Early Literacy in Everyday Places: The Pool

With Memorial Day behind us, it is now officially pool season! Make the most of your pool time with these fun activities which promote early literacy skills. 

• Dive for letters. Label a set of diving sticks with letters - random ones, the letters in your child's name, or the letters in a particular word or phrase - then challenge your kids to collect them in the correct order. 
• Play Water World Simon Says.  This game, suggested by Creative Connections for Kids, is just like regular Simon Says, except that the leader does water-based movements. Start out playing the leader yourself, then pass the role onto the kids and give them a chance to come up with their own motions for the group to do. 
• Make a whirlpool and sing. Choose a song like Ring Around the Rosie, Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, or Round and Round the Village and sing it with your kids as you circle around the pool and make a whirlpool.
• Write on the deck/cement with a wet finger. Show your kids how to spell their names and other familiar words on the edge of the pool, or challenge their spelling skills by calling out sight words and seeing who can write them the quickest.  

Reading with Little Miss Muffet: May 2015

New Book Behaviors

• Character Recognition. This month, Little Miss Muffet has become much more interested in the characters in her books. She likes to hear their names, and when given a name, she can usually point to the correct character. In certain books, she will even wave to her favorite characters to say hello or goodbye. 
• Shhh, they're sleeping! Any time a character's eyes are closed in an illustration, Miss Muffet assumes he is asleep, and therefore points to him and says, "Shhh!" I spend a lot of time saying, "Hmmm, I don't think he's asleep. I think his eyes are just closed." She has a great eye for detail, though - half the time, I haven't even noticed a character's eyes are closed until she shows me!

Current Favorites

• Gossie and Gertie by Olivier Dunrea. We borrowed the entire Gossie & Friends series from our local libraries this month, but Gossie and Gertie was Miss Muffet's breakout favorite. Any time I suggested reading a story, this was the first book she brought to me, and sometimes hearing it just once wasn't enough. Though I do love this series, I was definitely ready for this one to go back to the library when it was finally due. 
• Such a Little Mouse by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Stephanie Yue. This is a new picture book we stumbled upon at the library. It follows a mouse through the four seasons, as he observes the conditions outside of his hole, and gathers food to keep in his storeroom. Miss Muffet squeals with delight at the sight of the mouse, and of his other furry friends, including squirrels and beavers. Each month, when the mouse pops out of his hole, Miss Muffet enthusiastically throws her hands up and says, "Pop!" 
• Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley. Miss Muffet's grandma purchased a library discard copy of this book from a book sale when she was visiting last year, and we just recently pulled it out again. Miss Muffet loves to jump like the cow and paddle like the duck, and she loves it when Mrs. Wishy Washy says, "Just look at you!" I have this book memorized, so I also recite it to her in random places - public transportation, the bathtub, the doctor's office waiting room, etc. 

One Tip from Mom 

• Enhance the reading experience with props. Little Miss Muffet and I have had a great time this month exploring props to accompany our favorite books. We continue to love Stanley the Farmer (mentioned in the April edition of Reading with Little Miss Muffet), so I took the time to print, cut, and laminate the flannel board pieces for the book. She is completely enamored of them, and can easily spend 30 minutes at a time, sorting them and arranging them on the flannel board. I also happen to have a set of Mrs. Wishy Washy finger puppets, which give her busy hands something to do while I read the story. I don't recommend having a prop for every single book you read, but some carefully selected choices make reading time a little less monotonous for you, and even more fun for your little one. 

#ArmchairBEA Day 3: 10 Favorite Picture Book Characters

Armchair BEA continues today with two prompts: Blogging Q & A and Character Chatter. For the character prompt, I have decided to make a list of some of my favorite characters from picture books.

Frances 

from Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Garth Williams
Frances is such a spunky little girl, who wouldn't want to spend time with her? She knows how she wants others to treat her and demands nothing less, she appreciates a good song (and frequently writes her own), and she (mostly) loves her little sister Gloria.

Harold

from Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
My favorite thing about Harold is that when he gets hungry on his moonlit walk, he draws "all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best" and then, concerned about the leftovers, he leaves them for "a very hungry moose and a deserving porcupine.”

Ira

from Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber
Of all the children's books I read as a child, this one was one of the most relatable, because Ira has the concerns of a real child. I especially loved his relationship with his manipulative sister, and the realness of his embarrassment over sleeping with a teddy bear.

King Bidgood

from King Bidgood's in the Bathtub by Audrey and Don Wood
There is something irresistible about a supposedly responsible grown-up who acts like a child. I love to read this book aloud and say "Come in!" in a very kingly voice, which somehow makes his refusal to leave the tub that much more ridiculous.

Max

from Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
I love Max for his wildness, but also for his underlying sweetness, which ultimately causes him to calm down his angry feelings and wish for home and his mother.

Miss Nelson

from Miss Nelson is Missing by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall
I remember thinking Miss Nelson was brilliant even when I was a kid, and that feeling has only increased now that I am an adult. She appears so sweet and innocent, and yet underneath her friendly smile lurks the diabolical mind that conjures Miss Viola Swamp.

Nora

from Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells

You don't have to be the middle child to empathize with Nora's frustration in this book. In many ways, she is like a female Max, full of wildness when her feelings are hurt, but also willing to forgive when the anger subsides.

Owl Mother

from Owl Babies by Martin Waddell 
Though this book is mostly about the three owl siblings waiting for their mother to return, the mother herself is a definite force to be reckoned with. I frequently find myself quoting her, as I say to my daughter, "What's all the fuss?"

Stanley

from Stanley the Builder by William Bee 
Little Miss Muffet is fascinated by Stanley, which makes him even more likeable than he might be on his own. I like his wide range of abilities, his willingness to help his friends, and his reliable adherence to a bedtime routine.

Titch 

from Titch by Pat Hutchins
We have all felt like Titch - small and insignificant - at some point. This books reminds us of those opportunities when our actions mean something and impact the world around us. 

#Armchair BEA Day 2: Social Media

If you are a blogger, it is likely that you are also active on various social media platforms. Social media makes it easier to find an audience for your blog, and to network with other bloggers inside and outside of your area of focus. In my case, I use different sites to accomplish different goals. My Twitter account automatically updates each time a new blog post is published. I use Pinterest to curate my posts visually, and to collect other sites' materials that will complement my own. And Facebook is where I network with other library, literacy, and book bloggers. As I become more involved in various communities on Facebook, I also become aware of how interaction could be improved. Since one of today's Armchair BEA topics is social media, this seems like a good opportunity to share some of my tips for interacting professionally on Facebook.

Tip #1: Do your homework. 

Before you begin posting in a Facebook community, make sure to seek out the rules and review them. Administrators of online communities  have the difficult task of managing the behavior of dozens, hundreds or sometimes thousands of nearly-anonymous users. You can avoid making their job more difficult by making sure that whatever you post in the group is permitted by the community rules.

It is also important that you do not post questions to the group that you have not already attempted to answer on your own. There is nothing more frustrating (especially in library-oriented communities!) than reading someone's question, only to find the answer in the first result that pops up on Google. Professional networks are wonderful for crowd-sourcing difficult questions and troubleshooting real problems, but it is a waste of everyone's time and resources if each individual doesn't do his or her homework.

Tip #2: Read carefully. 

When engaging in discussions in your Facebook communities, it is really important to read carefully and make sure you understand what is being said before you reply. This is especially necessary when answering a colleague's question. Often, a poster will indicate exactly what type of information he or she needs, and what type of information he or she is not looking for. When you read too quickly and miss these statements, your responses to the discussion can easily turn out to be irrelevant and pointless, not to mention frustrating to the original poster who has to wade through useless information to find the helpful content he or she requested.

Tip #3: Don't be an echo.

Often, you will find that the comment you wished to add to a Facebook discussion has already been posted by someone else. Your initial temptation might be to repeat the same sentiment in your own words, but this is not really necessary. You can just as easily show your support for the comments you agree with by clicking "like" underneath each one. This saves other members of the group from having to read the same response over and over again, and it makes it easy for everyone to read the truly different opinions being presented.

Tip #4: Turn on notifications. 

You probably don't want to be notified every time anyone posts in your Facebook communities, but sometimes you may want to get notifications for a specific post. Instead of commenting with an asterisk, period, or the word "following," you can simply turn on notifications for that specific discussion. To do so, click the drop-down menu and choose "turn on notifications." This will allow you to follow the conversation without cluttering the discussion with unnecessary comments.

Tip #5:  Don't spam. 

Even in communities which allow self-promotion, you should use discretion when sharing links to your own blog. It is usually fine to do this in response to requests for specific information, but it is less welcome when you post a link just to promote your blog, or to ask for general feedback. Obviously, in some communities, it is expected that you will ask for help with specific aspects of blogging, and many of these questions will require a link, but there should always be a reason behind the post, and you should also make a concerted effort to participate in the community in other ways.

These are just my top five tips - do you have others? Share them in comments!