Do you know about acrostics? An acrostic uses the first letters of words in a sentence and forms a “hidden” word from them like this: “Read everywhere, all day!” spells “read.” Read Everywhere All Day For younger children You can send your child secret messages using acrostics. Teach your child […]
Month: October 2009
Hallowe’en literacy
Some ideas for working literacy into your Hallowe’en festivities. * Spell Hallowe’en. Talk about why it has an apostrophe (All Hallow’s Evening). It’s also interesting to note that many people no longer use the apostrophe and that’s OK too. Kids are often surprised to learn that spelling evolves. * Sort […]
Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates
You know you’ve struck book gold when your kid can’t wait for you to read to him, but picks up the book himself and finishes it. That’s what happened with us and Hamish X and the Cheese Pirates. I sent a plea out to a friend (who is a great […]
Teaching long and short vowel sounds
I’m going to be working with an eight-year-old to teach him long and short vowel sounds. I know him fairly well, so I know he’s into Lego, and computers and art. So I’ve come up with some activities that take advantage of those interests. I’m going to start by asking […]
Great books for kids
If you’re looking for great kids’ books, look no further. Here are two lists of books that have been nominated for top prizes – so you know they’re the cream of the crop. Here are the five books nominated for the TD Canadian Children’s Literature Award.The site has a review […]
Reading the signs
The other day on the subway, I noticed some ads. PizzaPizza’s ad said, simply:XL craving? and Bell’s said:More 3G coverage.Facebook anywhere.So let’s say you’re a child who’s just learning to read.XL? These examples do two things:1) They illustrate just how difficult reading can be. And tricky!2) They’re a terrific learning […]
Get your six-year-old reading
A mom came up to me in the schoolyard this morning. She said she wanted some help getting her child reading. Her son is six years old and in grade one. He’s frustrated because he’s not picking up reading a bit faster – so he’s clearly motivated to read. I […]
GKR strategies at work
Last month, I talked to a mom whose son wasn’t reading. She was really distraught about it, and was searching for ways to get him interested in picking up a book. I gave her some suggestions:*Since her son is active, go for a walk and the read signs and ads […]
Munsch contest for Canadians
Here’s a very exciting contest for Canadian kids. I’ll start with the best part – the winner gets a home visit from Robert Munsch! How exciting is that? (Extremely.) To enter, simply write a short story with your family and submit it here. If you win (and we’re gonna repeat […]
More than you probably want to know
Full disclosure – it’s just the way I roll. My friend Julie sent me an article about new US legislation forcing bloggers to disclose when they’ve received products or money from companies they’re blogging about. We don’t have that rule in Canada (yet), but transparency in journalism is always a […]
