Hello Book Bums families!
Here at Book Bums we draw inspiration from all kinds of people, places, and things. This week we are thinking about Taylor Swift songs, coffee shops, simple notebooks, and new picture books.
What are you reading and thinking about these days? We love to hear from you, and you can always reach us by replying to this email.
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Word of the Week
vacillate (vah-sil-ate) verb/action word word - to waver back and forth, unable to decide.
Shakespeare's Hamlet is a character famous for vacillating, unable to decide whether he should believe the ghost and follow his directive.
Literary Calendar
- On November 14, 1851, Herman Melville's Moby Dick was published.
- Inspired by the true story of a sperm whale destroying a whaling ship, the novel is an epic tale about Captain Ahab's obsessive hunt for the white whale.
- Ahab's first mate lends his name to a famous coffee shop - Starbuck's.
From our Bookshelves
My Dinosaur Shoes and The Clean-Up Monster are lovely board books in the new Ivy and Roscoe series written by Eleni Tassopoulos Wehner. It just so happens that that this author is also the daughter of one of our wonderful Book Bums tutors, Ritsa! Eleni wrote these books to help all families, like ours, to skillfully navigate common issues that can arise when we love kids on the autism spectrum.
Because her own children are on the spectrum, Eleni is an especially strong advocate and is passionate about offering practical guidance regarding things like managing sensory preferences and breaking big tasks into manageable steps.
There are two more books to be released in the spring dealing with navigating kids’ food preferences and difficulties with waiting. These books are also available in multiple languages.
We’d be so proud to have some of our Book Bums readers support this young mother. Just click the links if you’d like to purchase one or both of these books for yourself or for gifts for loved ones.
Tips for Families
Those gorgeous orange-yellow maple leaves are falling now, so I thought I’d share a fun craft activity you can do with some kids you adore. You’ll need some black construction paper, wiggly eyes, black pom poms (optional), glue, and some scissors. Head outdoors and have everyone grab up some of those perfect yellow leaves, then come back inside and begin creating a whole fox family for some adorable fall décor. Just orient the leaves so the stem is on top, remove it, and begin adding some black details at the tips of the ears, two eyes, and a nose.
As you’re working, slip in that sometimes people say a person is as sly as a fox which is a simile that means the person is clever and might be tricky or even devious. In real life, foxes do use a variety of tactics like doubling back on their trails to confuse hunters, and they can even mimic other animals’ sounds to lure prey. If you’ve ever raised chickens or other small animals, you know that foxes can be difficult to outsmart. They are especially intelligent, persistent and resourceful animals.
One of my friends shared that, when her kids were younger, she placed strips of packing tape on the backs of their artwork (one strip at the top and one strip at the bottom) along with the date the work was done. She added that tape so there would be no damage to her kids’ art when she adhered it with tape to her fridge, doorway, or walls. She keeps the kids’ arts and crafts organized with her other seasonal décor, so when she puts away her pumpkin pillows and pulls out the cornucopia, she also retrieves those cute little turkeys her little turkeys made when they were in kindergarten or so. Today, her kids are in college, and they still enjoy seeing their crafty creations so loving displayed in their home.
Now, if you’d like to pair books with your foxy craft time, My Lucky Day by Keiko Kusza is the perfect choice. It’s a Book Bums favorite for sure!
Add this nonfiction book Foxes by National Geographic Kids, and you’ve got a great time for everyone!
Speaking of foxes, have you seen this video of a man playing music for a neighboring fox? If your kids want to see a real fox before trying to make one with leaves, watch this amazing video.
Pause for Poetry
Nobody’s Pet
A Word to the Wise from a Red Fox
by Deborah Ruddell
I will never take walks
in the park wearing socks
like some spoiled little dog
on a leash - I’m a fox.
I won’t come when you call,
I won’t jump for a ball,
I won’t wait for your step
like a lump in the hall.
You can tell me to stay
if you want to but hey -
there’s no way in the world
I’ll ever obey.
Tips for Raising Readers and Writers
This tip is a silly one perhaps, but I recently had the most meaningful literacy engagement with my five-year-old grandson, and I just have to share it with you.
I am a jotter. I like to have at least one smallish notebook, a pen, and a pencil on hand at all times. I use the notebooks for the normal things: grocery lists, to-dos, ideas for this newsletter . . . that sort of thing. But it’s also really handy to have when I’m with my grandkids.
While we waited to see my eldest granddaughter perform in her cheer competition last weekend, her little brothers hung with her dad, grandpa, and me. It wasn’t long until Easton said, “I’m bored.” Well, though the two of us had enjoyed our weekly Book Bums Little Letter Learner (LLL) lessons for a long time, we’d stopped when he’d begun kindergarten.
He's gotten to the place where he knows most every letter and corresponding sound, and he’s been putting the sounds together to read basic consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) words like pop, dog, cat, mom, etc. Every time we get together, I find a way to teach him something quick to build upon what he already knows.
Last weekend, his “I’m bored” turned into a Magic e lesson. I began by writing cvc words in my little notebook, and Easton began decoding them one by one. He needed plenty of reminders and support, but he was really doing well reading those words and then short sentences, and I sensed he was ready for more.
I said, “Would you like for me to teach you something new?” When he said yes, I began explaining about Magic e. We remembered, together, the short vowel sounds, and we did the motions for each of them. Next, I wrote hop on a new page in my notebook. He decoded the word. Then I added an e at the end of hop. I explained that this e was magic because it could jump back, over one letter, and tell a vowel to “Say your name.” I drew an arrow from the e at the end of hop, up and over the p, and stopped my pen just above the o. I asked Easton what the name of that letter was. He said, “O.” I explained that instead of making the short sound, /o/, the e tells the o to say its name, /oh/, and that it changes the word from /h/-/o/-/p/ to /h/-/oh/-/p/, hope.
With just a pen and a notebook, my grandson learned to read the words tube, robe, dude, ripe, time, made, Pete, and more. He even read sentences that said things like Dogs can bite.
He still needs support. And because he has mild dyslexia, it takes him a smidge longer to process this work; but he’s absolutely a reader.
You know, he’d first asked me if he could play a game on my phone. Instead, we had a great time of learning with just a pen and a little notebook.
Practical Grammar
I had never been a “Swiftie.” It wasn’t my thing, and I was just fine with that.
But then I saw this reaction video on Tik Tok where a couple listened to a particular Taylor Swift song for the first time, and the caption said, "NOW we understand why people love Taylor Swift."
You know what? Now I understand too.
Not too long after that, Swift’s newest album came out. I gave it a listen after it’d been released for a week or so, and (though I know there’s controversy about her,
and this album, and the many inappropriate lyrics—especially considering her typical younger audience) I love it. For a few days, it was almost all I listened to.
Did you realize that we’d just shared a Book Bums newsletter referencing Ophelia in August? You can check it out by clicking the link.
Anyway, one of my favorite songs on the album is “Eldest Daughter.”
I always say that I love artists who make you feel what they feel, and I felt this song.
Here’s the grammar tip:
We use the superlative eldest for the oldest person in a family or other closely related group, and oldest for any other person, object, or thing that has existed for the longest time.
I would say, "My eldest granddaughter’s cheer squad earned the grand champion ranking this weekend!”
I could also so, “No, she is not the oldest girl on her squad.”
I might also say “The Lebanon City School District was officially established in 1853, making it among the oldest schools in the state.” (Cincinnati Public, 1829 and Lockland, 1851)
The same rule applies to the comparatives elder and older.
News from Book Bums
We want to honor our commitment to get our students to grade level expectations just as quickly as possible, and though it doesn’t seem possible, the school year is coming to its halfway point in January. We’re going to keep our students in their sessions just as much as we’re able across these next couple of months. We don’t want our students to lose momentum or any hard-earned gains by missing too many sessions, but we will be closing quite a few days. If your family will be traveling, please discuss with your tutors if you’d like to make up missed sessions. Dr. Christy may even be available to substitute for tutors who will be traveling!
Additionally, we are trying to get a handwriting workshop or two in over the holiday break. Interested? Email Dr. Christy at christy@bookbums.com.
Book Bums will be closed on Wednesday, November 26th and 27th,
December 24th, 25th, and 31st as well as January 1st.
Tips for Teachers
There are lots of “experts” out there now when it comes to literacy instruction that embraces the reading science. There are books being sold, podcasts being consumed, social media folks acting like they know what they’re talking about, and, God bless them, teachers who are just trying to figure things out using the “not so hot” resources purchased by their districts that they must “use with fidelity.”
But our results aren’t looking so great. Not in Ohio. Not in our nation.
What’s the problem? Is the reading science wrong?
It is not.
I am only one expert, and I’m really low down on the list of who’s who in the science of reading movement. Outside of Book Bums, I haven’t expanded my reach much beyond SW Ohio.
But I’ve been doing this thing for twenty years and counting, and I know what I’m talking about.
We demonstrate outstanding gains at Book Bums with every single student who completes our Foundations for Literacy (FFL) phonics program. And our Little Letter Learners (LLL) has been a tremendous success as well.
Meanwhile, many folks are getting it wrong and, worse, they’re leading others astray.
One local school district is reading a book about phonics instruction that so misses the mark that, since I finished reading it, I vacillate between anger and losing heart.
The data, below, are for the students in my classroom my final year as a public-school educator. My principal placed every single struggling reader in my class, but I had requested some highflyers, too, as you can see in the data below. By the year’s end, 100% of my students (many on IEPs, Reading Improvement Plans, 504s, etc.) made grade level benchmark.
Even my high scoring students made outstanding gains, so my FFL curriculum is not just for remedial students.
*Note: Student W (who did not make benchmark) moved into my classroom, from another school in the same district, in the spring.
Teachers, if you’re frustrated, email me. I can help.
Just for Fun
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