Hello Book Bums families!
It's been feeling like summer here in Cincinnati, so this week in the newsletter we're getting outdoors with hammocks, gardens, and of course, books. Learning doesn't stop in the summertime, though. Book Bums needs teachers and volunteers for our summer programs. We'd love for you to participate in our mission.
Do you have fun activities or reading adventures planned for this spring or summer? Tell us about them by replying to this email. We love to hear from you!
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Word of the Week
forage (for-ij) verb/action word - to graze or rummage for food
If you know what to look for and what to avoid, you can forage for berries or mushrooms in the wild.
Literacy Calendar
- On April 18, 1983, Alice Walker became the first Black American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.
- She won for her novel, The Color Purple, which became a movie and Broadway show.
- You can learn more about Alice Walker and see items related to her in the Smithsonian's collections here.
From our Bookshelves
Culpability, written by Bruce Holsinger and published in 2025, is a captivating story that I’d absolutely encourage you to read. Some are calling it a techno-mystery, but if I’d heard that it would likely still be on my TBR stack. Here’s what I’d call it: captivating and thought-provoking.
It’s about a family, not so much unlike our families. Two parents who love each other and their three kids—all living a typical modern-day life. And then there’s an accident.
Culpability, as the name suggests, gets into who (or what) is responsible for a criminal act.
A friend said she’d enjoyed knowing that the story was told by a man—from his own perspective—and that it’s told in such an honest voice. I hadn’t thought about that, but she’s right.
When you finish this book, you’re absolutely going to want to talk with someone about it. It’s one of those stories that lingers in your mind for days and days, and you’re going to have questions. So many questions.
I hope you’ll grab a hammock, tie it between two trees, and dedicate some time to being outdoors as you enjoy this timely story.
TIP: We purchased two of the Wise Owl hammocks for the grandkids. They’re easy to bring along to the park or in the woods. We use them for reading time, for quiet observing time, and for just swinging and having fun. Teach your kids to find a pushing stick so they can rock themselves while lying in their hammocks. We even secured a post in the ground near the kids’ playhouse, so we can hang the hammocks there when we’re hanging around the house.
These are available in two color combinations: pink & purple and green & blue.
We have adult-size hammocks too. We purchased this one made by ENO (Eagles Nest Outfitters brand).
Tips for Families
You know that I’m continually offering fun-focused activities to do with your kids. I love that, and I hope you do too!
But as we were walking in the woods behind our house the other day, I heard myself say to three of our grandkids, “I want you to be with us SO MUCH this summer that one day I’ll hear you say, ‘Grandma, I’m bored.”
I want them to get bored with my activities and decide to go off on their own to really play. I want them to build forts, explore in the creek, and come to know the wildlife all on their own.
Activities are great! That’s how kids learn the answers to their questions like, “What kind of bird is that?” and “Is that poop from a deer or a raccoon?” and “Is that poison ivy?”
We’ll do the activities/research (read lots of books, check the web, use the Picture This app., etc.) about things we find interesting. Then we’re off to do more playing, more exploring, and asking more questions. Then we’ll enjoy more activities/research.
I’ll be sure to share with you what we’re learning about.
Ah. Come on summer break!
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
It’s springtime, and I think we’re all wanting to get outdoors a bit. You can share with your kids that toads are beneficial to your garden areas because they eat from 100 to 1000 pests every single night, so you’d like them to help you make some toad shelters. Simply find one old, clay pot for each person to begin creating toad hotels for your landscaping. If you want to decorate the toads’ yards, use stuff you find in nature that will keep the toads safe. If you’re interested in attaching things like moss, stones, and acorns to the outsides of your pots, use 100% silicone. Silicone will hold up in the weather, and it’s safe for amphibians.
Placing toad shelters in moist soil that’s in the shade is ideal. Underneath a bush will work. Maybe a toad hotel will keep critters from nibbling your hostas. It’s worth a try!
When you’ve placed the toad shelters in your gardens, take a photo of them and add the images to a paper or digital journal for each child. Every day, ask the kids to check out their toad shelters to see if there are any toads that have moved in. Encourage them to track what’s happening each day in their journals. When they add some water to dampen the soil, they should log that. They can share any modifications they make and wait to see what happens. It is very likely that toads will actually visit your toad shelters, so don’t give up! And when the toads arrive, you might want to enjoy a couple of books like the fiction book Frog and Toad, and Toads! is a terrific non-fiction book.
Pause for Poetry
Practical Grammar
Typically, when sharing that one is not able to do something, we use the word cannot.
Quite often, that word is contracted and written as can’t.
It is very rare that the words can and not are used, side by side.
An example of how can not would be used separately is as follows: I can not only bring home the bacon. I can fry it up in a pan.
Can not can also be used for emphasis. Here’s an example: I can not believe she said such a thing.
Wordology Workshop
- Remember that the Latin root tract means to pull.
- So in the word contraction, the root tract is literally pulling two words together.
- You can find tract in other words related to pulling such as tractor, extract, distracted, and attraction.
News from Book Bums
We’re building our teams for Lakota’s summer school and the Faith Alliance Summer Literacy program. If you’re a teacher and you’re interested in teaching with us or would consider being on our substitute list, email Christy at christy@bookbums.com for more information.
We’re also recruiting volunteers to serve, at Woodland Elementary School (6923 Dutchland Parkway Liberty Township, OH), underserved students who need academic support across the summer months. Would you be available to sit alongside some great kids for just over an hour once a week from 10:45 until noon? You don’t have to be a teacher. We’ll take care of all the instruction. You’ll just listen to your student read lots and lots of words while you smile, encourage him or her to point a finger under each letter and to “Make the sounds you know.” You’ll say, “Yes! That’s it!” or “Whoops. Try that one again. Remember . . .”
It’s not just easy—it’s rewarding! And it’s only ten weeks. We’ll begin the first week of June and we’ll finish up the first week of August. Vacations are no problem. Just come when you’re able. You won’t regret it!
We love having high school students who need community service hours!
Tips for Teachers
During this portion of our instruction, we’re inviting kids to consider all they’ve learned about how words work AND about handwriting AND about how the written word is delivered in such a way that equips the reader to glean meaning. To promote clarity, we know that:
- Each sentence begins with a capital letter.
- Each sentence ends with an end mark.
- We use spaces between our words.
- We make the sounds, aloud, as we write each word, knowing what we know about how words work. We don’t name the letters; we make the sounds—s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out—and write the corresponding letters as we go.
But there’s more!
When we read the dictated sentences aloud to our students, we’re equipping them to hold thoughts in their short-term memories long enough to accurately record each word in the proper sequence.
We don’t do that work for our students. We don’t name the words one-by-one as they write the sentences. We read the sentence aloud, a couple of times as needed, but we’re encouraging our students to “hold” the sentences in their minds as they’re writing. This is important work! We don’t want to rob our students of opportunities to grow their memory power.
When we’re writing, one of the challenges is holding fast to the ideas we’re trying to convey. It takes some time to get thoughts onto paper, and it’s oh so frustrating to lose those thoughts before we’ve done so.
Equip your students to better hold ideas in their memories by providing the space to practice doing just that.
Just for Fun
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