A Book On Every Bed

artwork from romance bandits

Start a lifelong holiday tradition! Here's what to do:

·       Select a book: it can be new, donated, or handed down from previous generations

·       Wrap it: a gift carefully wrapped holds the mystery of what story or adventure is waiting to be discovered

·       Place the book near your child's bed: It will be the first thing he or she sees on the morning of your holiday

       Here are some benefits of creating this tradition:

·       Children will look forward to this each year and they will grow their own library!

·       It can help foster a life-long love of reading.

·       You can help create strong positive memories for your child by reading the book with him or her.

·       By reading with your child, you help build language and literacy skills.

Adapted from The Cambridge Public Schools and The Family Reading Partnership www.familyreading.org

Looking for fun winter reading activities? Check this out!

Winter is a great time to read about snow, winter sports, and holidays. Share our collection of articles, stories, poems, and lessons related to winter with your students. 

K-8th Grade Winter Articles & Lessons

Remember, now there are two great places to find ReadWorks. Check out the new ReadWorks Digital—where you and your students can interact with ReadWorks content and curriculum digitally. It's free!

Happy Winter!

art from: financialtribune.com

Want a cute Thanksgiving book? Check this out: Balloons Over Broadway by Melissa Sweet. It is a nonfiction text about how the Macy's Day Parade came into being as we know it today. It focuses on the creator of the balloons. Happy Thanksgiving!

Need some Thanksgiving activities? These websites may be able to help! Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

www.timeanddate.com

http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/explore/history/first-thanksgiving/

https://www.plimoth.org/sites/default/files/media/olc/intro.html

I recently went to a Fundations training, and I came across this great resource for parents. Check it out!

Helping Your Child Learn To Read: A Parent Guide PreK-Grade 3

www.nichd.nih.gov

Looking to make Halloween educational? Check out the history of Trick-or-Treating from the History Channel. It's kind of interesting...Enjoy! 

http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/history-of-trick-or-treating

from plusquotes.com via google images

Happy September!! 

I hope your first full week back is going well. Are you back into the routines yet? Is it like you never left for the summer? 

I wanted to pass along this article that my sister sent me. I think it is so interesting and can foster some pretty good discussions in your classrooms. What I really like about it is that you can incorporate any subject into it: Math (graphing how your students come to school), Social Studies (learn about the countries and cultures), Geography, Science (altitude and oxygen, weather), Art, Music, and of course reading and writing within these subjects. 

Have fun!

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/09/how-kids-around-the-world-get-to-school.html

May you enjoy every moment during these last few days of summer. May you be excited once again to start a new school year. May you find the balance between work and life. May you take a moment for something simple like a hug or to be silly with your children. May you remember to just breathe when things aren't so calm. May 2016-2017 be the best year yet!

Happy Summer!! 

I've been thinking about a good theme for this season. As my daughter will start PreK in the fall, it occurred to me that friendship is a good one for children and students of all ages. Here are a few of our favorite books about friendship and being kind to each other. They are for the younger ones, but can definitely be enjoyed by all ages, including adults.

Here's to kindness and friendship. Cheers!

Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle

Little Blue Truck Leads the Way by Alice Schertle

The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

Penguin on Vacation by Salina Yoon

A Light in the Darkness by Aaron Zevy

Fluffy: Scourge of the Sea by Teresa Bateman

Clever Trevor by Sarah Albee

                     

I hope you are enjoying the long weekend! Just a reminder to sign up for the ILA conference. It will be here in Boston this July. You can check it out at: http://www.literacyworldwide.org/conference

Don't forget about the IDA conference, either. It will be in October in Orlando. Here is the link: http://eida.org/conference/

They should be fantastic!

The other day I had an interesting text conversation with a good friend of mine. Her 3rd grader is a good reader, yet he does not like to read at home. Sound familiar? I wanted to share my tips, especially since summer is coming and we all know how important it is to keep reading during the vacation.

faithpcbr.org

• choice: give your child a choice about what he wants to read (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.) and how (books, magazines, newspapers, on the electronics). We want to make reading an enjoyable experience!
• interest and readability: be sure he is reading about topics in which he is interested, but also be sure he is reading at an appropriate level for him (it is not enough to just be able to read the words, children have to be able to understand what they read)
• motivating rewards: try to incorporate electronics (or anything else that he really likes to do) as a reward for reading a certain amount of time each day
• create and maintain a routine or a schedule: I know it is hard especially on vacation, but try setting up a reading schedule and stick to it (i.e.: he has to read for 15 minutes each day at the same time and then he can earn his reward)
• check in: it is important to check in with your child about his reading. This will reinforce the importance of reading, allow you to learn about your child as a reader, and give you time to spend with your child (you can read a few sentences to him, he can read out loud to you, ask him questions about what he has read)
• some cool reading websites: some of these have apps too!
• tumblebooks.com  
• 1000booksbeforekindergarten.org  
• newsela.com
• www.greergenius.com/wp-content/uploads/20-minutes-of-reading8th-grade.pdf

I hope this helps! Happy reading!