Hello Book Bums families!
What a week we are having here in Cincinnati, from the Bengals' victory to an icy snow day! In this installment of our newsletter we encourage you to take inspiration from life to keep your young readers and yourself curious and learning.
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Word of the Week
spectacle (spek-tuh-kuhl) noun/person, place, or thing - a remarkable sight
The Bengals playing in the Super Bowl promises to be quite a spectacle.
Literary Calendar
• February 5 is World Read Aloud Day.
• Enjoy picture books, chapter books, any kind of book by reading aloud with your favorite kids.
Tips for Families
Since the Cincinnati Bengals had such an exciting game last Sunday, here’s some Cincy trivia for you.
Do you know the origin of "Who Dey"?
In USA Today, Jordan Mendoza shared that though there is no definitive answer, there are two theories.
The first theory involves Cincinnati’s Hudepohl Brewing. The company sold beers at the former Riverfront Stadium and the vendors would shout out “Hudy” or “HuDey” and, as it goes, that’s how the chant was born. The chant was even put on the Hudepohl beer cans the season the Bengals made it to their first Super Bowl in 1981.
The second theory is that it’s just a cooler way of saying, “Who [do] they think [is] gonna’ beat the(m) Bengals?”
The cheer goes: "Who dey, who dey, who dey think gonna beat dem Bengals?"
Fans then respond: "Nobody!"
For some family fun, how about inviting your kids to make some signs to cheer on our Bengals next weekend? Some poster board would be great, but even copy paper and markers will work.
LOTS of folks were sharing videos with their family’s reactions when Evan McPherson kicked the game-winning field goal. It was so exciting! To build purpose for the project and create and audience, tell your kids that you want to share some team spirit on your social media page. They can make some great posters, and you can supply some spelling tips.
Tips for Readers and Writers
Whether you decide to make posters or not, you can still notice the spellings of words you’ll be seeing a lot of in the coming days.
Who Dey!
Do you notice that the w-h in who says /h/? Most question words begin with w-h, but the others say /w/. (A lot of kids write h-o-w when spelling who because the first sound is /h/. It’s tricky.)
Cincinnati
Do you notice that Cincinnati has the /s/ sound at the beginning? C-i (and c-e and c-y) can make the c say /s/.
Bengals
When I say this word, it sounds like /beng-glz/. The a-l doesn’t say /all/ or /Al/ like it typically does. It’s like there isn’t an a there. We know that every syllable has to have a vowel, and the final syllable in Bengals has an a.
Burrow
Joe Burrow’s name has a bossy r. Notice how the u doesn’t make a sound? It’s being bossed by that r just like Burrow’s the boss on the field.
Chase
Ja’Marr Chase’s last name has a magic e that jumps back, over the s, and tells the a to say its name. That e’s doing magic just like Chase does his magic on the field!
McPherson
In Evan McPherson’s name, I hear the word fear, but I don’t see an f. P-h can make the sound /f/ like in phone. McPherson’s confident about the Superbowl. No fear in McPherson!
From our Bookshelves
Ooh la la! Fancy Nancy's snow day is full of snow angels, snowmen, and sledding. Nancy has a personality you can't resist, and this series of books introduces readers to new vocabulary in fun and playful stories.
If you enjoy this character there are many more books to choose from, including one that has our W.O.W. in the title.
At Book Bums, we encourage students to put a pointer finger under the first letter (or letter combination) of each word, make the corresponding sound right out loud (so their brains can recognize it more quickly), and continue sliding those sounds together, moving from left to right across each word.
We make the sounds we see. This is a No. Guess. Zone.
Practical Grammar
Is it alright or all right?
This is an easy one. Alright is not a word. It is not all right to write alright.
You can’t go wrong if you remember to spell it with two words: all right!
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