MommaReads

If you like to get your pirate voice on while you’re reading, then this will be a fun one for you. Bad Bart rules the Atlantic while Mean Mo rules the Pacific. They meet up somewhere in the middle and have a showdown. They test their skills in swimming, throwing cannonballs, arm wrestling’ and eating hardtack. The final competition is what leads you to the end of the book which might be a bit of a surprise. Super cute.

I don’t think the daddy in this story expected Daddy Adventure Day to start at 4:15 in the morning, but sometimes kids are just so excited that it doesn’t matter what time it is. I also don’t think he expected to have coffee and hot chocolate spilled all over his pants during Daddy Adventure Day, but well, sometimes those things happen. I also don’t think he expected to come home with a foul ball from the baseball game they went to. Sometimes those special days we plan don’t go exactly as we had expected. Sometimes they turn out even better.

When children are ready to start exploring the shapes of letters and numbers, Wikki Stix are a super fun way for children to practice, especially if Wikki Stix are new to them. Wikki Stix are essentially wax covered yarn that you can bend and stick into whatever shape you’d like which is why they are great for practicing letter and number shapes. Some kids may be able to figure out how to manipulate the Wikki Stix into letter and number shapes without having an example to follow. Others, however, may need the shape to follow either just to look at as a model or they may need to have an example that they can place their Wikki Stix on top of to follow. Then, when they are done practicing their letters and numbers, they can use them to make whatever they want.

For older kids, they can be used to practice sight words. They can also be used to practice writing their name or family members’ names.

Barnes & Noble has a summer reading program for kids to help encourage children to continue their love of reading over the summer months. Barnes & Noble will give your child a free book if they read eight books, fill out this form and bring it back by September 6th. This book club is geared towards children from first grade through sixth grade.

Your kids are reading anyways, so why not get a free book while they’re at it. Borders is giving children 12 and under a free book this summer. All they have to do is read ten books, fill out this form, have their parents sign it and then bring it in to redeem for their free book. The books they are giving away are definitely geared towards the 2nd grade and up crowd.

We have been using our fire pit on the back porch to make s’mores this past week. My seven-year old decided that we should add some scary stories to our s’more making. We went to the library and found some books that looked WAY too scary and then we found this little gem. It is scary but in a Hansel and Gretel folk tale type of way, not a blood and guts type of way. This book is also great because it doesn’t just have stories. It also has poems, knock knock jokes and even a little section on how to draw spooky creatures like monsters and witches. This book would be great around Halloween time, too.

Poetry is a FANTASTIC way for beginning readers to practice fluency. These poems are short, they’re not intimidating and they rhyme which helps beginning readers decode new words. This link is only a small part of a bigger website. I especially love the poetry part of this website because you can listen to the poem, read it on your own, search for words with certain sounds or search for a certain word. Also, each poem focuses on a certain phonemic blend, like: ee, oo, igh, i-e, and several others.

My boys love doing Mad Libs. They are so much fun, they can be hysterically funny and you might learn a thing or two about verbs and nouns while you’re at it. The only downside is that once you have written in all the blanks in your MadLibs book, well, you’re done. Well, this website has MadLibs online for an almost endless combination of nouns, verbs and adjectives to tickle your funnybone. Have fun!

Going on a a road trip this summer? It’s the perfect time to check out some audio books from the library. Audio books are great for a number of reasons. Even though all of your children may not be able to read or maybe they are all reading at different levels, they can all enjoy the same audio book. We listen to audiobooks all the time in the car. (Not only is it great because they are listening to books, but it keeps them from bickering in the car…they can’t hear the story if they are arguing.) 🙂 We just finished listening to the ENTIRE ten book 39 Clues series. (As great as it was, I do not recommend this series unless all of your children are over the age of eight or nine…there were some parts that were a bit violent.) Now we are listening to The Magic Treehouse Series…much less violent. 🙂 The narrator, who also happens to be the author of the books, does a great job and they are all appropriate for the entire family. Here are some other books/series that are great listening for the whole family:

*Berenstain Bears
*Little House on the Prairie Series
*Frog and Toad Series
*A Light in the Attic
*Biscuit Series
*Tikki Tikki Tembo
*Curious George
*The Three Billy Goats Gruff
*Amelia Bedelia Series
*The Boxcar Children Series

I have had a couple of people ask me about reading logs to help their children keep track of summer reading. You can find some great ones to print off and use in your home this summer here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. There are lots of different ones, so hopefully you can find one that will work for your family. You might want to check out your local library, too. Most libraries have summer reading programs that come with a book log to help track summer reading. Happy reading!

from billygorilly.com