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Now that summer is officially over, I will be blogging on Life Long Learner. Join me over there!

Familiar Books

Even though I have not been blogging, we are still reading away at my house! Shannon has become more interested in books, but only a select few, which we read before bed and nap time. In fact, she points to the book she wants, we read it, and she takes it to bed with her. One of these nights I will sneak in and take a picture of her cuddled with her blanket and book.
Anyway, back to the point of this post. Babies (1 year olds) love the repetitive nature of books. They also love rereading familiar stories because they know what to expect. For example, we have been reading a shape book. Each page opens up,down, or out. When we first started reading this book (every night!) Shannon had no idea how to open the pages, after 3 or 4 readings she started to open the pages on her own. Modeling how to do something for children is so important. It is interesting to watch the child pick up the concept, practice it, then finally master it.
Books like the shape book are great for kids because the teach about shapes, and they expand vocabulary. We are learning about squares AND the names of objects that are squares. Even though 1 year olds can't express the language yet it is vital to build vocabulary with them. You will be surprised when they start using these words in conversations with you when they are 2!

Soooo - familiar book help build vocabulary which will help your children expand their receptive language which effects their expressive language later.

Last Day of Challenge

Well, I think this is post 35 of my 35 Day Literacy Challenge.  This has been a great challenge for me to fit in time to write these posts. It has also been a great way to start conversations with other moms and dads about literacy for children. I hope my ideas and stories have inspired you to do something new with your children, and I hope I didn't come across too strong. My intention is to continue writing on this blog, but I will not be able to write every weekday once the school year begins. Anyway...onto our final post.

Last night Shannon was reading a Fisher Price Little People in the Zoo book. The book is chock full of lift the flaps, which she is learning to do herself. She is still pointing to every person, and animal she sees in the book, but now she loves the "lift the flap" feature. She laughs as she opens the flap to see what is inside. This is so entertaining and stimulating for her. Do you have any of these books? Try them out with your kids!

Have you seen any 3D books? We have one called "In the Jungle." It is a rather simple board book, but at least 1 animal on every page is in 3D. Our favorite page in this book is the crocodile page. We pretend to put our finger in between the croc's teeth, then SNAP! he bites us. Recently, Patrick has asked me to make the characters in the book talk. So, I become the character and he asks questions to me. He created this game. I just went along with it. His imagination amazes me everyday. This game is worth playing with your child. Become a character and ask questions to your child. See how he/she answers while chatting to the character instead of to you.

Your challenge - Get a 3D book and discover the cool effects together. Or, Get a Lift the flaps book and play with it.

Congrats if you completed all 35 Days!

Panda bear panda bear

We had another library trip today and I seriously thought I was going to get kicked out. I was trying to make it a quick trip so I only brought 1 seat for my stroller and no extra toys for Shannon.  Patrick was running around pretending to be a horse and when I finally corrected him and told him I wanted him to be a good by he screamed,"I don't want to be a good boy." I got out with 10 new books to share.
Our first read of Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See? by bill Martin was an instant hit with both children. The rhythm and repetition led to a rhythmic babbling from Shannon and Patrick was repeating the phrase by the third or fourth page. Bill Martin has several books in this series...enjoy them with your family!
Your challenge - get your hands on a Bill Martin book http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson793/booklist.pdf

Barnes & Noble

A few days ago, I took the kids to Barnes & Noble. I figured we could read a couple books together, use the remainder of a gift card, and I could get a coffee. I laugh because I plan my trips around places that are child friendly that offer more than 1 service. Barnes & Noble exceeded all my expectations as an inexpensive way to spend an afternoon.

Our Barnes & Noble is totally redone. I know most BN have a beautiful children's section filled with books, a stage, and comfortable chairs for kids. Our Barnes & Noble also has an educational toys section, and in this section they had several toys set up for kids to try out. There was a train table, lego table, and doll table. Patrick had a great time playing with the trains, and Shannon tested out some overpriced really cool developmental toys.
Then we sauntered over to the books. My intention was to buy Market Day by Lois Ehlert, but I couldn't find it. I have to get this book because Patrick asks for it every night, and its a library book. Sidenote - the library is a great place to try out books before spending money on them! Then we talked about other books Patrick might want. He chose several - a construction truck book with wheels, a Dinosaur train book, and a train book that made sounds. Once he had all these books picked out I explained he had to pick just 1 book. He ended up choosing the Train book. While we were searching for books Patrick pointed out books he already read, and kept giving them to Shannon. Usually saying something like, "Here Shannon read this. I already read this book." Look Shannon it's the Elmo book." Then he came out with, "Drew has that bunny book." I couldn't believe the amount of books Patrick recognized in the book store, and how much fun we could have on a trip to Barnes & Noble.

Your challenge - Take a trip to a bookstore with your child. Plan to stay for about an hour. Let him/her play with the toys, search the shelves, and cuddle on your lap as you read some books together. If you haven't visited the library yet because you aren't a library person this may be a good compromise.

Upstairs book, Down here Book

All the parenting books explain the importance of a good bedtime routine, and if you stick to the routine your child will sleep...blah, blah, blah. I perscribed to this with my son, and, guess what? It doesn't work. Patrick is a bad sleeper. I will take the blame for it because I am not a good sleeper either. Since he is not the greatest at going to bed, our bedtime rituals have changed to meet his needs as he goes to bed.
We try to unwind before bed, and oftentimes that means reading a book downstairs. This is part of our routine now, and is known as the "down here book." In our nightly bedtime negotiations, Patrick tries to get 2 down here books and 2 upstairs books. How can you deny a kid this? Anyway, I thought it was neat that he developed the phrases upstairs book and down here book.

Your challenge - revisit your bedtime routine. Does it need a change? Since I've started this challenge I've made changes to both kids routines...Shannon now gets a book and 2 songs, and, well, Patrick is still a nightly negotiation!

Book Storage

As a teacher, I want summer to go as slow as possible for a number of reasons. One of the biggest is so that I can spend more time with my family, and another reason is so I can work on my summer teaching projects. All teachers have them...a list of ideas, lessons, or books they simply don't have enough time to read during the "busy" season. So, it is no surprise to my husband that I lug home boxes of things year after year in hopes of completing some of my summer teaching projects.
This summer I am trying to familiarize myself with as many picture books as possible, so I brought home a ton of books from my classroom. Of course, I am reading them to my kids as well, but I don't want my children to touch the books the way I let them touch and interact with our own books.

Lakeshore Learning sells magnetic shelves. I bought a set to use in my classroom, but was disappointed in them. I should have taken them back, but I never got around to it. So, I found a use for them in my kitchen. And, many of you might have this space!

The shelves are perfect here because they are partially blocked by the cabinets, which holds the books in better. They don't come out too far. And, they offer a beautiful display for books. As the kids get older you could display favorite books, or themed books. This would be a great place to put the Christmas books too. Imagine coming down first thing in the morning and a book catching your eye.

Your challenge - Find a place in your house to proudly display books. If you like the shelves, I got them at Lakeshore Learning. ($39.95 for 3 magnetic shelves) But, I must say I would not buy these again unless they were a little bit wider.