Hello Book Bums families!
This Monday is Saint Patrick's Day (a holiday more popular here in America than in Ireland), so we are sharing some Irish fun in this week's newsletter. We have ideas for celebrating with kids, tips to help you write your own limerick, tongue twisters, vocabulary, and all the regular features you've come to expect each week. Enjoy!
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Word of the Week
galore (guh-lor) adjective/describing word - plentiful, in abundance
At the festival kids collect prizes galore, sometimes needing a bag to carry them all home.
*Galore is one of a small number of words that English borrows from the Irish language.
Literary Calendar
- March 16 is the birthday of American author Alice Hoffman.
- Best known for her 1995 novel, Practical Magic, Hoffman tells stories for teens and adults that are sprinkled with magical elements.
- Born and raised in New York, she published her first novel at twenty-one.
- You can learn more about her life and books at her website.
"Even in times when it's difficult to figure out, how do you go forward,
art - and books - always help."
-Alice Hoffman
From our Bookshelves
I’ve only read the first book in the National Park Mystery Series, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and thought you might too.
One of our Book Bums tutors shared this book with me, and now I’m sharing it with you. That’s how it goes with good books, isn’t it? You know it’s going to be good when a good friend places it into your hands.
Well, friend. I’m placing this one into yours via email. If you have older elementary age kids (ages 6-11 or so) this just might be a great book for you to read together.
The first book introduces the mystery. Readers learn that Jake’s grandfather was trying to solve a centuries-old mystery, and before he died, he’d arranged for his grandson’s family to take a vacation in Colorado’s rugged Rocky Mountain National Park. Grandpa also left Jake a book with hidden codes, riddles, and more in preparation for a secret scavenger hunt that is filled with twists and turns as well as lessons about survival, friendship, and integrity.
If you’re planning a summer vacation to the Rockies, this book is a no brainer. If you hadn’t planned that trip yet, you still have time . . .
Tips for Families
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Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
Though the origin of limericks is uncertain, limericks are often associated with Ireland; so this might be a great time to encourage your kids to do some fun writing with you.
Do you know the song “Hickory Dickory Dock”? That’s a limerick.
Here’s what you need to know to write a proper limerick:
- Limericks are five-line poems.
The first, second, and fifth lines rhyme. - The third and fourth lines rhyme.
- The first line usually introduces a person or place.
The middle of the poem sets up a silly story. - The end often has a punchline or surprise twist.
Note that this is not an activity that kids should do independently. Make the time to do this activity alongside your kids, for it is more difficult than it seems. Offer to get kids started. Do Google searches for rhyming words as needed. Help to rearrange sentences to make your kids’ ideas work.
Kids need to learn how to write,
So parents, let’s waylay the fight.
Get the pencil and paper,
And prepare for the caper
That comes when writers are bright.
Tips for Tutors
I was watching my granddaughter at her gymnastics/tumbling practice, and I was thinking like a businessperson. Of course, I was beaming at Emry as she worked her way through her prescribed stations.
(Unbeknownst to her, I was pulling my own muscles whilst watching from atop those tragic metal bleachers that are often assembled for the kids’ devotees. I digress.)
My business owner self was also observing the tumbling teacher. She was kind and caring. She clearly knew what she was doing. She was the expected “eyes-on-the-back-of-her-head, ever surveying the kids in her group” kind of teacher. Well done!
But I also noticed that the teacher talked for the first fifteen minutes of the hour. She stopped the session a full eight minutes before the session was to end, and they took about five water breaks. That means that my granddaughter was “on task” for only about 28 minutes of the hour-long session.
It got me thinking about Book Bums. Parents can’t help but notice when time is ticking by if their kids are doing nothing to move them forward. I didn’t go into the tumbling session trying to catch the teacher doing anything wrong. But I did notice the time ticking away.
Sometimes there’s nothing we can do about it. I mean, kids need to use the restroom from time to time. But even then, let’s not get on our phones to check texts or Facebook. Let’s instead organize the student’s folder so we ensure there’s only what we need in there. (If your folders are bulky, you’re not getting it right yet.) Place the papers in your “to do” stack in order from what you want to do first to the least important. Jot a note in the student’s folder about what is going well and what may need addressing again. Or, go over to the parent and do your end of the session talk, then, and work with the child to the last minute. Get creative about using every single second of every single session well.
Remember, our parents are paying a lot of money to get their kids performing at grade level expectations, and just about half of what they pay goes directly to you, the tutor. Let’s make our parents eager to pay for their session because they’re so darned impressed with what you’re doing to transform their kids’ educational experiences.
We get only one hour per week to move kids from struggling to soaring. Let’s make every minute count!
News from Book Bums
We’re getting ready to launch our Everything You Need to Start Your Own Tutoring Business business. We have lots of teachers reaching out from far beyond the greater Cincinnati area to ask about the business side of Book Bums. And many teachers who don’t have the energy for full-time teaching would still like to make a difference in the lives of struggling readers. So, we’re making our Foundations for Literacy tutoring curriculum available for sale in the upcoming month. We know we’ll be working with teachers (who too often don’t have lots of money to spend), so the materials are not expensive.
If you have family and friends who wish they were closer so their kids could come to Book Bums, this may be an answer to prayer! If you’re a teacher, and you’re interested in purchasing the Foundations for Literacy curriculum for your own personal use, email Dr. Christy at [email protected], and she’ll add you to our email list and you’ll be sure to get all the pertinent information.
More information is coming soon!
And here’s the newest podcast from On Your Way with Dr. Christina Williams. In this show, we’re talking about how to address undesired behaviors from intense kids.
Practical Grammar
Contractions can be tricky. They’re words (often two of them, put together) with missing letters. We use apostrophes to mark those missing letters.
Kids typically get contractions easily enough, but some are rather tricky.
Like this one:
let’s We rarely hear folks say, “Let us . . . “ outside of, maybe, a preacher saying, “Let us pray.”
c’mon Kids often don’t know why that apostrophe is there. And shouldn’t there be another apostrophe for the missing e? (c’m’on)
‘n’ It’s missing the initial a and the final d, so this one needs two apostrophes—though it’s rarely written this way.
ma’am The d is missing from madam. This explains the odd spelling of /mam/.
Are there any contractions you find to be odd balls? Let us know!
Wordology Workshop
- The Latin root tract means to pull.
- You can find it in the word contraction, where it means pulling two words together into one.
- Tract shows up in many common words like tractor, subtraction, attractive, extract, and distraction.
- Can you see how each has to do with pulling?
Just for Fun
This graphic made me laugh out loud! It looks like an Irish dancer, so it’s perfect for this newsletter.
If you know someone who would benefit from our newsletter or tutoring at Book Bums, please share this email with them! Thank you.
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