Hello Book Bums families!
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A couple weeks ago Dr. Christy shared the idea of blind dates for books and suggested using it as a fun gift idea. Right now at the West Chester branch of the library you can take a chance on a blind date book yourself. If you do it, let us know what book you get and how you like it!
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Word of the Week
sinister (sin-uh-ster) adjective/describing word - evil or producing evil
Some haunted houses go beyond spooky and try to create a scary, sinister atmosphere.
Literary Calendar
• October 27, 2023 (the last Friday in October) is Frankenstein Friday.
• This day celebrates Mary Shelley and her famous novel.
• Did you know that this story came to life because of a writing challenge? On a trip with other writers (including Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron) and stuck indoors due to bad weather, Byron challenged the group to write scary stories to entertain each other. 18 year old Shelley's contribution was Frankenstein.
• When you hear the word Frankenstein you may picture a tall, greenish creature with a square head and bolts in his neck. That is actually Frankenstein's monster. The title character is the doctor who brings the monster to life.
From our Bookshelves
We use this book for one of our Little Letter Learner lessons (that we now do as tutoring sessions), and it’s terrific for acknowledging the kinds of lines we use when writing letters and numbers. When writing, we can reduce all letters to using straight and/or curvy lines. Though the author of A Line Can Be, perhaps, wrote the book as a more artistic endeavor, it’s a great one for introducing antonyms too!
Tips for Readers and Writers
I just learned why some letters are identified as uppercase letters while others are identified as lowercase letters. You see, when printing was done with printers’ letter blocks, they were stored with capital letters in the upper case while the others were stored in the lower case. For this reason, writing the words as a closed compound word (uppercase and lowercase) or separately (upper case and lower case) are both considered correct—though the writer is to choose one form and use it consistently. Most academic writing guidelines, however, require each to be written as one word.
At Book Bums, we teach our students to always use lowercase letters unless uppercase letters are required. It can be quite frustrating knowing that lots of preschools teach uppercase letters, primarily. They do so because they believe that uppercase letters are more easily distinguished, one from another, and it’s less confusing for children. However, most every word kids see is formed using lowercase letters.
It’s been estimated that only 1-3% of the letters we experience in print are uppercase letters. So why are all the preschool puzzles, magnets, and bathtub letters uppercase? Have you ever played the “If I were king of the world for a day . . .” game? Well, one of my commands would be to correct this disservice to our students.
In the meantime, if you’re working with your kids at home, remind them to use the proper case. If your kids are using uppercase b’s and d’s, it might indicate that your kids want to be sure they’re using the correct letter; they don’t know which is the b and which is the d, for sure.
Need help? We help kids with handwriting in our tutoring sessions. Just use this form to register for a free assessment with Dr. Christy.
Wordology Workshop
• The Latin root capit means head.
• You find it in the word capital, another way of saying uppercase.
• It is also in the word decapitate, meaning to cut the head off something.
• Can you think of any other capit words?
Tips for Families
Want to celebrate a beautiful fall day with a luxurious warm drink that will tantalize your taste buds? I simply must recommend the Northstar Café’s hot apple cider with maple whipped cream. It’s divine! Invite a friend to join you for a walk around Liberty Center and order up this scrummy seasonal treat!
Practical Grammar
I’m betting you know the basics of these homophones: pour (to decant), pore (openings in the skin), and poor (both impoverished and inadequate), but did you realize that when you closely examine a document you are poring over the text; you’re engaging deeply with what’s written.
Just for Fun
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West Chester, OH 45069