My bookshelf and my books have been held captive in my attic for eight years. Last week I hired a professional organizer. Long-story short, my bookshelf is now where it belongs – in my home-office, with all of my favourite books on it. There’s the Pelican Shakespeare, with the tissue paper leaves; The […]
Tag: young readers
Picture is worth 1,000 words to a toddler
To a pre-reader, words aren’t the main attraction. As a parent, you can read the words to your child sometimes… and then other times, don’t be afraid to ignore the words. You can go through an entire picture book with your toddler, pointing to the pictures and talking about them. Identify […]
NYTimes top 10 picture books for 2011
The New York Times Book Review has released its list of this year’s “10 Best Illustrated Children’s Books,” and here they are. The Times has done a terrific review for each book, here.
Fun online Hallowe’en “differences” game
Terrific Hallowe’en is an easy, fun and speedy online game. The goal is to find the differences between the two, similar-looking pictures. You click on each thing that’s different. It might be a missing leaf on a tree, a missing house in the background, or a different-coloured tie. When you spot the five […]
Squishy literacy fun with Cookie Monster
I’m a big believer that if you want kids to understand words and letters, they’ve gotta get their hands dirty. If there’s something to feel, touch, throw, squish and otherwise interact with — kids are going to get the message on a whole different level. (It’s called kinesthetic learning, but […]
Silent E
Here is a great video that teaches what Silent E does. (Spoiler alert: For one thing, it makes a hug huge!) Thanks to thekidshouldseethis.com, who brought this to my attention via a tweet. Their website is fantastic – it’s a collection of videos that kids just gotta see. And if you’re in […]
Every Canadian in grade one gets a free book in October
Barbara Reid, Alan Convery (TD), Jo Ellen Bogart, Charlotte Teeple (Exec, Dir. CCBC); image: Joyce Grant This month, every grade-one child in Canada will receive a free book. That’s every grade-one child, including those home-schooled, or in any school in the country, private or public. What’s the catch? There is […]
Literacy opportunities are everywhere
You don’t always need books to help your kid read better.
Scrabble – Alphabet Scoop game
Caution: Don’t eat actual soup while you’re playing this game. (We did – it was an issue. I’ll tell you at the end.) Scrabble – Alphabet Scoop is a fun new game that you can play with kids who are at different levels of literacy and of different ages. It’s […]
Bubbles are fragile things
I resolve not to burst my kid’s bubble. I’ve been noticing lately that kids are subjected to a lot of scolding. The problem with scolding is that it can so easily be the cold bucket of water that douses the flames of creativity. Here’s what I mean. Kid: “Hey mom, […]