Make Your Own Interactive Memory Book

This year, after visiting my nephew for three weeks, I left with him a 'memory book'. This book I have left blank spaces under each of our amazing things that we have done, for him to fill in the pictures. His drawing has improved so much over the year. He now makes representational shapes that really match the object he is drawing. He made an incredible Beluga Whale this summer that will now hang in my office. Hopefully over the days, until I see him next, he will make pictures that match the things that we did. Fortunately, I also snapped a few photos that I can bring and paste into the memory book as well. But why not make it interactive!

Hope you are enjoying your summer with the kids in your lives!

Observation Journals

My nephew, sister and I recently went to the science museum/aquarium in Burlington. There were wonderful fish, frogs and reptiles to observe. There was a wonderful hands on project: dissecting owl pellets. My nephew discovered lots of skulls and bones! In the resource center there were other tanks and animals, along with books and puppets and the like to really get another up close vision of wildlife.

At the tank there was a snake inside. Interesting enough, there was a journal right next to it. It was filled with comments and observations and questions from many different visitors of different ages. We looked and observed not only in the tank but we reread all the comments made across time about this snake. It was fascinating!

What a wonderful idea. You could have a notebook/sketch book set up in your home, next to a plant, a terrarium or aquarium in your home. You and your child could observe and note take. When you have guests come to your house you can urge them to "leave a note" in your observation journal. What a fun thing to keep- just like a real scientist. What a neat thing to look back over and read!

Dancing and Singing Your Own Tunes

The nephew, sister and I drove up to Mont Tremblant and we invited our friends, Mommy R and Big Girl Jas with us! Up in our chalet- over looking the mountains and lake we were granted several dancing and singing performances from the kids. An almost 8 year old is heaven to a 3 year old! They had such a blast. BGJ would take the nephew in another room, and "teach him" his steps and the song that they were performing. In about 2 minutes the little nephew had to learn a lot, or just follow her lead. We were serenaded by, "These are a few of my favorite things..." and "I'm am sixteen going seventeen..." and "I close my eyes, pull back the curtain..."

I have to say my favorites were the ones that they made up. BGJ had a few that she sang. One I think was titled, "Swan Lake". My nephew did one in English and one in French, both I believe titled, "Fire Truck"/ "Camion Pompier". Can you imagine what happens in that song/rap? Yes, lots of crashing!

Everyday was a series of songs that we got to watch and appreciate. What a nice time to pass together (and bond!). Writing is a great way to hold on to your memories. You can write your stories down in a memory notebook- or why not your new songs! Who knows, you may have an album in the works!

Letters and Mail

After spending a nice weekend or little vacation with my nephew always sparks a need to remain in communication with him, even long distance. My nephew, as you know, loves to 'skype' his long distance family!

Growing up in Michigan, my dad and I always enjoyed checking the mail for great letters sent from far away. my great-aunt Odie and I for years used to send each other letters. Letters these days, through the US Mailing system is called, snail mail. I was thinking about how nice it would be for my nephew to experience receiving mail, and reading a handwritten letter.

So I've decided, post-trip/visitation, I would send a series of letters for him- via snail mail. My mom made him his own, 'mail box' inside to keep the letters by 'his desk'. Now my nephew has his stacks of letters I've sent him so that he can remember our 'times' together and think of me whenever he sees them and reads them.

Send your loved ones letters! They can hold on to your words, thoughts, and memories even when you live long distance!

The Joy of Inquiry: Ask Questions Close to Home

What is that? Why does it look that way? What is it doing? Is it always going to look like that is going to change?

Curiosity is wonderful and contaigious. We want children to be curious about the world and ask many questions about it! This is what scientists, writers, historians, doctors, and mechanics do. They raise questions, gather up data and observations and make guesses and research some more.

Why not take a walk and study something in your neighborhood together: a plot of earth, a construction site, a series of stars in the sky or even a tree. Look at. Observe it together. Raise questions. Try and answer them. Read about the topic. Ask other people about the topic. Visit your "something" once a week (or month) to see how it has changed.

You can do the same with a photograph or a series of

photographs. Maybe it is a photograph about the natural world or maybe one from history. You can follow the same inquiry method with these text sources as well!

Looking closely, raising questions, searching for answers, and then looking again is a great way to capture children's attention and to learn and build content knowledge about the world. It also is a great bonding experience- learning about a topic together!

"Is that tree beginning to bud. I think I see a nest in the tree. Is that a bird's nest in the tree or is it for a squirrel? Will it have big green leaves?"

Maybe you will want to study to study how plants change in spring and summer or you will want to study how effective recycling is in your town. Maybe you have questions or just interests in your immediate vicinity. Show kids how to turn their world into sets of questions that they can eventually answer and research together. Revisit the photographs or come back and visit the same pond two weeks later. What has changed and what is the same?

Whatever it is, show kids the joy of first hand research! Show them the joy and necessity that we all have as communitty members to be inquisitive and informed!

Enjoy the studying. Enjoy the reads.

Host a Literary Party: Poetry Open Mic

It's poetry month. Why not celebrate by hosting a literary party! What kind of literary party? Why not host an "Open Mic Night" at your house. Get a microphone (it could be from one of those toy karaoke machines) and gather up all your favorite poems. Invite your family and friends to your house. Ask them to bring their favorite poems. They may even want to bring one that they have written.

Invite the children and the adults, one by one, to get up on the microphone and read. Celebrate by snapping fingers. Have some paper and pens available, in case you and your friends are inspired to write. Provide some snacks and refreshments while you listen and are moved by the words you hear.

You may even decide to video tape it so that you cans end it to friends and family and everyone is able to watch and re-watch the special evening at home.

Celebrate poetry, celebrate the spoken and written word. Happy Poetry Month to You!

Traveling with a PreTeen: Facebook, Don't Leave Home Without It

Facebook is literacy too. So the other night, Auntie CC, her three nieces, AB and I snuggled up on the sofa. We got ready to watch a movie and eat popcorn all night! Cozy and comfy in our jamas, we all started to get settled into our evening's plan. Pre-Teenager A grabbed Auntie CC’s computer, as the rest of us were gathering up pillows to watch our film. Needless to say, in trying to orchestrate all of our needs, it took a bit of time. PTA didn’t want to waste her time- she was ready. She clicked on to Facebook in a heartbeat and narrated the rest of the evening online with 20 of her closest friends. Creating and reading status updates, IM-ing and sending emails are all part of a teenager's literacy life. Not only did PTA type the entire movie and then some, I think she was literally on FB for a four hours straight last night!

Facebook is literacy. There is a ton of literary potential inside of the social networking. Literacy is all about networking in social circles. You read and write with friends. At one point PTA asked, “What should I write about now on FB? What should we talk about?” What an opportunity not to be missed. Don't worry, I suggested a few topics for her and her friends!

Don’t be afraid of Facebook- engage with it, embrace it! Get to know it yourself so that when you talk to your pre-teens and teens you are “in” on the conversation!

Enjoy the text, enjoy the read.

Writing is the New Reading

Auntie CC and I were having a great couple of days with the nieces and god kids! Before we went out on our next excursion, we had some time to kill. While Auntie CC and Teenager A were getting ready (Oh, how aunties love Spring Break) Little A and Little K were hanging out with AB and I.

Little K drew a portrait. I asked her, "Is that Auntie CC?" It was a portrait of a girl with long hair in a cute little red dress with heels. Little K said, “No. I don’t know who it is.”

I suggested to Little K, "You could make her a character! You could write a book or better yet a comic strip!" She loved the idea, but with trepidation. How was she going to write a comic strip? She never had done one before. "Isn’t that too hard?" she said me. Many 7 year olds would love the opportunity to write their own fiction. All they need is a little structure and some quick encouragement. I showed Little K how she could fold her pages, number her boxes, and where to draw and write her tale of the Lady in Red! She took off and began to write.

Little A, 3 years younger, in pre K, also wanted to make her stories. She quickly ran over to me and showed me her story, “The Vampire Girl and the Vampire Dog”.

“Wonderful!” I noted, “Now what about the words? How will we remember that is what it is?” Little A said that she would just tell everyone! I smiled. “I think you should write the words in case someone wants to read it and you are not here! Or you could give it to Auntie CC as a gift!”

“I want to give it to Auntie CC!”

“So, let’s write her some words,” I suggested.

She looked at me and said, “But I don’t know how to write it. Can you write it?”

I told her that she could and that Auntie CC would looooove it!”

I helped LA stretch out the first word. I said the word super slow so she could hear each sound and then she recorded the letter. LA has great letter/sound knowledge but lacks the confidence to do it on her own. For her second word she looked at me to do the same. This time I had her say each sound slowly. With hesitation she said the word slowly and then looked up at me and say, "G?" I confirmed with a slight nod and smile. She continued through and when she got to the end of the word, I gave her a high five and showed her how she did both on her own! Then she went on!

She made three stories before Auntie CC and PTA came back ready for our next trip. Little A and Little K showed their auntie their "hard" yet "fun" work they did on their own!

Writing is fun! We just need to encourage and remember that making books is just as fun as reading them! Have fun writing some books together!

Traveling With a Pre-Teen:Reading and Writing in Cafes

For AB's thirteenth birthday this year, the two of us decided to fly across the country, to Seattle, to travel, site see, and read and write together! We started working on our itinerary in the airport so that we would know what we could expect to do each day- almost like a little list of hopeful accomplishments!

Each day we included looking for a new cafe so that we could read, her from her Kindle, me from my paperbacks. We also included each day sometime for AB to work on her writing and I could work on my blog.

AB loved the idea -both of sitting in cafes and reading and writing everyday. Luckily, here in Seattle, we have spectacular views, awesome natural world, fun activities, and a zillion cafes filled with other readers and writers.

We also planned a quick trip to Elliot Bay's Bookstore in Pioneer Square in Seattle. We are already running low on materials!

Happy reading and writing to you!

The Birthday Extravangaza

So you are wondering- how was the 3 year old's birthday? So much fun! It truly is amazing to see how my nephew has grown in just three short years. You hear all these statistics about intelligence and talking and the amount of words that some kids have by the time they enter kindergarten. Well, I can safely say, my nephew is in the 30,000,000 words category. Language is just exploding all around him!

On his birthday morning, we took him to the Imax movie at the science center in the old city of Montreal. There was film about the Space Station. My nephew sat through the whole film. Days later I could see what information stuck with him!

First of all, the count down and loud take off with the fire was the first thing he told his BFF, Toddler T, in daycare!

Then, as all the other kids were trying to put on their snowsuits (yes, it snows in March in Montreal), my nephew and Toddler T are laying in the middle of the hall on their bellies. "Don't lay down in the hall. Please sit up," called one of the teachers, en Francais. My nephew replied, "I'm not laying down. I am floating in space. I am an astronaut."

Then at home, when I got to babysit him one evening, my nephew gathered up a few things in his new "surfer's backpack" that Big Girl C and Baby E gave him for his birthday. "What are you going to do with the backpack," I asked. "It's not a backpack. It's my pack for space. I am putting on my suit to go walking and fixing our station. I need a few things." He gathered up his cell phone, so he could call his mama, he gathered up some blocks (that he said were apricots), and his little notebook I brought him with a pen. "What is your notebook for?" I inquired. "It's for you know... actually I need to make a list." He proceeded to make a list and then "called for help". "I need some equipment. Yeh and I need lots of things." He carefully made his list and then stuffed it into the pack!

What fun we had!

When it was time to go to bed, something that my nephew tries to avoid at all cost, he decided we would read! "Find a few books!" I told him. Well... he did. He brought over a stack of about 20 books. He turned to me and said, "Titi, first read all of these! Then I will do my doe-doe. (sleep in french)." I looked at the stack. I looked at nephew. I had to smile. What a clever boy! We snuggled up and read till he fell asleep. I Dream of Trains and Corduroy each got a couple of reads!

Enjoy your family! Enjoy the read.

Texting Titi

My nephew was down in Florida with Nana and Papa for the Pisces' birthdays. I was stuck in several storms up north! I got a text from Nana, thanking me for her birthday gift (chocolates- of which my nephew I think ate most). In honor of her birthday, I sent my nephew a book, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat. He wanted to thank me too. So he "texted" me as well.

" Rrrrrrsrsrsrsgsgghsjwwxtsjwy."

I think it means, Thank you Titi, I love you and miss you.

What a sweetie! My technologically savvy sweetie pie.

Encourage Kids to Write at Home: Get the Right Stationary

This weekend, Little Moon, Mama J and I were hanging out in the International District in Seattle together. As we picked up a tea to walk around the neighborhood, we decided to go to my favorite kind of store- a bookstore. We went to Kinokuniya a gigantic Japanese Bookstore filled with books and videos In Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English.

They have a big Japanese Children’s Literature section, filled also with puzzles! They have a nice section of books in English too, filled with books by Grace Lin, Oliver Chin, Yumi Heo and more.

They have a beautiful stationary section at the front of the store- what a heaven! We shopped for notebooks and pens for an hour! So I picked up a couple of things for my nephew’s birthday! Why not get a couple of little notebooks for his 3 year old birthday. He can work on drawing and ‘writing’ in side of them- just like his Titi. I got us matching ones. As I support his library and reading development- I shouldn’t ignore his writing development either. Writing is another beginning step towards literacy!

Luckily his ‘surfers backpack’ has side pockets- just the right size for a couple of notebooks! Just 3 weeks away!

Happy reading and writing to you!