These books are from a Mom Blogger friend at CoffeeShopBloggers whose daughter is a sports fanatic and these were her favorite baseball books. These books are all appropriate for grades 3-5th. The “…and Me” novels, also known as, the Baseball Card Adventures are fun because the child in the story travels back in time to meet a baseball legend. I suspect that any little leaguer who might not love to read otherwise will enjoy these books!
If you don’t live in Newton, MA, use my list. It’s a great list. It also comes with great resources of websites to keep you learning, reading and having fun. Please see Capability Mom’s post on that! I have to hightail it to the library the next town over to get books for my kids!
This list was compiled by kids and interesting because it’s not so different from the Teacher’s Choice list also compiled by the National Education Association. Great minds think alike! This list was tabulated from an online survey that the National Education Association ran from November 1, 1999 through February 1, 2000.
I found this great summary by Autumn Rain Creations who summarized the 10 things by Ellen Notbohm called Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew and I just shortened it. But do go to her blog if you want more details. Or check out the book at the library.
Here is a list of one hundred books selected by the National Education Association in 1999 as great reading for children and young people. To help make these books more useful, we have added book and author links to any TeachersFirst resources and lesson ideas.
This list (slightly paraphrased) is from Dr. Prakash Dheeriya, a professor of finance, who is the author of the Finance for Kidz series that teaches kids about money management, personal finance and planning for the future.
Some of my Mom Friends are dreading the summer reading requirements from school because their boys are not reading for pleasure yet. So I put together this list that combines books with a related and fun activity as an incentive for boys to read. Yes, I believe in bribery. It helps get kids over the [...]
This is what I was thinking when I came up with this kooky list:
-Summer read, preferably on the beach or on vacation
-Has to be a good read but not too strenuous
-The book is about the summer and/or beach and/or beachy vacation vibe
-A great lead GIRL character
-Counts towards summer homework book assignment but was thoroughly enjoyable
For incoming grades 4-6
Learning about our differences can be a powerful way for children to see from another person’s point of view. I encourage all parents to introduce some of these books or others like these to their children and use these stories as a reference when children bring up differences in school, particularly with special needs classmates. Because how great would it be if it were OUR child who can reach out like MacKenzie in The Friendship Puzzle?! The Friendship Puzzle and My Brother Charlie are a particularly powerful combination for anyone who has a sibling or classmate with autism and would be a great pair of books for any child starting kindergarten.
A transition to a new grade or school, not matter how small, is difficult for children. It’s helpful to visit the new school as often as possible. Play with kids that will be at the same school if you can. And read, read, read to your child books about starting school. The familiarity of routines and activities of the new school will take a lot of the anxiety away. So, while my youngest has been visiting his elementary school for 5 years so far, we’ll take it one step at a time and read these books over and over to ensure a smooth landing in September. And a few playdates with new friends is also on the books!
This is a really helpful post from The Children’s Book Writer on books that are helpful on the topic of learning disabilities. If you have any suggestions of other great books on this topic, please leave a comment. I think it’s so great to learn from each other!
“One of the best and easiest ways to inform yourself about your child’s learning disability is by reading a good book on the subject. There is a ton of literature available about learning problems, so it may be a bit of daunting task to choose something to start with. Luckily, there are many informed parents and specialists out there who have already waded through this flood of information, so you don’t have to dive in on your own. The following is a list of written resources that have made it past the critical gaze of those in the know:
1. No Easy Answers: The Learning Disabled Child at Home and at School, Sally L. Smith, $23 (paperback)
This has been the book that parents of learning disabled children have turned to for more than fifteen years now. Smith is the parent of a learning disabled child, the founder and director of the Lab School, and an education professor at the American University, so she’s extremely well-qualified to write about this subject. The book covers a wide range of information, including a look at how learning disabilities are diagnosed and tips on how to make sure your child is getting the education he or she deserves. The updated version includes sections on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), ADD, and ADHD.
2. All Kinds of Minds: A Young Student’s Book About Learning Abilities and Learning Disorders, Melvin D. Levine, $28.70
Even though this book is geared toward young readers, it’s a valuable resource for both parents and children to learn from together. Levine is a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School and a staunch child advocate. Here, he introduces different types of learning disabilities through stories told from the point of view of five elementary school students. Each student talks about their classroom experiences, their struggles and triumphs. This approach will help children with learning problems to see that they’re not alone and that there are strategies that can they can implement to ease their scholastic difficulties.
3. Helping Children Overcome Learning Disabilities: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents and Teachers, Jerome Rosner, $18.95
The approach of this book is different from most others on the subject. For starters, the author suggests that parents and teachers avoid using the label “learning disabled” and instead focus on the specific problems that their children or students face. Rosner is a professor of pediatric optometry at the University of Houston and has written several books on working with children who have learning issues. Readers will appreciate his accessible explanations of each type of learning difficulty, as well as his positive and practical solution-based approach.”
These books are available on Amazon. To look at the book, just click on the image of the book.
I have this mom friend that I really admire. She does everything with such grace, generosity and thoughtfulness and she makes really difficult things look easy. Some examples:
So when I was trolling for ideas for posts and I, myself, don’t watch that many movies because the blogging thing gets in the way, DesignTrackMind told me to get this mom’s list of movies with meaning. She keeps a list of movies with mean for family movie night? Of course she does. That actually doesn’t surprise me. Do I? No, we just got our cable bill and apparently our children rented Alice in Wonderland three times last month. My husband was slightly miffed because we own the movie on DVD. But I think they rented the Johnny Depp one not the Disney cartoon one that we own but I can’t fathom why they would want to watch it three times.
But isn’t a movie night with movies with meaning such a lovely idea? So now we all can. Thanks mom friend! You know who you are!
Please comment with movies that you recommend!
p.s. If you want to know what age range is appropriate for these movies, I suggest that you look at CommonSenseMedia.org which is a non-profit website that rates both books and movies. Another mom friend recommended this to me. It’s also on my blog roll under Children’s Literature.
10. The Ultimate Gift
9. Music of the Heart
8. Remember the Titans
7. Big
6. Mr. Holland’s Opus
5. Mrs. Doubtfire
4. Dead Poet’s Society
3. Chariots of Fire
2. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (both I and II)
1. To Kill A Mockingbird
Honorable Mentions
Rabbit-proof Fence
Last Holiday
The Bucket List
My Girl
Thank you to Capability:Mom for sending me this video from The Wall Street Journal on Remedies for Getting Rid of Head Lice. I hope you are not battling lice, but if you are, here is a helpful video.
The summary:
I have my own take on lice after two stints and I have posted on it here.
This is a cute rhyming iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch ebook app by StoryBoy.net that my 5-year-old son really liked. He went through a serious dinosaur phase when he was three and has since moved on to Pokemon, Bakugan, Ben 10 and now Avatar: The Last Airbender so I was pleasantly surprised when he opted to read this very simple ebook instead of playing his usual Angry Bird game. I think this ebook brought back fond memories of that time.
There is a small amount of animation in the app where the dinosaurs move across the page but mostly this is a simple story of just a single sentence per page. I don’t love the font choice but then I am picky about fonts and my son is not. The narration sounds like a dad reading which is appealing to boys whereas I like that professional actor/narrator voice. Nevertheless, at 99 cents, this is well priced and if your child opts for this instead of a game, that always make mom happy!
To buy this app at iTunes, just click on the image of the ebook.
I got an email from Dr. Trachtenberg’s publicist with this information. At first I was skeptical … what are they sending me?! But then I read it very carefully and it’s great information. So thank you Dr. Trachtenberg!
1. Prioritize Healthy Skin – Help Get Acne Breakouts Under Control
An Important $$ Money-Saving Tip: Many insurance companies cover acne because it is considered a medical condition.
[One of the newest prescription treatments is Epiduo, a combination medicine that kills breakout-causing bacteria, eases inflammation, clears clogged pores and helps prevent new breakouts from forming. For additional information about Epiduo and to secure a rebate offer that could help you pay no more than $35 for each of your next three prescriptions, visit www.blamebiology.com.]
[Note from Pragmatic Mom -- of course, there are other products both prescription and over the counter that effectively treat acne. I'd personally recommend asking your child's dermatologist and/or aesthetician for product recommendations that would be most effective for your child. This helpful information they sent me may very well be a clever product placement advertisement for Epiduo.]
2. No Meat? No Problem – But Tell The Doctor
3. Sex, Lies and the Waiting Room
4. Do Talk Tattoos and Piercings
5. Teen Angst vs. Depression
Dr. Jennifer Trachtenberg
o The Smart Parent’s Guide to Getting Your Kids Through Checkups, Illnesses, and Accidents: Expert Answers to the Questions Parents Ask Most -http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35895613/ns/today-today_books/#ixzz0oU2ZCuJG)
Capability:Mom sent this to me from an email newsletter she gets from Daily Candy. I searched their site for a link but was unable to get it so I posted the main excerpt below.
But first, this is the story of my family dog odyssey:
When I told my mom friend at gymnastics a year ago that I needed to get a dog because we promised the kids that when the youngest turned 5, we’d get a dog (and he was now 5 1/2), she was shocked, “You’re getting a dog?! Really! You’ve never owned a dog before, right?” So she nicely and helpfully spent a lot of time counseling me on dog breeds and recommended that I research at the library. I brought two armfuls of books home and selected Portuguese Water Dog, Visla and other such types and presented the glossy photos to my husband. ”No, no, and no. ” It was just like theBerenstein Bears Old Hat, New Hat: too big, too small, too flat, too tall.
We then started visiting animal shelters (Angel Memorial and Buddy Dog) hoping that the right dog would find us — maybe, we thought, a nice family had to give up their beloved dog because they lost their home and their new apartment doesn’t allow pets. Alas, no. The shelters had either scary Rottweiler type dogs behind glass doors, or puppies that were too hyper for kids (Jack Russell mixes). There was a cute Chihuahua my middle child fell in love with with a bad habit of peeing on the furniture to mark his territory. The sign said that he could be retrained but that was not for me.
Next, I applied to online dog shelters. I filled out form after form at the Framingham shelter that required more information than a Government Security clearance. The result: no calls and no dog.
My next strategy was to “practice” by dog sitting dogs of friends when they went away on vacation. We dog-sat a Kishan and a Golden Retriever. The Kishan was a total sweetheart but my husband said that she was so smart and looked at him with such intelligent, human eyes that it kind of freaked him out. The Kishan also did NOT like the flute and had to run for the hills whenever my oldest practiced. Now both girls play flute. Herding dogs also seem to me to be happiest when they have a big job to do, like, say, … herding.
The Golden Retriever was a different story. We thought we needed a smaller dog because we have a small house and this particular dog was a very large Golden — a big dog big for his breed. But then we fell deeply and hopelessly in love with him and so we did the next best thing from not giving him back. We got a relative of his from the same breeder. Love is irrational. Our puppy has many of the same qualities of his cousin and now we are deeply and hopelessly in love with our dog. For our next life, my husband and I want to come back as our dog.
————–
This excerpt is by breeder Andrea Arden from Daily Candy.
1. Start slow. Offer to care for a friend or neighbor’s dog, and encourage your child to participate in Animal Haven’s Caring Kids Program (ages 4 and up; Tuesdays, 4-6 p.m.).
2. Play it safe. All interactions between kids and dogs (whether their own or someone else’s) should be carefully supervised by an adult. Always.
3. Find the right fit. A good temperament vs. a specific breed is key when picking a pooch. Some lovable doggies (border collies, German shepherds, miniature pinschers) aren’t good with the quick movements and erratic behaviors of little people.
4. Consider your surroundings. Spare your neighbors of a dog that’s vocal (dachshund, beagle). Herding breeds are more sensitive to sounds and stimuli (honk, honk, beep, beep NYC). Smaller isn’t always better — Jack Russell terriers, Boston terriers, and beagles are high energy and need a lot of exercise.
5. Run their hearts out. Central Park and Riverside Park are perfect for play, as is a stroll down the West Side Highway through Soho to the Animal Haven shelter for doggie play dates and fun events. Dog Park USA is an excellent app for finding local runs and off-leash parks.
Here’s to smiles and tail wags all around.
For more information on dog training, go to andreaarden.com. Classes start at $350.
I got permission from Sean Rein to repost his excellent article which is on Forbes.com. Thanks Sean for your excellent article. I thought this article was also excellent for the lessons that it imparts for raising children. I added additional lessons to teach our children that will serve them well in life, and certainly in the business arena, should they chose that path. Forgive me if they are cliches or “Everything I Learned at Kindergarten Sandbox-ish.” The good news is that if we teach our kids well and they happen to become billionaires, they will know how to handle the burden of being super rich! And, of course, we did teach them the old Asian Adage: be kind to your parents so having billionaire offspring won’t suck!
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Judging from the feedback I received after my recent column about Mr. Chen, a Chinese self-made billionaire, many readers were heartened to hear about someone who overcame poverty and ridicule from others better-educated and better-connected to make himself one of the world’s richest people. Unlike many who let criticism discourage them, Mr. Chen uses derision to light a fire in himself to prove others wrong. Using criticism as a motivator is, in fact, a common trait I have found among many self-made billionaires. (See my article “How to Be a Billionaire.”)
Nearly all the self-made billionaires I interviewed told me they had faced contempt from people born rich, just as Mr. Chen had. One Chinese Internet billionaire said that when he first tried to raise money from Silicon Valley venture capitalists, they pooh-poohed him because of his shabby clothes, broken English and lack of a Western education. “It pained me then,” he said, on his way to his private jet, “but I guess I showed them.”
Mr. Chen and other self-made billionaires who overcame the odds but remained humble are undoubtedly inspiring people, but I also wondered about those who inherited their wealth. What lessons could they teach us all, as we struggle to get ahead? Do they have problems too, like you and me, or do they live fairy tale lives?
To answer such questions, I’ve interviewed more a dozen billionaire families in the U.S., Europe and Asia over the past five years, as well as dozens more families worth over $100 million. I met some at palatial private estates fit for Louis XIV, replete with servant staffs with a different uniform for each different position, some at ordinary Starbucks ( SBUX - news -people ), others at exclusive private clubs in Hong Kong, New York or Boston, where mobile phones remain banned. Sometimes I interviewed multiple generations within the same family, to get different perspectives on making money and keeping it, to see how they differed between patriarchs and scions.
The first common thread I noticed among them all was that patriarchs who had built their families’ wealth worried that their children would get lazy and spoiled, like Paris Hilton, and they tried to instill in them an appreciation for hard work. Well aware of the truism that wealth can last only three generations, they made sure to pass along their work ethic, drive and sense of responsibility, so their heirs would strive to preserve, and hopefully build on, the family fortune. I met with a 60-year-old billionaire in France whose family holdings covered a large swath of the French retail scene. He told me that his father, who had made the money originally, insisted that he wait on tables when he was a teenager. He had had his children do the same–and worried that his grandchildren wouldn’t.
A wealthy man I talked to whose grandfather had been the president of a country was sent incognito to work at McDonald‘s ( MCD - news - people ) in the U.S. as a teenager, and his sisters all worked at Wendy‘s ( WEN - news -people ). The heir apparent of a billionaire Hong Kong family I spoke with had to work for years at the lowest rung of their empire when he started out. His father made him carry heavy sacks of fabric to different factories, to build respect within the organization and to show him the difficulties those at the bottom of the totem pole have to endure. All that hard work taught these privileged sons and daughters the value of real effort and making an honest dollar.
The billionaire families also taught me about keeping costs down in business. One clothing tycoon provided excellent benefits and salaries for his employees but also located his offices far from the more happening business centers, to cut down on real estate costs. He thought it was foolish to build pantheon-like office buildings and said that only CEOs who spent other people’s money did that. I’ve found that generally to be true in my own experience. Virtually all of the most lavish chief executives’ offices I’ve been in were outfitted using shareholders’ or investors’ money, as in the case of John Thain’s suite at Bank of America ( BAC - news - people ).
One billionaire even located his company’s headquarters on a working farm so he could receive tax benefits. When I visited his office there were sheep roaming around outside.
Another pattern I noticed was that being born with a silverTiffany ( TIF - news - people ) spoon in your mouth does not guarantee happiness. The truly rich I spoke with seemed to have levels of happiness similar to most people. They might not be worrying about making the next payment on their car or covering their gas bill, like many of us, but those who inherit riches have their own problems.
Many confided concern about being looked down on for being born into wealth, feeling that no matter what they did or how talented they were, people wouldn’t respect them for their business acumen. Others feared having too high a profile and getting criticized in the press or even kidnapped. Some had family members who had been kidnapped and held for ransom, so they never went anywhere without bodyguards nearby. A lot of them complained that they didn’t know who they could trust, as they always attracted hangers-on who wanted something and weren’t true friends. Fear and lack of trust were common threads–especially when the issue of marriage came up.
Still, none of the billionaires I spoke with said they would give up their wealth, no matter what problems it brought. On balance they found wealth more a blessing than a curse–as well as a source of a lot of thinking about both how to make it and how to keep it once you’ve got it.
Shaun Rein is the founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group, a strategic market intelligence firm. He writes for Forbes on leadership, marketing and China. Follow him on Twitter@shaunrein.
DesignTrackMind asked me if I did designer jeans for my girls. Tractor jeans? Yes, I do buy Tractor skinny jeans for my oldest because they fit her well and I don’t have to hem them so they end up fitting for about two years.
Her: ”No, real designer jeans. You know, 7 for all Mankind, True Religion.”
Me: ”I saw them at Marshalls for $100 and that was too much for me. Who buys these for their kids, anyway?!”
Apparently, DesignTrackMind buys them for her fashionista daughter, but wait — at the end of my digression, you will learn her nifty trick.
Well … when I ask mom friends if they know DesignTrackMind, they tend to say, ”Is she the short blonde with really amazing taste? She dresses funky but cool like she’s not even trying?”
Oh yes, that’s her! What you may not know about her is that she is a bargainista as much as she is a fashionista. But she also has business smarts up the wazoo and she knows the power and earning potential of nurturing a creative mind. In a past life (i.e. before kids), she was the head designer for Sigrid Olsen. Her father, early in her fashion career, sighed and worried deeply about how his little girl was going to pay the rent. He stopped worrying once she started out earning him and he was a hot-shot partner at a large law firm making big bucks. (I’ll ask him if I run into him if he thinks he went into the wrong line of work).
So, what is the line between spoiling your child and nurturing their fashion creativity that could very lead to financial superstardom but at the very least, free clothes for mom? I’m not sure, but my very good friend from college summer school hung out with Reed Krakoff when she was a co-ed at Wellesley and guess where he is now, after graduating from Vassar and a stint at the Fashion Institute of Technology? Married for the second time to a glamorous wife, Executive Creative Director for Coach, successful launch his eponymous new line, and sitting on a personal fortune estimated at over $70 million. Unless my memory fails me and she said it was $150 million. Could be the latter.
Another case when being savvy about fashion translates into a high powered fashion empire. Was Reed the most fashionable boy? Probably, I would imagine, a sharp dresser. But he turned his love of women (hence the semester at an all girls’ college where he had his pick of beautiful women), into making women look good which translated into three homes and a piece of a fashion empire.
So, nurturing your child’s creativity through their clothing choices can have choice payoffs…
Sorry for the digression. Here is what DesignTrackMind does to allow her child to have designer jeans without feeling like an Idiot Mom.
Her trick:
Really? You can do that?! It works?! So I thought I’d try this nifty trick myself, just as an experiment– you know, for the sake of science. I always have loved The Row by the Olson twins (the actresses and fashion moguls with an estimated net worth of $1 billion but not sure if $1 billion each or split between them, but who really cares, right?).
Guess what, it works! There are pieces, both new and used, on eBay for a fraction of the price and in my size. Did they fall off a truck? I don’t know but I’m not asking!
Thank you to my childhood friend and neighbor growing up, Carolyn, for this website: Dog Food Analysis. In their own words:
“Dogfoodanalysis has been online since 2005 and continues to be updated periodically. On this site, you will find information about the contents of +1500 dry dog foods, along with ratings and reviews. For more information about the site, visit our frequently asked questions page. We make some suggestions for wider information and resources on the info page.”
Two things come to my mind:
This is from Imagine Learning who turned to Ann Lodgson, a school psychologist who specializes in helping parents and teachers help struggling students. I especially like her idea of using your TV’s closed caption option; how easy yet brilliant is that? I also noticed that even cartoon have decent vocabulary because my 5-year-old would use phrases or words that were advanced. Then I’d ask him how he knew the word or phrase and he’d name the cartoon. It was anti-climatic for me and yet an effective tool for vocabulary building. Anyway, click here for entire article.
Here are her 5 strategies:
1. Pair books with audio books
Many libraries have both printed and audio versions of books. Check them out and have your child follow the words in the printed book as the audio book plays. Or, have your child read a chapter, then listen to the chapter on tape.
2. Use your television’s closed caption feature
Turn on closed captioning on your TV or a favorite DVD. Following the captions can help your child improve sight word vocabulary while also helping him or her get a better feel for the way both written and spoken language flows.
3. Create your own books on tape
Research shows that kids’ reading skills improve when they listen to themselves read. Have your child read a book into a voice recorder and then listen to the recording. Kids can record stories and listen to their recordings in several of Imagine Learning English’s activities.
4. Read together as a family
Set aside a half hour every evening just for family reading. Family members can read individually and then talk about what they read, or they can take turns reading to each other from the same book.
5. Adapt reading materials to your child’s reading level
If your child struggles to read the materials required to learn subject matter at school, read the material yourself and help your child with the meaning and pronunciation of new words. Demonstrate how to look up new words and help your reader through difficult passages. If your child has a disability, check with your school district or library for CD versions of textbooks or for text readers that can be used on your home computer.