Book Review: Nature Play Workshop for Families

Happy Publish Day!!!🎉🎉

Thank you to @Netgalley and Quatro Publishing/Quarry @quartokids for letting me preview

this amazing book Nature Play Workshop For Families by Monica Wiedel-Lubinski & Karen Madigan. 

The timing of this book is perfect.  If you are like me I am looking for ideas to do with the children

that can be done at a safe distance.  This book is filled with wonderful ideas and activities that can

be done in your yard or at the park/nature trail.  No special supplies are needed, you can use what

is around you.   

What I loved about the book is the easy to follow layout.  Each activity has simple directions

along with beautiful photos.   All the activities are divided by seasons which makes it easy to

plan outings and activities. The last two chapters are activities you can do anytime. 

 

I set up an easy to do scavenger hunt that we did in our own backyard. 

I only had to print out a page from the back of the book. 

We grabbed our magnifying glass and headed out to the garden.  

The activity took about 15 minutes. Depending on the age of your children you could

extend it longer.

 

If you don’t have children yourself, this book would make a great gift to give to your

grandchildren or other young children in your life.  

Book Review: Banana!

Book Review

Thank you to NetGalley, Words Pictures Book, and Quarto Kids for providing me with

the ebook of Banana!

Oh My Gosh!  This book is so cute.  It is perfect for the little one in your life.

  My grandson and I read the ebook together, therefore we did not have the benefit

of the “dangly food items” that the book description talks about.  However, we had

so much fun guessing what we thought the animals might eat.  My grandson loved

the use of onomatopoeia in the book and I enjoyed the colorful illustrations.  At the end

of the book we had a wonderful discussion about what we guessed the animals would

eat and what the illustrations had created.  All said and done, Little guy and I had a

wonderful reading experience together. 

I definitely will keep this book in mind as I purchase books for friends and family.

It will be coming out in April of 2021 so please look for it.

I know you and your little ones will enjoy it.

Reading in the Wild

During my few days off of work I picked up Donalyn’s book Reading in the Wild.  It is such a good book for any teacher who teaches reading to students.    She emphasizes the goal of reading instruction is to develop all students into lifelong independent readers.    We want our students to love reading and see themselves as readers in and out of school.

 

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Ms. Miller identifies habits of successful wild readers……..

1.  Students need time to read and write.  If you want your students to see reading as important, you have to treat it as a priority in your classroom.  Dedicate time for your students to read and write. 

2.  Let your students self-select their own reading material.   If reading is going to be enjoyable to your students then they need to have some say in it.  You can make suggestions however in the end you need to respect their decisions.  This does not mean teachers do not teach lessons with given material, it means during independent reading time children can read what they want.  

3.  The best part of reading is sharing what you are reading with others.  So give your students opportunities to talk about reading and let them share books with other students.   Find time or places for students to recommend books for their friends to read. 

4.  Help the students develop reading plans or goals.  Let your students decide (with guidance) what they can commit to do.  You want the goal setting to be successful.    

 

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“The more students practice, the more they enjoy and develop confidence in reading and the more likely they are to read in their free time. “

Reading Emergencies …..stealing time to read throughout the day.......even if it is just a few minutes at a time.    I like this term.  I am going to encourage my students to keep a book or two in their desks at all times so if a teacher comes in the room and they found themselves with a few minutes they can take out their books and read quietly. 

Signs of a Fake Reader/Avoiding Reading

We all have students who avoid reading focus in on those students and their interests and help them find books that will make them successful readers.  

1.  Finishes few books

2.  finishes books to quickly

3.  Abandons books often

4.  Conducts personal errands during reading time

5.  Fidgets or talks a lot

6.  Rarely has a book read

Why are daily read aloud so important??????

I am just as guilty as the next person when it comes to reading aloud.  My reading aloud time is right after the Math Block and if I have students who struggle with Math, I tend to work with them extra and skip my book. I always hope I can squeeze it in later however I rarely have a minute to spare.  Reading aloud is so important and here are Donalyn's reminders why: 

*Highlight great writing

*Model reading strategies

*build community

*expose children to different genres/authors

*builds fluency and vocabulary

*reinforces that reading can be fun

 

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New Ideas I want to incorporate in my classroom:

• ·      Add a student book recommendation to the first grade news
• ·      Create a poster “Currently my favorite book is…..”  someplace in my reading center.  I want to make the poster interactive so the first graders can change their favorites all by themselves whenever they want.  
• ·      Hold a book swap/book drive at the end of the November and January

 

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 I googled book swap images and found this wagon......how adorable......now I want a wagon for my book swap.  

Red Ribbon Week

Recently I received a free copy of the book, Charlie and the Curious Club, by Erainna Winnett.  The book addresses an important issue DRUGS.  Now I know most of you are thinking my kindergarteners or first graders don’t need to worry about this, however that is not what the book is about.  It is about mistaking drugs for candy.  This could happen to anyone.

Now that is a situation that all children may find themselves in.  I read this book to my little first graders and they were very interested in the story.  I could see in their faces they were making connections.  After the story we had a wonderful discussion.  I was surprised with how many of my students said they saw medicine at their grandparents or babysitter’s house. 

We also discussed taking things that do not belong to us.  That was a really good discussion.  We also talked about only eating things that our grown ups say is ok.  We have several students with food allergies so it is really important that we always check with a grown up before we eat something. 

I even tied this book in with our Religion lesson.  We are learning about how much God loves us.  So we talked about how important it is to take care of ourselves. 

Free Copy

I had the children draw a picture and then we used our thumbs to make hearts.  However your students may be older or you make be looking for other ideas, you can look at the website:  CelebratingRedRibbonWeek.com.  There are other resources and lessons you might be interested in. 

I mounted the pictures on card stock and I plan on hanging them around the school to remind the other students in the building to make good choices.