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Newsletter – Savoring Summer – July 12, 2024

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Hello Book Bums families!

Isn't it interesting how one thing can lead to another? This week we begin with a fun new book series. The title character gets us thinking about decoding words. The relationship of the characters in the book gets us thinking about word roots. And the theme of the book leads us to savoring the moments of summer.

We hope some good books are getting you thinking too.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!
Live the life you've imagined."
-Henry David Thoreau

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Word of the Week

fraternal (fra-tern-uhl) adjective/describing word - involving brothers, or friendly and brotherly

Because they had been through the challenging season together, there was a fraternal feeling among the boys on the team.

Literary Calendar

July 12 is the birthday of American author, naturalist, and philosopher Henry David Thoreau.
This 19th century writer was friends and neighbors with Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter), Louisa May Alcott (Little Women), and essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson ("Self-Reliance").
Thoreau is most famous for his book Walden about his time living alone and exploring nature at Walden Pond.

From our Bookshelves

charlie and mouse

Every now and then we find a book series that just feels good. It lifts your heart. Charlie & Mouse, a beginning reader series about two brothers experiencing warm and fuzzy everydayness together, is one of those series. Charlie and Mouse (book 1) is charming and if you have young kids, you’ll want a copy.

Tips for Readers and Writers

t Book Bums, we equip kids to accurately decode most every word on the pages of the books they read. We know that many, many words will be orthographically mapped into kids’ long-term memories and those words will be recognized “on sight”— there’s no visible decoding happening there.

That’s the goal!

We acknowledge, too, that much is learned about words implicitly. Afterall, many readers were never taught to efficiently decode words and they’re doing just fine. Maybe that’s true for you?

That means that we adults often cannot explain to our children why words say what they say.

In the word Charlie for example, from our book recommendation above, it’s easy enough to share that c-h says /ch/ (like Cheerios) and a-r says /ar/ (like a pirate), but what the heck is going on with that i-e? How do we explain that one?

If you’re chanting, “When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking . . .” you’re probably not alone. The problem is that’s not very helpful here. The i isn’t “talking.”

It’s true that i-e usually says /eye/ as in pie. BUT, sometimes i-e says /ee/ as in piece and cookie and puppies.

At Book Bums, we teach kids that when we have two vowels together the first one says its name. (That’s clearer.) Then, later in our lesson progression, we teach kids that sometimes we have to “flip” the sounds. If you are decoding a word that has two vowels together and the first one doesn’t say its name—it doesn’t make a word you know—try flipping the sounds and make the second vowel say its name.

That’s a quick and easy way to address the i-e in Charlie. It’s a “flip flop” word. Some other words from Charlie & Mouse that are “flip flops” include cookies, Lottie, and carried.

Tips for Families

It’s happened. I’ve seen a few “back to school supplies” aisles. The Black-Eyed-Susans are beginning to bloom. And we’re thinking about the fall schedule for Book Bums.

Ugh.

We’re into the double digits of July now, and that means we’ve got about a month until we’re back into the school year and all that comes with it.
Many of us feel like we’ve squandered our days. Some are gloating. (Well done, you!) Wherever you land, know that we’ve still got half a summer left. There’s still time. You can make your moments good ones. Relish the warm and fuzzy everydayness together with the ones you love. Moments are made big when we marvel in them.

Pause a moment to take in that sunset. Watch as the bees busily buzz around blossoms. Savor an ice cream cone. Hold hands with a loved one and enjoy a slow, easy stroll. Smile when you notice those wet water footprints around the swimming pool. Promise yourself that you’ll seize every opportunity for dining alfresco.

I bet that right now—right where you are in this minute—you can find something truly splendid that, perhaps, you would not have noticed if you hadn’t had the eyes and heart to see it.

Find it. And tomorrow find another one. And another one.

That’s how you’ll make this summer a great one.

"It is not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."
-Henry David Thoreau

Practical Grammar

In the previous book review about Charlie and Mouse I wrote the word series as a plural. I stopped a moment to consider the word. I was certain it could not be serieses. It turns out that series is a zero plural; a word that doesn’t change in its plural form. Though words such as aircraft and species are also zero-plural words, we see them most often in animal names such as moose, sheep, and fish.

Wordology Workshop

The Latin root frater means brother.

You can find it in our Word of the Week, fraternal as well as the noun fraternity and the verb fraternize.

Can you think of the sisterly equivalent to frater?

Just for Fun

sleep

Anyone else need this book?
I’m guessing she’d give it a 10/10.

News from Book Bums

If you know a teacher who’d like to join a cohort with educators serving in grades 1, 2, and 3 who are striving to implement the Science of Reading (SoR) well in their classrooms, please let them know that Dr. Christy will be hosting a free event at Book Bums on Sunday afternoon, July 21st. To reserve a spot, email Dr. Christy at [email protected] today.

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