Hello Book Bums families!
This week in the newsletter Dr. Christy shares some great handwriting tools and tips as well as a personal goal she needs your help with! We also share some fun, animal-themed books for toddlers and an animal holiday you can celebrate at any age. Read on and enjoy!
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Word of the Week
tacit (tass-it) adjective/describing word - expressed without words, implied
I understood my partner's silence as tacit agreement to the plan.
Literacy Calendar
- August 26 is National Dog Day.
- While not a strictly literary holiday, you can certainly celebrate by reading a book featuring a dog. Some stories are even told from the dog's point of view. Here is a list to give you ideas.
- If you are sensitive to sad endings for your fictional furry friends, you can check out your reading choices first at the website Does the Dog Die?
Wordology Workshop
- The word dog comes to us from Old English (as many one-syllable, Germanic words do).
- The Latin root for dog is canis, which you may recognize from the word canine or the Latin names of stars.
From our Bookshelves
A couple weeks ago, I stayed with two of our grandkids while their parents went out for the evening. We got to do the whole sweet bedtime routine with them at their house, and it was wonderful!
After baths and jammies, we snuggled up for a few books. Judah picked that week’s favorites, and one of them was Hi-Five Animals, by Ross Burach. Just as is shown on the cover, the board book pages have animals’ “hands” perfectly positioned to receive a high five. What fun it was to watch Judah’s precious hands as he high-five each of the animals!
That night, when their parents arrived home, I shared that I adored the Hi-Five Animals book; and Judah’s momma smiled and said, “You got that for him.”
How could I have forgotten such a delightful find?! I ordered another one for my house, and I bought the Hi-Five Farm too.
Keep these two books in mind if you need a gift for a toddler you adore.
Tips for Families
This week’s tip is one I hate to share with families during assessments, but I do it anyway. I hate it because it can seem to pit parents against their kids’ teachers (and I never want to do that), but I strongly believe in the advice I give.
Here’s what I say:
When a child is not equipped to decode most every word in a book, it’s an unfair ask to require the child to read 15-20 minutes each night. Please don’t do that—even if the teacher asks you to. You read to your kids; and we’ll work, here at Book Bums, to equip them with the code just as quickly as we can. You can have them practice reading the word cards and play the games we send home. That would work. We know they’re equipped to read those words.
If we require reading (and please, never set a timer), and our kids cannot decode the words, they’re going to 1) hate reading, 2) come to believe that reading is guessing from pictures and context clues, and 3) come to think they’re the problem. (They’re not the problem.)
And if your child comes home with a fluency passage to “practice” for a “timed” reading, and they cannot read it slowly—let alone fluently, skip it.
Your child needs to be equipped to read slowly and accurately first. After that, we can work on fluency.
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
If you’re observing your kids’ handwriting and you notice that they are making really dark pencil marks on their papers, they are likely applying too much pencil pressure with their grip. That can cause writing fatigue that deters kids from writing as much as they want or need. To remedy this problem, try inviting them to use mechanical pencils. The lead will break with too much pressure, and your child will recognize the pressure issue and (hopefully) remedy the problem by using less pressure.
If your child uses really light pencil marks, s/he is likely using too little pencil pressure. To address this issue, it can be helpful to use a piece of carbon paper beneath their work. The child can lift the top paper they’re working on to observe the carbon copy. If they cannot see what was written on that second paper, they know they need to apply more pressure.
The best part about these remedies is that it takes you out of the equation. You don’t have to say that what they’re doing needs some adjusting. They’ll recognize it on their own!
This is what I purchased from Amazon for our Handwriting Workshops:
Practical Grammar
Who versus That
In this sentence, “My grandma is the one that gave me the recipe,” the word that should be replaced with who. We use that only when referencing inanimate objects or groups of people, places, or things.
News from Book Bums
Money has never been a huge priority for me, but I have become quite motivated to pay off my student loan debt. I would also relish the freedom to be more generous. My doctorate was quite expensive, and I’m trying to find a way to get out from under that debt.
I’ve long planned to sell our Foundations for Literacy (FFL) curriculum online, and we’ve had all the back end things ready on our website for quite a while now. All I have to do is begin marketing it. The thing is, I hate that kind of thing.
I never mind meeting with parents for a free assessment, sharing what I’m seeing, and making recommendations—even when that feels a bit like selling.
I know that what we do works, and I opened Book Bums to do just that—to help families in our communities move their kids from struggling to soaring (and to even make it fun).
But having an online presence is not for the faint of heart. Putting myself out there is intimidating. I get set to begin, and then I stop. I have to get so frustrated with my finances that I say, “Okay. I’ll do it. For real this time.”
I’d absolutely LOVE to equip teachers beyond Book Bums to do what we do. I have a heart for parents who have kids who are struggling to learn to read and spell well, and I believe that teachers are the best ones to make the magic happen. Of course, I want to equip more teachers to tutor kids the way we do!
I just don’t want to sell it.
That’s why I’m asking for your help. Beginning by August 25th, I’m going to try to start selling FFL online. Would you, if you’re ever on social media and you see a post or an ad, please like it, share it, or comment on it? That would mean the world to me!
THANK YOU!
Tips for Teachers
If you’re a classroom teacher, do yourself a favor and call every single one of your parents this weekend. Call to say something positive about your students to their parents after the first week (or so) of school. Saying, “I noticed that she . . .” and “I was amazed to see him . . .” Keep it short and simple but help your parents to recognize that you really see their children and that you’re there for them.
As a parent, all I really wanted to know is that my kids’ teachers saw the good in them. If they could do that, then I knew the academics would come. “Just know my kid please,” is what I wanted to say to them.
If you set aside thirty (or so) minutes, this weekend, to call all of the parents of the kids on your roster, you can almost bank on having a great year.
Things to say:
- Share something specific that the child did that warmed your heart.
- Ask how the child is talking about school so far.
- Invite them to ask any questions they may have.
- Promise to do your very best to make it a great year.
- Share that you’re looking forward to being a part of their child’s great academic progress.
- Invite them to save your number so they have it should they need to call or text one day. (I always added that I don’t have my phone out during the school day, so if it’s something that needs attention right away, they’ll be better off contacting me through the school office.)
Never once did I have a parent who misused the access, and I always felt more excited about the year to come when the calls were complete.
Just for Fun
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