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Newsletter – Portfolio – May 20, 2022

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Hello Book Bums families!

We're sharing even more book recommendations this week, along with tips from Dr. Christy for reading and writing through the summer. Don't miss a great opportunity for the Book Bums community to participate and serve our local community in the Faith Alliance Summer Literacy Program. Keep reading for all the details!

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Word of the Week

portfolio (port-fole-ee-o) noun/person, place, or thing - a flat case for carrying papers or a collection of papers, art, investments, etc.

Each year, students add to their writing portfolio, selecting their best work to save.

Literary Calendar

  • May 22 is the birthday of author Arthur Conan Doyle.
  • Doyle is the creator of the famous British detective, Sherlock Holmes.
  • His stories have been adapted many times in television shows, movies, and literary retellings.
  • If you enjoy mysteries, try a story from this classic mystery writer.

"Life is infinitely stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent."
-Arthur Conan Doyle

Tips for Readers and Writers

Are you ready for a fun and productive summer with your kids?

I’ll be sharing fun-focused activities, right here in this newsletter, that both you AND your kids will enjoy!

To get the summer started right, simply gather some tools and set a schedule for reading and writing. DO NOT read or write today! Put it off. Plan it for a couple of weeks from now. Build some anticipation. Today, you are focusing on setting the stage.

We know that readers read and writers write.

All YOU need to do is set aside time to do those things and sprinkle in some fun! That’s where we can help!

Get everyone in your house to make a designated stack of “stuff I want to read.” (YOU do this, too!)

• Have your children make their own “stuff I want to read” signs with paper and markers.
• Gather a variety of interesting books that are buried on bookshelves and get some from the library or a bookstore. You could even ask friends to do a book swap, exchanging favorite books for a couple of weeks.
• Provide some sticky notes to use for bookmarks and to highlight interesting or confusing words or ideas.
• Place the stack in a box, basket, or book bag.

Fill a basket or bin with the following items:
• good pencils
• a pencil sharpener (If you really want them to write, you’ll want to provide tools that inspire excellent work.)
• envelopes (long ones are easier for kids to stuff)
• labels with addresses &/or index cards with addresses printed on them
• journal/composition notebook
• plain index cards
• age-appropriate dictionary
• an example of a friendly letter for kids to use as a guide (You write one to your kids, so they have a good model!)
• a calendar (to add dates to letters or journal entries and to add family events)

You can always add to this collection throughout the summer. Later, to combat waning interest, you might add items like stickers, photographs of your family doing fun things, colored pencils, and even a stick of gum to mail to Grandma. Don’t do this all at once though. Keep some motivation tucked away!

Also, when your kids write letters to loved ones, privately encourage those loved ones to write back and to include a dollar, a pixy stick, or anything else that they can think of to motivate your kids to write another letter or two!

When you have created both a reading stack and a writing bin, create a plan together.

In my house, even when my kids were in high school, we had a designated reading time. We ALL got our books, sat down together, and read for about an hour a few times a week. When our time came to an end, we took a few minutes to share with one another what we’d read.

As I learned more about the importance of writing, we added that into our schedule, too. I bought my boys notebooks, and they wrote in them at least once a week. (I treasure these notebooks!) Usually, I read a simple book to them, and they wrote their own version using a similar format that the author used. Sometimes we were outside on the hammock. Sometimes we were spread around the living room. But we always made time for reading and writing.

Schedule your reading and writing times with your kids, and commit to sticking with it. If it’s important to you, it’ll be important to them, too.

And please don’t bribe your kids to do any of this. This IS the reward!

Throughout the summer, I’ll provide lots of tools, ideas, and fun-focused activities for you to promote reading and writing with your kids!

Together, we’ll make this one the best summer yet!

From our Bookshelves

ranger in time

From Our Bookshelves

Whether you enjoyed the TV series 1883, or you’re anticipating a family vacation out west, or you just love sharing books with your kids that teach about American history, you might really enjoy sharing Ranger in Time: Rescue on the Oregon Trail with your early elementary-aged kids. You’ll learn something, too.

Author Kate Messner is passionately curious and writes books that encourage kids to wonder, too. Kate's titles include both fiction and nonfiction; she writes award-winning picture books, easy readers, chapter book series, and novels for young readers. Here are some books (some are series) that we recommend. Click on the picture for a link to Amazon. 

Wordology Workshop

• Did you notice that this week's word of the week includes the Latin root we shared last week? Remember that port means to carry. So a portfolio can carry art, maps, or other papers. What about the second part of the word, though?
• The Latin root foli means leaf. In portfolio think leaves of paper.
• What kind of leaf do you think of for the words foliage and exfoliate?

folio
leaf

Practical Grammar

Which is correct?

“I drove the wrong way by accident.”
or
“I drove the wrong way on accident.”

Though “on purpose” seems to pair well with “on accident,” grammar purists urge us to say “by accident” rather than “on accident.” (THINK: by chance)

Opportunity for Serving and Equipping Under-served Children to Read and Spell Well

pixy e

The Faith Alliance Summer Literacy Program—Before and After Spelling Assessments Reveal Tremendous Growth!

We Make Learning to Read and Spell Well—Fun!
If you live in the Greater Cincinnati area, please consider helping to make a difference in the lives of some kids who are struggling to learn to read. The Faith Alliance is hosting a Summer Literacy Program, and Dr. Christy leads the program.

They’ll be serving about 30 students who have registered for fun-focused reading/spelling support on Mondays and Wednesdays, from June 6th through July 27th (No class 7/4), from 10:00 until noon at Woodland Elementary (Lakota).

And . . .

They’ll be serving about 30 students on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from June 7th through July 28th, from 10:00 until noon at Adena Elementary (Lakota).

This is not boring, old summer school. This is the fun-focused Foundations for Literacy phonics lessons that we use at Book Bums!

Across eight weeks, they’ll host 16 sessions with each group, and they’d love to have as many volunteers as they have students for each of those sessions. Presently, they are far from that. Would you consider spreading the word with your friends and loved ones to see if anyone you know might be interested in helping them out?

Volunteering looks like this:

The lead teacher will be leading the lessons. No volunteer will be responsible for any direct instruction lesson.

The teacher will read a book, share a bit of the featured phonics lesson, and the volunteers will come alongside students to support them as they engage with the materials to practice one aspect of the featured lesson. Then, the teacher will address the whole group, and again, the kids will practice with some hands-on materials and (hopefully) a volunteer who’ll compliment and kindly offer correction, as needed. The most important part about phonics (hearing/making the sounds represented by letters) is immediate, accurate feedback. To REALLY make it impactful, getting that feedback from a kind, encouraging, smiling adult who genuinely cares is key.

Volunteers need not know anything about the curriculum. The lead teachers are responsible for that. The volunteers only need to show up and show love. Does this sound like you (and someone you know)? If so, please let them know you can help!

Simply email Dr. Christy at [email protected] to let her know that you’re willing and able to help kids who need it most.

A lot of students come from Spanish speaking homes, so if you speak Spanish, they could really use your help!

If you know high school students who need volunteer hours, this might be a great fit for them, too, however the high school students who volunteer must be highly engaging and caring.

They know that summers are filled with vacations. If you can’t make it for a week, that’s no problem. Just come when you’re able. They’ll do their best to find someone to fill in for you. Please share this information with anyone who might be willing to help!

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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