This list can also be seen as a testament to authors who create characters so real, deep, and nuanced that we fall in love with them, if not for ourselves, then for our children. And I can safely say that no one else is consumed with creating this kind of list!
Category: Literacy
Getting kids to love reading including reluctant readers as well as competent readers who just don’t like to read.
Top 5: Using Electronic Devices to Get Kids Reading
As a parent whose youngest (and only 6-years-old!) is already attempting to spend every waking hour in front of a screen, I thought I’d suggest some ideas for getting reluctant readers excited about reading in the vein of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Or a corollary: “Let’s be sneaky and use electronics as a Trojan horse to present reading in a different light.” I’ve been blogging about these ideas that I’ve discovered over the past year and I’m pretty excited about them. Let me know what you think and if they work for you.
SAT Vocabulary Words from Picture Book The Scarecrow’s Hat
The words for Week 8 are from the picture book, The Scarecrow’s Hat by Ken Brown. Lest you be alarmed that it’s freaky to be teaching SAT vocabulary words to Kindergarteners, I wanted to REITERATE that all the words in this series are from a picture book; however, I failed to notice which picture book on earlier posts. This brings me to another point: picture books often have richer language than easy chapter books, not to mention gorgeous art work. I am a HUGE fan of picture books for all ages. How else can one be transported to a different time and place and/or walk in the shoes of another in the short space of 24ish pages? I digress, onward for the words.
Top 10: Best African-American Picture Books (ages 4-12)
This Top 10 list of African American Picture Books is different for me, because rather than list the books from favorite to most favorite as I usually do, I chose instead to list the books in historical chronology such that each book touches on a significant period or event of African American history in the United States. If you read all 10 (and please use your library for this!), you and your child will get a sense of history through picture books. Because each picture books tells its own powerful story, I am hoping you and your child will get images and vignettes that will linger in your mind.
(Free) Developmental Disabilities Literacy Promotion Guide
Reach Out and Read is proud to announce a new literacy guide for children with a range of developmental disabilities. It was developed for Pediatricians and Pediatric health care providers but I think it’s appropriate and helpful for parents as well. Knowledge is power, right? The guide provides reading tips, recommended books, and literacy milestones for children with seven different disabilities: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Cerebral Palsy (CP), Hearing Loss, Intellectual Disabilities, Speech and Language Problems, and Vision Loss.
5th Grade Book Club: The Uglies
A Mom Friend hosted my daughter’s 5th Grade book club. The book was The Uglies by Scott Westerfield and the activity was discussing what is beauty exactly using magazines and tabloids. The coup de grace was in looking at before and after pictures of Heidi Montag. We Moms were gratified that our kids thought Heidi looked best in the “before” pictures. In the day and age of media bombardment of unrealistic female body images, we were grateful that our girls accept both themselves and a broad range of images that they consider to be beautiful!
SAT Vocabulary Words for Kindergarteners from Caps for Sale
My son’s Kindergarten teacher is really up on the latest ideas on early childhood education. She believes in big words for little people and uses these six new words during daily conversations at school and during activities. We are also encouraged to use them at home and to make a game out using them. So I asked my 6-year-old son what “ordinary” means and he gave me this long winded story about how from one day to the next, the books in the bookshelves of an “ordinary” day would not be disturbed. I think the smile/laugh value of hearing kids relate these words to their every day lives is well worth this exercise. I think the same of my son’s karate class — it’s like an episode of Saturday Night Live, only actually funny.