Hello Book Bums families!
Here's a simple game to play with your family to welcome the first days of spring. Just choose a category and try to think of items in the category for each letter of the word spring. You could try food, flowers, or things you find in a backpack. It's a great way to have fun in a waiting room, in the car, or at a restaurant.
This week in the newsletter you'll find book recommendations, a wacky vocabulary list, and inspiration from a couple men named James. Enjoy!
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Word of the Week
persist (per-sist) verb/action word - to carry on in spite of opposition
Women's suffrage activists persisted for many years until the 19th amendment was passed, and women received the right to vote.
Literary Calendar
- For Women's History Month, we are continuing to share women authors celebrating birthdays this month.
- March 27 is the birthday of writer Julia Alvarez, who writes for adults and younger readers.
- Her two most famous novels are In the Time of the Butterflies and How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, both appropriate for high schoolers.
- You can learn more about Alvarez's life and work at her website.
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"It's like my whole world is coming undone, but when I write, my pencil is a needle and thread, and I'm stitching the scraps back together."
-Julia Alvarez |
From our Bookshelves
My husband received this book from a dear friend for Christmas, and he gave up on it because reading the dialect was really challenging for him. I took that as a direct challenge. I’ve been a first-grade teacher, for heaven’s sake. I can read almost ANYTHING. I gave it a whirl and became instantly captivated.
James is a retelling of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of an adult runaway slave who travels down the Mississippi River with the boy, Huck Finn. I loved this book, and I’ll recommend it to anyone who’ll listen. You don’t have to have recently read Huckleberry Finn to enjoy James. James stands on its own. You probably remember everything you need to understand much of the satire.
On a date day with my husband, however, I found The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for only $5 at Barnes & Noble, and I purchased it. After reading James, I simply want to re-read the original American classic to do some comparing. I haven’t read Mark Twain’s (Samuel Clemens’s) book for many, many years, and I’m curious about the parallels and where the stories differ.
One thoroughly captivating piece of Everett’s James is the way he demonstrates how language can be used as a tool for oppression. ‘Slave language’ was used to appease white masters—as a way of “giving white folk what they want.” While Jim can speak, read, and write formal English, he uses ‘slave language’ when in the presence of whites.
I was particularly moved by a part of the book surrounding a small stub of a commonplace pencil.
Now I am an avid fan of the common pencil. I believe they should be kept sharp and in surplus. And never have I loved them more than after having read James.
You should know that Universal Pictures has acquired the feature film rights to James, and Steven Spielberg will be the executive producer.
Tips for Families
This image is from the classic hit, Hitch, which is now 20 years old.
Do you know who Kevin James is? (I guess I’m sort of on a James kick.) I know him best as Albert Brennaman from Hitch. Though his real name is Kevin George Knipfing, he adopted the surname James in honor of his favorite schoolteacher.
Now isn’t that something?
As we near National Teacher Appreciation Day (May 6th), it’s not too early to begin planning a special something for your kids’ teachers. I liked this idea, below.
But do you know what means the most to educators? A heartfelt note from the children we serve and the parents who’ve noticed our efforts. As I often suggest, sending a copy (cc’d) to the school principal is a really sweet touch. Though principals believe they have a pulse on what their teachers are doing, it’s a nice reminder of how your kids’ teachers go above and beyond.
We’ve got just over a month now. Start thinking about and talking about what makes your kids’ teachers special. Make it a topic at dinner, and begin thinking about how to be a blessing with a well-deserved thank you.
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
Tips for Tutors
How about making expanding kids’ vocabularies fun? Is that even possible? We sure think so! I found this image on a social media platform, and I thought it’d be fun to share here.
You can enjoy 28 days of wacky words with your kids!
Wait. We’d better make that 27, because canoodle may not be appropriate (But, YOU have to look that one up yourself.)
Many of these you already know, but there are a few I had to look up. For example, I’d never heard the word tenterhooks or the phrase on tenterhooks which means to be in a state of nervous anticipation or suspense.
Long ago, cloth was stretched with hooks on a frame called a tenter and that tension became a metaphor for feeling tense.
When your child has a big test, you can say, “Are you on tenterhooks this morning?”
News from Book Bums
Book Bums will be open for spring break—no matter when your school is off. We want to best support our students as they prepare for the end-of-year assessments, so we’re here for you. If your tutor will be out of town, ask about having a substitute. I (Dr. Christy) will be happy to add some students to my schedule, at your tutor’s fee rate—especially if you’re available during the daytime hours. We’ve got about 9 weeks of instruction left in this school year. We want to do all we can to help your kids shine!
Have you listened yet to our new podcast, On Your Way with Dr. Christina Williams? You can find it here or on any of these podcast players.
Tips for Teachers
When working with kids, it’s only fair to sufficiently equip them to pass the nationally normed tests used in classrooms today. Teachers, when you’re doing test practice work with students, you must require that the student does the reading of the text, the reading of the comprehension questions, the reading of the answer options, and the choosing of the answers with you coaching as needed, only. (And you’ll likely be coaching a lot!)
We won’t be taking the MAP test or any other assessment alongside our students. All kids, second grade and up, need to be able to sit for l-o-n-g stretches of time and persist with navigating multiple texts and complex questions. Please do not spoon-feed them at Book Bums. That’s not serving them well.
We have a couple of months to get our students ready for the assessments ahead. Do all you can to ensure they are equipped to shine without you.
Practical Grammar
It’s (it is) true that we use apostrophes (’) to show ownership—to show that something belongs to someone or something. The word its is one big exception to that rule. We never use an apostrophe with its when it’s showing ownership.
In the following sentence, the tail belongs to the dog, but we do not use an apostrophe.
The dog wags its tail.
This sentence is written correctly.
Every time the word it’s is written with an apostrophe, it’s a contraction meaning it + is.
Wordology Workshop
- The word apostrophe comes from two Greek roots: apo and stroph.
- Apo means separate, which could make sense because apostrophes are often used to connect separate words. Apo can also mean away from.
- Stroph means turning, which could refer simply to the shape of the punctuation mark.
Just for Fun
This one’s for the golfers who are eager to hit the courses—
and for those of us who aren’t, you’ll STILL enjoy a good laugh.
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