Hello Book Bums families!
This week in the newsletter we have some fabulous reading ideas, a cute craft to teach sentence basics, and lots of word knowledge for you from roots to homophones.
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Word of the Week
abstain (ab-stayn) verb/action word - to choose not to do or have something
Our family abstains from electronics during dinner so we're not distracted by our phones during family time.
Literary Calendar
- On February 15, 2011, poet Maya Angelou was awarded the U.S. Medal of Freedom.
- This is the highest civilian honor awarded by the government.
- First awarded in 1963, past honorees include Diana Ross, Shirley Chisholm, Jonas Salk, and Jesse Owens.
- You can learn more about Angelou's life and work here.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
-Dr. Maya Angelou
From our Bookshelves
I thoroughly enjoyed reading the new children’s book, I am Rebel, by Ross Montgomery. It’s got all the things we want from a great kids’ book. It’s chock full of joy, danger, challenge, inspiration, and love. There are good guys and bad guys and so many valuable lessons for your children to learn from a devoted, human-loving dog. Whether you need a book to read aloud to your kids, or you give a copy to some independent readers you adore, this is a book I’ve already added to my Children’s Books I Recommend list.
Listen here to hear Ross Montgomery share about a dog named Rebel and read an excerpt from his book.
Tips for Families
With weather like we’ve been having in SW Ohio, it’s a great time to start chipping away at the books we’ve been wanting to read. Nothing says great day like a cozy spot (bonus if it’s in the sun), a blanket, and a captivating book.
I’ve always got plenty of books in my TBR (to be read) stacks, and more waiting in my Amazon cart that I’ve saved for later. I’ve got books in my Kindle app ready for when I’m doing mindless tasks around the house or at Book Bums. And I can always count on my friends for great new recs as well.
The other day, one of our Book Bums tutors (and a great friend) texted to share about a few books she’d read. She mentioned Theo of Golden (I shared about that beautiful book last week.), The Correspondent (I’ve nearly finished it.) and Culpability (yet to be purchased).
The best part of that text was when she said she’d cracked up when the main character commented about another writer’s perfect use of commas. This same friend once told me that everyone has a limited supply of commas to use in his or her lifetime and that I’ve already used all of mine up!
I’ve got help correcting the heavy comma usage in this newsletter (Thank you, Dianne!), but I still sprinkle commas like confetti!
As you read books, do you think of others? May I suggest that you share what you enjoyed with them. It just might make their day when you do!
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
What if we did something with our kids at home to ensure they know that in America 1) we begin all sentences with capital letters, 2) within the sentences we tell who or what and what about it, and then 3) we end sentences with end marks?
What if we made the lesson fun by building these cute little donut hole skewers, saying “Good sentences have three essential parts like a standard snowman.” Place the first donut ball onto the skewer and say, “Sentences begin with a capital letter to signal to readers that it’s the beginning of a new idea.” Place the second ball on the skewer and say, “We must ensure every sentence conveys a complete thought which means we should be able to answer who or what and what about it.” Finally, slide the third donut hole onto the skewer and say, “And every sentence ends with and end mark.”
Turn the skewer right-side up and invite your kids to use orange icing to make the nose and mini chocolate chips for the eyes and the mouth. As you make more snowmen skewers, have the kids repeat the sentence essentials. Finally, have the kids write a sentence about their snowmen skewers remembering to use a capital letter at the beginning, a complete thought in the middle, and an end mark at the end.
Wordology Workshop
- The Latin root sign means, unsurprisingly, sign.
- This is one of those roots that appears in English as its own word, like port, prior, or verb.
- In some words, you hear the g sound in the root: designate, signature, signal, resignation.
- In other examples, the g is silent: sign, design, resign.
- Can you spot the difference in the two groups of words?
Practical Grammar
Exacerbate (ig-ZASS-er-bate) means to make a bad situation worse, while exasperate (ig-ZASS-puh-rate) means to annoy or frustrate someone.
“Try not to exasperate your tired colleagues and thereby exacerbate the already tense atmosphere at work."
News from Book Bums
If your family brings a student to Book Bums for tutoring, I’d like to address cancellations. Specifically, I’d like to address cancellations for things like, “He’s outside playing with his friends, and they’re having so much fun that I don’t want to call him in.”
We get it. And we don’t like wrapping negative energy around tutoring either. You know we work really hard to make the Book Bums experience lots of fun for your kids. We try everything we can to help them to truly look forward to each session.
But what you may not have considered is that our tutors count on the income. Yes, they love working with kids. Yes, they do want to help move their kids forward in their learning. We all love that! But the fact remains that your tutors say no to other things when they say yes to working with your kids.
When you cancel an appointment at the last minute, your tutor likely missed out on something else they could have done because they prioritized your tutoring appointment.
If your child is sick, please cancel. We understand that happens. And we’re sick sometimes too. Grace, extended both ways, is welcome in any relationship.
Otherwise, please do your best to attend every session. When we all make this vital instruction a priority, we’ll have happy staff and even happier families because with every single session, our kids are one step closer to becoming skilled readers and writers.
When you cancel at the last minute, I (Dr. Christy) pay your tutor for a half session. I do that because I know our teachers’ time is valuable and I want to honor it.
Tips for Teachers
I love finding opportunities to share new words with my students. This poem, consisting of only eight lines, offers a beautiful way to enrich kids’ vocabularies.
Even beginning readers can access most every word in this poem. The portrayed image is easy to see in one’s mind with, perhaps, a quick internet search for an image of a crow and a hemlock. But the word rued is the word that will likely offer a teachable moment.
If your kids know the word rude, they may misconstrue the meaning of rued. Homophones can be really tricky, and they require some explicit instruction; but knowing that rude means impolite or ill-mannered may just make the word rued (meaning regretted) easy to remember.
He rued the day he was so rude to his mother.
Just for Fun
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