With 11.7 million YouTube views, you must see this performance by Jake Shimabukuro, a ukulele virtuoso known for his complex fingerwork. Be sure to watch the last minute where Jake plays a pretty incredible sequence. My husband found Jake on YouTube and my kids loved watching him play, especially my son who plays the guitar. My…
For the last day of April and National Poetry Month, I am so excited to welcome my guest author, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater of poetry picture book Forest Has a Song. She has inspired me, a poetry-phobe to explore poetry with her gentle coaxing so I asked her to please write a post on teaching poetry…
I’m not sure why, but our school had a screen free day last month. These screen free challenges are particularly difficult for my kids, hooked as they are to their iPhones, iPod Touch, computer, TV, and Wii. Did I miss any? Do the Color Nook and Kindle count too? Successful Screen Free Day Last Month…
This month the Poppins Book Nook is about Wizards. I looked up the definition to make sure that my book choice was appropriate. Wizards, Sorcerers and Magicians, Oh My! wiz·ard (wzrd) n. 1. One who practices magic; a sorcerer or magician. 2. A skilled or clever person: a wizard at math. 3. Archaic A sage. Wizards (or Magicians) in Rick Riordan’s…
PickyKidPix‘s 3rd grade dream came true recently. Her third grade poetry unit produced this poem which articulated her dreams that were unbeknownst to us, her parents. It’s funny how all her dreams are contained in this poem about herself. In the past two years, PickyKidPix went from the first travel soccer team to the third…
My husband gave me this funny video but it’s actually a serious study on the source of morality: nurture or nature? The video is taken from a TED talk by Frans de Waal, a primatologist and author of several popular books. His talk is called Moral behavior in Animals. In this experiment, two Capuchin monkeys are presented with an…
Oh, how I’ve procrastinated on this list. I think I’ve been “working” on it for more than a year. I feel somewhat fraudulent posting on best poetry books for kids because I’m no expert. National Poetry Month is forcing me to face my own fear of poetry to finally complete this list. Poetry for April…