Posted at the Kanapaha Botanical Gardens

 

The Unattended, originally uploaded by gatorgalpics.

 

 

BN Summer Reading with Andrew Clements

I worked at Barnes and Noble Booksellers for nearly three years. Does this surprise you since I constantly endorse Anderson’s Bookshop? Because of my strong feelings toward Anderson’s, it felt strange spending an hour this afternoon browsing BN. (It’s only because a student gave me a gift card.) It felt like going against Anderson’s.  However, I support Anderson’s whenever possible.

Barnes and Noble always hosts a good summer reading program. This summer BN teams up with Andrew Clements and offers participants the chance to win a free autographed copy of an Andrew Clements book.  

See the flyer in above picture? It reads as follows:

“Imagine if you Called it a Frindle”

Bellef in the power of words is at the heart of Andrew Clements’s stories and books, especially the bestselling Frindle.

“Sometimes,” Clements writes, “kids ask how I’ve been able to write so many books. The answer is simple: one word at a time.” Clements’s words have added up to become popular books like No Talking, The Landry News, and Lunch Money–school stories that are funny and wise. Now Andrew Clements wants you to join him in taking reading outside the classroom this summer–and to help you earn a FREE book from Barnes and Noble.

Here are the steps:

1. Read any eight books of your choosing.

2. Use your Summer Reading Journal (get a copy in the store or online @ www.bn.com/summerreading)

3. Bring your completed Reading Journal to a Barnes and Noble store between May 29th and Sept. 3nd.

4. BN will give you a coupon for a FREE book! Choose from a list of exceptional paperback titles.

 

Literacy Playground

 

   My friend Donna and I plan to visit over twenty states and two provinces this summer. We’ll stop off at a library in each state or at least daily.  I just located the perfect Toronto library.

Kristin Rushowy
Education Reporter

From the light-up entrance to the silver rocket ship to the wall of spinning blocks, this is so not the library you grew up with.

The Toronto Public Library today opens the first of several planned KidsStops – an indoor literacy playground – located in the S. Walter Stewart branch in East York, which has been closed since September 2006 for a major renovation.

“This is a different direction,” said Ken Setterington, child and youth advocate for the Toronto Public Library, during a sneak peek yesterday of the new space. “What’s really nice is we want people to come to the library not just for books, we want them to come to have fun, to explore and learn.”

Right from the start, it is fun. Kids insert their library cards in a red globe, which sets off a cavalcade of lights overhead.

Read the rest @ http://www.thestar.com/article/432693

KizClub

KizClub.com provides educational resources to educators and parents of pre-school and elementary school age children. Korean and English resources are avaliable for downloading. The website includes:

This website provides…

1. ABC’S

2. PHONICS

3. TOPICS

4. CRAFTS

5. STORY PATTERNS

6. NURSERY RHYMES

7. FLASHCARDS

8. TEACHING EXTRAS

 

I hit the Motherload :)

I stumbled upon Kevin Jarret’s blog while looking for something totally unrelated to technology and Web 2.0. He is a K-4 Technology Facilitator in New Jersey. In the past three days, he’s posted the following sites that my students and teachers will love. Thank you, Kevin!

Storyline Online is funded by a Superpages.com grant. Members of the Screen Actors Guild read children’s books aloud. Students can watch the streaming books for free. Each book comes with a guide that includes activities. http://www.storylineonline.net/

Move over Webkinz, Minyanland has landed! According to the Minyanland website, MinyanLand is a virtual community designed to engage kids and families in games and interaction that is entertaining and educational.” The focus is financial education and economics so it’s very real-world. There are jobs, banks, investments, businesses, organizations – all waiting for kids to interact with and explore.

http://minyanland.kaboose.com/launchpad/?pg=%2F

Comics in the Classroom

I am a huge fan of Time for Kids. Most students look forward to reading it and the articles serve as wonderful discussion starters. This week’s issue focuses on Comics in the Classroom. Graphic novels and comics are becoming increasingly popular in elementary classrooms and it made me smile when I read the following article! Yay for comics and graphic novels! 

Picture this: You are sitting in class and pow! your teacher turns into Superman. Thwak! Garfield is chasing Mickey Mouse around your desk. What are comic book characters doing in class?

In some places, they are part of the lesson. Schools around the country are using comic books as a way to teach reading, writing and other subjects.

Critics say comics are too simple for school. But many teachers give comics a good grade for getting their students to read.

A Colorful New Way to Learn

Third-grade teachers in Maryland are using classic Disney comics. The department of education created lesson plans for the comics.

Maryland tested the program in eight classrooms. “The teachers love it. It captures students’ interest,” says Nancy Grasmick, superintendent of Maryland schools. She adds that they believe the comics have helped improve reading skills.

Another program, the Comic Book Project, is being used in 850 schools in the U.S. Students write and draw their own comics. The project was started by Michael Bitz, of Teachers College at Columbia University, in New York City. Bitz wanted to give kids the chance to “write their own stories and create their own characters,” he told TFK, “while improving their reading and writing skills.”

Katie Van Els, 11, from Hawaii, says the project has made her a better writer. “You need to use the right words and punctuation.”

Teachers also give the program high marks. Bitz has heard stories of children who didn’t like to read. “Suddenly, they’re the star writers in their class,” he says.

Retrieved from http://www.timeforkids.com/TFK/teachers/ns/article/0,27972,1732354,00.html

Ohdeedoh.com

Ohdeedoh.com is a blog for “…people who care about good design but happen to have children.” There are tons of cools items, especially for those with children!

www.ohdeedoh.com

Kids Play!

 

Kids Play! is a new PBS space designed for children of ages 3 to 6 to learn proper use of the computer. Kids will learn by playing games with familar characters such as Arthur, Bob the Builder, and Curious George. All of the activities revolve around standards in math, science, literacy, language development, creativity, and social studies. Each child receives a personal progress chart. The program is currently in BETA and offers a free trial. Visit www.pbskidsplay.org for more information or to sign your child up.

Read and Grow

I came across this on the Kids Lit blog.

The Public Library of Westland in Michigan has a great collection of 100 Books Your Child Should Hear Before Starting School.  Reading aloud to children is such an important part of emergent literacy! 

Parents play an active role

For school librarians who wish parents would support—or more strongly support—their children’s education, here’s good news: newly released U.S. Census data reveal that parents are taking a more active role in the lives of their kids than they did 10 years ago. The Census report, “A Child’s Day: 2004,” released on October 31, surveyed the families of 73,000 children and found that 68 percent of three- to five-year-olds had limits placed on their television time, up from 54 percent in 1994… http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6498070.html