quick trick: the days of the week with vitamin C!

Welcome, welcome new vitamin boxes to our table and to our every day!

I have yet to find a better way than this to talk about the day of the week each morning and to make sure that my little ones take their C's.

After about two years of using our trusty pill holders, they've finally succumbed to the wear and tear of little fingers opening and closing them every day.

So while we were out a few weeks ago, doing our back-to-school shopping, we picked up brand-new pill containers, something we use every every single day, especially from September through May.

• Quick Trick--Teach the Days of the Week with Vitamin C: Not really with Vitamin C, but thanks to the Vitamin C my kiddos take every day (or every other day) during the school year, we've had a reason to do a little Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday-talking every day.
  

For the last few years we've been using super-inexpensive pill boxes filled with Maddy, Owen, and Cora's daily vitamins to emphasize the days of the week. On Sunday nights, I usually filled each person's pill box so it would be ready for Monday morning.

Owen's new pill box is pretty schweeeet.

When Cora was too young for vitamins, I put a Cheerio in each day's box, and I put a half or whole daily vitamin in Maddy and Owen's, depending on their age. And every other day--and every day during the wintertime--I'd add a vitamin C.

At some point during breakfast, they take their vitamins. It has been such a great reminder of the day of the week, and even though my kiddos don't know how to spell each day's name, they know which box to open according to the letter the day begins with and which box is next in line.

While I throw down my coffee, we look at the newspaper and check out the weather, talking about that day's weather and what the rest of the week has in store for us. We count the sunny's, rainy's, cloudy's, and (Owen's personal fave) the sunny-rainy's in the week's weather outlook, using each day's name when we can: Oh no! It may be rainy on Saturday, and that's when Maddy and Owen have soccer! Uh-oh....soccer in the rain! May be crazy. . . or, It's going to be sunny today but sunny-rainy on Thursday. We better get outside today, then!

And then we check out everyone's school calendars. We read Maddy's special schedule to make sure she knows whether she'll be singing, computing, searching for books, playing with paint, or running in the gym that day. We talk about Owen's morning at pre-K (if it's a day he attends), and we talk about Cora's morning at preschool. We look at which student is bringing snack, what book the class will be reading, and what topic they'll cover.

We chat about what we're looking forward to and what we have questions about. And then we move onward through our day. . .

Sure, some mornings we hit glitches and we forget about vitamins and don't have time to look at the day's schedules, let alone talk about what that day's weather will be. But on our regular mornings, this is how we roll.

And now--with these snazzy, shiny, name-clad pill boxes, with lids that make a loud 'click!' when they're opened or closed because they're just that new--we're just that much more excited to take our C's each day.

fun fall grid games = math and literacy learning!

We love grid games over here.

It doesn't matter what's on the board, what we use to count spaces, or what we use as place holders; my kids will play grid games any day, any time.

Don't get me wrong--we don't spend hours playing these games. They're not all that exciting if you ask me, and there's really no strategy involved whatsoever.

But grid games are great to pull out every few weeks--or month-- for a little counting help, that one-to-one correspondence idea, and to practice the all-important left-right return sweep. The left-right return sweep mirrors the movement of words read on a page, so it's a necessary concept of print all kiddos need to know.

Here's how we've played with grid games--our new and fall-happy Leafy Grid Game after we've been picking up an old fave, Hats, Cats, and Pumpkins for the last few days!

• Leafy Grid Games: The leaves are a-fallin' over here in our neck of the woods, so I helped myself to some clip art and made the Leafy Grid Game a little different than our previous game boards in that each column of this game features a different leaf. Fancy.

The Leafy Grid Games are here to download as pdf if you and your kids are into playin'.

Cora rolled a '1', so she added a Cheerio to the next leaf--a birch.

I added a maple leaf, an oak leaf, a ginkgo leaf, a birch leaf, and pine needles. I wanted a different object in each column this time because the last time we played the Sunny Rainy Grid Game, I noticed that Cora got hung up with where to with her place markers, but she didn't want to play with the 'easy' board. I was anxious to see how this 'new' version would go.

So while we were at the park this morning, I asked Owen and Cora to pick up five of the most beautiful leaves they could find. I told them we'd need them for a new game later that day. They really loved searching for beautiful leaves--it was a great way to move into the Leafy Grid Game later on.

I'm trying to have Owen and Cora play games while Maddy works on homework, and it's haaard because Maddy wants to play our games. So Maddy joined us in round one, especially because it was snack time and our place markers were Cheerios and there was counting involved and we all just love having Maddy do anything with us when she's finally home from school.

Before we got started, Owen and Cora matched up the leaves they found as best they could (we only found maples and some mystery ones--worthy of some research later this week!), and then we got rolling.

I had Owen and Maddy use the double dice--a large die with a smaller one inside. They added both numbers and then covered that many leaves on their board. Cora used a die with numbers 1-6 on each side the first time, and the second and third time she used a die with dots. I like the dot-faced die because it requires more counting practice, but with Cora, I try to go with whatever suits her fancy.

Maddy wanted in on game one. Hooray!

So we played a few rounds, ate a ton of Cheerios, and after round 2 3/4, Cora was d-o-n-e even though Owen could have played until round ten. Soon, though, he picked up his Hidden Pictures, and Maddy and I moved onto her spelling words and math packet, all before they played a crazy game of bug-city with our little plastic bugs and Maddy ran off to soccer practice with Coach Dad.

And that's that--just a little bit of sneaky learning under the guise of a little leafy grid game.

Still working on how best to manage this new and nutty fall schedule, but we're trying. . . just like everyone else, we're chugging along, doing the very best we can.


Want to throw in a Grid Game now and again? Here are just a few. Read on if you really want to know why Grid Games deserve some love:

• Rainy-Sunny Grid Games
• Open Grid Games (for stamps or stickers or letter practice)
• Cats, Hats, and Pumpkins Grid Games
  
• Bunny Grid Game
  

lowercase letter hunt and sort

Our first super crazy fall week has hit us.

Hard.

With double Back-to-School Nights, double tutoring, and meetings, on top of a mid-week trip to the Newseum to learn about some pretty awesome new video games, this one's been a doozey. And there's only more fun to come at the end of the week.

So we've been trying to take it easy and enjoy the last of our really warm afternoons outside, trying to laugh a lot, and in the end, just hold on to our sanity.

But the ole bag of Alphabet Cards have been hanging around. So Owen's been rockin' his lowercase letters. . .

• Lowercase Letter Hunt and Sort: The part of ABC Hide-and-Seek that Owen loves most is the seeking. But he also sometimes begs to do the hiding. And even though every single time he hides the cards, he hides them so well we can never find them all, I let him do it once in a while.
  

So when he insisted in the middle of this very nutty week--when he begged and pleaded--to do the hiding, I let him have a go.

First he had to count the lowercase letters to make sure there were 26. (We couldn't remember if the last time we used them we found them all, and a little extra counting never hurts. Luckily, we had 'em.)

And then he hid the cards.

And of course, Cora and I couldn't find them all.

So what should have taken us about 10 minutes max took us 20 minutes. But it felt like an hour.

So while Cora and I searched and searched and searched and searched, Owen started to put the lowercase alphabet letters in order.

And the job was a little more difficult for him than I anticipated--and hoped. He got stuck on the traditional toughies--b, d, g and p. (Looks like I'll have to pull out our Fun Font Sort next week!)

And when we finally--finally!--found all of the letters, we did a little jig of joy. And then we ran to let Brady out then ran to get our shoes on then ran to get our water bottles, and Owen ran to get his helmet on then he ran to grab his scooter, and Cora ran to the stroller, and I ran to the pantry for an on-the-way snack so that we could kinda sorta hopefully try to be on time to pick Maddy up from school.

And that was that. A little super-sneaky alphabet learning made for a teeny bit of time but that took waaaay too long for our day.

We should have left the cards hidden, but with our luck, Brady would have found them and called them a snack.

abc cards and clothespin match

Being able to simply recognize and name the letters of the alphabet is not the key to absolute reading success.

However, research has proven that when children can identify letter names before they actually hit big-time school, it's a strong predictor of later reading achievement (Bradley & Jones, "Sharing Alphabet Books in Early Childhood Classrooms," in February 2007's The Reading Teacher). I'd say that playing games with the ole letters of the alphabet is well worth our time.

So we've been doing a lot with our trusty Alphabet Cards lately, so it was only natural that when I (finally!) took down our Summertime Fun Cards to keep them for next year, we'd need to figure out a way to use that black string still tied to our railing. . .

• ABC Cards and Clothespin Match: We had the bag of Alphabet Cards just hanging around since Owen and Cora have insisted on playing some form of ABC Hide-and-Seek almost every day for the last ten days.

So I decided to mix things up a bit, pull out a huge pack of clothespins that I had picked up at the store a while back, and voila! ABC Cards and Clothespin Match was born!

While I wrote the uppercase letters on the tops of clothespins, Owen and Cora sorted the uppercase letter cards from the lowercase letter cards. Such a simple but worthwhile activity!--we could have stopped there and called it a day and both kiddos would have had a little bit o' alphabet practice, but we trucked on. . .

And then we set the lowercase letters aside, and Cora started to 'hunt' for the first three letters of the alphabet while Owen put the clothespins in order on the string.

Cora hunts for 'A, B, and C'. . .

. . . while Owen puts the clothespins in alphabetical order.

When all of the alphabet clothespins were lined up, I asked Cora, Okay, let's get these Alphabet Cards up on their matching clothespins. Can you find the letter A or B for me? (Always giving two choices sets kiddos up for success. . . )

She had the letter 'A' ready, so I asked her to clip it to the correct clothespin. She really, really, really loved this part, and clothespin pinching is great fine motor work for tiny fingers!

Each time she picked up an Alphabet Card, she'd match it to the clothespin to make sure she was correct. Then she'd pinch, add the card, and move on.

Cora checks her 'H'--card to clothespin.

After about 'J', Cora was d-o-n-e, which was fine. I was really excited that she was interested that long, to be honest, and I was (literally!) dancing around the living room because she did have quite a bit of success in finding the first few letters.

Owen picked up where Cora left off, and he matched the rest of the alphabet with very little problem. We are moving onto bigger and better things for him, but I am always--always!--down for practicing these way-too-important letters any time he's up for it!

By the time the whole alphabet was hung, it really looked beautiful, and my truly nerdy teacher heart stopped every time one of the kids walked by and sang the ABC Song.

Cora has been doing it a few times a day since it's been up, and although she gets all crazy around LMNOP (like so many kids!), she usually picks up again at 'Q'. And if I'm close by when she does it, I just sing it with her and point to the letters as I do it. That's it!

But boo-hoo! the letter garland had to come down today so that I could paint the railing (a looong overdue project. . . ), but it'll go right back up when the paint dries. And for good reason, too--this super-sneaky learning proved to reap big benefits both in fine motor skill practice and in alphabet letter recognition.

Although simply recognizing alphabet letter names is only one facet of truly knowing and understanding the letters of the alphabet, it's an easy--and clearly FUN!--way of helping to build a foundation for future learning in our kiddos.

just 1 book: little house on the prairie

The just 1 book feature is a little something new over here, sharing our love of literature and the power of books. Guest writers are invited to share a book that moved him or her:

'all it took was just 1 book'. . . to get you thinking, get you moving, get you arts-and-crafting, get you talking, get you writing, get you counting, get you traveling, get you thinking, get you cookin', dancin' or dreamin'.

So, I'm over the moon excited to kick off the just 1 book series with a guest post by a fellow educator and lover of hands-on learning. . .

Vanessa Levin is an Early Childhood Specialist with more than 18 years of experience working with young children and educators. Since 2001, Vanessa has provided the early childhood community with an invaluable resource through her popular and helpful website, Pre-K Pages. She is a leading expert on creating developmentally appropriate activities for young children with an emphasis on fun, hands-on learning. Vanessa’s collection of children’s books currently fills her entire garage and is threatening to take over her house.

• just 1 book: guest post
  

How Laura Ingalls Wilder Taught Me to Read,
by Vanessa Levin

In the fall of 1975, Laura Ingalls Wilder taught me how to read; with a little help from my mother of course. I had recently turned five and my aunt Johanna had given me a copy of Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder for my birthday. My mother, who was dealing with a difficult pregnancy, had to find a way to keep me occupied in the afternoons until my father came home. A self-described bibliophile and later in life a children’s librarian, my mother devised a simple plan that involved— you guessed it: books.

I was hooked after the first chapter. Laura’s world and her adventures completely enthralled me. I couldn’t get enough of Little House on the Prairie; I longed to be just like Laura and even took to calling my parents Ma and Pa. I curled up next to my mother every afternoon and watched as she slid her bookmark down each row of text as she read aloud. I loved hearing new and strange words like papoose, harness, and hatchet— these were words that didn’t appear in the picture books I was used to. Soon, I began to notice a pattern, many of the sentences started with the same words. I would point and ask “Is that the word the?” It wasn’t long before I had learned to read many of the simple, repetitive words that appeared at the beginning of sentences.

Next, I moved on to other words, listening for the beginning letter sounds in the sentences. I would point and ask questions such as, “Does that word say horse?” I was thrilled when I was right and when I wasn’t my mother would patiently say, “No, that says house, the words house and horse look similar,” and she would point out the differences to me. Sometimes when my mother wasn’t looking, I would pick up the book and try to read it by myself. When she realized I could read most of the simple words and had memorized some of the larger ones, she started having me read a few sentences here and there. By the time we reached the end of the book, I was a reader. For Christmas that year I received the boxed set of Laura Ingalls Wilder books and embarked on my own journey as a bibliophile.

My experience of becoming a reader has helped shape my philosophy of teaching as an early childhood educator. I firmly believe that young children need to be engaged and challenged. They can learn anything if it is presented in fun, developmentally appropriate ways. I have found that if you take time to get to know your children and make connections with them you can find out what really motivates them— this is the key to real learning. I was clearly motivated by the language and writing in Little House on the Prairie as well as the quality time spent with my mother.

Unfortunately, the at-risk students I work with have not had the privilege of lap learning like I did. They often come to me with deficits in oral language and very limited vocabularies. I have had to resort to other strategies to reach my students, but the end result is still the same, they make great progress and learn to love books and reading just as much as I do. If you’re wondering how you can motivate young children visit my website to learn more about the strategies I use.

Thanks a ton,Vanessa, and many thanks to Laura Ingalls Wilder for getting you 'hooked' on reading and inspiring your view of early childhood education! Looking forward to reading how others have been moved by books in the next just 1 book post. . .

And if you're interested in guest posting for the just 1 book series, please let me know. Email me at teachmama@verizon.net

digraphs and blends: search, find, and rhyme game

It's no secret that digraphs and blends are tough for some kiddos to enunciate and hear. These tricky, unique sounds are difficult for little mouths to create, and it's known that speech sounds come with time.

But if we can find reasons to say words with these sounds, play games with the sounds, and give our kiddos opportunities to practice them, it's a win-win! (And some seriously sneaky learning. . . )

My two little sweets, Owen and Cora, both have enunciation struggles that I never experienced with Maddy. Although Maddy was over 2 years before she started to talk--seriously!--the words she spoke were as clear as day.

It was like she was waiting until she could say the words correctly before she'd say them at all.

Owen spoke early and quickly, using any word he could any way he could, and to this day, he still has a difficult time with a handful of tricky sounds. Cora followed in Owen's footsteps, trying to keep up with everyone else language-wise. She's only three, sure, but contends with a little lisp and often exchanges her r's for w's.

My only point in sharing this is to explain why I have been searching for a few new games to get us playing with those tricky, tricky digraphs and blends. This one is a winner.

• Digraphs and Blends Search, Find, and Rhyme Game: A few weeks ago, when I started the quest for fun ways of playing with blend and digraph sounds, I found some really awesome sites with great resources. The Florida Center for Reading Research site totally rocks, and the Blend and Digraph Picture Cards I used for this game came from the FCCR site.

shower, flower and chain, train cards
(Cora, my little DC gal, called the train the 'Metro'.)

I used the cards from the Change My Word Game and switched things up a bit, as I know that Owen and Cora like to get up and moving, and they love hide-and-seek.

So after lunch, I said, Who's up for a new hide-and-seek game? In this one, you have to find secret rhyme cards, though, so it might be too tough for you two. Should I put it away and try it another day, maybe, or are you ready for it today?

They convinced me they were both ready, so I told them what to do: I held up a folded yellow card, and I said, There are a bunch of yellow cards hidden in the living room. You have to find a card, open it, and then find its partner rhyme card. Tough! I know. But each card has a pair. Ready? Find 'em!

Owen and Cora both sped around picking up the folded yellow cards, not opening each one but rather gathering all they could at once. No biggie. (Not what I intended, but it seemed to work for them.)

When they had found all of the cards, I said, Okay, bring all of the yellow cards here, and we'll find the rhyme partners together.

Owen found the flower.

They unfolded the cards, and they identified the pictures (and here's my big mistake--I should have said the names of all of the pictures before the cards were hidden!). The pictures could have been different things; Cora called the 'train' a 'Metro', the 'shower' they called 'water' and the 'chick' a 'bird'. Not the end of the world, but it may have made their rhyming easier.

So it really ended up as us all matching the rhyming cards together on the table: Hmmm, this is a 'flower'. What rhymes with 'flower'? 'Flower', 'train' or 'flower', 'shower'? Or, This is a 'sheep'. 'Sheep', 'stick'? 'Sheep', 'sleep'? 'Sheep', 'chick'?

The game cards were found, unfolded, and matched!

Eventually all of the cards were matched. We read through the rhymes together, and they asked to play again. A good sign for a new game, right? Yes!

My goal for this game was not to force Owen and Cora into correct pronunciation of words they already have a difficult time saying; rather, my focus was really just to give them a chance to hear the sounds in words, play with the sounds a bit with rhyming, and give them the chance to try to say the words if they wanted. That's it. And I wanted it fun, I wanted them up and moving, and I wanted them to want to play.

When Owen or Cora--or any little person, for that matter--mispronounce a word, I don't make them try and try and try again until they say it correctly. I simply repeat the word the way it should be pronounced in a natural paraphrasing of what they just said.

And if the time's right, if the kids are in the mood, and if there's no audience, I'll maybe explain how they can make the sound if they want to try it. For the 'th' sound, Owen and I have talked about where the sound is formed--with the tongue flat on his top teeth, not with the tongue on the roof of his mouth where the 's' is made. And if they get it, great; if not, no worries.

Need some digraph or blend games? Try:

• Digraph Shopping
  
• Tricky, Tricky Digraph Sort
• Just Owen and Me, Sortin' S's and T's
• Follow-the-Path Game: P, D, T, S beginning sounds
• S-Blends Bingo

We'll be doing more blend and digraph gaming in the next few weeks. . . any great ideas? Please let me know!

abc hide-and-seek 2.0

September is a month of celebrations!

A new school year! Two sweet cousins' birthdays!

And finally, after 41 weeks (and a day or two!), our newest family member decided to join us--my sister and her husband had their first bambino this week, and we're over the moon excited!

So between soccer practices, playdates, back-to-school nights, tutoring, and a recent trip to and from PA to welcome this sweet bundle to our family, we have been sneaking in a bit of learning, trying some new games and re-visiting some old ones.

To pass the time before I could jump in the car to see my sister and new nephew, Owen, Cora, and I rocked an oldie but goodie: hide-and-seek abc style. And. They. Loooved. It. So cool to sneak a little bit of learning into even a short span of time!

• ABC Hide-And-Seek 2.0: I pulled out the box of totally mix-matched games and resources and held up the bag of alphabet cards. I said, Oh my gosh! ABC Hide-and-Seek! Who wants to play this in our new living room!? (Not really new, but just re-arranged, so kind of new to us...).

The letter 'A' gets comfy in our sofa.

Owen and Cora both jumped up and yelled, Me! I do! (And I am so not kidding. These two will play any type of hide-and-seek game I throw at them. It's a riot.)

So I said, Okay, you two hang out in the red rug room until I hide them. I'll call you when I'm ready.

I hid the ABC Cards which you can download as a pdf if you'd like. (Or if you want some fancier ABC Cards, check out my Sticky Fingers post.)

Cora alphabetizes!

They waited. And I hid.

And when they arrived, I gave them the usual instructions: The rule is that you call out the letter as you find it. Yell it loudly, and then hold onto it tightly. When all the letters are found, we'll put them in alphabetical order. Ready? GO!

So they ran around our new (newish) living room, finding letters and yelling their names. And when we thought all of the letters were found, I said, Whoever has the uppercase 'A' put it here, and let's get these letters in order!

Owen plopped down the 'A' and we went from there. Owen and Cora both spread out their 'found' letters in a big pile, and after a few runs through the 'ABC Song' they worked together and put the alphabet in order.

(Without the 'U' which we absolutely could not locate until after dinner when Owen found it under the leg of the table--I'm such a good hider!)

Owen does some quick re-arranging to get the ABC Cards in order!

And in ten or so minutes, it was over. Just a teeny little something to play with the alphabet before books and rest and before the rest of our day.

I am finding that I need to do more to keep Cora interested and engaged than I ever did with Maddy or Owen. Usually when we're up and moving, she's game. Or sometimes if she's tired, our activity needs to be really low-key and require next to no physical activity whatsoever. Depends on the weather. Gosh, this one keeps me on my toes!

When I first began writing teach mama, Maddy had just turned 5, Owen was 3 1/2, and Cora was almost 2. Life was busy, and I was only stepping into sharing the way I added a little bit of learning into our every day. Now, with Owen having just hit the big #5 and Cora 3 1/2--and Maddy a solid 6 1/2--I'm going to start pulling out the old tricks 2.0. And why not?

We do a whole lot over here that I don't share. But lately I've noticed we have been revisiting many of the super-fun games Maddy, Owen, and I played way back when Cora was an everyday napper and the three of us had that guaranteed quiet time to hang out, play games, and have fun learning without a toddler toddling around. So I'm excited in the next few weeks and months to do a bit of looking back, linking back, and re-vamping some of our faves and sharing our sneaky learning over here. Hooray!

just 1 book feature (and book pack giveaway!)

I'm so excited to be partnering with my friends at Scholastic to launch a new feature on teach mama: just 1 book.

In honor of International Literacy Day and inspired by the many books that have moved our family to try new activities, new recipes, new ideas, and reach new heights, I'm starting a new party here at teach mama. And the great people at Scholastic have offered to put together a special, catered-just-for-your-family book pack to kick off this launch!

Here's the skinny:

• 'just 1 book': Starting out as a feature 2-3 times a month, 'just 1 book' will give everyone--every reader, friend, teacher, student, author, anyone!--a chance to share a book that started something for him or her.

'all it took was just 1 book'. . . to get you thinking, get you moving, get you arts-and-crafting, get you talking, get you writing, get you counting, get you traveling, get you thinking, get you cookin', dancin' or dreamin'. You tell us.

This feature will allow guest writers to see their name in lights (well, kind of . . . ) while giving a shout-out to one special book. Really, anything goes here, and the sky's the limit.

I know that we're not the only family inspired by books--old ones and new ones alike--and that I'd love for everyone to have an opportunity to share a little bit about the book that holds a special spot for them. In doing so, hopefully our own worlds and communities may open up a bit as we'll all be made aware of new titles and new subjects, new ideas and new characters, new authors and new illustrators. Everyone loves new books for our families or classrooms.

Here are some questions to ponder if you're interested in guest posting for the 'just 1 book' feature:

• Does your family love one particular series or author? Why?
  
• Have your children or students asked you to read one particular book over and over and over?
• Can you remember one book that moved you as a child? As a teen? As a teacher or parent?
• Has one book inspired your family to try something new, go somewhere new, or think something new?
• Have you written--or illustrated--a book that you love so much you want to share with the world?
• Has one book shaped the way you parent or the way you teach?
  
• Are you continually awe-struck with the power that one book holds?
  

Want to share your book? Everyone's invited! Email me at teachmama@verizon.net if you want to share yours here.

Yes, Magic School Bus fans--I met the real Ms. Frizzle!

I had the awesome opportunity to spend one glorious morning at a brunch at the Scholastic headquarters during the BlogHer conference weekend. At the brunch, we learned about so many of Scholastic's great programs--their Book Clubs, their new releases, and so many other great things that I'll soon share.

Scholastic, for 90 years now, has celebrated books and learning, and their latest global literacy campaign, Read Every Day, Lead a Better Life, makes me want to dance. Read Every Day, Lead a Better Life "underscores the importance of reading to better prepare children who will need strong literacy skills to survive and succeed in the 21st century".

To do this, Scholastic wants every single person possible to "work together to bring reading and deeper understanding to all children around the globe". Awesome. A campaign celebrating literacy is a campaign worth supporting.

In order to support Read Every Day, Lead a Better Life, check out the Scholastic site:

Parents and Teachers can:

• read it--read Scholastic's Reading Bill of Rights
• watch it--watch the chairman of Scholastic reading of the Reading Bill of Rights
  
• live it--find out what you can do to ensure that children 'Read Every Day and Live a Better Life'
  

Classrooms can:

• register to participate in a live webcast with Taylor Swift on October 27, 2010
• enter the Read Every Day essay contest (deadline 9/20/10)
  

Everyone can:

• share which 5 books shaped their lives (more info coming in October--and until then, why not get started by sharing one of them over here?
  

Many, many thanks to Scholastic who has offered to kick off 'just 1 book' with a customized book pack for one lucky reader's family. The winner will send Scholastic the ages and interests of the children in your family, and they'll put together something especially for you! HOW cool? What a way to celebrate literacy--

Do you want to win a specially customized just-for-your-family book pack from Scholastic? Here's how:

• Leave a comment here (along with your email address) with the name of one book that has inspired you or your family;
  

OR:

• Visit the Scholastic Read Every Day. Lead a Better Life site and leave a comment explaining one Reading Action Step that you plan to take in order to "ensure that children 'Read Every Day and Live a Better Life'".

For extra entries, you can do both. Just let me know! And please leave your email so I can contact you if you win.

Contest closes next Friday, 09/16/10 at midnight, and the winner will be chosen by random.org.

I've got a handful of friends and authors (yes!) who are willing to guest post for 'just 1 book' and I hope that you'll consider writing one, too. I'm really looking forward to it, and I know others are as well.



fyi: Scholastic has kindly offered to provide the book pack for the winner's family, and they also provided the brunch and books for attendees back in August. They even wrangled Ms. Frizzle and Word Girl for the brunch and that's no joke. This is an un-sponsored post, and the opinions are all my own.