Hello Book Bums families!
The beginning of the school year is upon us. This week in the newsletter we share our best ideas for starting well, from worry-free routines to book recommendations to writing tips. Dr. Christy is also looking for your ideas. Read on to find out more!
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Word of the Week
proclivity (pro-cliv-i-tee) noun/person, place, or thing - a strong inclination towards something
My sister has a proclivity for staying up late; she has always been a night owl.
Literacy Calendar
- Walden by Henry David Thoreau was published on August 9, 1854.
- It's subtitle, Life in the Woods, explains the project. Thoreau built a cabin and lived by himself in the Massachusetts woods near his family home to reflect and write.
- There are several oft-quoted lines from this famous work of American non-fiction. You may recognize the last one from the 1989 movie, Dead Poets Society.
“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”
"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately."
-Henry David Thoreau, from Walden
From our Bookshelves
Ann Patchett recommended Absolution by Alice McDermott, and that was enough for me to want to read it.
The story takes place in Saigon in 1963. There’s not a lot happening really. It’s certainly not an action-filled tale, but I have come to enjoy compelling stories that cause me to consider nuances of people’s personalities—and I thought this one was captivating. Admittedly, I was not satisfied with the ending.
Absolution, of course, is the act of freeing one from blame or guilt or to release them from consequences or obligations or guilt. In Absolution, I’m not sure there was any absolution.
The women in this book caused me to consider female friendships, the consequences of “good” intentions, and how we can become trapped in our own viewpoints.
Reading fiction has a remarkable way of illuminating reality and changing how we see ourselves and the world around us.
Tips for Families
There is plenty you can do to help your kids have a great, anxiety-free start to the new school year.
- Get backpacks, outfits, and lunches prepared the day before so there’s less stress for everyone in the morning. Remember to include after-school materials such as soccer bags and football uniforms.
- Start your kids going to bed about 15 minutes earlier tonight, and then 15 minutes earlier than that the next night, until you get to a bedtime that allows for them to have at least 9 hours of sleep time.
- Put into place a bedtime routine that everyone enjoys. Ensure that the routine includes things your kids will truly look forward to such as you reading books* to them (all elementary ages), using a new toothbrush and toothpaste or even new skincare products to promote a new beginning, talking about the plans for the next day, acknowledging any worries and a praying a prayer together that addresses those worries.
- Ensure your kids have no TVs, game consoles, or phones in their bedrooms at night. Don’t fall for the need for an alarm. You’ll want to be the one to wake them up or get them an old-fashioned alarm clock. There’s research indicating that kids sleep less well if they have a phone in their rooms—even if it’s turned off.
- Talk positively about their school, the teachers, and the curriculum. Kids catch our enthusiasm (or lack of enthusiasm), so be optimistic.
*Here are a few great books that would be great for you to begin your back-to-school bedtime reading: Clementine, Stone Fox, Shredderman, My Side of the Mountain, The Secret Garden, A Week in the Woods, Ranger in Time, Boxcar Children, Top Secret, Socks, Rowan of Rin, Andrew Lost on the Dog, The Castle in the Attic.
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
As your kids are preparing for school, please remind them of these tips for good writing. These are the essentials to simply make writing good. To make it great we’d delve into more sophisticated crafting, but as we begin the year, I suggest reminding your elementary-age kids what it takes to simply make their writing good.
You can ask them to write about three or four sentences to share what they are hoping to gain from this school year, or what they’re nervous about, or just about anything else. Before they write, share these essentials for good writing. If they use any spectacular words, or a simile, or onomatopoeia, or anything you find interesting, be sure to note that those are the kinds of things that make writing great.
Reminders for Good Writing:
We use tidy and efficient letter formations.
We begin sentences with capital letters.
We leave spaces between words.
We end sentences with end marks.
Wordology Workshop
- There are many classical roots that pertain to words and language. In English we use both Latin and Greek roots meaning to write.
- The Latin root is scrib or script.
- You'll notice it in words like scribble, manuscript, inscribe, transcription, and many more.
- The Greek root is graph.
- You'll see it in words like graphic, photography, calligraphy, choreograph, and epigraph.
Practical Grammar
Sometimes folks say, /per say/, and I wanted to share that it’s written like this: per se.
Per se is used to mean by itself or intrinsically as in “I don't hate the gym per se, but I prefer running outside.”
News from Book Bums
We’re entering a new school year, and that means our spaces will be empty for most of the day. I keep thinking that we should be doing something, but we haven’t come up with something great. We’ve considered opening it as a workspace, but we haven’t come up with something that would be worth hiring someone to be there on the days they’re in use. So, I thought I’d ask you. What could we do with our spaces during the daytime hours?
Tips for Teachers
Say No to Sound Walls
Our kids need to remember the spellings for the sounds they hear in words. Providing posters like those on the wall pictured above can be over-stimulating for many students, and it also offers a crutch. It would take valuable time to search the posters and find the sound a child is looking for!
We need our students to recall the sounds and their spellings—even when they are not in our classrooms. Some things need to be memorized.
Decisions regarding placing things on our walls (charts or other kinds of visuals) should be thoughtfully considered.
I recommend keeping lots of your wall space clear—especially the walls around where you’re offering instruction.
Just for Fun
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