Literacy Bags

I am slightly obsessed with the idea of literacy bags. I heard about them a few years back and hope to write a grant to make them when I have a class of my own one day. A literacy bag is basically a book bag that is themed. In each bag are books that fit the theme, a manipulative that fits the theme, an activity or journal to do something hands-on, and more. They are a great tool to encourage reading with families. Imagine my surprise when I found out my public library just made them for the public to check-out! I can't be more excited!!!

About a month ago our library started Sophie Reads. Sophie is our library mascot (don't as me why). There are over 25 different themes ranging from siblings, feelings, trains, dinosaurs, pond, bears, and more. The literacy bags include 4-5 picture or board books (geared for ages 1-5), a video or music CD, a manipulative (like a puzzle or dolls), a book for adults (normally parenting related), and a page of songs to sing or finger plays related to the theme. Here is the one we just got for Transportation:

The books

The puzzle included (just right for my little tot)

List of songs and finger-plays, along with a DVD

The book for adults FYI: This book has great ideas

The bag all the materials go in. This is considered only ONE check out!

This literacy bag is perfect for my toddler and can get me back on track with implementing 5 A Day Books in a easy way. To read more about 5 A Day Books go to the Imagination Tree to learn more. That being said my 5 year old also really loves the bags (he normally picks the themes). If your library doesn't have them you can make them yourself and adjust them to the age that works for you. As I mentioned I want to make them for my class of upper elementary students. For example, I may make a cloth bag with a Ancient Egypt theme. I could include various levels of Non-Fiction books and some easy fiction (I am thinking something they could read in a week), Ancient Egypt Toob toys (Toobs are great for these), and maybe an activity where they write some hieroglyphs.Their really is no limit to ideas. Most of the things you could get at garage sales or used book stores. I'm getting all excited again! Here is an amazing website with fabulous ideas from a teacher named Mrs. Madden.

Mrs. Madden's bags she made for students. Can't wait to do this!!!

5 A Day Books: Transporation

It is another week of choosing five books to read to baby "b". The whole family has Strep Throat so there will be lots of time for cuddles and reading books. The theme for 5 A Day books was actually chosen by my older son. He chose transportation (he says, "Things that have wheels"), one of his favorite things. 5 A Day is the idea that if you read the same five books for a week to your infant/toddler you can form a bonding ritual that provides language acquisiton. To learn more about this idea read over at the Imagination Tree. I can tell you that two months ago my infant would have nothing to do with books, but now he is grabbing books and handing them to me. A small step towards a lifetime of loving books.

1) What Am I? by Salina Yoon. This book my 5 year-old son found at the library and fell in love. He begged to have this be one of the books we read to "B" this week. It has a shadow figure and you pull away the shadow to see the vehicle behind. Each page has a fun rhyme to help little ones guess the hidden picture.

2) Inside Freight Train by Donald Crews. I love the colors and illustrations of the original Freight Train by Crews so when I saw the board book companion I had to buy it. It also has a pull out tabs to see what is inside the freight cars. Train lovers will appreciate this book.

3) Baby Beep! Beep! by Dawn Sirett. Another adorable lift-the-flap book. Each page has a question and you see a toy block set-up. You lift the flap and see a toy vehicle behind the blocks.

4) That's Not My Train (Usbourne Touchy-Feely Books) I am so in love with this series of books. We own about four different ones. Infants and toddlers love the textured pages.

5) That's Not My Car (Usbourne Touchy-Feely Books) Another one in our collection. I can't recommend these books enough!

5 A Day books: Colors

In honor of Eric Carl's new book I chose to choose colors as this weeks theme for 5 A Day Books. If you would like to know more about 5 A Day Books and its benefit to children read here. Without further adieu here is what we are reading this week (watch out for the end -I included an extra fun book I found as our 6th book) :

1) The Artist who Painted a Blue Horse by Eric Carle: Each page is a large illustration with an animal painted an unlikely color: yellow cow, green lion, and a polka-dotted donkey. Don't forget to read the last page of the book that explains how Eric Carle grew up in Nazi Germany and wasn't allowed to look at abstract art. An art teacher went against the rules and the art he saw inspired his illustrations that we have come to know and love.

2)P. B. Bear's Colors: This is a typical baby board book with a cute British teddy bear on each page among different items of a featured color. It was just one I had lying around the house.

3)My Little Carry Books: Color: I love these carry books. They are compact and have a handle for babies to carry about. The words and pages of this book are beautiful. One of my favorites of this grouping.

4) My First Bilingual Book:-Colors/Colores: Each page has five items that feature a color with the English and Spanish word labeled.

5) Colors from Nature: This is another series that has striking pictures. It is bigger than most board books so the pictures are large and fun for babies to see. Each picture also has a fun descriptive sentence.

And a fun book I had to add to the week...

6) Who Am I? by Begin Smart Books: This book has handles and two eyes cut out. You put the book against your face as a mask and ask baby "Who Am I?" Both of my boys think it is hilarious (1 year and 5 years old) It's great fun for the whole family.

This is the cover opened up

Some inside pages

5 A Day Books: Autumn

I love Autumn and everything that goes along with it. I have been finding and saving board books for when  October comes around. October is here!!! For the 5 A Day book challenge this week I finally get to introduce "B" to my favorite time of year. Hooray!

This weeks books:

Bright Baby Touch & Feel: Fall by Roger Priddy ("B" is really in to books with textures lately)

 

Trick or Treat, Calico! by Karma Wilson (a lift-the-flap book is another new favorite concept)

Five Little Pumpkins: this is the famous finger play to pictures. This was the 1st book my older son memorized at two.

 

Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo

Spot's Harvest by Eric Hill

To read more about 5 A Day Books please read more about it at The Imagination Tree.

5 A Day Books: Real Babies

I was just reading a great article about reading books to babies by KidsHealth. They highlight the fact that reading to your infant will do the following:

• teaches a baby about communication
• introduces concepts such as stories, numbers, letters, colors, and shapes in a fun way
• builds listening, memory, and vocabulary skills
• gives babies information about the world around them

The article goes on to say that by the first year your child will have learned all the sounds they need to speak in their native language. WOW! You can read or listen to the article here. This article was so in tune to the 5 A Day challenge started over at The Imagination Tree. I encourage you to go over to her sight and learn more about the challenge and the benefits. For us we chose the theme of books with photographs of real babies. Babies can build text-to-self connections by looking at books of recognizable things, even if they can communicate it.

A side note about the books chosen this week: The majority of them I received in a Hello, Baby! tote bag that my community library hands out to women who are pregnant or recently had a child. Each tote has baby story time hours (which we LOVE), two board books, growth chart, milestone information, and an infant library card application. It is wonderful that libraries also are encouraging reading to infants as well!

This week we are reading:

5 A Day Books: Olivier Dunrea Books

The author, Olivier Dunrea, has an adorable set of books about goslings. These books are great for toddlers with humor, repetitiveness, and deals with friendship. The first in the series is about Gossie who loves her red rain boots.The next introduces Gossie's best friend in Gossie & Gertie. Another book is Ollie the Stomper who follows Gossie and Gertie around and is jealous of their boots, only discover he doesn't even like wearing them. Another book is about Peedie who has a red cap instead of boots and has a tendency to forget things.The last book we will be reading this week is BooBoo, a blue gosling who eats everything-even bubbles! Check them out-I promise they won't disappoint.

If you want to know more about the 5 a Day Book challenge please read the wonderful blog over at The Imagination Tree.

5 A Day Books: At the Farm

I loved the Eric Carle books last week but they were a little advanced from my wee baby! I am returning to some more basic books and chose the theme: At the Farm. All of the books have minimal text, rhyming sentences, and allow me to work on animal and sound concepts.  If you want to know more about the 5 A Day Book idea and the benefits for children before they reach elementary age check out The Imagination Tree blog. Most of the books I got at Target Dollar Bin a few years ago so I am showing them in more detail. Farm books are great for toddlers because you can do fun animal sounds to have child associate animals to the noises they make. Do it even if the page doesn't tell you...trust my your baby loves it when you make a fool of yourself!

Big brother reading to little brother-who has horsey in hand!

 1) Who's on the Farm? Lift the Flap Book: This was a $1 bin find at Target last year. This is the one brother will read because it has pictures to hint at what the animal may be (so "A" can look at picture cues). It's great way for "A" to use schema and inference to figure out what he should read to brother.

2) Farm Animal Guess Who: Another lift the flap that came in the same $1 bin as the above book last year at Target

3) Farmer Mickey: This was also a Target $1 bin book in 2008. When my oldest was younger he LOVED Mickey (especially the old cartoons). For his 2nd birthday I had a party at a local farm with hayride included. I saw these books and picked them up as party favors for the guests. Has great rhymes and our favorite characters too!

4) Tough Stuff -Tractor Power: This I know you can find places. It is part of a really fun series (Tough Stuff). It is great for boys who love trucks and tractors! A lot of books have fun interactive components too. This one is pretty straight forward though. Each book has a character and this one is Farmer Finn as we look at different tractors and their duties.

5) Happy Baby-Who Lives on the Farm: This one I got in a free box at my public library. Why I do not know? There is nothing wrong with it and a great board book with colorful pictures, shiny elements, and rhyming text. Great find if I say so myself!!!

Ha

5 A Day Books: Eric Carle

This last week was a roller-coaster, with packing, saying goodbye to the hubby, and adjusting to all of that craziness. I think that is why I chose the song books last week because I knew that if push came to shove I could just sing to baby-even if the books weren't in my hand.

Well it is a new week and I am being overly ambitious! I decided to do an Eric Carle theme for this week 5 A Day Books over at The Imagination Tree. I think his books are great for preschoolers and advanced toddlers. His illustrations are always colorful. They normally have repetition and teach a theme (time, color, or days of the week). However for my 10 month old, who has difficult time sitting still, I don't know how much he will enjoy them. I am fully intending to not read the books word-for-word but make sure to keep the themes and  rhymes/cadence in tact. I am planning a very hungry caterpillar theme for his 1st birthday, so I figured I should at least read him the book.

Here is the line-up:

1) The Grouchy Ladybug: A grouchy ladybug meets a friendly one and starts to pick a fight. When the challenge is accepted he says the bug isn't big enough to fight. Then every hour he goes to find a fight. After an important lesson in humility in 12 hours he ends up right where he started knowing the importance of being nice. Lots of repetition in this one, which is good because it can be wordy.

2) The Very Hungry Caterpillar: World famous book about a caterpillar is so hungry so he eats his way through various things throughout the days of the week. In the end he obviously becomes a beautiful butterfly. Can't wait for his birthday party. So many cute ideas: decorations, crafts, caterpillar cupcake cake, and party foods being the same ones he eats-including little hole poked through.

3)The Mixed Up Chameleon: This is one of the anchor text I did when my older son and I made 3D chameleons. It is a funny book about a chameleon who is bored and inspired by a colorful zoo. He wishes to be different animals and his wishes come true-well only part of them. He ends up with all different body parts, but when he can't get the fly with his elephant trunk he realizes being a chameleon has it's benefits. Baby likes it when I read it and act the animals and use big voices.

4) 1,2,3 To The Zoo: This board book is actually wordless. It is a zoo train that counts animals as the train car grows. This is the book I am having "A" read to baby. Since it has no words he can make them up. I talked to him the importance of repetition and being able to repeat the same words the following night. So basically he is say, "5 bears, 6 giraffes," etc.

So cute: Happy Mommy Moment!

5) Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?: (This is actually written by Bill Martin Jr. but it is illustrated by Eric Carle so I included it). This book is perfect for little ones!!! It is simple text with repetition and a great cadence. Each page ask an animal what it sees and the response is the animal on the next page. It introduces colors and animals. I am always amazed how the author chose to make some animals realistic (green frog) and then others fantastical (blue horse).

5 A Day Books: Song Books

" Children are born readers on the laps of parents"

-Emilie Buchwald

Our first week of 5 A Day Books went great. I am hooked and am really getting into picking what books or themes we will do next. I especially love my older son getting in on his little brother's  story time. Each week I am picking one book he can "read" to his baby brother. Right now they are books he as memorized (which fits perfectly with the 5 A Day Books idea). As he learns to read this year he will be able to work on his reading strategies. It is interesting how disinterested in books "B" is compared to how "A" was at this age. Even more proof I need to be doing this. By the end of the week he was smiling at certain books, helping turn pages, and playing with board books-all good signs.

This weeks theme: Song Books (books illustrated to popular songs or tunes-some with the author's version of lyrics. Okay so the funny part is rather than just introduce them I have made videos of me (GASP!) singing them. I am not a great singer so sorry to put you through the misery. However, I want you to know the tunes if you happen to get the books yourself. Have fun and don't laugh to hard. PS> Since one book my son has to read to brother there is a video with him singing the song. Some of the lyrics are off but you get the point!

1) The Itsy Bitsy Spider by Iza Trapani

2) You are My Sunshine-illustrated by Caroline Jayne Church:

3) Hush Little Baby by Sylvia Long:

4) 5 Little Ducks by DK Publishing (the one "A" is doing):

5) Morningtown Ride by Melvina Reynolds:

5 A Day Books: Our 1st Week

As many of you know I am a HUGE proponent of books. I have worked in public libraries and elementary school libraries almost all of my adult life. Books (especially children ones) are a passion of mine! With my oldest I remember reading to him the second day we were home from the hospital and I never stopped. We have a ritual that we read a MINIMUM of three books before bed every night. This is a good amount according to Mem Fox in Reading Magic, a great book on the importance of reading aloud to our children and babies. A can testify that children who are read to on a consistent basis have better language and vocabulary skills, are more likely to want to read, and tend not to struggle with comprehension as do children who are not read to.

Now that I have said all that I have to shamefully admit I hardly ever read to my newest babes. He is in the room when I read books to his big brother but I can honestly count on one hand how many times I have sat down and read books just to him. Oh my I seriously am feeling horrible right now!  Over at The Imagination Tree I found just the accountability I need, a 5 A Day Book Challenge. What the challenge purposes is that children need to be children and they need to develop " TALK and LISTENING skills, rather than going straight for the technically advanced skills of reading and writing." What the challenge entails: 1) choose 5 books a week from your library or home (they recommend short books with heavy repetition or rhyming), 2) read the same 5 books every day for atleast one week, and 3) then move on to another 5 books the following week. The challenge is recommended for ages 2-6 but my older one would HATE this! He loves hearing new stories and would grow bored easily. However, this would be perfect for my 10 month old. To include big brother, who is learning to read, I will choose one book each week that he can read to his little brother. 

Getting ready for his 5 Books to be read to him!

Our Picks For Week One: 

1)Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown: I am sorry but I could not have this NOT be on the first week list for books reading to my baby.  It was the book I read to "A" that first week and it is just such a old favorite and standby. What can I say...it's a classic for a reason!

2) Hello, Animals by Smriti Prasadam: This is my pick from "A" to read to little brother. Each page basically says "Hello, _______" and the name of the animal pictured. The pictures are beautiful black and white with one colorful shiny element to each page. "B" really liked this one (and he normally is too wiggly to notice)!

3) I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak: We got this book for "A" for his 1st Valentines day. It is so cute! Some of my favorite lines: "I love your happy side, sad side, silly side, and mad side. I love you running, walking, silent or talking." It also talks about loving body parts which is great to point out to baby as you read them. The last line finishes with, "I love you yesterday, today, and tomorrow to." What is not to adore about this book.

4) Jamberry by Bruce Degen: Another favorite classic! This book is great for ryhming and cadence. It's weird that a book all about berries could be so popular and well loved, but it is! It has a real magic/fantasy quality to it and yet at the same time feels like down home comfort! I don't know how Degen does it by he does.

5) Ten Tiny Babies by Karen Katz: This is a library pick and I have only read it once so far. It is cute and has a counting chanting rhyme that is endearing. Each page introduces a baby doing something adorably active and it takes turning the page and seeing a side bar to finish the rhyme. The illustrations are funky but I think "B" was surprisingly intrigued. I have to say I kinda like this one!