Hello Book Bums families!
Does your family enjoy punny jokes? Here are some Christmas themed-jokes to try out:
How much did Santa pay for his sleigh? Nothing - it was on the house!
What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Frosted Flakes!
What does a gingerbread man use when he breaks his leg? A candy cane!
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Word of the Week
trove (trohv) noun/person, place, or thing - a store of valuable or delightful things
Most parents have a secret spot in the house where they keep their trove of holiday gifts.
Literary Calendar
- December 16 is the birthday of British author Jane Austen.
- Many enthusiastic fans of her writing call themselves Janeites.
- Austen was a prolific letter writer, but only about 150 letters survive.
- Austen also wrote poetry from the time she was a teenager.
"If a book is well-written, I always find it too short."
-Jane Austen
Pause for Poetry
This Little Bag
by Jane Austen
This little bag I hope will prove
To be not vainly made--
For, if you should a needle want
It will afford you aid.
And as we are about to part
T'will serve another end,
For when you look upon the Bag
You'll recollect your friend
From our Bookshelves
Learning How to Learn; A Book for Kids and Teens by Barbara Oakley, PhD and Terrence Sejnowski, PhD, is a practical book with easy-to-apply information for anyone from tweens to adults. This book is a treasure trove of information and tips to help us learn what we want to learn. It even addresses procrastination. I enjoyed learning more about how the brain works, what I can do to learn more effectively, and why it’s good to let our minds wander from time to time.
You can check out Barbara Oakley’s Tedx Talk, here, where she shares that what many of us believe are our worst traits are actually our best traits. For example, Oakley states that those of us who have difficulty holding ideas (a “bad” trait) are probably really creative (which is, in fact, a good trait). She says that other ideas slip in and take our minds off the topic at hand. I am feeling better about myself already! Oakley also shares that exercise helps us to learn most effectively. That’s one more reason to make an effort to move consistently—even throughout the holidays. as a family on a long drive.
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
If you have some pine trees or can visit a park with pine trees, I have a fun family craft idea for you. I nabbed this picture from somewhere and decided I’d make these cute pinecone stars/flowers with the grandkids and hang them from the fence around our garden. We first had fun gathering pinecones and arranging them into five-point stars. We brought the stars onto the porch, and I used a glue gun to glue the pinecones together. To cover the messy middles, we simply added a shorter pinecone to the centers and left our pinecone stars to dry. I tied some wire around an end of each star and twisted it around a thick jute rope that hangs in swags along the fence. The pinecone star garland is holding up—even in the cold with blustery winds!
To promote reading and writing, invite your kids to retell what they did to someone who wasn’t there with you. Ask your kids to share exactly how to make the pinecone stars (or any other activity you enjoy together) with someone else. Practice recalling an activity and sharing the steps involved are important skills, and until your kids can do it orally, they aren’t going to be able to do it in writing. It turns out, mini share sessions where kids have to organize their thoughts, ensuring they make sense to others, are great for helping kids to write well.
Tips for Families
As we’re thinking about gifts for the holidays, let’s remember that there are far more important things we give our children every day. The best gift is teaching children to “love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning.”
Sharing Some Holiday Cheer
If you’re looking for something fun and festive, these holiday-themed appetizers are simple, healthy, and gorgeous!
Practical Grammar
I have been writing a lot about The Faith Alliance After-school (or is it After-School?) program, and I’m not sure I’ve been writing it correctly. The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage says that “both parts” of a hyphenated compound should be capitalized. Another site says, “No, you shouldn’t capitalize ‘school’ in the hyphenated word ‘After-school’.”
I believe I will follow the APA formatting guidelines. The APA Publication Manual says that major words should be capitalized, “including the second part of hyphenated major words.” So . . . After-School Program it is!
P.S. If you’d like to volunteer from 2:55 p.m. until 4:30 on either Mondays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays—we still need volunteers! Just email me at [email protected] for more information.
News from Book Bums
Book Bums will be closed from December 23rd until January 6th unless you’ve made an appointment with Dr. Christy.
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