What's So Great About Children's Literature?

Regular readers of the Book Chook have probably picked up that I am passionate about children's literature and literacy. My family tells me it's bordering on obsession, and there is often eye-rolling and rib-nudging when I climb onto my soap box at a coffee morning. In fact, a newcomer to our circle turned to me the other day and demanded, "What's so great about children's literature anyway?"

Ah, I'm so pleased she asked!

Children's literature is often shared in a family read-aloud. This becomes a special time for physical closeness, turning off ubiquitous screens, taking time to reflect on what is read and discuss it, shared enjoyment of reading. Our society is becoming more fragmented, and family closeness is something we need to defend and prioritize. Children's literature is a fantastic way to bring families closer together.

Children's literature can be an escape for some kids who need escape. There are increasing numbers of children who feel depressed about the world and their place in it. For them, positive messages in a children's book can inspire and give them them hope. Kids need dreams, and children's literature gives them wonderful dreams. Dreams, and hope, and stories about kids who aren't helpless make children feel less helpless themselves.

By reading the books our kids read, we have an area of mutual interest and a way into discussion with our kids. This becomes especially important as our kids get older. Taking an interest in their books shows kids the channels of communication are open. Open and honest discussion about literature also gives kids a framework for later literature studies at school.

Children's literature gives kids a way to explore parts of the world they cannot (or have not yet) directly experience(d). Young readers who love trucks or dinosaurs can find out so much more about them. Tweens who like martial arts can read a book from the Samurai Kids series by Sandy Fussell, and learn indirectly about overcoming fear and solving problems.

By reading children's literature, or listening to it read aloud, we are putting ourselves in someone else's shoes. We experience their reality. This exposure to other lives increases our empathy and tolerance. One thing our world needs is more tolerance! By understanding another's perspective, we are less likely to be ego-centric, or bully others.

Human beings have loved stories since they yakked around the cave campfire. In modern society we are surrounded by stories - in movies, computer games etc. So what makes children's literature a better way to experience story? I have nothing against screen-based entertainment, so long as it is limited and part of a balanced life. But children's literature is especially important as a way of developing kids' imaginations. When reading or listening to books being read aloud, children are entering the fictive dream and building imagination muscle. We know our 21st Century learners will need to be creative thinkers, and for that, they need imagination.

Wow! No wonder so many people in the kidlitosphere love children's literature. Is there anything it can't do? I'm not sure it can reduce 25 inches of belly fat in one month, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it put a human on Mars. And I just bet that human is a reader!

{This post is part of the January 2010 Carnival of Children's Literature, which is hosted at Jenny's Wonderland of Books, a great blog to find out more about the history of children's literature and lovely old books.}

Photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boedker/ / CC BY 2.0

Using Toys as a Springboard for Writing

I have already used some toys of my own to create stories. I shared a story via PhotoPeach about my fairies, and an elf called Jack. At Notaland, I used a picture of a feral fairy called Nancy. And I made a short video with iMovie, using those same pictures.

Because I am currently enrolled in a wonderful online course called Images4Education through Electronic Village Online, I prodded myself to take some new pictures. I am not the world's best photographer, but my photography is way better than my drawing. So I decided to use these new photos, and document some ideas I had for encouraging kids to write, in this article.

Kids love their toys. Do you remember wondering what your toys got up to when you were asleep? Famous creators have wondered that too - stories like Corduroy, Pinocchio, The Velveteen Rabbit, or Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite rif on this theme. Your kids might be aware of movies like Toy Story, or Jim Henson's Secret Life of Toys.

Why not tap into that fascination and encourage your child to take photos of his toys? Use those photos to spark some writing OR plan your story first, and work out what pictures you need to accompany the story.

Here are some ideas for children's writing that use such photos of toys as their focus:

• Make an alphabet, counting or simple book

For an alphabet book, try to find toys that start with each letter of the alphabet, and write the names underneath the photos you take. "A" might have a picture of a plastic ant, with "ant" typed below, "B" could be a bicycle etc.

For a counting book, choose the numbers you want to practise, and take photos of that many toys. It's probably best not to decide on "bicycle" for 12, or you may have trouble assembling so many bikes. Like creating any book, planning first pays off. Say you decide to make numbers 1-10, the first page might have "1", and a picture of one teddy bear, "2" could be two Barbies. Add some fun by using alliteration, and you could have "one wonderful wagon, two tiny teddies" etc. (Good luck with explaining that "one" starts with a "w" sound! )

For a simple book, you can just take random photos of toys, and write/type underneath the name of the toy, or whatever your youngster wants to dictate or write herself.

• Make a caption book

Caption books are one degree more complicated than those in alphabet books. They involve creating a simple sentence about each photo. You don't even need to have a sequence of events or a narrative, but narrative will add an extra degree of complexity. Once you have your photo, ask your youngster to tell you about it and record what he says as your caption. If you want to have whole sentences, you might need to model them for him eg "This is my transformer, Optimus Prime." "I like my teddy. His name is Ben."

If your child wants to write a whole story, it might be best to create the story first, work out which sentences will go on which page, then decide on the photos you want to accompany them. The creation process might start with acting the story out by using the toys, moving them around the way kids do naturally when playing, then evolve to recorded sentences. One way to do this if your child is comfortable with it, would be to video his play. If digital storytelling really interests your older child, you might want to introduce him to the concept of story-boarding as preparation, and use a template to organize scenes.

Here's an example of the sort of simple narrative your child might come up with, plus the pictures you might help him decide on, and photograph.

One day, Teddy went for a walk in the garden. (Pic here of Teddy walking) He met a fluffy pink bird. (Pic here of Teddy meeting the bird) "Hello, Bird," said Teddy, "what are you doing?" "I'm looking for my friend, Gorilla," said the bird. "I can't find him anywhere." (Pic here of baffled bird.) "Don't be sad, I'll help you look for him," said Teddy. (Pic of Teddy peering under bushes.) "Grrrr!" What was that? (Pic of Teddy looking worried.) Teddy and Bird got such a fright they fell over. (Pic of two, stunned.) Can you see Gorilla hiding in the bushes? (Final pic Gorilla in his disguise.)

Once I had my pictures, I uploaded them to PhotoPeach, and matched them to my captions. Then I previewed and made some changes. Total time taken, from finding toys, writing the story, deciding on the pictures I needed, photographing the toys, creating the book on PhotoPeach, was about an hour. You can see the little "book" by clicking on play below.

Monkey Business on PhotoPeach

• Make a chapter book

Once your children are older, they might be inspired by the wonderful books they read, and decide to try writing one themselves. Some kids will want to plan, try an outline; others will want to plunge straight in. Your own computer software will help make a digital story for the narrative. If your child wants to write a choose your own adventure style narrative, here's a step-by-step guide at ehow. There is also Twine, which gives you free Mac and Windows software to download, that helps kids organize such stories.

In the publishing world, children's chapter books usually don't have photos, but that is not always the case, and besides, your child's book probably won't be submitted to a publisher. Kids might enjoy setting up elaborate scenarios with their lego toys (say), then taking photos and using those pictures to fuel their own writing. There's a cute website called MiniMizer, where you can decorate your own digital lego person, and take a screen grab of the character(s) you create, which might inspire some writing too. Book Chook reader, Chase March, and his class made a movie based on MiniMizer "toys". Here's a little movie made about lego toys - it might be all the inspiration your budding Spielberg needs.

Format: All of these books can be print, or digital. For print, use blank sheets stapled together, a cheap scrapbook, an old photo album, or boost the economy and buy a Moleskin. For digital, try online editors like Bookr and PhotoPeach, a slideshow maker like PhotoStory (Windows) or Keynote (Mac), or your own word processing software. My favourite is iWork's Pages (Mac).

I love story, and much of my life revolves around it. But not all kids are interested in fiction, or in narrative as a type of text. For them, photos could be part of a "how to" explanation, where they take procedural shots to illustrate each step. Maybe they like to create toy aircraft or want to write an informational text about painting Warhammer models. Separate chapters could be devoted to different models, or even different types of decoration. The nonfiction section of your local library will have some great samples of this kind of book.

Some kids won't be interested in writing at all. I accept that. But if they see us modelling writing as a way to record our communications, particularly as a way to share stories, it might jump into their mind as a fun thing to do when they are ready. As with reading, if we start when they're young, and make the activities enjoyable, they are likely to come back for more. Using toys, and photos of toys, gives their stories a focus and makes the finished product more personal. Books that we create as a family are read over and over, contributing to literacy, and making happy memories.

Dive Into the Book

Into the Book is a great reading site targeting kids K-4. The activities I looked at could certainly be useful for older kids too, particularly if they are struggling with a reading strategy.

Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Try the online interactive activities, or click below to find out how to get our engaging 15-minute video programs.

Behind the Lesson provides information and teaching resources for each strategy. Watch our 10-minute professional development videos and explore the Web site for lesson plans, video and audio clips, downloads, and more.

The web site has won several awards and I can certainly see why. The activities are engaging, well thought-out, and interactive. Here is a poster I made about J.K.Rowling, after thinking about what I knew of her, and the new information the site brought me about her. This one is from Synthesizing.

Once you get your key (you only need to type your first name), and enter it, you get a page with tools related to each strategy. Kids drag the tool they want into the central book, watch a little instruction panel, and start. The activities involve kids in really thinking about what they read. My favourite is Visualizing, which is probably the least solidly educational, (does that say something about me?) but definitely the most fun. You listen to a poem or music, and draw what it makes you imagine. The art editor has some nice features, too. Then your pictures are made into a little movie with music you chose to accompany them. You can print or email your work for assessment or sharing. There is a teacher area too, with discussions, downloads etc (use the top menu to access.)

This is definitely one to add to your bookmarks if you want to target specific reading comprehension skills with your kids.

Image:Morguefile

Book Chook Interview

I've been interviewed by a delightful Australian writer, editor and publisher, called Tania McCartney. The article on her Kids' Book Review blog gives me the title of "literacy aficionado". (That makes me think of strong black coffee in a small cup. Alas, I am more likely to be milky chai latte in a big mug!) I enjoyed answering Tania's questions which helped me clarify my thoughts on literacy, children's literature and my own writing ambitions.

If you link to take a look at the interview, be sure to check out Tania's blog while you're there. This talented lady has lived in France, England and China, and has written and edited for several magazines including City Weekend Beijing, Time Out, beijingkids and Dolly magazine. Her books look intriguing - here's a peek into Riley and The Dancing Lion.

Australia Day Roundup

To celebrate my country's National Day on the 26th of January, I am bringing you goodies, and snippets of news. As a challenge to my readers, subtitles are partly written in strine, our national language.

{Australia Day clip art copyrighted by Bobbie Peachey}

Yergottalarf - MakeBeliefsComix

I posted about MakeBeliefsComix before, but want to bring you an update on this great webspace for encouraging kids to express themselves in words and pictures.

Bill Zimmerman has added new characters, objects and environments to give us extra choices. Luckily, it's just as easy to use as it always was.

Avago - at Paper Critters

Paper Critters is a fun place to design your own paper critter. Choose Toy Creator to experiment with making your own critter in your browser. You are presented with an art editor, and the different faces of a box-like critter. The editor allows you to choose colours and decorate your critter the way you want by dragging and dropping different shapes onto each face. You can preview it, make changes, save, share and print. This is a fun place to take even quite young kids for some creative play, as it's easy to come up with something cute so long as you can work a mouse.

Check out The Colony for inspiration, or to view critters others have made. Here's a screen grab of my critter as I was creating him:


If you and your child enjoy paper crafts, take a look at Paper Forest which features some fantastic illustrators, or the NicePaperToy ning. Other people's creativity always astounds me, but I bet your youngsters can instantly think of ways of adapting and adopting these ideas. Another great place to get free templates is NaniBird.

Here's a creative way to use the Paper Critters site. After you design your critter online, print, and copy the template onto card. Then decorate, cut out and assemble your critter. Take him out into the wide world and grab some pictures of him. Use these as the basis of a simple caption story, using online editors like PhotoPeach. Or develop something more complex. Your critter could be the basis of a movie, like the one on the home page. Design a Paper Critter family and chronicle their adventures in a slide show or a scrapbook. Don't you think that would make a fun family project for the next rainy weekend?

Deadset worth a geezer - Speakaboos

At Speakaboos, you'll find favourite stories like Curious George and Arthur, Folk Tales, Fairy Tales, Songs, Nursery Rhymes and Fables.

Kids can watch, read along, and listen to the story. I found it pixellated out a little when I tried it on the full screen, but was fine when smaller. You also have the choice to buy online when you join. I didn't but would love to get feedback from anyone who does.

Take a Captain Cook at this! Thanks to Joyce Grant of Getting Kids Reading who told about Hachette's Mysterious Benedict Society games. If your youngster enjoys puzzles, set her loose here, then borrow one of the books from the library.

Goodonya, Book Chook!

I have had another short story accepted for publication at Rainbow Rumpus. This is a magazine for children. Rainbow Rumpus stories are much like other online magazines, except the stories must be written from the point of view of children with LGBT parents or other family members, or who are connected to the LGBT community. (LGBT = Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender). If you are a children's writer, take note that they are a paying market and very nice to work with.

You liddle bewdy - Book Trailer for My Heart is Like a Zoo
Learn some similes with this beautifully animated book trailer.

Color with Leo

At Color with Leo, a young Leonardo da Vinci (Leo) guides children through interactive games and activities as they learn some basic principles of art.

There are three sections: colouring pages, games and art studio. There are also some ads, but I found them non-intrusive, and well chosen ie mostly "educational" products for kids.

Art Studio has some cute online art activities, from general drawing pads, to specific how to draw. An example is Portrait Fun which is an easy drag and drop way for kids to build a basic head. The activities don't allow for much creativity on the child's part, but that makes them particularly well-suited to young kids. The directions are clear, and the activities work well.

Games include very simple puzzles based on real works of art. Some of the games involve using the keyboard arrows and space bar, which The Book Chook found a little tricky. But a game like "Does Not Belong" is simple enough, and good practice in visual discrimination.

Best of all I liked the page for parents and educators, which provides free downloadable lessons and art education material in the form of pdfs. This might be useful to home-schoolers, and other parents looking for creative ideas for their kids. I especially like the fact that some activities make a great follow up to literature you've shared with your kids like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

A web space like this can contribute to your child's developing visual literacy skills by encouraging him to become aware of differences in shape, size, colour, pattern etc. I love the idea of kids having fun while being exposed to new learning opportunities.

Make a Movie with the Zimmer Twins

Zimmer Twins is a new site I discovered courtesy of Joao Alves, whom I follow on Twitter. Here kids can tell stories using an online editor which generates a little movie.
On the Zimmer Twins website, your child can:

Watch a starter (a short animation that ends with a cliff-hanger).

Create their own ending to the story by writing dialog for the characters and putting scenes together.

Save their work on the website for other kids to watch, rate and comment on.

Watch and rate movies made by other kids.

It's a nice simple interface. The beginning video explains the process well. I think the easiest way for a child to begin after that would be to choose a little movie starter. This is just like a writing prompt, a way into a story to get kids going. Then they can build the rest of the story, using four tabs: text in speech bubbles, snippets of character movement, emotion and special effects. Once you click an option (from the four tabs), it appears in your timeline, and on your editing screen, where you can add text to it.

One real strength is how user-friendly the editor is. You don't have to save as you go, things stay put in the timeline until you delete them. If you want to check how your story is developing, you drag the slider back to the start and click play. If you decide you want to insert something, you can drag and drop it to its new place on your timeline. Once you're happy with the result, you can save your movie (if you've registered on the site) and share the url with your friends. Here is one I made about a rockin' cat, and one about the same characters in the jungle.

Here is an example of a movie made on the site that's been chosen to appear on Qubo TV (only availble to US users.)

The site has an emphasis on courtesy and netiquette, which I like. For instance, kids can only make comments on other movies from a group of options, so put-downs don't get a look-in. Children must have parental permission too, and it looks like the site is determined to keep it appropriate for a young audience.

The Zimmer Twins is a US TV show. That restricts the characters to three, and of course you are limited in actions, emotions etc to what the editor offers. But I think children will find it as engaging as I did to solve the challenge of how to tell a story using this format. This is another great way to develop literacy skills while creating stories and having fun. A Book Chook win-win!

{Picture used with permission Zimmer Twins site}

Update, May 2010: The studio behind Zimmer Twins, zincRoe, have let me know that there are some changes taking place on the site. They are now offering VIP memberships: 


For $3.95 per month, or $19.95 for six-months, VIPs can write their own comments, access exclusive animation clips to create their movies, make customizable profile pages and review movies by other members.


VIP members take part in a safe, moderated online community and support the Zimmer Twins! By purchasing VIP memberships, parents help the site stay commercial-free.


Kids can still become a member for free. As a free member they can make and save as many movies as they want, but their movies will not be entered into moderation so they won't become visible to the public. The company is also planning to release an education membership.

Robots in the Classroom

During the Australian summer holiday period, I've had a little visitor to the Chook Yard. He's called Bee-Bot, and he was loaned to me for review by Educational Experience, the Australian Bee-Bot distributors. He looks a lot like a cartoon bee, but is actually a floor robot. You can see a Bee-Bot in action in this video.

Isn't it amazing to think that children can use a learning aid like this in today's classrooms? We've certainly come a long way since the dusty green mats and stained bean bags I remember from my youth. But is the Bee-Bot a gimmick, or can it genuinely help kids develop skills they need for education? Let's take a closer look.

The Bee-Bot seems fairly indestructible. Okay, I didn't throw it at the wall or submerge it in the bathtub, but I hope it wouldn't encounter those situations in the average classroom anyway. It is chunky, sized right for little hands, has limited, simple controls and is accompanied by many suggestions for learning.

The Busy Street map that accompanied my little guy (disclosure: I call him BB) looks durable and is brightly coloured with a central street and shops either side. Like the Shapes and Colours mat, it has velcro on the back so it will adhere to carpet. I also received software that enables users to program a virtual BB in his own world. I can't give you feedback on it, because it was for computers running Windows, and my computer refuses to. However, I found a video that I think gives some idea of it, and it looks great. When I checked the Educational Experience webite, there are many more accessories you can get for Bee-Bots.

In a nutshell, you program BB and then set him off on his journey. You use little buttons to tell BB to move in steps and turns. He talks back with flashing lights and sounds. At one stage I was immersed in playi...er...research, when the phone rang. I didn't remember to turn BB off, but luckily discovered he went to sleep after a couple of minutes of being idle ( a lot like some Book Chooks I know!)

BB was also accompanied by a plastic folder with some sample activities for using him with young children. Activities were on laminated cards, and included tasks involving observing, thinking ahead, listening, following directions, and other oracy, numeracy, and literacy skills. The main aim seemed to be "find out about and identify the uses of everyday technology and use Information and Communications Technology and programmable toys to support their learning." I didn't have the chance to take BB into a classroom, because it's the school holidays, but I know I was problem-solving, practising directions, predicting, and enjoying myself thoroughly!

If you're tempted for your class or your own kids, one Bee-Bot costs around $Au77 (including GST) according to Educational Experience. I would think you'd be better off with some of the accessories too. The alphabet and number mats have heaps of potential, and the Treasure Island Mat would be cool (all mats seem to be around $40-$50). Schools would probably get most benefit if they also purchased the Let's Go with Bee-Bot Book, which gives ideas for incorporating your robot into all sorts of curricula, and the software. You can download a free trial version (for Windows, or Macs with a leaning that way.)

You can find extra information online. Here is a Queensland site which has resources to download.

Is a Bee-Bot a must have? Can our kids survive without one? I think a Bee-Bot would make an ideal purchase for a school with money in its Science and Technology budget that is looking for something durable for younger grades. Books aren't always the answer - but a Bee-Bot would definitely go better with a Bee-Bot Book!

Literate Learning

Today I was catching up with a blog I love called Literacy Launchpad. Amy has been asked to do teacher training at a local child care centre. She asked what every teacher must know about literacy, "If YOU could be there telling them something, emphasizing something about books/reading/literacy, what would it be? If they were YOUR CHILD'S teacher, what would you want them to be doing/saying/reading/knowing?"

I thought those were interesting questions that cut right to the heart of what I believe about literacy learning and teaching, so I decided to share my answer with you. In my ideal world, this is the advice I would give to my future grandchild's (I live in hope!) pre-school teachers, or to her parents if she is home-schooled.

I would tell them that encouraging kids to love reading, writing and communicating must be their number one priority. I would tell them to base their curricula on wonderful children's literature. I would tell them to surround kids with activities that will stimulate their imaginations and encourage them to think creatively and critically. I would tell them to get in touch with their own inner child, and remember that play is children's work. I would tell them to listen to their students, and to fall in love with the pause. I would tell them to have FUN, and to look for the beauty in every moment, and in every child!

How about you? What would your focus be?

Book Review, Can't You Sleep, Little Bear

Here's another charming picture book from Walker Books (original 1988; my copy 2006). Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? was written by Martin Waddell and illustrated by Barbara Firth. After I read Owl Babies (and loved it!), I looked out for more by UK author, Martin Waddell.

This is the story of a little bear who just can't get to sleep. He's frightened of the dark. I know parents who will relate to Father Bear's efforts to settle his cub, and I believe kids will understand the problem and enjoy the resolution. It would make another fine story for bed time, like others I mentioned in Bed Time Goes Better with Books. It is perfect for under sixes. We over sixes can't help but chuckle at the antics of a wide-awake little bear.

My copy is a Story Book and DVD. The DVD is remarkably true to the story. More particularly, it is true to Barbara Firth's illustrations, with minimal bells and whistles in animation. Narration is gently done by Kevin Whatley and Emilia Fox. If, like me, you think it's a great idea for kids to experience good literature in the format of printed books AND video, this would make an excellent choice for you.

I like the idea of kids watching book-related movies. In my opinion, repeated viewings of a movie that is faithful to the text will help them learn to read the text. Memorising is a great help with predicting. Kids are going to spend time with screens, so I believe in making an effort to find them wholesome yet fun stories that do double duty where possible. In this case, it may lead a young watcher to becoming a young reader. What a magical outcome!

Turn a Catalogue into a Classroom

As both student and young teacher, I loved the advent of back-to-school catalogues. The downside was that they heralded the end of the summer holidays in Australia, but I enjoyed poring over them and deciding which stationery I'd buy. Nowadays, our catalogues entice with all sorts of geeky fun - a 2GB USB Drive for $8.88, wow! - but the principles are still the same. A print catalogue is a publication usually destined for the recycle bin. So why not turn it into a classroom? Here's how:

Encourage kids to browse, skim, and read catalogues by themselves. This might seem like a no-brainer, but I know some people throw their junk mail immediately. Kids can pick up a lot about the way consumerism works in our society by becoming familiar with catalogues. They are also developing functional literacy skills. When we're surrounding our kids with print, it's good to remember to include all sorts of print.

Read a catalogue together and discuss things that occur to you. What is the overall layout of the catalogue? How is it organized? Is it easy to find the price of items? Are the pictures of some items bigger than others? Why might that be? How is this catalogue different to the one from Store X? Which catalogue do you like best? Why?

A catalogue is a great way to show kids how we use Maths in the real world.
"I have a dollar. How many 25c pens can I buy? "
"This glue stick is $1.78 and you get 35g. This one looks bigger but it says 30g in fine print and costs $1.99. Which one would you buy and why?"
"This pencil case must be the best because it has Dora on it. The problem is, it will cost twice as much as a plain one, so I won't have money left for books."

Play shops. Catalogues are great because they don't need to be treated carefully the way books do. Kids can cut them up to make signs for their shops, shopping lists, decorations for a cardboard store, and decorations for cardboard shopping items.

Make a wish list from the catalogue. With young children, this can be a simple cut and paste activity. You could try giving older kids a budget and have them list their wants, with costs, on a list. After discussion, that list forms the basis of your back-to-school shopping in real life.

Create your own catalogue. Younger kids might like to cut and paste from different print catalogues to make their own special one. Or they could draw and write all their own items. They might go for a theme - perhaps a catalogue for fairies, with fairy dresses and other products. Older kids might like to use software to create a digital catalogue.

Hack the catalogue to bits to make games for your kids. Can they find objects the same colour as that crayon, or other things with wooden legs, or other round things? Use two identical catalogues to make a quick matching game. Have your young ones help you make alphabet or phonic cards with pictures from the catalogues. Toy catalogues are intrinsically motivating to kids, and very good for this. Go on a letter hunt and collect all the things you can find that start with the same letter as Ben10 or Cars.

If you know an adult who isn't thrilled about reading aloud to a child, but still wants to be involved, suggest a catalogue. It's something an adult can share as reading material with a youngster, without the emphasis on story. With an adult pointing to pictures and talking about them, or asking questions, children are learning, and you just know they will appreciate that special one-on-one literacy time.

Catalogues are too useful to throw out immediately. If you have any more ideas on how to turn a catalogue into a classroom, I'd love you to share them in the comments. Or read a couple more ideas in an earlier post, Recycled Reading and Writing.

(Photo Credit - Morguefile)

***

Guest Post: I have a blog post called The Reading Aloud Habit at Imagination Soup today. This is one of my favourite, true stories about the day I discovered my son could read. If you link, make sure to check out Melissa's ideas for connecting learning with imaginative play. Melissa is also a contributor to Literacy Lava, which you can download for free at my web site.

It seems to be my week for fluttering about the internet, doesn't it! Thanks to everyone who visited me at Kittling Books yesterday, and left a comment. You warmed my heart.

And Now For Something Completely Different...

I try to make all my posts about ways to encourage kids to be involved with activities that promote children's literacy. Sometimes, the link is tenuous. Today, there is no link at all!

Today, I am appearing on one of my favourite Book Blogs, Kittling Books. Cathy runs a feature there called Scene of the Blog, where she has people from all over the bookblogosphere share the space where they write their book reviews and other blog posts. I took a photo of my messy study, plus a seat by the pool where I like to read, and wrote a little about my blogging practice. Scene of the Blog has been a fascinating way to check out other book bloggers' work spaces from all over the world, and share a little of their lives. If you'd like a little insight into mine, I hope you'll visit Scene of the Blog, and leave a comment to say g'day.

Kittling Books is one of the few blogs about adult books that I have time to follow. I not only enjoy Cathy's reviews, I really like her writing style. Good writing is important to me, though I must admit it is not always found here at The Book Chook! Nevertheless, I seek it out in everything I read. If you have a wide reading taste as an adult, I am sure you will find great ideas to tempt you at Kittling Books.

Look at that great old typewriter. Did Cathy somehow manipulate the image and add the paper, or did she put the paper into the old typewriter and take a pic? This is the sort of thing that can fascinate a chook for hours...

Have Fun, and Develop Literacy Skills, with Bookr

Making books with your kids is a great way to introduce them to the link between reading and writing. They can practise reading with little caption books they've made themselves, and learn the thrill of publishing something they helped create. Home-made books can also be a wonderful way to record a holiday, hobby or oral family story for posterity, and such books often become dearly loved friends.

There are also wonderful spaces online that offer opportunities to develop and publish children's writing, like Glogster, a web place where you can poster yourself by adding text, pictures, music etc to a template. But Glogster might be a little difficult for very young kids. There's a new site I've found that I think would be ideal for the under-sevens, with just a little help from mum and dad.

Bookr, by PimPamPum, is a very simple tool that allows you to create your own photo book. It uses Flickr as its source of pictures, allowing you to search by user name or by tag. I quickly made the two little books, Things That Go, and Animal Babies, below. I chose a couple of pictures, added tags, and copied the code to embed it here on my blog. You need to click the bottom right corner to turn the page. If you don't have a blog, you can get the link.

Here's the process in detail. To start, you must choose your title, and the author's name. Next, you can search Flickr in that same Bookr page, by user name or tag. I wanted to choose a tag I was sure would give me a lot of choice, so I chose "baby animals". This is one most kids will enjoy, or try tags like "toys" or "zoo". If you want to make the process more personal, why not take your own pictures, and upload them to Flickr, then choose your own user name.

The images come up on a scrollable bar underneath your Bookr composing screen. Click one to choose it. Hover your mouse above the picture on the page to delete it. Turn pages by clicking the corner. Type your text by clicking inside the text box under each picture (except the front cover). Then, when you're done, click Blog This to get the embeddable code, or a link you can share with others.

PimPamPum has other Flickr toys you can use with kids, like a "memry" game you can make by choosing a flickr tag. As with all internet sites, I would advise adult supervision, because some content may not be suitable for kids.





If the idea of online book creation appeals to you, you might also be interested in Book Chook posts about Storybird, love2read, PhotoPeach, Notaland, Myths and Legends, , Creaza, My Story Maker, PhotoShow, Make Beliefs Comix, and Little Bird Tales. If you're new to The Book Chook, you can read why I believe these publishing opportunities are so valuable in my post, What's the Deal with Online Publishing?

Fun and Useful Music Resources

Music education and literacy go together so well. An education in music gives kids many of the skills they need to read, write and communicate successfully. They are trained to observe, to listen, to recognize and repeat patterns, to respond to rhythm and melody, as well as the obvious skills like reading and remembering song lyrics. Reading song lyrics is actually a great way to extend kids' vocabulary and sight word recognition, particularly if they already know the song. Online music can provide us with opportunities to create and compose, as some of the web spaces below will show you.

I also love that music gets kids moving. With toddler obesity on the rise, I think we need to take advantage of the natural movement opportunities available when we listen, move and play with music.

We are the Dinosaurs - Laurie Berkner

Here's a cute song with lots of opportunities for movement and fun for your toddlers.



Simeon's Music Maker

This is part of the Julie Andrews Collection site. Simeon's Music Maker is an amazing little bit of software that enables kids to compose music.

Classics for Kids

There's a wealth of education about music available at this site. But I think one of the games could use some work. In Be a Rockin' Rhythm Master, kids must repeat rhythms they hear by using their keyboard's space bar. Maybe it was my browser, but I found my own pattern didn't sound after the first note. Note Names, Compose Your Own Music and Composer Time machine worked fine. There's also a nice guide to the instruments of the orchestra. You can click on a section, read its function in an orchestra, then click to listen to it play.

Kneebouncers

Kneebouncers is lots of fun for under 5's. Bright, simple and colourful characters bounce, pop and jiggle. There's no need to use the mouse because kids can just press any key to activate lots of cute activities. The Book Chook's favourite is Music Maker. If only I'd had those piano lessons I wanted as a child!

Free Kids Music

This site is a great place to get a taste of music suitable for children. Musicians make tracks available so we can download and listen on mp3 players, CD etc. The music is not to be published anywhere else by us, naturally, as the musicians are hoping we will enjoy the track and want to buy the album. Find an A-Z of traditional songs or link to contemporary songs by artist alphabetically via the right side menu on the main page. I quite like both free Melodies About Me tracks under M. Why not download some of these for your kids to listen to during a long car journey, or use them as the background to your family fitness routine?

Special Needs in Music Web Site

At this site, you'll find lots of goodies for all abilities of student. Kaila Rochelle provides folk song arrangements for the classroom, and it's a simple matter to click and hear an mp3 of a song. I particularly like this Chinese Spring Song.

I've mentioned Poisson Rouge and Mama Lisa's World before, but they are both excellent sites that deserve your visit.

Poisson Rouge

Although not entirely devoted to music, Poisson Rouge has many activities related to it. Younger kids will enjoy just clicking or scrolling over pictures on the main page to see what activities arise. There are heaps of things to activate and interact with. You can play guitar chords, sing along with the choir, get four little animations singing Frère Jacques as a round, compose a song on the piano and see the score written above. There's also an English school where kids can see and hear common words in English, and similarly one in French.

Mama Lisa's World

Mama Lisa's World is home to the internet's largest collection of children's songs and nursery rhymes from around the world. You'll find the lyrics to kids' songs, in English and other languages, plus some songs have mp3s and Midi music so you can learn the tune. If you're looking for the words to a folk song you once heard, or a rhyme you remember from your childhood, this is the place. It's also a great source for parents who want to teach their children about world music and culture. AND, you can find Mother Goose rhymes in French and English - very handy for young language learners.

A Storytelling of Crows

I mentioned Farida Dowler's blogs in my addendum post to the Literacy in the Playground series. A Storytelling of Crows doesn't yet have a lot of material, but it is all worth listening to. One I love is the fire fairy song, a song from Farida's daughter's Waldorf school. It helps that Farida has a lovely voice!

Fisher Price Online Music Games

On Music Mixer, kids can listen to songs they know played by an ensemble of animals, and stop any instrument to hear how the song sounds without its contribution. The different styles are folk, jazz, rock and classical. Check out Itsy Bitsy Spider played by an animal rock band. Nice!

British Council Learn English Kids Songs

Although this web site is for kids who are learning English as a second language, the great thing about these cute songs is that they have the words underneath to read while you listen and sing along. Try this one about Pirates. Parents (from anywhere in the world I believe) can also register to access downloads like sheet music, lyrics and mp3s.

Fast becoming a Book Chook favourite:

Editor of Alphabet Soup magazine, Rebecca Newman put me onto a wonderful mass for peace by Karl Jenkins called The Armed Man. It is dedicated to the victims of the Kossovo tragedy. Listen to and watch the start on Youtube, with the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera and four choirs. Wonderful! Exposing kids to "classical" music early is something I really believe in.

Play the Piano

An interactive video on Youtube that allows you to play the keyboard yourself. Give it a chance to load before you try tapping the keys with your cursor. How amazing is this!

Know of Any Others?

I hope you enjoy introducing your kids to these sites. Please let us know in comments or via email if you have any other favourites for children's music.