Early Literacy Fun - Singing

“You want me to sing in front of my child? You must be joking!” Not to worry, it really is not as intimidating as it sounds to sing in front of your kids. Be silly. Have fun. They don’t care if you’re tone deaf so long as you are having a good time together! Singing helps children to develop phonological awareness by stretching out the sounds of spoken language. Story songs can help them to develop narrative skills as well. Songs also are a great way to pass along your cultural heritage through folk songs and other traditional music. Here are some simple ways to sing with your child.

• Listen to music during road trips and sing along together. It doesn’t even have to be “kids” music, anything you can sing along with is great.
• Make up songs about daily activities such as brushing teeth, making lunch and going to bed. You can base them on traditional tunes or make up some all your own!
• Make a drum set out of old plastic storage containers. See how the sizes and shapes make differences in the tone when you bang on them.
• Check out a kids’ music CDs from the library
• Share your favorite folk songs. Lullabies are especially nice before bed and when waking up from a bad dream.
• Make a tambourine with rice by sealing two plates together with the loose rice in between, or make rain sticks with beans in used paper tubes and sealing the ends closed.
• Check out books based on songs or that have CDs with music included. Our libraries have books based on the work of John Denver and Peter, Paul and Mary to name a few.
• Sing songs with fun and active motions, like “If You’re Happy and You Know It” and “The Hokey Pokey”. The motions are good for gross motor development and also help them remember the words to the song.
• Listen to instrumental music together. Even without words music is a powerful instrument for sharing cultures and the sounds of language.
• Have a dance party with music of different tempos, some really fast, others slow. See who can come up with the best dance move!

Early Literacy Fun - Writing

Who says two year olds can’t write? Sure, most two year olds are not writing what we would recognize as letters, but their toddler doodling is developing the fine motor skills and symbolic thinking necessary to turn those scribbles into letters, words and eventually whole stories all their own! Writing also helps develop letter knowledge and print awareness - the understanding that the printed word carries special meaning and enables one to be understood. Here are some fun and easy ways to bring more writing into your child’s life.

• Have crayons and scrap paper available to write with during play time.
• Bring sidewalk chalk outside to write on the driveway or sidewalks around your home.
• Use a stick to write letters and shapes in the sand or dirt while at the beach or on a hike.
• Use shaving cream or pudding as finger paints and write letters and words into them.
• Add some magnetic alphabet letters to the front of the fridge to play with while you are cooking.
• When you finish a craft project take time to ask your child what they made and write their description on the piece along with their name.
• Have your child write their own name when sending out cards or letters to friends and family. Even if it’s illegible, they will feel proud to have done it.
• Bring crayons and notepads with you when making trips to places where the kids might have to sit and wait for a while.
• Give blank notepads as stocking stuffers or in birthday goodie bags to encourage your children’s scribbling.
• Use blank paper folded in half and stapled to make little books for your child to write their own story in.

National Children's Mental Health Day

Tomorrow, May 3, is National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day!

Sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the day is about awareness of emotional and mental health in children in normally developing kids, as well as kids that have suffered a traumatic experience and/or who have a diagnosed mental health issue.

This day can be a great reminder to check in on the emotional well-being of the kiddos in your life! Below is a list of great books about feelings for kids. These books can help give your child words to describe how they feel so that you as their caregiver can better meet their needs!

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
• Andrew's Angry Words by Dorothea Lachner
• The Berenstain Bears and the Bad Dream by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• The Berenstain Bears in the Dark by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Feelings by Aliki
• The Feelings Book by Todd Parr
• The Grouchies by Debbie Wagenbach
• The Invisible String by Patrice Karst
• I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer
• My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
• The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too by Mo Willems
• Sometimes I'm Scared by Jane Annunziata and Marc Nemiroff, Ph.D.
• A Terrible Thing Happened by Margaret M. Holmes and Sasha J. Mudlaff
• Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis
• Understanding Myself by Mary C. Lamia, Ph.D.
• Walter Was Worried by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• The Way I Feel by Janan Cain
• What Are You So Grumpy About? by Tom Lichtenheld
• When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang
• When You're Happy and You Know It by Elizabeth Crary

This is list is by no means exhaustive, I could (and plan to) write whole blog posts just on books for kids in foster care, dealing with divorce, abuse, etc. These books can hopefully provide a good jumping off point though, especially for normally developing kids, to help them have the words to describe their emotions, feelings and fears. Sometimes just having the words can help immensely! 

Fractured Fairy Tales

Fractured fairy tales are a super fun genre of books that are twists on the classics many of us learn during childhood. These books can be fun to share with pre-schoolers and elementary students, but can even be fun to introduce a folklore unit in secondary level classrooms. Comparing and contrasting these tongue-in-cheek fairy tales to the more traditional tales can also be a great exercise in narrative skills and is great for cognitive development!

Here are some of my favorite fractured fairy tale books, check them out!

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka
This book is a Caldecott Honoree for its excellent illustrations. The print is actively part of the story and illustrations, and the stories are hilarious for both kids and adults, including bizarre and funny re-fashionings of tales like Chicken Licken and The Ugly Duckling.

The Frog Prince Continued by Jon Scieszka 

Picking up where the story of the frog prince left off, this story shows what happens after the "happily ever after."

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by A. Wolf as told to Jon Scieszka
Told from the perspective of "the big bad wolf," he argues that he was involved in a great misunderstanding and was really just suffering from an especially bad head cold, complete with huffing, puffing sneezes.

Don't Kiss the Frog: Princess Stories with Attitude chosen by Fiona Waters
A great collection of funny princess stories like "The Clumsy Princess" and "Sleepy Beauty".

Getting Active!

Unless you live under a rock, you have probably come across at least one news story in recent years about the rising problem of obesity in the United States, in both adults and children. Book reading is often a sedentary activity, so it doesn't spring to mind as the sort of thing that might encourage physical activity, but it definitely can!

Books about every day adventures like trips to the playground, such as Ladybug Girl by David Soman and Jacky Davis, can be inspirations for your child's own activities. Books about their bodies and body parts can also be a spring board for activity, even if it's just singing a song together with actions together after reading, such as The Hokey Pokey or Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.

Physical activity is an important part of your child's health and motor development, both fine and gross motor.

Here are some great books, read and vetted by yours truly, about kids and their bodies:

• Eyes, Nose, Fingers and Toes by Judy Hindley
• Parts by Tedd Arnold
• The Foot Book by Dr. Seuss
• All of Baby, Nose to Toes by Victoria Adler

Here is a link to a great article about keeping pre-schooler's physically active, a great resource for educators, home educators and parents from the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Shelfari and Social Media

These things are already featured in the side bar are of this blog, but I wanted to highlight them in a blog post as well. Shelfari, Twitter and Facebook are all great ways to keep up with what I'm reading, book reviews on quality children's lit and interesting and exciting headlines in the education and library world.

Check out my Shelfari Bookshelf here. I only add books that I would give 3+ stars, these are the best books I've read and each is reviewed. Those books which are great for young children (0-6) are also highlighted with pre-reading skills they help to develop. Beyond young children I've also read and reviewed juvenile and young adult chapter books and non-fiction.

Click on the links in the sidebar to follow my tweets or check out the facebook page for this site!

Site Update

I recently updated the Resources for Grown-Ups page to include some book titles along with the list of useful links. I hope you will check these out, and more will continue to be added as I discover them.

If you have any of your own that you have discovered, please leave a comment - I always love to learn about new books!

Don't forget, A Story a Day 'Til Christmas starts in just a few days.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, One and All!

I found a wonderful craft activity that would be great for children 2+ to share with their parents. Here are the directions for creating your own "Tree of Thanks".

Creating a Tree of Thanks

Supplies:

• Naked branches (Note: it would be a nice activity to go on a walk with the kids and let them pick the branches for themselves)
• String or yarn
• Construction paper or card stock for leaves (Note: these could also be prefab dye cuts, pre-cut by a grownup or with older kids you could make a leaf stencil for them to trace and then cut out the leaves for themselves)
• Terra cotta pot or basket
• Floral foam, gravel and or decorative marbles to support the branches in the container
• Hole punch

Instructions:

• First create the leaves, if they are already cut out then you can jump straight to the next step, otherwise trace a leaf shape (I recommend oak or maple) on your paper and cut out as many leaves as you'd like, at least 3 per person.

• Next put the gravel into your chosen container and then add the branches in such a way that they are well supported, not slumping over and look like a small tree or shrub.

• Then write what you are thankful for on each leaf. Older children can write this for themselves and younger kids may be encouraged to try. Parents can also take dictation for younger children and should of course add their own contributions of gratitude to the leaves. (Note: this portion of the activity helps develop print awareness and fine motor skills in pre-school aged children and written communication skills in older kids).

• Finally, punch a hole in the end of each leaf and thread it with the yarn. To help with fine motor skills parents may wish to have the children tie their own knots in the strings before allowing the kids to put each of their blessings on a branch, being sure to share with every one else what it is they are thankful for as they do. Again, care givers should definitely include their own blessings on the tree.

In the end you will have a Tree of Thanks that not only has helped develop fine motor and communication skills, but more importantly makes a great centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table that focuses on gratitude and the true meaning of the holiday.

Now here are some great books to share with your family this Thanksgiving:

• The Thanksgiving Bowl by Virginia Kroll
• Thanksgiving at Our House by P.K. Hallinan
• The Thanksgiving Door by Debby Atwell
• Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim

May your family have a blessed and wonderful holiday!

Be sure to check back here a week from today for the first installment of A Story A Day 'Til Christmas.