Hello Book Bums families!
Though we are all for staying in your lane, we simply must be practical, here.
If you’re reading this newsletter on Friday, November 8, you should know that we have twenty days until Thanksgiving and forty-six days until Christmas eve. Holy smokes!
If you’re doing any hosting for either of these events—or both, you’re likely squeezing in as much preparation as you’re able. It’s all about time management. So, as we’re wrapping up the first full week of November, we feel it’s only fair to share some things with you that require time and preparation—even though it might feel a bit like we’re ignoring Thanksgiving. We’re not. We’re simply allowing time for you to use some of our ideas for the holiday season.
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Word of the Week
sumptuous (suhm-choo-uhss) adjective/describing word - magnificent and grand in appearance
There was a sumptuous feast spread on the holiday table.
Literary Calendar
• Sesame Street premiered on November 10, 1969
• Check out these five fun facts about the show from Sesame Workshop, including that Oscar the Grouch was originally orange!
From our Bookshelves
This week, in lieu of sharing only one book, we’re sharing LOTS of books. Many of you enjoy the tradition of wrapping up 25 holiday-themed books and allowing your kids to unwrap one a night through Christmas Day. If you’re looking for some books to add to your collection or you’re considering adding a fun, new tradition to your family’s December nights, we’ve curated a list of favorite kids’ holiday books for you. These titles represent interests of kids of all ages and are sure to inspire you to make time for reading with your kids in a fun way that teems with holiday cheer.
If you no longer have little ones at home, this would be a great gift to share with any kids you adore. You could give the kids all 25 books wrapped up and ready to go, or you could even share the books yourself via FaceTime every evening in December. Of course you don’t have to buy all new books. Use books you have, buy used books, or host a book swap!
You should know that we’ve added Amazon links for easy ordering. Book Bums is an Amazon affiliate, and you’re supporting us when you use our links.
Holly & Ivy
The Little Drummer Boy
Cranberry Christmas
A New Coat for Anna
The Hundred Dresses
An Orange for Frankie
The Legend of the Candy Cane
A Christmas Carol
Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect
The Legend of the Christmas Cookie
The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Nutcracker
Christmas in the Manger
All Creation Waits
Christmas in the Big Woods
Laugh Out Loud Christmas Jokes
Christmas Stories
Christmas Tree Book
Best Kids' Christmas Jokes Ever!
Weird but True! Christmas
The Night Before Christmas
Baby Touch and Feel: Merry Christmas
The Sweet Smell of Christmas
I Spy Christmas
The Story of Christmas
The Gingerbread Boy
How Does Santa Go Down the Chimney?
Sneezy the Snowman
The Polar Express
The Wild Christmas Reindeer
Christmas Past
Santa's Favorite Story
The Legend of the Poinsettia
Twelve Days of Christmas
Snowmen at Night
It's Christmas
Socks
The Twelve Days of Christmas:A Lift the Flap Book
Pick a Pine Tree
Jingle Bells
Amelia Bedelia Wraps It Up
The Jolly Christmas Postman
First 100 Christmas
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Frosty the Snowman
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Tips for Families
There’s just something about the holidays that makes me want to spend quality time with my family. You, too? If your kids are beyond the read-a-book-a-day age, but you want to do something together, how about this Grinch advent jigsaw puzzle? It’s now less than $20, and it could be a great way to spend some quality time with your kids. There are advantages to putting jigsaw puzzles together—for you and for your kids. It’s said that putting jigsaw puzzles promotes improved:
• short-term memory
• problem-solving skills
• relaxation/stress reduction
• spatial awareness
• fine motor skills
• concentration
• attention to detail
• hand-eye coordination
Best, you’ll be sitting side-by-side and accomplishing something satisfying . . . together.
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
Are you looking for a great gift for a toddler? We’ve got you! Start collecting photos of the child’s closest family members, friends, and even community workers they know such as preschool teachers. Go online and grab some images there or take the photos yourself. Then print the photos and laminate them (round off the corners to eliminate pokey edges), use a hole punch to put a hole in the corners, and then put them on a book binder ring. This is such a great way to teach kids to say the names of people who are important in their lives. You could even use a label maker to add the names on each image. Another idea is to print the pictures so they’re business card or credit card size and give them to the child in a wallet. Kids love organizing their cards in the slots and the activity promotes lots of talk—which promotes literacy.
Tips for Teachers
To promote students’ executive function skills, it’s quite beneficial to crystalize routines that eliminate guesswork regarding what will be expected of them. When children are not busy trying to figure out what’s coming next, they can more readily attend to the task at hand—making them more available to manage the desired learning.
This tip is great for parents too. Routines make for an easier life for kids and their parents.
Practical Grammar
I was writing something the other day, and I couldn’t recall whether saying “It’s pretty darned ___,” or “It’s pretty darn ___.” I thought, perhaps, you’d like to know too.
The proper way to say it is . . . “It’s pretty darned ___.”
This is one of those cases where we say something, and we don’t really attend to the specifics of the pronunciation.
When I say, “That’s pretty darned cute,” I don’t really hear the /d/, so it makes sense that I wasn’t positive about how to spell it.
Darned is an informal adjective or expletive used to emphasize what someone is saying, often when they are annoyed. For example, "We worked pretty darned hard".
Darned is also considered an informal idiom, for the word meaning is only understood within context. Because darn is a verb that means to repair a hole by sewing stitches in something made of cloth or yarn, one could not gain meaning from the sentence, “He’s a darned good-looking man,” without familiarity with this particular combination of words.
Wordology Workshop
• The Latin root don means to give.
• You can find it in common English words such as donate, condone, and pardon.
News from Book Bums
After new clothes, toys, games, etc. have been unwrapped at Christmastime, many families do some clearing out of the old items and donate them to thrift stores. While giving to donation sites is always a good idea, it’s especially kind to do this giving before the holiday season.
Please consider families who cannot afford to purchase new items for their children for the holidays. It’s likely that they’d love to purchase and wrap up like-new or gently used items for their young kids who would be none the wiser. You could be making some kids very, very happy when you begin donating now.
Book Bums partners with The Faith Alliance to serve others in our community. One of the many organizations we support is Reach Out Lakota. Currently, they need children’s and men’s hats and gloves, men’s smaller sized coats, and boys’ and girls’ larger sized coats. If you’d like to donate, we’ll collect the requested items at Book Bums and make the delivery early in December.
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