny’s shelf. “Mine!”
Little Bunny started to say no, but then he stopped
and thought. He hadn’t slept with his teddy bear since
he was little, like Baby Bunny. And he remembered
how comforting it was to cuddle up with it at night.
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14 September 2016
 Little Bunny took
the bear off the shelf
and gave it to
Baby Bunny.
“Yours,” he said.

Baby Bunny set the bear on the floor. She toddled over to
Little Bunny and put her arms around him. “Mine!” she said.
“Yes, Baby Bunny. I am yours. And you are mine.”
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September 2016 15
Climbing a
Rainbow
By Marileta Robinson • Art by Pat Lewis
All my favorite colors
are painted way up high.
They make a bridge that I pretend
to climb up to the sky.
And when I reach the middle
I take a little ride.
I slide right down that rainbow bridge
to reach the other side.
Find the objects in the picture that
match the colors in the rainbow.
What else do you see?

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16 September 2016
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September 2016 17
 hat’s Silly!
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Art by Lynne Avril

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 W hat
silly things
do you see?

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September 2016 19
 Kiran’s Laces
By Nandini Nayar
Art by Sonal and Sumit

Meera and Kiran

“Wake up!” Ma said, walking into Kiran’s room with Meera.
“It’s your first day at play school, Kiran!” said Meera
excitedly. “You can’t be late!”
Ginger barked, jumping on the bed.
Kiran yawned. “School!” he said. “I am going to school!”
 He ran to brush
his teeth. Ginger
bounded after him.
“Brush, brush,
brush,” said Kiran.
Ginger watched
Kiran brush his
teeth.
Then Kiran
drank his milk at
the kitchen table.
“Milk is good
for you, Ginger,” he
told the pup. Ginger
liked milk, too.

Kiran had new clothes

for his first day at school.
“My shorts have a zip!”
Kiran announced.
Zip! He pulled it up.
Zap! He pulled it down.
“Shall I help you
dress?” Ma asked.
“No, I can zip my
shorts,” said Kiran
proudly. “And button my
shirt!”

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September 2016 21
 There were other things that
Kiran could do by himself.
Kiran could pull on his socks
without any help. He could
put on his shoes, too. But each
time he tied his laces, they came
untied!
“I’m having trouble, Meera,”
said Kiran sadly.
Meera showed him how to
tie his laces. Kiran tried again.
This time, he pulled them
hard and made them tight.

“Ma!” Kiran called. “My laces hurt me!”

Ma loosened the laces on Kiran’s shoes and they stopped
hurting him.
Ma showed Kiran how to tie his laces so they weren’t so
tight. Kiran watched carefully. Ginger watched, too.
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22 September 2016
 When Kiran tried to tie his laces, they still wouldn’t tie.
“I’ll never learn!” said Kiran, disappointed.
“You will, just like you learned how to zip,” said Ma.
“Tie and untie your laces many times,” said Meera.
So Kiran tried to tie his laces, again and again till it was time
to go to school.
“I will tie my laces again and again and again till I learn to
tie them properly!” said Kiran as he skipped to school.
Ginger barked happily, too. Meera and Kiran waved
goodbye to Ma and Ginger, and were off to school.

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September 2016 23
Earthmovers
Art by Constanza Basaluzzo

How are these pictures the same?

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24 September 2016
 Look and
Look Again

How are they different?

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September 2016 25
Bella’s First Day
By Stephanie Shaw • Art by Deborah Melmon

“Wake up, Bella,” said Mom. “It’s the first

day of kindergarten.”
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26 September 2016
 “I will wear my prettiest gown!” said Bella.
“That’s just a dress,” said her sister.
“Not today,” said Bella.

“I’m wearing my lovely dance slippers to school.”

“Those are sneakers,” said her brother.
“Not today,” said Bella.
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 “And I will ride to kindergarten in a pumpkin coach,”
said Bella.
“It’s just our car,” said her sister and brother.
“Not today,” said Bella.
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28 September 2016
 When Bella and her dad walked into the classroom,
the teacher said, “You must be Bella.”
“Not today,” said Bella.
“No?” said the teacher.
“Today I am Kinderbella!” said Bella.
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September 2016 29
 As Bella ran to join
the other children, one
of her shoes flew off.
“Oops!” said Bella.

The teacher smiled and helped Bella tie her shoe.

“Welcome to kindergarten,” she said. “We are going
to have a ball, Kinderbella.”
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30 September 2016
Cheese Crackers
By Pat Tanumihardja • Art by Debbie Palen

You Need
• 1 cup flour
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ cup cold unsalted
butter, cut into small
pieces
• 2 cups finely grated
cheddar cheese
• 4–5 tablespoons ice water
• Butter paper

Before You Beg in

Adult: Preheat the oven
to 180°C.

1. Put the flour, salt, and pepper into a

large bowl. Add the butter and mix with
your fingers until it looks like big crumbs.

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32 September 2016
2. Add the cheese. Then add the
water, a tablespoon at a time, until
the dough starts to stick together.
(You may not need all the water.)
Adult: Roll the mixed dough into two balls,
cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for
at least an hour, up to 24 hours.
3. On butter paper, roll one ball of
dough flat until it’s about 1/8 inch thick.
Put the dough on a cookie sheet. Cut
it into 1-inch squares. Repeat with the
second ball of dough.

4. Adult: Bake at 180°C

for 15–20 minutes until the
squares are golden
and crispy.

Photos by Guy Cali Associates, Inc. 33

 Dance Your Way
An Action Rhyme
By Diana Murray

Do the Robot.
Do the Monkey.
Do the Shake.

Photos by Delhi
Press studio.
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34 September 2016