School Supply List for Homeschooling Littles

So,

You've made the decision to homeschool. You've purchased your curriculum. Now it's time to shop for the extras!

Just because you've decided to homeschool, doesn't mean that you have to miss out on the back to school shopping! On the contrary, as a homeschooler, you get to make your own supply list! As a homeschooling Mama, I LOVE to take advantage of all of the back to school deals right now, and get our supplies set for the year.

If this is your first time homeschooling, and you're not quite sure what your little ones might need, I've compiled a list of items that are always on my back to school shopping list as well as some things you might not have thought of to launch your homeschooling adventure!

Morning Activity Binder Materials

For littles (PreK-Kinder) I LOVE to put together activity binders that I can switch worksheets out of regularly. I'll include tracing practice, name writing, word puzzles, and seasonal items. More importantly, I put the sheets in sheet protectors so that my kids can write on them with dry erase markers and then erase them to reuse the next day. This is a MAJOR material and time saver over time, since I don't have to constantly keep printing the same worksheet.

To make an activity binder you'll need:

• A 3-ring binder
• Sheet protectors 
• Dry erase markers
• Printer paper
• Cardstock (This can come in handy when making reusable word sorts or matching activities.)
• Adhesive Velcro (You can use this when making reusable matching activities in the binder) 

Even if you decide not to go the full activity binder route, I HIGHLY recommend sheet protectors and dry erase markers so you can make worksheets reusable!

Calendar Station

I know this is very much "shadows of traditional schooling," but I really love doing calendar and morning meeting time with my littles to start off school every day! We sing a song, go over days of the week, read the date, countdown to special days, or count the days that have passed in the month so far, and then do the weather.

For a calendar station, you'll need:

• A calendar set that includes interchangeable months, days, and weather choices (The choice is really up to your preference, but I HIGHLY recommend getting your materials laminated so they last. Local teacher stores usually have deals on lamination around this time!)
• Adhesive velcro if your calendar choice does not feature pockets or magnets.
• A pointer (to make it fun!)

Writing Supplies

For early childhood education, our kiddos are really learning those fine motor skills, so sometimes their writing materials may look a bit different than older children. Because of that, you'll want to make sure to buy specific tools and paper for them. These include:

• Large grip beginner pencils
• Regular sized pencils (appropriate for Kindergarten and up to have them switch to these at times as they become more comfortable with their grips)
• Pencil sharpeners (with both sized holes)
• A big pink eraser
• Wide lined paper (PreK-Kinder) (1st-2nd)
• Wide-ruled journals and/or Wide-ruled journals with drawing space
• A lined dry-erase board (I mostly use mine to model writing, and to give them extra freehand practice.)
• Dry erase markers

Math Supplies

Most math supplies for this age basically amount to counters which you can use various cereals, snacks, puff balls, candies, or other small objects for to double as fine motor practice, but there are two items that I found that I DID need:

• Base 10 blocks
• A clear, plastic 12 inch ruler

Art Supplies

So this area will vary WIDELY by how art-inclined you are and will probably change as you find new fun projects on Pinterest throughout the year. As a baseline, though, a good range of art supplies to have on hand for littles includes:

• Washable Crayola markers
• A pack of crayons
• Multicolored Construction Paper
• Blunt-tip scissors 
• Glue sticks
• Elmer's liquid Glue
• Crayola Washable Paint
• Basic paint brushes (think dollar store)
• Tape

Organization

Last but not least, you'll go a bit less bonkers if you have a way to organize your supplies and your kids' work. Just like every homeschool environment is unique, everyone's organization is unique. These are the systems that have worked for us:

• A good lesson planner (I use this for my own organization and to keep records of what we've done)
• A binder for each kid to keep their completed work in for the year
• A plastic bin to keep their books organized
• A backpack for each kid (I still have my kids use backpacks, because it gives them responsibility to keep their items organized.)
• A folder for each kid to keep their on-going work organized
• A pencil case for each kid to keep their own supplies

Now that you know what's on my supply list at the beginning of the year, I hope it will help you as you get your own supplies together! As with all homeschool advice, remember these are just suggestions that have worked for my family on our homeschooling journey!

If you have other ideas about supplies that should be added to the list or questions please feel free to comment below or message me directly!

Thanks for reading, and happy teaching!

When Big Things Change, the Little Things Become the Big Things

Honesty time: Yesterday morning was a rough one.

I'm not talking spilling a coffee or blow-out diaper rough, I'm talking my eldest had three "talkings to" before I even swung my legs over the bed to put my feet on the floor rough.

Her fourth talking to happened in our master bathroom.

Hand on hips, I looked at this wildflower whose behavior would have made Junie B. Jones wince and asked, "What is going on today?! What is the matter!?"

Although she stifled her lip quiver, her big doe eyes started to fill as she stammered, "I'm just so worried there won't be any candy in the Easter Eggs this year!"

I melted.

It wasn't about the eggs.

It was about everything else.

Our world has completely changed in the past two weeks. Things that we didn't think were possible happened and things we kept repeating to ourselves would happen didn't. It's been a climate of uncertainty, stress, and fear.

The daily routine of families has been completely upended. Schools are closed. Distance learning has started. Parents are working from home. Some, not at all anymore. Shopping trips now feel like scrambling to get wartime rations for your troops, and every surface, every air particle, has the threat of disease.

Through it all, my family has been blessed. Our routine hasn't changed that much since we already homeschool and my husband, as a police officer, has been working relatively normal hours. We are grateful for his stable employment.

This of course, is from my perspective, that my life experience has given me.

I realized this morning, my daughter has not been given this perspective yet.

I haven't tried to hide things from her. We talk openly about the "big sickness" in the country and how the zoo, Bounce Town, Children's Museum, Art Museum, etc. are all closed. She knows gymnastics and dance are closed as well, so people can stay healthy. She now understands that her favorite playground is closed and that the Nature Center and library are also closed and suspending programs.

To me, these are just procedural closings, and I know everything will eventually reopen and be okay, and we won't have to worry as much about illness.

I started to try to look at things in her way.

Her little world has been shaken. We can no longer go to her favorite gymnastics and dance class. Her favorite museums and fun spots are closed. We have to be careful when going to the grocery store, and there is now a threat that what we need might not be there.

More recently, she figured out that the annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt would probably be cancelled too. I assured her that we could make our own in the yard, and she seemed happy with it on the surface, but now I know she's worried.

This is a girl with a memory that lasts longer than the shelf life of Spam. She still reminds Daddy that he blocked the car in the garage with his cruiser when we went to the hospital to have Josie and how mad she was at him. Traditions and memories mean so much to this girl.

When Big Things Change, the Little Things Become the Big Things

It wasn't about the eggs. It was about all the changes in our lives and our world that had been weighing on her heart and mind.

Reflecting on my own actions, I realized I'd become over-absorbed of keeping us in survival mode in this new dystopia that I'd been skipping out on the little things. 

I saw that I needed to stop doing this entirely. Her little things are now her big things. Whether it's those extra long morning cuddles, special walks with just her and me, or giving her more opportunities to help in the kitchen, I needed to make sure I didn't lose my focus on my most important job while the worries of the world took my attention elsewhere.

I need to make sure, especially now, that all of my children feel loved, safe, and secure. As the big things change, I need to find a way to keep the little things the same as much as possible. 

I might not always do the best job at this with my own worries going on overdrive right now, and I'm going to give myself grace on this one, but you better believe that when we do our Easter Egg Hunt, there's going to be candy in those eggs!

5 Educational Benefits of Baking With Your Littles

Sometimes it seems that the richest learning opportunities we can offer our little ones lie right under our noses, or in this case, fill our noses with sweet smells from the kitchen. Yes, that's right, cooking and baking (because let's face it, that one's almost always more fun) are wonderful ways to offer educational opportunities for your little ones. The kitchen offers an abundance of experience for little learners that will help them in a multitude of ways. Still not convinced? Well, keep reading, because I will tell you the tips I use to maximize this activity for my littles and explain five areas of early childhood education that this activity enhances!

Tips to get started

1. Take inventory

Make sure you have all the ingredients you need beforehand, in the house. This will reduce the risk of disappointed bakers if you have to stop to go to the grocery store.

2. Schedule this During Play Time

For little learners, you should be approaching this as an enriching play activity. As such, try to do this during a time when you would otherwise allow your child to do free play during the day. 

3. Lower Those Expectations

This is NOT a time to fine tune that new tart you've been dying to try or put the finishing touches on the macaroons for an upcoming dinner party. Instead this is an exploration through guided play, so if the sprinkles are a bit overdone (which believe me they WILL be) it's perfectly okay!

1. Genre Knowledge

Every time a text serves a different purpose, or is written in a different way, we label it a genre. In school, children will need to know all kinds of genres from narratives (stories) to informational, and everything between. Recipes are actually and officially known as procedural text.

Besides ringing your hands to the ceiling as you're putting together IKEA furniture and deciphering the directions, you'll notice that there are not a plethora of times a child can be introduced to this genre in such a meaningful way, than in the kitchen. As such, take the time to point out the different textual features. Point out where the ingredients are listed and how the recipe is divided into steps. This will be done naturally as you work through the recipe and you say phrases such as, "Now we're at step 5."

2. Math Practice

Interestingly enough while completing a recipe, you are able to practice two different kinds of mathematical skills with your littles: number recognition and measurement

Number Recognition

As you're reading through the recipe with your little one, you can enhance their number recognition skills by pointing to numbers within the recipe (whether is be 3, 2, 1/2, or 1/4) and reading them together. As they get better at reading numbers, you can just point and they can start to take over. It's wonderful authentic practice!

Measurement

Whenever you're leveling off a 1/2 cup of flour, or pouring 2 Tablespoons of oil with your little one, you're actually giving them excellent hands-on experience with measurement concepts! Later on in school, they'll learn to convert cups to pints to quarts to gallons, etc. But by giving them this hands-on experience and understanding of just how much a cup is, it will help them when they are doing these measurements later.

3. Fine Motor Skills

A pinch of sugar, a dash of salt, and a heaping of fine motor skills are refined as you work through just about any recipe. Just having your little scoop out the baking powder, level it off, and turn it into the bowl engages an entire series of fine motor skills! Using a whisk, stirring with a spoon, or hand held mixer (with supervision) are also wonderful ways to give them practice. That doesn't even include the delicious wonders of placing chocolate chips on top of muffins or decorating cakes and cookies with icing and sprinkles!

4. Reading

Anytime and every time you can read aloud to your littles is a huge plus and the kitchen is just another way you can add more reading into their lives. As you work through the recipe, make sure to put your finger under the words in the text and show your child the words as you're reading them. Older children will be able to sound out familiar words or read sight words along with you. No matter the age of your child, reading aloud to them in this context is valuable, because they can understand that reading is essential throughout all areas of life.

5. Sensory

Since recipes can range anywhere from oily, to sticky, and even gritty, cooking with your littles is a great way to help them engage sensory learning too. Whether you are putting olive oil on their hands as they flatten out the fresh pizza dough, or you are having them roll peanut butter cookies into balls and then roll the ball into granulated sugar, you're giving them a variety of feelings to process from texture to temperature! All of these experiences are perfect for engaging their growing minds and their vocabulary as they will immediately want to describe what they are feeling.

But really the true treat...

is that once the cookies are done and the pizza gobbled, you'll be able to know that not only did you spend educational time with your little one, but also quality time as well. Cooking and baking aren't just wonderful ways to feed your littles' tummies, but also to feed the growing relationship you have with them. I hope with these tips that you enjoy cooking with your littles as much as I do!

The Books I Buy for my Little Readers

Hello Readers,

Hopefully most of you are officially on your summer break! With the kids at home full-time and vacations starting to be planned, I imagine you've already made quite a few trips to the store (or Amazon) to pick up summer supplies. From swimsuits, to bug spray, suntan lotion, and brand new flip flops, summer vacation always seems shiny and new in June! Today, I'm writing to you to give some recommendations for some new summer books you might want to buy your itty bitties along with all of their other summer fun items! I get asked all the time, "Yeah, I know you use those books for your class, but what do you buy for your own daughter?" or "What series or books do you recommend for my PreK student to read?" Well, today you're in luck, because right before the end of the school year, I went on a big Scholastic Books shopping trip, and I bought a whole bunch of books for my daughter. Today, I'm going to tell you about 5 of my favorite books/series that I bought for her, why I like them, and how you can use them to help your little readers improve their reading skills this summer!

1. Clifford Books

Appropriate for: Ages 0-8

Why I like them

Clifford books are some of my favorites to use for a variety of reasons. First of all, who doesn't love a big red dog? In my experience, I've never met or taught a child who passed up the chance to read a Clifford book in this age range. The characters are wholesome, and there are a TON of books to choose from, so once you get your kid hooked, he will be occupied with the series for quite some time!

Now for more of the technical reasons, Clifford books offer a wealth of sight words! In fact, whenever I have a student within this age range that needs to develop their sight words, I will almost always reach for a Clifford book and start doing repeated readings on them. The plots within the books also offer opportunities to practice comprehension strategies such as making predictions, connections, working on retell, and questioning all of which are appropriate for this age range! The format of the books is also very predictable. For example, almost every books starts with "Hi, I'm Emily Elizabeth, and this is my dog Clifford." Although this might drive my more cynical parents nuts, this repetition is actually great for your little ones to develop their concepts of print and to start to "read the book" themselves. You will soon find, you'll start the first page for them, and they'll finish it, because they know what is going to be said. So in short...

How you can use them

*Work on sight words (and fluency through repeated readings)
*Have your kids practice comprehension strategies such as predictions, connections, retell, and questioning
*Strengthen concepts of print by pointing to words as they are being read within these predictable books

2. BOB Books

Appropriate for: Ages 0-8 (end of 2nd grade)

Why I like them

This series of books is truly an amazing one, because it offers leveled books from emergent readers (alphabet books and prereading skills) to more advanced decodable readers (books that focus on a certain word pattern or phonics skill) including long vowels and more complex word families. You buy the series in little sets, so as you see here, I bought a Rhyming Words set and Set 1 of the Beginning Readers. I really wanted the alphabet set for my 2 year old, but Scholastic was not selling them at this time, so I make sure to visit the library frequently to check them out for Charlotte. 

As a disclaimer, do NOT let the illustrations fool you. You may think that based on the cover and illustrations that you'd rather pass, but as mentioned the books that are in the set all offer excellent practice for the skill or level that the set suggests. For example, in this book Dan's Plan, (from the rhyming words set) the rhyming pattern is the -an family. Not only is this reinforced in the story, but on the last page, it highlights all of the -an words and other useful sight words. When Charlotte is ready to read this book, not only would I read the book with her, but we'd also use that last page to go over the -an pattern, and I could easily make flashcards to practice sight words with her based on the ones they suggest at the back. Between that helpful guide and repeated readings of the story, she'd quickly learn that pattern. Before she's ready to read it independently, however, I could read it to her, and ask her to listen for the rhyming words and tell me when she hears them. There's just SO much you can do with these books, and if you'd rather forgo the cost of buying all the sets, your local library most likely has them on the shelves!

How you can use them

*Alphabet recognition practice with the alphabet set

*Phonemic awareness (understanding the sounds in our language) practice with the rhyming set

*Sight word recognition and fluency (how smoothly your child reads the book aloud) by reading the books with your little ones

*Retell practice by having your little one tell you what the story was about

3. Frog on a Log?

Appropriate for: Ages 0-8 (end of 2nd grade)

Why I like it

Frog on a Log? is truly an adorable and playful book that really highlights rhyming words and patterns for our little readers. I got interested in this book, because it was highlighted at the Scholastic Book Fair this year, and I got the chance to preview it at that time. Throughout the book, the main character, the frog, is trying to find out why he has to sit on the log. The cat informs him that he himself has to sit on a mat, and then goes on to talk about other animals and the rhyming objects they have to sit on. Beyond the amusing and bright illustrations, this book is really great for beginning readers, because it allows them to expand their vocabulary and work on rhyming words, which is a vital skill for our littlest readers! While reading this book, you can easily have your child fill in the blank for you by saying which object an animal has to sit on. Because of the illustrations in the book, your little one that's JUST starting to work on rhyming words can easily find the rhyming object from the illustration, and as they get better, they will be able to fill in the blank without looking at the pictures. It's basically an example of a playful book where you can sneak in some valuable rhyming and vocabulary practice!

How you can use them

*Have your child practice rhyming words

*Increase your child's vocabulary (some of the objects in the story are not objects they would usually see)

*Have your child work on sequencing by having your child tell the order of animals and objects in the story. (Tell me which animal they mentioned first in the story. Okay, then what? Right! What did that animal sit on?)

4. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Series

Appropriate for: Ages 0-8 (End of 2nd grade)

Why I like them

Between the adorable illustrations, the crazy events, and the lovable characters, this series really does have it all! For those of you unfamiliar with the series, basically the main character (a mouse, a cat, a pig, a dog, or a moose) is given something or taken somewhere and the rest of the story is a laughable chain of events that continue until the character is reminded of what he got in the first place and the reader is left to infer that all the events will continue happening over and over again. These books are EXCELLENT ones to use for both fluency and comprehension!

Fluency

These books are great for fluency practice, because the stories are motivating, so kids will want to read them again and again. Apart from that, each page has a limited amount of text, so it's easy for a parent and child to read every other page until the child feels confident enough to read the entire book himself. Additionally, the stories have many vital sight words in them along with words that commonly repeat within the story itself. So, by doing repeated readings, not only will they work on their first 100-200 sight words, but also, they will pick up novel words that repeat throughout the story.

Comprehension

As a reading specialist, I used many of these books within my Literacy Lab classes to help students work on a variety of comprehension strategies. My favorites to work on with these books included retell, making predictions, connections (text-to-self and text-to-text), inferences (specifically to infer character emotions), questioning, and cause and effect relationships. You can do all of these with these strategies within these stories, because the text is so brief. This means that it's up to the readers to use these strategies to expand the stories for themselves!

How you can use them

*Practice fluency skills by reading the series repeatedly and working on sight words within the story
*Practice comprehension skills such as retell, predictions, connections, inferences, questioning, and finding cause and effect relationships

5. Disney/High interest books

Appropriate for: ALL ages (it just depends on the difficulty of the books)

Why I like them

Sometimes as a parent, you really have to forgo the super-duper instructional books and just go with what your kid likes best! This is REALLY important for us to do, because even though we want to make sure we add in quality books to our children's reading, we have to also make sure our kids are enjoying what they're reading. The early years are so crucial for little ones to develop a love for reading, and what better way to do that than picking books for them that involve their deepest interest or their favorite characters! For Charlotte, she's REALLY into Finding Nemo, Mickey, and the Disney Princesses. This doesn't mean I have to get junky books with these characters, on the contrary, I made sure to buy a variety of different types of books that starred her favorite characters and also included some leveling. For example, I got her the Mickey Mouse beginning readers series, and Little Mermaid Reader (to work on fluency), a Palace Pets Search and Find book (for vocabulary development), a Finding Nemo song book (for fluency and phonemic awareness), and a Finding Nemo story book (mostly for fun!). It's important to remember that every book you get for your child does have some level of choice to it, and sometimes, it's absolutely fine for you to let them read books that aren't award winners, because they're actively developing their love of reading!

How you can use them

*Let you child pick a book with their favorite topic or characters and read it with them.

*Reread to work on fluency and talk about the book with your child to work on comprehension.

These 5 ideas should give you a great start for getting some really great high quality books for your little one to help them avoid the summer slide! Remember, as always, keep it fun! You want your little ones to not only have some extra quality reading practice, but also, and most importantly, some positive memories of reading with you which is what will really grow their own personal love of reading!

Until next time...

Yours in Literacy,

The Reading Specialista

You want to read that AGAIN??? Why rereading books is actually a good thing!

Hello Readers,

I know we've all been there before, and even I've been guilty of saying it, "You want to read that book again!?" Having fully memorized the sequence of animals that parade through Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?, the exact costumes that appear in Minnie's Halloween Costume Contest, and all of the words in Duck and Goose Colors, I have to humbly admit, that my little girl clearly has her favorites. Even more, when she's on a favorite streak, we can read the SAME book 6-7 times in a row, and then 4-5 times more that same day. I'm here to offer all of those mommies, daddies, grandmas, and grandpas some comfort today! Besides losing your sanity temporarily from the repetition, rereading books multiple (and I mean multiple) times actually has many important benefits for your child! Here are just a few:

1. Vocabulary Development

Our little ones are constantly noticing and adding new words to their receptive (the words they understand) and productive (the words they use and say) vocabulary. For tiny itty bitties, you'll notice that their receptive vocabulary especially is vastly higher than their productive vocabulary. For example, when Charlotte and I are reading Richard Scary's Best First Book Ever (a current favorite). I am incredibly impressed by the amount of receptive vocabulary she has that the repetition of this book has built for her. I'll ask her to find the sink, piano, chalkboard, rose, paints, crayons, red, blue, and yellow, and she'll point to all of those items, but she's not ready to say them yet. She will point to the items that she does know and say them herself, and from that I can get a glimpse into her productive vocabulary.

The more often you read the same book to your child, you are actually giving them practice to develop their receptive vocabulary and also for them to start feeling comfortable enough to make a word, or words, jump from their receptive to productive vocabulary. In fact, most of the words your child learns throughout her childhood she learns implicitly (without direct instruction) and a smaller percentage, she learns explicitly (with direct instruction). This of course is not just limited to pictures, but also the text that you read as well. Also, recent studies have shown that when parents read books to their children, the books offer a higher variety of words than our usual spoken language to them does. Therefore, even though you're reading the SAME words to your child again and again from that favorite book, there's a good chance that you're offering a higher variety of words than those that you'd use in your spoken language. For example, can you imagine describing everything you see to your child with a color? Although it happens sometimes for me, it's not as consistent as most children's books! Which is why they are perfect for building vocabulary!

Ways to enhance vocabulary building:

• Point out new words in the text or pictures to your little one, and have them think about the meanings of the words. "Look the Pout, Pout fish is sad! Can you make a sad face?"
• Have them repeat words after you. "Can you say truck? Look! That's a truck. Try it, truck." (productive building)
• Ask them to find different objects and point to them in pictures. (receptive building)
• Have them count objects with you in counting books and point out the colors and have them find them in color books. (receptive and productive building)
• Act curious about words. Their own word curiosity will build off of yours! "Oh I like that word squiggly! Look, it is a squiggly line. I wonder where that word came from, but it describes that line exactly!"

2. Sight word recognition

Just as a child's spoken vocabulary can improve from rereading books, their sight word recognition can also vastly increase. Sight words are words that children can read or identify on sight and they don't need to sound them out, because they know them so well!

Once children get older (3-4),  they start to notice words in the book. To help children notice these words more readily, it's important that you underline the words with your finger as you're reading. When you're doing this, children are starting to associate the spoken words with the written ones in the book. Because you read the book so often, they then can begin to identify these words within the context of the book, and the words can easily jump into their mental sight word bank. For example, if your child loves to reread Clifford, he may start to be able to read "big red dog" by himself. (On a side note, for my parents with Kinder, 1st, and 2nd graders Clifford books are INCREDIBLE to practice sight words and many of Fry's sight words are used in the books. Whenever I tutor first graders, we ALWAYS read Clifford books for that purpose!) So by continually reading these books, and pointing to the words, you're actually offering your little one a great opportunity to unknowingly memorize their sight words! *And the best part is, it's much sneakier than making flash cards for sight word practice, because they're actually asking to reread the book! ;-)*

Ways to enhance sight word recognition

• Always point to words that you're reading as you're reading them.
• If a book has a very repetitive pattern, (such as Bear's Loose Tooth), and you've already read it a few times in a row, you can simply underline the repetitive words and have your child read them to you.
• Have your child point to words as you're reading them, or if you have a very itty bitty, you can help them point to the words, guiding their finger under the text.

3. Story sequencing and retell

Another plus to continually rereading a story is that it gives your little one an opportunity to improve their comprehension, or understanding of the story, through practiced sequencing or retell. Sequencing is basically when we ask our little ones to put the events of a story in order, and retelling is when we ask our little ones to tell us everything they remember in the story, so they are very closely related.

When you have the feeling that your little one is going to soon choose a book to be their favorite, you can start to ask them retelling and sequencing questions about the book, throughout the book. For example, after a page in a story, ask your little one, "Can you tell me what happened on this page?" When they get more "practiced" at a particular story, you can ask. "What happened on the last 2 pages?" When they've had lots of practice in the story, you can ask them to retell the entire book, "Can you tell me what happened in this story?" You can even ask them specific sequencing questions, "What happened first in the story?" or "Did we see the yellow duck or the black sheep first?" Although naysayers may say, "Well gee, that's easy, they've just memorized the story, because you read it 20 times, and now they're repeating it." Actually, much more is going on here. By having your little one repeat stories and narratives to you, they are truly building their understanding for what a narrative is (a sequence of events with a problem and solution). This will help them greatly when they get to school age or if they are already in school by helping them to understand not just what's going on in the book, but also the structure in which it needs to be described. So look at each rereading of a book as a potential practice for your little one to get ready to understand the book itself and the narrative story structure!

Ways to Enhance Sequencing and Retell

• Ask you little one sequencing and retell questions throughout the book, building on the number of pages to be sequenced or retold as they become more familiar with the book.
• Encourage them to use the words beginning, middle, end, or first, next, and last.
• When they are very familiar with a book, have them practice retelling the entire story.
• As a bonus, introduce basic story words like character, setting, and problem and solution. Their teachers will think they are super smart when these words easily fly off their tongues!

4. Concepts of Print

Another great skill for our little ones to practice while repeating a book are the concepts of print. The concepts of print are basically the little skills that all of us take for granted such as knowing where the front cover and back cover of a book are, understanding what a word is, understanding what a letter is, knowing which direction to read from line to line and page to page, understanding of punctuation, and what an author and an illustrator do. The magic of rereading a book is that the story stays the same, so you can really hone in on developing these concepts of print, because your child is familiar enough with the story to be able to attend to them.

To do this, it's important to use your finger, or your child's finger, to point out the text on each page, and to engage them in features of that text. Have them count words. Have them count letters in words. Ask them questions about the words, such as "Oh no, mommy forgot what she's supposed to do at the end of the line, where do I read now? Of course! I go to the next line and start on the left, you're so smart!" or "I finished this page! Where do I go to read more of the story? Oh the next page? Do I start on the left page or the right page? Oh of course! The left page, thank you for reminding me." If your little one isn't yet ready to answer these questions, you can have them point to where to go, or your can tell them yourself. You can also point out periods, exclamation points, questions marks, and commas, and tell them what they do. It'll help to give some variety to that story, especially after reading it for 15 times in one day! *Sometimes, patience can be bred through creativity!*

Ways to Enhance Concepts of Print

• Have your child count how many words are on a page, or how many letters are in a specific word.
• Ask your child what the first and last letters are of a specific word.
• Hand your child a book upside-down and ask you to fix it, so you can read it.
• Ask your child where to read next in a book when you finish a line or a page.
• Ask you little one to show you where the front and back covers are.

5. Learning to independently "read" a book

You'll soon notice that after about 20-30 times of reading a book and practicing all of the items listed above, your little one will start to do something extraordinary, they will start to "read" the book to themselves. Now, I do put read in quotation marks, because essentially, they have just memorized the story, and they are now reciting it, but for them, it makes them feel like a reader! At times too, you'll notice that they'll make up words to fill in the gaps of those they haven't memorized, and most times those words sound like the missing ones too. I was in complete awe when Charlotte "read" Brown Bear, Brown Bear for the first time, and I will still remember her version of "what do you see" which was more akin to "whaddaya ya," and it makes me smile, but for me, in that little moment, my little one was a reader, because she understood that this book made the story, and she was telling it to herself.

So the next time you're about to say to your itty bitty, "You want to read Oh the Things you Can Think AGAIN!?" Just remember that it's repetitive to you, because you've read it and understood it completely each of the 9 times before, but the 10th time MAY just be what your little one needs to develop understanding of that mystery word, trace the text with her fingers, or finally be able to retell the beginning, middle, and end of the story! So take a breath, smile, and open that book again for a 10th time in a row! :)

Until next time...

Yours in Literacy,

The Reading Specialista

V Ways to Add Literacy to Your Valentines

Hello Again Readers,

If you're anything like me, I imagine you have been both shocked by how progressively earlier each year the Valentines are put up for sale at the local CVS or grocery store. I'm pretty sure it was not yet January 2nd, when I saw the first big box of red, pink, and purple decor at my local Kroger. Of course with all the candy, stuffed animals, and hearts come the Valentines. Usually this sight brings me dread. As a teacher, I typically buy Valentines for my students each year quite early, to dish in on sales, but then I always find myself hastily addressing and creating them on Feb. 13th. Looking at those boxes being put up this year through the eyes of a Reading Specialist, I realized they don't have to be a burden, but instead are a great seasonal opportunity for parents to engage in authentic (real-life) literacy activities with their children. To take and adapt from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss lines...

Then the Reading Specialist thought of something she hadn't before! What if Valentine addressing, she thought, doesn't have to be a bore. What if Valentine addressing...perhaps...could have literacy galore!

As a way to help parents who dread those cards, I've thought of five simple, yet effective, activities you can use while Valentine Day Card addressing to help your little readers develop their reading and writing skills!

As a precursor to this list, I would challenge all of my busy parents out there to do 2 things to make sure you don't get caught in the mad rush of Feb. 13th addressing:

1. Buy your Valentines early!
It's not like stores make this one hard, because they've been there since early January! You may as well get them on your weekly grocery trip. Have your kiddo pick out their favorite theme, and pick them up. Having your Valentines early will help you to make this a gradual activity amidst your busy schedules!

2. Request your children's class lists early!
This is especially important if you have multiple children in different classrooms! Typically, teachers send out class lists for addressing a week ahead of time to give you two weekends to work on them. (That's what I typically did anyways!) If you feel you'd need more time, don't be afraid to send a kindly typed e-mail or note to your child's teacher requesting the list. You can detail that although you know it's coming shortly, you'd like a little extra time to practice some literacy activities with your child as they address their Valentines. Teachers can usually send you their lists quite quickly, and I know if I ever got this request, it would have been music to my ears as a classroom teacher!

So with those two important steps out of the way, it's now time to get to those...

V Ways to Add Literacy into Valentines!

1. Read the Cards and talk about them!

Although it may seem simple, this is an often overlooked activity. Have your child open up his Valentines, and read over all the sayings before he addresses them. Usually there are little jokes that you can laugh at with him, or if he's very young, you can help him to better understand. Many have great wordplay in them too, which is a great bonus! Help your child to sound out words they don't know, and enjoy the moment!

This activity is great for building their decoding (sounding out) skills, comprehension, and if you add reading the cards over multiple times, can even help them build sight words!

2. Read over the class list with your child, and talk about the different features in the names!

After you've read over those silly and corny Valentines, read over the class list. You'll be pleasantly surprised that your child can readily identify most of his classmates' names, even by this point in Kindergarten! Patiently help them to read the names they aren't quite comfortable with. After they've read the list to you, you can then play "I Spy" with them with the names. For example: "I spy Michael. Can you find Michael for me?" or to make it easier, "I spy a name starting with an M," and as a request that builds off that one. "I spy a name starting with an Mmmmm sound."

If you're feeling particularly motivated, sing the name game song with your child for all the names "Michael, Michael, Bo Bichael, Banana nana Fo Fichael, Me my mo Michael, Michael!"

By reading over the class list and playing with the letters and sounds, you're giving your child some AWESOME literacy skill practice! They're able to build sight words, practice decoding, build letter recognition, sound-letter relationships (phonics), and phonemic awareness (understanding the sounds in our language). The best part: It's free and fun!

3. Have your child write the class list in different ways!

There are many different ways you can have your child rewrite her class list to help her work on her letter writing and reading skills. Simply give your child an extra piece of lined paper, and help her work through these different lists:

• Write the names in alphabetical order by first name. 98% of teachers will make their class lists alphabetical, but by last name. I have yet to meet one that will give a list by first name, but I'm sure they exist (hence the 2%). This is a great opportunity to help your child work on alphabetizing skills. To help them, you can write the alphabet on the top of their paper, which can be a great reference as they write their classmates in alphabetical order, especially if they're just learning the skill.

• Write the consonants (any letter that isn't a vowel) in one color and vowels (a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y) in another. Understanding the difference between a vowel and a consonant is an important skill, and having your child practice this with their friends' names is super valuable! For example: Vowels are in pink and Consonants in purple Michael. Have them pick their own colors and go to town!

• Write the names in order from least syllables to most. Having your child practice sounding out syllables is a great opportunity for helping them to build their phonemic awareness! If your child finds this particularly difficult by "clapping out" syllables, you'll save a lot of time and hair by having her count "jaw drops" instead of "hand claps." Have her place her hand underneath her chin and count the number of times her "jaw drops" in a name, that's the number of syllables there are in the word. This works, because every syllable has at least one vowel, and when you make a vowel sound with your mouth, your jaw drops to accommodate the air you use to make the sound. It's much more reliable than hand claps, especially for little learners. Try it yourself with the word "encyclopedia." By counting jaw drops, you'd easily get 6!

4. Address the Valentines in your own fun order!

Instead of just saying, "Okay hun, now copy the list and check off the ones you've done." Use your practice in the previous activities to give them a fun order to address their Valentines in. For example:

• Hmmm, let's start with all the names that start with the Ssss sound!
• Awesome! Now, let's write all the names that have 3 syllables!
• Let's write all the names that rhyme with "sat!"
• Great work! Now, how about we write all the names that have the same first sound as your name!
• Good! Now, let's write all the names that start with the letter that comes after "s."

and so on, and so forth! For your own organization, have your child check off the names after they address the Valentines. This will make sure you don't skip any!

5. Have your child make his own Valentines for family members!

If your child has really caught the Valentine's Day bug, and you have a knack for arts and crafts, have him make his own Valentines as an extension activity and send them to family members. This is a great idea, because it helps your child to see how reading and writing have real-life purposes and it's fun! If you want some great ideas for easy or fancy Valentines, check out Pinterest! Even just making the traditional little paper hearts with messages on them is great too! Have your child choose which Valentine they want to make, get the cutting/pasting/coloring/painting parts done, and then help him to write a message he wants to write to his family. Not only are these precious literacy moments for your child, but they will serve as treasured keepsakes for your family members for years to come!

So there you have it! Five ways to really add quality literacy activities into an otherwise boring addressing Valentines burden! As with all suggested activities on my blog, make sure to keep the mood light, and space out the literacy learning over many days. For example, if you do suggestion 1 on one day, wait a day until you do suggestion 2. You want to keep your child's literacy learning light and fun, and not turn it into a mandated checklist! Even if it's more realistic for you to choose 2 activities instead of all 5, just do that! You know your child and your schedules best! Keep it fun for you too!

Thanks for reading everyone! Have a Happy Valentine's Day, and until next time....

Your in Literacy,

The Reading Specialista

3 Reading New Year's Resolutions

Hello Again Readers,

Even though the New Year is only hours away, it's not too late to talk to your little reader about a New Year's Resolution, or to make one for yourself to help your little reader grow! The trick with New Year's Resolutions, however, isn't just to light a tiny motivational match that will burn out within a week or two, but to think of a way to build a routine that will help you to ignite a long lasting fire within yourself and your little reader. As I'm sure many of you can attest to, the gyms and fitness centers are certainly at their busiest in January, but rarely do people attack their weight loss regimes with the same zest come February 28th. My goal for this post is to not only give you some ideas for some awesome reading resolutions, but also to give you some routines to help you and your little reader achieve your goals! So, without further ado...

The 3 Reading Resolutions

1. In 2016 I want to read (insert number)  of new books.

The wording in this resolution is PERFECT for our readers from as early as Kindergarten, and reaching through college (not to mention yourself ;-) ). The best part about this resolution, is you can help your reader set the total number, and then divide them up by month. So for example, a Kindergarten student might want to read 48 new books (a reasonable number when thinking of picture books) and this would mean 4 a month for them. Look below for other reasonable numbers to suggest:

• 1st: 48 books
• 2nd: 42 books
• 3rd: 36 books
• 4th+: 24 books

As you notice, the number of books decreases as our readers get older, this is because the length of books (from picture to chapter) and the complexity of the text increases. It's important to help them make good choices with their books too. Let them know it's not just the number of books, but the quality of books to accomplish. For example, a 5th grader reading a Clifford book to "get in" their book for the month, has missed the point of the resolution, and you might want to help him to find a book he would enjoy, and talk to him about how we want to feel completely good about ourselves when we reach the goal.

How do we make this happen again?

• Sticker Charts: For our younger readers, sticker charts are very motivational. You can make one with enough spots to hold all of their books for the year, and then give them a sticker to put on their chart once they've achieved them.
• Calendars with Stickers: To expand on the idea, you could give them stickers to put on their calendar to break down their reading by month. This makes the goal more manageable for our little ones, and as a bonus, it helps you to see how often your child is finishing a book!
• Frequent conversations about reading: For both our younger and older students, ask them how their reading is coming, make visits to the library a family outing, and read along with them as well. This will not only help them to develop those strong reading habits and help them achieve their goal, but also it will give you some special one-on-one time with them, which will give them positive feelings toward reading!

2. In 2016, I want to read a new genre every month.

For our purposes, genres of books are basically different types of books, and many times, our readers find one genre and cling to it, without trying others. For boys, it's typically nonfiction or graphic novels, and for girls it's fiction or fantasy. Although it's by no means "the end of the world" if our student prefers one genre over all others, it can stunt their growth in genre knowledge, which is important for them to develop as they get older and are required to read different genres in class. By making a resolution to explore many genres over the course of the year, not only will our readers gain different genre knowledge, but they will also be able to compare the genres, and perhaps find a new favorite! There are many lists on genres abound, but I've included 12 below perfect for this resolution:

• Fantasy: talking animals, magic, completely unrealistic events
• Mystery
• Realistic Fiction: A text about something that COULD happen, but either the events or characters are not real
• Historical Fiction: A text about a historic event that did happen, but includes fictional characters (the I Survived series)
• Science Fiction: A text about fictional events in space or time, usually includes aliens, technology, etc.
• Poetry
• Nonfiction: A text about a topic that is real
• Biography: A text about a person's life who really lived
• Autobiography: A text written by someone about their own life
• Graphic Novel: A text written to include pictures alongside of text (commonly known as comics, but has completely morphed into it's own genre such as Big Nate books)
• Plays
• Traditional Literature: Folktales/Fairytales that typically teach a lesson at the end of the story

By taking a year to sample all of these genres, your reader will truly grow by leaps and bounds!

How do we make this happen again?

• Theme the months: Let your reader choose which genre they want to read on a given month, and write it on their personal calendar. At the beginning of each month, take a special trip to the library, and find books to fit into that genre! Make sure to keep it fun, and encourage your reader to finish at least one book for that month within that genre, even if they are reluctant to read it at first.
• Read along with them: A great way for even you to understand more about the genre, is to pick your own book in the library and read it too! This will give you even more items to talk about with your child as you can share with them your impressions about the genre as well!

3. In 2016, I want to read (insert number here) minutes each day.

In the spirit of "saving the best for last," I most certainly did on this one! Encouraging your child to read every day is the best thing we can do for their reading development at home, and this is supported by multiple studies! The best part about this resolution, is it works for all ages! From birth-college, our children greatly benefit from daily reading and daily reading routines. For our little ones (birth-PreK3) this resolution may be more of yours, and making sure to do it with them, but for PreK4 and older, they can easily take ownership of this time, and start to show independence in their reading habits. Here are some suggested time ranges to suggest to your children as they are setting their resolutions:

• Birth-PreK3: 10-15 minutes a day
• PreK4-Kinder: 15-20 minutes a day
• 1st-2nd: 20-25 minutes a day
• 3rd-4th: 25-30 minutes a day
• 5th+: at least 30 minutes a day

How do we make this happen again?

• Set aside a specific time to read each day: By specific, I mean super-specific! For my schedule with Charlotte, I might block off 5:15-5:30 JUST for reading. The more specific we can be, the more consistent we will be, especially when balancing work, practice, school, and other little ones! If she is old enough, let your child pick her reading times. This gives her ownership over the time, and helps her to make it part of her routine. It's commonly cited that it takes 21 days to develop a habit, so by keeping your children reading at that specific time each day for 21 days, they'll soon be doing it on their own!
• Get a timer: You can easily buy a timer for your child's reading, and let them control it. Or even just use the one on your phone! This will help them get excited about their reading. Additionally, for our readers who are just starting off on their bigger block of time, it gives them the freedom to divide the time up. For example, for a 1st grader, you might have them read from 5:10-5:20, and then after dinner from 7:20-7:35. This gives them their 25 minutes, and their timer will ensure that they did all 25.
• Read along with your child: You can listen to your child read, or model good reading yourself. Can you imagine how powerful it is for your child to see everyone reading at the same time? Think of how much we get into sports, and how our children get excited for it, because everyone's gathered together. That same energy could be transferred to reading by having everyone read at once. 

I hope this post helped you to both round out your resolutions with your little ones and gave your practical ways to do it! May your 2016 be filled with new adventures in reading and growing with your child! Have a wonderful night, and a Happy New Year!

Until next time readers...

Yours in Literacy,

The Reading Specialista

5 Ways to Enhance Your Littlest Reader's Book Knowledge During Read Alouds

Hi Readers,

I have to admit, this post was inspired by my own busy life and that of other busy parents! Whether you work outside of the home, in the home, or have been able to devote your time to be a full-time SAHM, there never seem to be enough hours in the day to teach our little ones all the things they need to know. Picking up Charlotte from day care at 4:30 (if Houston traffic allows), and then getting her home to eat dinner, practice walking and other gross motor activities, and play, we are lucky if we get to a really good quality read aloud every day during the work week without her getting too crabby. I therefore thought it would be useful to come up with 5 tips for busy parents to help them make the most out of their read aloud time with their little ones. 

Why Read Daily?

To start with, much of the research suggests that as early as six months, babies have the capacity to concentrate and focus long enough to read a book. I, however, find that babies are never too young to be read to (Charlotte was first introduced to Five Little Monkeys in utero by my husband after all!)! Any type of read aloud that you have with your little one is beneficial to not only their reading skills, but also their positive feelings toward reading and books that can affect them for the rest of their lives. By further targeting your read aloud with your little ones, you can even help to start them out for PreK and Kindergarten readiness in multiple areas. With the importance of reading daily fresh in our minds, we can now delve into the 5 ways to enhance your little one's book knowledge during this precious reading time you share together.

5 Ways to Enhance Your Littlest Reader's Book Knowledge

1. Point out the text features.

When our little ones are first entering school, teachers start to assess them on how they understand the concepts of print. Basically, what this means is teachers check if they know the front and back covers of a book, where the title and the author and illustrator are, and which direction to read a story. As you're sitting down with your little one, make sure to mention or talk through these features with them.

"Look, Charlotte, this is the front cover of the book, and these words are the title. Mommy is underlining the title. The book is by Dr. Seuss, that's the person who wrote the book. See his name right there?"

Giving your child this vocabulary, and having her practice pointing to the different items to locate the items herself will really give her a leg up on those early assessments, and it will help her to learn more about the structure of a book.

You can also have your child practice opening a book correctly. For example, give it to him upside-down, and see if he can turn it around and open it right-side up. "Whoops! Mommy can't remember how to open the book! Can you show her?"

**Fun fact: it only seems to be socially acceptable to refer to yourself in the third person if you're a parent or a teacher. Could you imagine if other people did it? (Just a little laugh!)**

2. Trace the text, and call your child's attention to it.

It may sound surprising, but some children simply don't notice the text in the story, because they are so excited about the pictures. In fact, if you think about it, there is text all around our children all the time, signs, billboards, TV ads, books, etc., but seldom are they really interested in text until they are starting to read.

Because of this, it's so very important to point the text out to your child and trace it with your finger. This is powerful, because not only are they starting to understand that words carry meaning

(and that you're not making up the story which they first believe), but also they are seeing which direction we read and they get to see the difficult return sweep (the fact that we read to the end of a line on its right side, then return sweep to go down to the next line and start on the left side again.) Some children have a hard time grasping the return sweep and early reading can prove difficult to them.

Furthermore, you can teach one-to-one word correspondence to your child. This means that he understands that one spoken word stands for one written word in the book. Once he gets more advanced in his reading (by age 2-3) you can help him
trace the words as you say them, hopping from one word to the next. Another great activity is having your child count how many words are on the page. This helps them to not only be aware of the words, but also to understand their concept of word (or what a word is: letters separated by spaces).

3. Ask your child to find meaning in the pictures.

I'm pretty sure that ever since she had the motor skills to do so, my little girl was pointing at something, anything, and everything around her. As a Reading Specialist, I was especially excited to see her point at the different pictures in the book! Sometimes, especially in picture books, the pictures can have equal, if not more meaning in them than the text itself. Before our little ones can read the words, it's important to help them "read the pictures" and notice that the pictures carry meaning too!

One way to do this is to ask your child to find the characters you just read about. This way they can point to the characters right away and note their importance in the story. You can also talk about the pictures too. "Oh we just read about how Thistle is grey can you point to something else that's grey?" or "Oh they said the clouds are grey and the rock is grey. Where is the rock? Where are the clouds?"

Again, by having our little ones actively engage with the pictures, you are helping them to note the importance of the pictures in the story, and to use the pictures to help them understand the story better! Using pictures to retell a story or understand a story is commonly referred to in PreK and Kinder as a picture walk, so helping them notice the pictures is helping them to get ready to showcase this skill!

4. Engage your child in discussions about the book. (Even if they don't have words yet!)

Another very powerful and simple technique we can use to help enhance our child's reading is to talk with them about what we're reading together, even if they can't talk yet! We can do this in four easy ways:

1) React to the book or characters "Oh my goodness! That Clifford eats so much! I can't imagine how much Emily Elizabeth needs to feed him every day! Look at all that food! You eat a lot sometimes too, but that's even more than I can eat!"

2) Ask your little one questions (and answer for her if she can't talk yet) "Hmmmm,how do you think the firemen felt when Clifford helped put out the fire? I bet they were happy and relieved. They were probably grateful too, because Clifford helped them to do their job!"

3) Talk to them about what could happen next. "Look how dirty Harry is! He got dirty playing at the railroad and in the street! I think he's going to keep getting dirtier, and even darker with dirt! What do you think? Do you think he'll keep getting dirtier? Do you think he'll ever take a bath?"

4) Practice retelling what happened on the page. "Wow! We were right! On this page, Harry kept getting dirtier, because he slid down a coal chute. Look at him, he's sliding right down it!"

Notice that in every example conversation with a child, there were exclamation points! It's so important to be excited about reading with your child and to engage them in an equally exciting conversation. Even if your child isn't talking yet, it's perfectly fine to engage them in this conversation. Our little ones learn so much of their language skills and vocabulary from what we tell them and use around them.

It's therefore important that even though you may feel a bit crazy for talking like this to a little nugget who can't talk back yet, that we become comfortable with it, because it's the best thing we can do for our little one. If you think about it, if you can dance with your baby to the "Hot Dog Dance" from Mickey Mouse Club House and sing along to the song, talking to them about a book doesn't seem like the craziest thing you'll do all day! ;-) 

5. Cuddle Your Little One!

Although the previous 4 tips will help your child's skill levels with reading, and are therefore important on their own, perhaps the biggest impact we can give to our child during read alouds is the feeling they have when reading a book with us. This helps to foster a love of reading for them, and helps to turn them into a lifelong reader.

Think about it. Can you recall reading with your parents? Weren't they comforting memories of a bedtime story, being tucked in, kissed, and going to sleep? When you began reading on your own, without knowing it, you carried these positive feelings about books with you. Because of those experiences, you found books comforting and fun.

We want to create those same feelings of comfort, love, and safety with our children when we read with them. To do this, we want to be close to them when we read. Have them sit on your lap or right next to you. Cuddle up with a blanket, or have them tucked in bed while you're reading with them. Smile often. Hug them lots. Keep it fun. You'll soon find that not only is this quality time good for your child to feel positively about reading, a feeling she'll carry with her for the rest of her life, but also it's time that you'll treasure as well.

So get ready to get friendly and personal with Clifford, Arthur, Curious George, Fancy Nancy, Winnie the Pooh, and the Big Hungry Caterpillar! Because after all, they're going to be your child's favorites, and I'm sure you'll find that the joy they create in your child's eyes will make them your favorites again too!

Until next time....

Yours in Literacy,

The Reading Specialista