In the Stacks with NW Kid Chaser - NW Kid Chaser

I love the Online Card Catalog..

9/27/2012

I love to read.
It’s an action that informs, entertains, inspires, and connects. I’m happy to report that my oldest son shares this love as well.

During the heat, he and I could happily pass every hour of the day in the cool of our basement moving only from chapter to chapter. My youngest son, however, requires actual physical movement (which brings us all upstairs and into the backyard), but he too is disappointed if we start the week with an empty book bag.

We don’t buy the books we read (as that bill would quickly outpace our grocery bill), so it’s off to the public library each and every week. Sometimes these visits are leisurely and include browsing the shelves, long conversations with our favorite librarians, and 30 minutes of game time on the children’s computer stations. Other times, our visit is a mad dash in and out (with the driver behind the wheel parked at the closest curb).

Our best bet for getting the books we want (when we want them) is the online library catalog. Easy and free to use, we can use this search engine to find books any day, at any time, from the comfort of our own home. Here are links to two brief videos that will show you how to make this free, online, library service work for you:

Click HERE for a full-screen version of this video.

Click HERE for a full-screen version of this video.

Bunny School...

8/30/2012

Here’s a sequel to Rick Walton’s Bunny Day...

Again offering a comforting cadence of rhythm and rhyme, Bunny School features lyrical prose and charming illustrations. It’s a great read for children looking ahead to the start of the school year. Preschool and kinder students will enjoy this book as a read aloud. 1st and 2nd graders can read it independently. 3rd and above could use the book as a mentor text for writing rhyming-poems of their very own.

In the Book...

7/7/2012

Mo Willems does it again with this cute book:

I'm not sure why it's funny to have the characters
in a book REALIZE they are in a book -- but it is.

My youngest son and I used to read Elephant and Piggie
books together - but now he breezes through them alone.
This one reminds me of one of my favorite books as a child.
It's a character-trapped-in-the-book classic!

Fox ...

6/25/2012

Here’s another series of books for
readers practicing their craft.

Appropriate for 1st and 2nd graders, James Marshall’s Fox character has countless adventures.

Truth be told: I wasn't a fan of Fox after reading the first book. Fox can have a bit of an attitude; He’s not always nice to his younger sibling; He sometimes back-talks his mom. However, in the end (after reading several in the series), I came to understand that the situations in which Fox finds himself are comical; his sister is a bit sly herself; and Mom’s directions are always followed.

Each book of the series usually contains 3 chapters. The chapters can be read separately or together as a set (which subtly weave together a larger story). For instructional purposes, these books are also a great way to draw attention to contractions and quotations marks.

My youngest son and I took turns using voices to read the words said by each character. Here’s a listen:

Picture of Freedom...

5/27/2012

Last year my son and I read a variety of books from the
Dear America Series.

A Picture of Freedom was my very favorite. This first-person narrative of life as a plantation slave was moving, thought provoking, and age-appropriate for my 9 year old.

We also checked out the movie from the local library - and were not disappointed. It's a great addition for those studying the underground railroad, the civil war, or cotton plantations of the south.

Droon and the magical stairsteps to Chapter Books!

5/6/2012

       Last year (after a gracious and generous gift from family friends) my sons became the proud owners of more than 30 Secrets of Droon books! This series became a literary obsession for my youngest son. Book after book, he seemed to never tire of the characters and their ongoing magical adventures. Finally, this week, I checked out the last few books from our public library. It feels a bit like a rite of passage to finally complete the full series.

     When we first began reading these books – my youngest son couldn’t independently read the text (which is leveled at approximately 2nd or 3rd grade). He waited patiently for me to sit with him or begged his brother to indulge him by reading aloud. In a pinch, I was even known to hand the nine year-old a buck as a bribe to read aloud to his sibling while I cooked-up dinner.

      Little by little, as my youngest has gained new reading skills, he has independently checked in with these books to see if he can conquer them alone. The series became his great motivator: his personal goal was to read a Droon book on his own before the summer after 1st grade.

I think he’ll just make it!

         I often recommend the series to other families who are looking for something to hook their young reader. Third and fourth grade boys can sit down with these gems and equally enjoy the fantasy Tony Abbot weaves together. Straight forward and high interest: These ain’t no baby-books! I have seen children up to age 10 enjoy this series.

      When I explain the Secrets of Droon series to other Moms, I always disclose two main points:
1) Droon is like ‘Harry Potter’- but for the younger set.
Three young children find themselves in a magical world of adventure, danger, and mystery! There are good wizards and bad wizards. There is a magical door between our world and theirs. You root for the hero and wonder how they’ll ever defeat the enemy.

2) Droon is not great literature.
So many twists, turns, characters, subplots, secrets, reveals, and dream sequences -- I can barely keep up. However, the kid-friendly suspense does hook young readers like nobody’s business.

    Of course, with this series (as with all chapter books), I involved my boy in the ‘reading’ from the very start. Below are a few of the pre-reader activities that I used as soon as we began to enjoy this series. Activities like this can help develop the ‘reading readiness’ skills that will provide a foundation for later success.

1) Explore the Title Page.
Toddlers: Point to the title as you read it aloud. Talk about how the Title Page is similar to the book’s front cover.

Preschoolers: Point to the name of the author while you say it aloud and show your child a picture of the author (if it is available on the inside of the back cover.) If there is a series logo, draw attention this mark and ask about it each time you read one of the books included. Just as a child can ‘read’ the golden arches of McDonald’s – they can recognize the symbol designate to a book series.

Beginning Readers: Now include your child in the reading of the title. They should be able to begin read small words like... the, it, and, or on. You can also model ‘sounding out’ any words that follow simple phonetic rules. As your child’s skills progress, have them take charge of reading the title aloud in full before you begin reading the story. In addition, ask your child to predict what the title and the picture on the front cover might be revealing about the story inside.

2) Investigate the Table of Contents.
Toddlers: Point to the title of each chapter as you read them aloud. Count (aloud) the number of chapters and note how you can find the page on which each begins.

Preschoolers:Ask your child to count the number of chapters that are in the book. Point to a chapter – read its title out loud – and ask your child to say the number of the page where it will begin. Do this for several of the chapters (in no particular order).

Beginning Readers: Now include your child in the reading of the titles. Without pointing at a particular chapter, just read aloud its name and ask your child to identify its page number start. As your child becomes more familiar with this task, turn these questions around and say a page number before asking them to find the corresponding chapter’s title. Ask your child to predict what may happen in the book based on the all the chapter title names.

3) Starting Each Chapter
Toddlers: Ask your child to identify the number printed at the start of the chapter. You could also point to the page number and read that number aloud to them. Point to the chapter title as you read it aloud.

Preschoolers: Ask your child to identify the page number. Turn back to the Table of Contents and show them where this information is noted. Ask them how many chapter have been read before this one and how many will follow.

Beginning Readers: Slowly release responsibility of reading the chapter number and titles to your child. This will soon become automatic. When ready, ask them to start also taking responsibility for the first sentence. This gradual shift is key when your child has enough skill to read the words, but not enough practice to read the text fast enough to enjoy the plot. The act of reading the chapter’s title and first sentence involves them, but doesn’t overwhelm them. They can enjoy the story line, but also become aware of their own progress and growing ability to tackle the words on the printed page.

      Finally, here’s a video of my son and I talking though many of these same activities. After talking through these activities with my son (month after month), he’s an old pro. It’s proof positive that every bit of reading practice squeezed-in, can help prepare a child for the independent reading that lies ahead.

Lego Lover...

5/1/2012

         What do you buy a boy who has TOO MANY Legos??

He would answer:
“More Legos! There is no such thing as too many!”

However this past Christmas… I answered:
“Lego Books!”

        There are a variety of great Lego books on the market.
       These books can spark the animation of a young builder
          while also providing one more reading opportunity.

Here are my son’s favorites:

Cultural Cooking...

3/26/2012

At school, my oldest son is studying the nation of Vietnam. He's done quite a bit of research and is now in the midst of writing a school report. To supplement his learning, I checked out a variety of books from the public library - and made sure to include a children's cookbook.

I like cooking with my boys because...
1) We have to eat. We have to cook.
2) Cooking is a natural way to teach measurements.
3) Doubling a recipe is a great way to learn fractions.
4) I want to raise future-husbands who can cook. :)

While children's cookbooks provide easy to follow directions, the real reason I adore them is the colorful photos.I find that a picture of a new food is much more tempting to my young eaters than a simple list of ingredients.

My son read through the book, added the items we needed to our grocery shopping list, and led the charge on the night of our Vietnamese dinner. Our chosen entree: Vietnamese Fish Cakes.

And for our dessert (don't ever forget dessert): Banana and Pineapple Fritters.

      Cook books are also a great resource for school vacations. This past winter, I checked out a wide variety of recipe books for my first grader. We enjoyed potato latkes, butterscotch brownies, and apple oatmeal cookies.

    A few months ago, another mom heard of our cooking adventures and asked: "You really like to cook?"

     While I understood her assumption, I had to answer honestly: "No," I replied. "We just really like to eat."

Flying over the top...

1/26/2012

What do you do on the rainiest weekend ever???
You make paper airplanes!

Here are the ultimate reference guides for
those aeronautical engineers bouncing off your walls.

These books offer both the directions and the paper
needed for indoor fun.

Scarry Stories...

1/9/2012

I love the Richard Scarry picture word-books
for toddlers who are developing their vocabulary.

Now, I’m a fan of the Richard Scarry beginning readers too!

My son easily reads Levels 1 and 2.
I love to hear his inflection as he tackles the text.

Here’s a peek: