Friday Faves: Read-Aloud Favorites

Anyone who knows me knows that this picture of Maisy (snapped just this afternoon) is no accident: Like Mommy like Baby.  Or should I say, "Mommy like, baby like."  I love books - and I especially love a great kids' book!

Here are some of Maisy and Mommy's current read-aloud favorites:

Read-Aloud Pick #1:
Blue Sea
By Robert Kalan
Illustrated by Donald Crews

I originally checked this book out of the library to read with a current young client of mine who is an emergent reader.  When I decided to read it to Maisy, however, she was immediately captivated by the bold illustrations and simple, repetitive phrases.  Maisy bounces with excitement when we open the pages of this book, and she's ready to flip back to the beginning as soon as its finished.

Young ones like Maisy will love the bright pictures.  Older children will enjoy the storyline and predictable prose, and learn about "big, bigger, and biggest" at the same time.




Read-Aloud Pick #2:
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear?
By Nancy White Carlstrom

"Jesse Bear, What will you wear, what will you wear in the morning?"

This adorable preschool classic is a prime example of "mommy like, baby like."  I love this sweet book with its happy pictures and song-like rhymes.  After just a couple of attempts, now Maisy reaches for it too!  Jesse Bear takes us through his whole day, from wearing his red shirt in the morning to wearing the moon on his bed at night.  

Don't think your little one is ready to sit still through a whole storybook?  You won't know until you try!

Read-Aloud Pick #3:  

Baby Talk
By Dawn Sirett

"Peek-a-boo!" "Yum-yum!" "Night-night!"

This has been one of Maisy's favorite books for the longest time!  In fact, I had to check to see if I'd blogged about this awesome board book before.  Big baby faces!  Cute baby words! Giant baby lift-the-flaps!  Given a choice, Maisy picks this book almost every time.  If she accidentally skips a page or a flap, Maisy actually notices and goes back to read what she missed.

This book is great to read-aloud, but equally fun for Baby to flip through on her own.  

"BA!"

Two of Maisy's favorite words are book and ball.  Whenever she sees one, she expresses herself with one-year-old enthusiasm: "Ba! BA BA BA!"

The giant red concrete balls outside the Target entrance are greeted with "Ba!"

She points at a book on her nursery table: "BA!"

The shining display of oranges at the grocery store earn a frantic "BA BA BA BA BA!!!"

One of my favorite "ba" experiences so far, though, happened Wednesday night.  We got home late from Awana, and Maisy was waaaay overtired.  Attempting to lay her down or even soothe her led to screaming, crying, writhing, and general exhaustion-induced tantrumming.

Rick and I tried the usual tricks - rocking (yeah, right!), reading a bedtime story (just led to sobbing "BAs" whenever we put a book down), checking the diaper, pacing the living room floor, singing, putting on music, just plain leave-the-room distraction - on and on for at least an hour.  

Finally, as I rocked her in the chair in her nursery, she spotted an orange plastic basketball that had rolled under her dresser.  She pointed.  "Ba!!!!!"

So, like any desperate parent, I picked up the toy ball, placed it in Maisy's chubby baby hands, wrapped her up in her blanket, and tucked her in.  When I left the room, Maisy was clutching the hard plastic ball to her chest like any other baby might hold a teddy bear.  

Then, sweet relief.  Maisy drifted off to sleep, to dream of basketballs, exercise balls, ball poppers, and bright displays of grocery store oranges.

"Ba!"

Easy Fall Project: Make-Your-Own "Fall Leaves" Book

First off, let me tell you that I am not crafty. I don't sew. I don't knit. I lack the follow-through to be a good scrapbooker. Besides, I can barely stay inside the lines when I color! So when I say that this project is easy, you know that anyone can tackle it!

What You Need:
Any size plastic Ziploc bags (I used 6 quart-sized off-brand freezer bags because that's what I had)
Glue or clear packaging tape
Markers
Choice of: Hole-punch & thick ribbon or yarn OR clear packaging tape
Poster board, card stock, or other thick paper (I used business card paper that never did print right)

What to Do:
Go on a walk with your little one and pick up pretty leaves as you go. It was a gorgeous fall day! I picked up intact leaves in as many different colors as I could find - green, yellow, orange, red, brown. This is at least half the fun!

Cut the thick paper into squares - try one first to make sure it fits into the bag easily!

Use glue or clear packaging tape to stick each leaf to a page - one color per page. Glue worked fine for the colorful leaves, but the clear tape was needed for the drier brown leaf.

For the cover page, glue two or more colorful leaves to the page.

Use colorful markers to write the words. I have an 8-month-old, so I kept it simple. I wrote "Fall Leaves   by Mommy" on the cover, then "Green Leaf", "Yellow Leaf", etc. You can be creative!

Insert pages into bags & zip.

To attach the pages together, I had planned on punching two holes in the side and using a thick ribbon or yarn to tie them together. Turns out my hole puncher couldn't hack it, so I settled for plan B: Clear packaging tape. I've had this same clear packaging tape since the dawn of time, and let me tell you, it sure has come in handy!

Anyway, I used one piece of clear tape around the outside edge, then flipped through page-by-page and put tape on each page.

That's it! It's not the sturdiest little book, but it's cute and fun to read with my baby. And, of course, you can make books using any pictures, objects, or topics you want.

Here are pictures of the finished product:

Friday Faves: All for Fall

The September air is crisp; the yellow school bus just cruised by a little while ago; Maisy and I are both sporting our blue jeans today; and the leaves on one of our trees is even changing color.  Fall is coming.  As much as I enjoy summer, I really love the fall.

With a coupon for 30 percent off a kids' Halloween book in hand, Maisy and I trouped off to Barnes & Noble today to find a fall-flavored book. Here's what we agreed on:

1. Plumply Dumply Pumpkin by Mary Serfozo
I love this book!  The language is fabulous and so fun to read aloud.  It's chock full of catchy rhymes like "Peter's looking for a pumpkin, a perfect plumply dumply pumpkin" and "Helps his dad carve into place a simply dimply, dumply face."

For you teachers out there, this book provides plenty of pumpkin-themed examples of rhyming, alliteration, "juicy" word choice, synonyms, and antonyms.

Cute story, clever language, and colors that catch Maisy's eye: This one is a keeper!





Back to school means back to Sunday School and Wednesday night children's ministries as well.  Since I teach PreK-K Sunday School and K-2 Awana on Wednesdays, I thought I'd include a book with interesting game ideas for kids.

2. 180 Faith-Charged Games for Children's Ministry

One reason I like this book is the table of contents. The first 100ish games in the book are related to Bible stories, and the table of contents makes it super easy to see if what I'm teaching this week has a game to fit. In addition to the Bible story games, the book has icebreaker games, team-building Games, and more. Each game has an energy-meter, a Bible verse, brief discussion questions, and a list of the "power tools" needed for that game.

A word of caution: I don't have all of the "power tools" needed for all the games, and I doubt you do. Also, some of the games get pretty competitive for the little people I work with to be able to handle. That's where improvisation comes in. Switch up the power tools if you need to. Get rid of the competitive elements if you prefer. Make it work for you. Regardless, this book is a nice starting point for finding activities to go along with your message.

"Friday" Faves: Books in Pairs

This week, I've picked a few different pairs of books to review - some are related to babies, some to mommies, and some to tutoring.

Books #1 & #2: Top 50 Skills for a Top Score - ACT English, Reading, and Science and Top 50 Skills for a Top Score - ACT Math

I don't necessarily use these books cover-to-cover for my tutoring clients, but I have found them to be worthy supplementary resources. They could be used a number of ways. The pretests contain one question for each skill introduced in the book. This is one quick method of pinpointing skill gaps. Often I cover the same skills when I teach subject-specific strategies and skills using the more all-inclusive materials from KAPLAN or Princeton Review. However, the specificity of the practice questions in these books are helpful for grasping single topics. 

Because of the student-friendly tone of the writing, I find that the skill pages make good homework assignments. Author Brian Leaf teaches each skill by giving a written 

                                   overview, explaining the corresponding question from the pretest, and then providing 

several ACT-format questions of varying difficulties. This can be especially helpful for math because often KAPLAN or Princeton Review will cover many skills without providing questions for immediate practice.

Actually, my favorite subject area covered in the Top 50 Skills books is the one that is not listed in the titles: Writing. Brian Leaf has made several exercises for the skills needed on the optional writing test, including one for creating an outline, writing an introduction, proofreading, etc. Each exercise expects the student to expand on two different ACT-style writing prompts using the writing skills he introduces.

All in all, these two books provide solid advice and ample skill-specific practice. I wouldn't necessarily use the books on their own, but I like them as supplements to my ACT prep instruction.

Books #3 & #4: Baby Faces & I Love Colors by Margaret Miller 

Maisy loves looking at these two books by Margaret Miller. The big bright baby faces have her looking, smiling, and reaching as soon as I turn a page. The words are simple and baby-friendly. It's fun to point out colors, facial expressions, and body parts ("Nose! Here's Maisy's nose!"). 

Oh, and the babies are cute, too. 

(Though not as cute as mine!)

Books #5 & #6: From Conception to Birth and The Happiest Baby on the Block

I wanted to pick two books that I read when I was pregnant with Maisy. What to Expect When You're Expecting was just too obvious of a choice, even though I did refer to it frequently. The best parts are the fruit comparisons ("it's an apple seed! now it's an orange seed! a banana! a cantaloupe! yikes!"). Anyway, I thought I'd pick two that are a bit less commonplace.

Dr. Harvey Karp, author of The Happiest Baby on the Block, talked about different theories of colic, then went on to explain his theory of a newborn baby's needs in terms of a missing fourth trimester. Basically, he said that brand new babies like it when you mimic the conditions of the womb. 

Karp describes the 5 "S's" - Swaddling, Side/Stomach, Shhhh, Swinging, and Sucking - and how to put them together as a "cure" for colic. Now, I can't claim that Maisy was a colicky baby, but she did go through her own version of peak fussiness around 7 or 8 weeks. (There's a cool line graph in the book that shows the average number of hours that newborns spend crying per day.) I can honestly say that when Maisy got on a crying jag, it was often the "S's" that could soothe her again. 

"Cure" may be a strong word, but this book and its 5 "S's" are worth a look.

From Conception to Birth was just plain cool. Week by week, Rick and I were amazed by these awesome images of fetal development. We couldn't believe all of the organs and systems that come into place at such an early stage. This book is proof, in words and pictures, that babies are miraculous. 

Simply awesome - moms and dads-to-be, check this one out!

Friday Faves: Three Sparkly Picks

Sparkly Pick #1: Twinkle, Twinkle!

Amazing Baby's Twinkle Twinkle! is one of Maisy's favorite books right now. "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is one of several songs she loves listening to me sing. The song is made even better with the giant sparkly stars found in this book. 

The bold patterns and eye-catching stars spark Maisy's interest and have her leaning in to feel for herself. Maisy's favorite picture to pat is the smiling, round baby face on the last page of the book. A fun way to sing a familiar tune to your little one!

Sparkly Pick #2: Clorox Toilet Wand Kit

In my very first post I mention the guilt I feel for being a stay-at-home mom whose bathrooms do not sparkle at all times. I'm not going to go so far as to say this product was life-changing or that I now have the world's sparkliest bathrooms, but I will say that the Clorox Toilet Wand Kit makes me hate cleaning the bathrooms just a little bit less. 

The worst part of cleaning the bathrooms for me has always been cleaning the toilet with that same toilet brush I'd used over and over again. I'm sure there will be plenty of Green People who disagree with me out of principle, but I really appreciate being able to use the disposable wand head during one cleaning session and toss it out. Simple and convenient, even if it is a little silly, and it may indeed lead to more sparkly bathrooms in my future.

Sparkly Pick #3: SparkNotes.com

For a free student (and teacher) resource, SparkNotes.com really does shine. From "Anne of Green Gables" to "Thus Spoke Zarathustra," SparkNotes will hook you up with study guides that include everything from plot, characters, and themes to study questions and quizzes.

In addition to the study guides that you may already be familiar with, SparkNotes.com has practical advice for students, flashcards for ACT/SAT test prep, and No Fear Shakespeare. No Fear Shakespeare is cool in that it places classic Shakespearean works side-by-side with the Modern English translation. It's ideal for those who want to get the real Shakespeare experience but struggle with "getting it."

I'm not endorsing shortcuts here. I believe it's important to do the reading (most of the time). I just think that this website has an impressive array of imformation to help prepare you in advance and delve a bit deeper when you've finished. And it's so much more than brief summaries of a few classic books!