Looking Back to February Past

The end of the month is when I look back to my blog posts from earlier years. I did that in this Backwards Day post for the month of January. Today, it's February's turn.

2009

Book Chook Read Aloud Roundup 1 and Book Chook Read Aloud Roundup 2. Share in favourite read aloud books from Book Chook friends.

No Time to Read to Kids. Can we change the appalling fact that parents don't read to kids?

My Dream. Why I so passionately believe in reading to children.

Just for fun - a great youtube song and kids explaining what love is.

2010

Maps. I just love maps and found some great online resources to share.

Fold Me Up, Scotty. Interested in crafts? Some excellent origami resources to get you folding.

Make a Movie with Xtranormal and Try Making a Mini Movie with Dvolver describe two websites that encourage kids to make their own short movies.

Celebrate Storytelling Week. Resources for storytelling.

Letter to the Book Chook - Reading Challenge or Reading Chore. Should kids read below their ability level? and Letter to The Book Chook - Free Reading Material. A mum wants inexpensive reading material for her kids.

Create a Story with StoryJumper. You were thinking maybe a recipe for glue? No, it's a story maker!

If you're looking for book reviews from February 09 and 10, try the archive at right for those months.

***Don't forget that the big red Facebook button in the left sidebar will take you to my special Facebook page for The Book Chook. I often post things there that don't make it to the blog. I never put anything there or on Twitter that's in the "what I ate for breakfast" category, but try to stick to my theme of useful information for parents, teachers, librarians and everyone interested in children's literacy and learning. 

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Cute, eh?

7 Billion from National Geographic

I came across a video via The Education Technology blog and want to share it with you below. It's an ad for National Geographic, for a series they're doing on global population. I think this would make a great video to share with kids when they are grappling with concepts like population, or even large numbers in maths. It makes a useful starter for a discussion about the environment, or any studies involving population growth. And I think it's an excellent example of an ad that grabs our interest and communicates its message clearly. I hope you have time to watch and discuss it with your (older) kids.

You can read more about it at the website, ask kids to think about how much space we would need to host a world party for 7 billion people in 2011, and play a biodiversity game too. Good luck with the game - I was so far out I am ashamed to confess it!

Schoolyard Stories - Writing Fun for Kids - Guest Post

What do you do if you want to help your local schools raise funds, but you're tired of the eternal junk food and raffle ticket fundraisers? Enter two Australian mums, Sophia Stefanos and Deborah Kourakis, with a brilliant idea where kids benefit not just from the funds, but from the actual fundraising activity.

Schoolyard Stories

by Sophia Stefanos

Schoolyard Stories publishes books written by children. Students of all ability levels write a story and/or draw a picture. A paperback book is then printed and sold within the school community. As a literacy activity it has been endorsed by Author, Jen McVeity as “…an excellent and very worthwhile idea” that “…engages children to write and have fun doing it”. As a fundraiser it’s profitable, easy to run and families enjoy a high quality book that becomes a cherished keepsake.

Actively participating in preschool and school fundraising committees for years, Sophia came up with the book idea for her own kids’ school. She began the process of sourcing printers, setting up templates, instruction documents and scanning in all the kids’ work. They decided to go with the story starter Imagine if… for every child from prep to Grade 6. Sophia says, “It was a lot of hard work, but it was all worthwhile just listening to children of all ages in the schoolyard discussing what they were going to write about for their Imagine if… story. The book was distributed during book week and the children came running out after school with their copies. As I walked through the schoolyard, I saw kids and parents huddled around their book and reading. The wonderful response I received from parents was amazing. That was four years ago and my children still get out their Imagine if… book and read their favourite stories”.

After that, Sophia and her friend Deborah discussed the success of the project. It was profitable, it was different, it got their children excited about reading and writing, and they weren’t selling junk. Why not create a publishing pack that would make it easy for coordinators so all they’d have to do is compile the work, send it to Schoolyard Stories and they’d take care of the rest?

The two run Schoolyard Stories from home. They pride themselves on customer service and their flexibility to allow schools to be as creative as they like. Sophia’s background as a primary school teacher gives her an excellent understanding of how difficult it is to fit everything into an already demanding curriculum. The flexibility of this project allows teachers to simply slip the task into any literacy session and for children to take their rough drafts home to revise them as part of a homework activity.

Due to her circumstances growing up, Sophia was never a strong reader and loathed having to read aloud. As a result she didn’t like reading and her love of books came at a much later age. Her goal as a teacher and Mum was to make reading and writing fun to encourage a love of literature. “In class and at home we often self published little books. The entire journey from beginning to end was so rewarding. Children gained confidence from the feedback they received when sharing their books with family and friends. Schoolyard Stories really takes this up a notch because students see their work published in a REAL book and their school community is actually purchasing their work. They become published authors with an authentic audience. It really is a wonderful encouragement tool”.

If you’re looking for a way to raise funds or for an exciting literacy activity, why not try publishing a book? You’ll enjoy the experience and the enthusiasm in your students as they work toward a common goal. For more information and a free quote, go to www.schoolyardstories.com.au.

The Zoo That Is You

Each of us is the keeper of a huge zoo. And the zoo is ourselves. If your kids are fascinated by all things creepy, have a chat to your local librarian and borrow some books about the human body - in particular, the animals who live upon and inside us.

With the news that bedbugs are on the rise again, why not take advantage of this teaching opportunity and discuss parasites in general with your kids? Most kids will have heard of head lice, and some will be genuinely fascinated.

Here's an excellent video that introduces us to the colonies we carry around, We are not alone.

The Unknown Micro World is longer (7 minutes) and is another great one. You could also use these clips as inspiration for a monster story!

Animal Planet has video clips about parasites - in my opinion, you need a strong stomach to watch them.

If this much reality via electron microscopes is more than you want, try the dust mites song instead.

However, if you're lucky enough to have students or children who are fascinated by the gross factor, check out The Yuckiest Site on the Internet - where kids can find out about yucky things such as worms, roaches and body facts.

For more Book Chook articles related to animals, check out: Let's Celebrate World Animal Day!, ARKive - Images of Life on Earth, Virtual Visiting - Switcheroo Zoo.

Image credit: Cimex lectularius, the common bedbug from Adam Cuerden (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

Let's Celebrate World Maths Day Next Week

I really didn't appreciate Maths until long after I'd left school, so for most of my life I've been mathsphobic. But I know how important Mathematics is, and I also know that for some kids, Maths is the shiny part of their lives. So here I am to say: let's celebrate World Maths Day next week!

World Maths Day is March 1.There's an official World Maths Day website, which encourages schools and individual kids from all over the world to get involved in an event where they compete by playing mental arithmetic games on the website. Homeschoolers are actively encouraged to participate. Best of all, it's free to register and play.

Each game lasts for 60 seconds and students can play up to 100 games, earning points for their personal tally. Students can play beyond 100 games during the event, but points will only count to the World Maths Day Mathometer, not their personal point score. The students who answer the most questions correctly appear on the Hall of Fame. There are 5 different levels of play, 20 games on each level.

and

The official competition runs for 48 hours, for as long as it is 1 March somewhere in the world.

I decided to register, partly so I could give you more feedback, but also because, let's face it, I am incredibly nosy (or should that be beaky?) It was the usual matter of double opt in emails, I got my password etc, logged in and wham! I was competing against someone from Canada who seemed incredibly fast at addition and subtraction. Before I'd finished, a sign came up to tell me Results were being finalised. I waited a while but nothing else happened. Maybe they'd never encountered anyone with my lightning fast skills and ability before? I tried again, different competitors, same seemingly frozen screen. I have a feeling it was a browser problem (I was using Safari), so I urge you not to be put off by that. Give the site a try with your kids and test your speed and accuracy with competitors from across the globe. I'm telling you ahead of March 1 so your kids have the chance to register and practise ahead if you want.

What else could we do to celebrate World Maths Day? Why not celebrate Maths with a game or three?

You can play a game I invented for my Kindergarten kids with young children who are old enough to count and recognise numbers on dice. I call it Towers. All you do is have a have a box of bricks children can reach, wooden or plastic, joinable or not - dominoes would do. Take turns to throw one die or two dice and that dictates how many blocks you can choose. Each child begins their own tower and play passes around from payer to player. When a tower falls, those blocks go back to the middle and then the player can begin again on his next turn. Yes, it IS simple but my kids enjoyed it and it is good counting practice as well as good for social skills like turn taking.

Some board games like Snakes and Ladders consolidate counting and numeration. Number Boggle encourages kids to play with equations. Greedy Pig is a dice game involving addition that I love - it's easy to learn, and fun too.

If you don't have access to toys or games, perhaps you're in the car, consider using number plates and environmental signs for number collection or operations. Or tell your primary aged kids, "The answer is four. What might the question be?"

You'll find a list of great online Math resources at Kelly Tenkely's wonderful blog, iLearnTechnology.

Dawn at MomsInspire Learning has the knack of combining Maths with children's literature and games and has a great list of articles that help us see Maths moments in every day. She has a specific post called Teachable Moments for World Maths Day which I believe you'll find practical and useful.

Are you looking for some practical and fun activities to do with preschool kids? Rachel at Quirky Momma has been mathematically busy with paper plates, snacks and coins.

At Educational Freeware, there's a list of free websites for learning Maths. Shambles.net also has a long list of Maths resources, and Chateau Meddybemps has some cute Maths games for younger kids in its SuperMenu.

Do you have a favourite online Maths resource? What other real life games do you recommend/like that promote Maths?

image credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

Book Review, Daddy Loves His Little Girl

Robin Merrill is a mother of two, and a freelance writer who can usually be found writing about criminal justice colleges and universities.

If there were a soundtrack to my childhood, it would be called Johnny Cash: The Complete Collection. As a book-obsessed adult, when I noticed Daddy Loves His Little Girl by John Carter Cash, I couldn’t pass it by. This 32-page children’s picture book was published by Little Simon Inspirations (2010) and is illustrated by Marc Burckhardt.

Of course, I don’t mean to suggest that John Carter Cash is only Johnny Cash’s son. He has also won five Grammy Awards, and has authored two other books: Anchored in Love – An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash and another children’s book, Momma Loves Her Little Son.

Daddy Loves His Little Girl is marketed toward an audience of 4-8 year olds. My 3-year-old daughter has a magical relationship with her father, who does an awesome job of reading to her. She loves this book, so I would recommend it is also appropriate for 2 and 3 year olds.

The illustrations are large and take up most of the page, a feature I appreciate, especially when I try to read to more than one child at a time. The book’s designers made excellent use of the page, and there isn’t any “dead space.”

The story is written in metered, rhyming quatrains, so it’s rhythmic to read, and my daughter can work at predicting what words and sounds will finish my sentences, a feature we both enjoy.

The story opens with:

Daddy loves his little girl,
with arms spread open wide.
He cherishes the love you give
and holds it deep inside.

The narrative continues to be evocative, and the first few times through it, I got teary-eyed. (Don’t worry, my daughter is used to this, so she wasn’t alarmed.) The narrative goes on to emphasize the father’s love, explaining that he will express this love by nurturing his little girl’s imagination. Together, father and child go on a magical adventure, the highlight of which might be the little girl leading a thousand-drummer band.

The book ends, as most of my favorites do, with a calming good night message. It has quickly become one of my favorites in our family’s collection, and I am sure I will be reading it another several hundred times, so I’m thankful I won’t tire of it.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

Teaching Children about Sustainability - Guest Post

It's my pleasure to welcome Sabbithry Persad to The Book Chook today.

Sabbithry Persad has been writing stories and poems since she was a child growing up on the island of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. She won her first award at the age of fourteen in her high school’s Language Arts Showcase. Her childhood was filled with many siblings, several pets and farm animals, and countless well-read, entertaining books from literature and scientific magazines to comic books and encyclopedias.


Now, after a number of years as a professional writer, Sabbithry Persad shares her enthusiasm for reading and writing through publishing and authoring books. Persad’s debut children’s book is Garbology Kids Where Do Recyclable Materials Go? Follow Sabbithry on Twitter. Purchase link for Sabbithry's book. 

Teaching Children about Sustainability
by Sabbithry Persad

"Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." –1987 Bruntland Report

Sustainability as defined in the Bruntland Report can leave you feeling a little overwhelmed, but teaching sustainability to children doesn’t have to be daunting. In simple terms, sustainability is ensuring that people and the earth have basic needs to thrive both now and in the indefinite future. If we look at this on a parental level, we can then ask how can parents teach children to understand people and the earth and help take care of both for ourselves now and for those that come after us. And according to The Successful Guide to Home Schooling, “studies have shown that children rely primarily on their parents to teach them strategies to respond effectively to external events (Spinrad, Losoya, Eisenberg and Fabes, 1999).” This makes parents a critical foundation for children to learn about sustainability.

So how does a parent go about teaching sustainability to their child or children? One way is to teach children the basics of ecology. Allowing children to get outside and learn about the natural earth and its cycles – plants, animals, soil, and all the elements that surround us – can help them to develop an understanding and appreciation for all living and non-living things, including the way they are all connected and dependent upon each other. Encouraging children to interact with their environment and explore the beauty of this world that surrounds them could give them a long lasting gift that they take with them into the future.

Other opportunities parents can take advantage of are:

Allow children to participate in parents activities. Because children learn first and foremost from their parents, getting children involved in activities such as gardening, composting, reducing and reusing can help them to learn more than just the basics. I remember when my parents taught me how to plant fruits and herbs, something I haven’t forgotten to this day. Parents have a wealth of knowledge that they can impart and what better people to share that with than their children.

Celebrate the diversity of culture and citizenship. Understanding different cultures, practices and traditions can help both children and parents to embrace different groups of people that live in their local community. Having a shared understanding fosters a connection with humanity, which might lead to helping the community and those live in it; locally and globally.

Embrace multi-disciplinary and critical thinking by allowing children to think outside of the box. Innovation of ideas on how to develop and make things environmentally friendly, more efficient and with less packaging is critical to a sustainable future. Give children a head start by encouraging them to look everywhere for the answers to things that they may not know or may ask about. Important too, is the value of questioning the information that they come across. With the influx of information on the Internet, parents would need to be a guide to teach children to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources of information. And finally, parents could assist children with conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or evaluating the information they find.

Decisions involve making conscious choices about how one’s behaviour and actions impact the environment, our community, and the world. Preparing children with a foundation that helps them to make better choices that serves humanity and the earth now and in the future is something parents can be proud of for generations to come.

A Book That Impacted My Life - Virginia Lowe

Here is the second in this special series of Guest Posts here at The Book Chook. Read the first at A Book That Impacted My Life - Kelly Burstow. If you're interested in submitting an article about a children's book that has had an impact on your life, please use the Contact Me tab above. Today's article is from Virginia Lowe.

Virginia Lowe formed Create a Kids’ Book fifteen years ago, and has helped over forty titles to publication in that time. She holds workshops in Melbourne, and e-courses on writing the picture book or the novel. She also mentors, and sends out a free monthly bulletin on writing for kids and children’s literature generally. The website is www.createakidsbook.com.au. Before she started the business, she lectured in English and children’s literature, was a Judge for the CBCA Book of the Year Awards, and earlier was a school and municipal librarian.

Andersen’s The Snow Queen

Coming from a very religious family, I encountered little fantasy – certainly no fairy tales – until I could read them for myself. So I soon voraciously raided the neighbours' shelves. Kipling’s Just So Stories, from the boys over the back, were among the first I met – I particularly remember 'How the alphabet was made', as it was about a little girl and I identified with her trying to communicate with her daddy without written words. And the jokey way that she invented and used each of the letters.

But perhaps the most significant was Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, from Susan next door. I’ve no idea what edition it was, or who the illustrations were by, but the pictures have stayed in my mind. (Though probably with no relationship to how they really were. I recently had cause to return to another book of my childhood, of whose pictures I had very vivid memories – and it turned out that the mental picture was not like the actual one at all. So I don’t know, but here is what I remember). They were black and white sketches, and there were few of them. The book itself was one of the largish postwar books with thick paper – rather ugly. Similar to the annuals – ‘stories for girls’ type. I’m almost sure it was not abridged, because when I have read the story again subsequently, every incident seems familiar.

Kai gets a splinter of glass in his eye and goes to the Snow Queen. I remember brave Gerda going off to rescue her friend, and some of the dramas along the way – the Robber Girl particularly. And the picture of Kai sitting among endless splinters of ice, trying to fit them together.

But my strongest memory is the last words – in the translation on my shelves now, ‘There they sat the two of them, grownups; and yet in their hearts children, and it was summer; a warm glorious summer day.’ No, it didn’t go exactly like that, of course it was a different translation, but what impressed me was that they held hands and made their way home to their little rooms in the attic, and they were grown up. That seemed so significant to me, yet in abridged versions (for picture books especially) this is the fact that is left out.

Maybe I don’t remember it so well, but I know it made a deep impression on me. The indescribable feeling of being taken to another, different, world. And a little girl just like me – Gerda – lived in it. And I could live in it too, for the length of the reading.

Image credit : merlinprincesse on flickr 

Creative Prompt - Dreaming Online

Dreamlines is a fascinating website. You simply type in a keyword or keywords and it generates dream-like images that change and progress before your eyes. Once you enter the keyword, a sphere swings back and forward along an arc, almost hypnotizing you for what's to come.

Dreamlines is a non-linear, interactive visual experience. The user enters one or more words that define the subject of a dream he would like to dream. The system looks in the Web for images related to those words, and takes them as input to generate an ambiguous painting, in perpetual change, where elements fuse into one another, in a process analogous to memory and free association.

I think this makes a really interesting prompt for creative activity. I tried words that I knew would have physical images like "flowers" and "dodo", but I also tried abstracts like "loneliness". The dream that unfolded for "loneliness" stirred emotions inside me and made me grasp at interpreting the dream. "Bullying" was less successful (I think the source images contained a lot of posters) but generated one image I particularly liked (above).

It's a fun and fascinating place to play, but do bookmark it and use it for yourself and your children for those moments when you want to free-associate before creating something. I plan to use it with my children's writing, to try to get in touch with my characters' feelings, and perhaps to enter a creative state quickly when I've been distracted.

What I did

I decided to take screen grabs of some of the images generated for "flowers", and uploaded them to PhotoPeach. I chose Meditation from Thais for my music as it has always seemed to me to be dreamy and haunting. Despite not being a poet, I challenged myself to create rhyming couplets to accompany my images. This is certainly something you could do with your children/students and I think it makes a very effective presentation.

Flowers Dreaming on PhotoPeach

I think Dreamlines is so pretty. What do you think?

My article today is the sixteenth in a series of prompts that I hope might spark some creative expression in your kids, and maybe you too. I hope you'll join me so we can all challenge ourselves to be more creative. You can catch the rest of the prompts at the first post in the series, by scrolling down to Update.


If you and/or your kids respond to this prompt and you'd like me to showcase it on my blog, I would be thrilled to do that. If you post it on your own blog, please let me know (in comments or email, via the Contact Me tab), and I'll add your link to the relevant post.

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Make Some Magic with a Picture

This website page makes me happy. It reminds me of those drawing pads we had as kids, where you lifted a sheet of plastic and your drawing disappears. Only this is in reverse.

What you do: You transform an image into a "magic" Farbzauber picture. Copy and paste the url of your picture into the form which has an explanation in English. Choose outline or black and white, then hit submit. You'll see an outline of your picture like a kid's colouring page. Drag your mouse over the picture to "colour in" and you will reveal it in full colour.

It's part of a Barbapapa fan site which is in German. I wandered around and found a photo colouring section too. It MAY be only good if your browser is Chrome or Safari, I'm not sure. If your kids are Barbapapa fans, you'll find videos, pictures and games about these charming books, like this one which is a scene builder unless my rudimentary Deutsch is letting me down. 

This might be fun for kids who are just learning mouse skills as they colour inside the lines. You can't actually go over the lines. It's not very creative but it's fun. It amused me for a couple of minutes! I made sure I chose a piece of Royalty free clip art so that I wasn't breaking copyright. I also used Google Advanced Image search and found several images available that were labelled for re-use.

Move your mouse over my dragon picture below to see the "magic"! I did this via the embed option.


Farbzauber via Barbafan

Building Background with Books - Guest Post

I would like to welcome Deirdre Smith back to The Book Chook today. I first met Deirdre at we teach, a community of mothers who like to teach their kids. I know she loves reading to her son and creating great activities about literature. Deirdre has a review of Alaska's Three Pigs at The Book Chook.

Building Background with Books
by Deirdre Smith

I believe that children need to develop a strong experiential background on a variety of topics from when they're young. It's important for adults in a child’s life to help them develop that foundation on a variety of subjects in a different manners and styles. Young children are building synapses or brain connections at a rapid rate. Their brains are constantly trying to connect what they know to what they are learning.

Books are a wonderful place to start building background. Reading fiction and non-fiction books is one way to learn about and view different subjects easily from the comfort of your home.

If your available books have more text than your child’s attention span can handle, you can still use them. Children can build background and learn about concepts by picture walking. Picture walking involves talking about what you see in the pictures or illustrations in a book.

Once you've read a book together to build background knowledge, children need to explore the new concepts that have been presented to them. This learning can take place through use of manipulative objects, cooking, constructing, crafting, and playing learning games. Exploring this way helps children gain a deeper understanding of the experiences you have shared with them while reading. Children also benefit from going on field trips related to the concepts and knowledge they are learning.

After completing some sort of exploration of the concepts or knowledge, it's important to provide a time for kids to share what they've learned. Sharing can be done in many different ways. Children can orally describe what they have been doing with you. Take the time to ask them questions, This will help them analyze and synthesize that they've done. Using a journal to record their learning experiences is also an option. Young children can draw pictures instead of writing words. Parents can later record what the children have told them about their pictures.

Deirdre Smith was a classroom teacher and technology integration specialist in elementary schools for twenty years. Although she shared a lot of knowledge with her students and learned a lot from them, it wasn’t until she became a mom that she truly came to understand what it was like to share and learn beside a child.


She shares the lessons she is learning and her reflections on parenting on her blog JDaniel4’s Mom. The blog also focuses on reading and learning explorations with her son JDaniel, along with mom related reviews and giveaways.

What's the Use of Picture Books?

Have you noticed there's a prejudice about kids reading picture books? We're fine with it when kids are in pre-school, or attending a read-aloud session at the library. But some parents actively deter their kids from reading picture books once they start school, pushing them onto chapter books as soon as they can read independently. It seems a book without pictures is perceived as some sort of trophy to impress others.


What a shame! I believe picture books are great to share as a read aloud no matter what age your child is. A much-loved and often-shared picture book can eventually make a great beginning reader. Kids have memorized its text and are almost role-playing reading when they read it aloud to you or their toys. From my perspective, a trade picture book is usually of much higher quality than a caption reader or phonic-based book. 


And why shouldn't people of any age read picture books? There are many suitable for older readers, bursting with material and pictures to entertain us and make us think. A book like Mirror by Jeannie Baker, for instance, can be read and appreciated by any age.


As for pushing kids onto chapter books, why? Let children choose what they want to read. If you have a chapter book you love that you want to share with your child, why not choose it as a book to read aloud in serial form? I call this hand-selling, and it works just as well at home as it does at school. Once I share a book with kids, and use all my read-aloud wiles to bring a book to life, I find kids clamour to borrow it. Allowing kids to choose their own reading material means they will want to read, and have confidence in themselves and their choices - it's as simple as that. As the Scholastic Reading Bill of Rights says:

"...every child should be able to choose and own the books they want to read, for that choice builds literacy confidence – the ability to read, write and speak about what they know, what they feel, and who they are."

What are we afraid of, when we stop kids reading picture books? Afraid that they will still be choosing to read them at twelve or twenty-two? Afraid that society will perceive that as a sign of stupidity or strangeness? I still read picture books and excitedly share new ones with adult visitors to my home, and I am not perceived as stupid or strange. (Well, not to my face.)


A picture book is like a window to the world for kids. It introduces them to our literary heritage, to the pleasure of story, to fascinating facts, to visual and textual delights created by both author and illustrator. It won't stop doing that just because a child moves up a class.


Picture books are so powerful; why not share one with your kids today? Whether it's a real physical book, or an e-book for a gadget, there's so much pleasure to be had from sharing a picture book with someone you love. If you're looking for great picture books and ways to include them in your teaching, try Keith Shoch's blog, Teach with Picture Books, or explore any of the children's book review sites. At The Book Chook, go to labels in my right side bar and try the label "children's picture book" or "Children's Book Review". Here is a Bibliography of picture books to use with intermediate grades (mostly US). 

You might also be interested in my article, What's So Great About Children's Literature?  There are some excellent points too, in this article on Naturally Educational. Or check out the video below on Wild About Books for iPad from Random House. And please do share one of your favourite picture books in comments.

Photo courtesy of US Army and photo credit Lori Grein (USAG Detroit Arsenal)

Create Art at Aminah's World

Here's a lovely webspace where kids can create a digital collage. It was created by the Columbus Museum of Modern Art, and is called Aminah's World.

Children simply have to click on elements to add them to their pictures. They can choose from mud cloth, kente cloth, miscellaneous fabric, feathers, paper, ties, found objects, yarn and stitching, buttons and shells.

If you choose something you don't want, you can drag it to the trash bin. Resizing an object is via a plus/minus sign, and rotating a matter of clicking little arrows. Once objects are placed, they can also be dragged to another position.

Clicking Save takes you to a page where you can download the artwork to your computer, and/or add it to the online gallery by filling out first name, location and current grade. My image top left downloaded quickly and easily as a jpg.

Aminah is Ohio artist, Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, who combines traditional art materials with found objects and everyday materials to create two and three dimensional works of art. Learn more about this fascinating artist at Aminah's World. 

Introducing Literacy to Your Baby - Guest Post

I would like to welcome Misty Weaver to The Book Chook blog. Mother to a 2 year old, and now pregnant with twins, Misty Weaver is the editor-in-chief for BabySignLanguage.com, a new site that has lots of helpful information on how parents can teach their kids Baby Sign Language. Baby Sign Language is a cool way for parents to communicate with their children before their children can actually speak. It has been shown to boost development as well. The site is full of free resources including free videos, free flash cards and free tutorials. Feel free to check it out for yourself, visit Baby Sign Language and let her know what you think.

Introducing Literacy to Your Baby

by Misty Weaver

Literacy encompasses far more than the ability to read. It’s about being able to communicate with the world. It’s a way of relating to the world. And our babies are ready to be introduced to this relationship the second they enter the world!

We start communicating with our baby from day one. We nurse them, hold them, murmur to them, sing to them, swaddle them – each of these acts sends a message. We read to them from week one, and whether or not we recognize it, they do respond to this communication. It does mean something to them.

As the weeks go by, our efforts get more sophisticated. We can communicate with our babies by just doing what comes naturally, or we can make a conscious effort to help our babies understand the world. We can make a conscious effort to encourage our babies to communicate. This is one of the things we accomplish with reading. Sure, we can read to our babies when the fancy strikes us, but what a difference we can make if we make a commitment to read regularly. And not just reading, but singing along to the book, and taking the time to make silly faces and silly sounds.

We can make a commitment to talking to our babies. We can say, “Look at the flower,” “Smell the flower,” “Touch the flower.” At the same time, we can introduce the Sign Language sign for flower, and help baby to make the sign in return. By making these efforts, we are making our child literate in the world of flowers, and as all of these different worlds interact with one another, we layer literacies upon one another until our children develop a literacy with the world, a way of interacting with, thinking about, understanding, and communicating with the world. Yes, this involves reading and writing, but it just as importantly involves thinking, feeling, and experiencing. We are building an invaluable foundation for our babies!

Part of this foundation building, is of course, the skill of speech. Parents and caregivers, for obvious reasons, place a lot of emphasis on the development of this skill. Speaking is an important way of processing, relating to, and communicating with the world! And research suggests that speaking skills correspond to reading skills later on. One of the ways parents can help to build a strong foundation is to introduce Baby Sign Language .

Toddlers are able to understand speech long before they have the fine motor abilities to pronounce words, so sign language can help babies to bridge this communication gap. It is easy to introduce baby sign language, and you can use just a few signs, or you can teach your baby dozens. Simply find a Baby Sign Language Dictionary, preferably one with video, and learn a few signs yourself. Then, whenever you say a word, make the corresponding sign. This will provide your baby with yet another way to relate sounds with objects, and to relate feelings with events. Sign Languagecan provide yet another building block in your literacy foundation.

Each parent will, no doubt, employ his or her own style of foundation-building, based on his or her own relationship with the world. What matters is that we make a conscious effort, recognizing that literacy, the ability to communicate efficiently, is necessary to living a happy life. It is imperative that we make these efforts with our babies. Sing silly songs. Teach your child the sign for monkey. Read as many rhyming books as you can. And make sure you say, “moo” every time you drive by a cow. Each and every brick makes the foundation stronger.

National Geographic Atlas Puzzles

I love the National Geographic website. It has lots to offer parents, teachers and kids, including amazing images and stacks of fascinating facts. One cool feature I discovered recently via freetech4teachers is the Atlas Puzzles.

These are online jigsaw puzzles based on different maps. You click a map to choose it, then click again to break it into pieces. Then you drag and drop the pieces to reassemble the map. If you hit the options tab, it allows you to change the difficulty level by altering the size of the pieces and enabling random rotation. The site times you so you get to try to beat your own time.

I think this is a fun way for kids to get to know the map of a country or continent they're studying. There are 23 maps altogether, including Australia. It's also a way to engage kids who love maps in a little spatial problem solving.

If you're looking for other places to try a digital jigsaw, you might be interested in my article, Jigsaw Planet.

Book Review, Alaska's Three Pigs

Children's Book Review by Deirdre Smith

Apparently the three little pigs have decided to leave behind their traditional home environment and head off to the Alaskan bush in Alaska’s Three Pigs. In this version of the classic tale written by Arlene Laverde, illustrated by Mindy Dwyer and published by Sasquatch Books (2000), the three pigs decide to travel by biplane to Alaska where they will build homesteads, fish, hunt, play and eat canned yams.

The pigs are captivated by their new environment and spend the summer camping and playing rather than building homes. It isn’t until the weather turns cold enough for them to have to dig out their winter coats that they start looking for home sites.

The first pig is not very industrious and settles for a broken down cabin that has been abandoned for some time. After tossing his belongings in the cabin he heads out to snowboard. The second pig actually constructs a house of simple branches, grass and moss in the open tundra before he heads off to ski. The third and most industrious pig builds an igloo made of ice bricks before he heads off to ride on a dog sled.

The pigs are loud and noisy as they participate in their particular winter sports and soon wake a sleeping grizzly. The bear is hungry and ornery and longing for pork.

You can guess what happens next. The pigs rush home when the bear’s grumblings are heard only to have him destroy two of their homes.

The pigs all survive in this version of the story and so does the bear. He falls into a water barrel the third pig had set up for his drinking water. The barrel is dragged outside containing the bear. After a brief time he is wheeled to his cave, encased in ice.

Alaska's Three Pigs is filled with action and humor. The illustrations by Mindy Dwyer are colorful and playful. The primary colors of the illustrations are picked up and used in accented text throughout the story. We loved the descriptive words and pictures in this book.

JDaniel really enjoyed hearing this wonderful tale. I decided it would be fun to retell the story using walking finger puppets I made out a paper plates. Actually JDaniel painted the plates pink using water colors and I cut the pigs out of them

He loved pretending to make the pigs walk, ski, and run using these puppets.

I chose to not add decorations or costumes to the pigs so we can use them again with other versions of the story.

Reviewed by Deirdre Smith

Deirdre Smith was a classroom teacher and technology integration specialist in elementary schools for twenty years. Although she shared a lot of knowledge with her students and learned a lot from them, it wasn’t until she became a mom that she truly came to understand what it was like to share and learn beside a child.


She shares the lessons she is learning and her reflections on parenting on her blog JDaniel4’s Mom. The blog also focuses on reading and learning explorations with her son JDaniel, along with mom related reviews and giveaways.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.

Book Chook's Greatest Post 2010

No, you're not seeing double. This is my second post for today. I need your help.

You see, recently I joined Kleenex Mums online. They were having a promotion where you had to nominate your favourite blog post from 2010. I nominated Say NO to Bullying, my post from November last year.

Why did I choose that post? Well, I put a lot of work into it, even making a little movie for it at Xtranormal and suggesting kids might like to do the same. I got lots of supportive comments from lovely people, and the post was ranked highly in stats.

But the main reason I chose Say NO to Bullying is because bullying is something I loathe. When I think of the consequences of bullying, when I see the look of fear on a child's face, or hear stories about people whose lives have been made miserable by it, I just wish so much there was something I could do to lessen its impact, and raise awareness about preventing it.

So if you feel that way too, I am asking you to vote for Say NO to Bullying in the Kleenex Mums Contest. I hope this will spread the word a little further into our blogging world. All you have to do is to visit The Book Chook entry page and "like" my post (via a little "f" icon, for Facebook members which you can see at the bottom of my screen grab above) - estimated time taken is 5 seconds. If you'd like to encourage others to do the same, that would be great too. If you're not a member of Facebook, this won't work for you.

Make Your Own Mandala

I know colouring-in isn't looked upon as a very creative activity, but I find it and doodling quite soothing. I also find that if I have a creative problem to solve mentally, giving my hands something uncomplicated to do can release the answer to a problem.


I went through an intense colouring stage as a child, and particularly loved to colour mandalas. Do you know them? They're usually circular, often geometric, and used in Hinduism, Buddhism and other religions as an aid to meditation. The Mandala Project has a gallery of stunning mandalas created by others for us to enjoy. This is not just colouring in - there is some stunning art work there to appreciate. 


The Mandala Project models might inspire your kids to try creating their own mandalas. Make Your Own Mandala has some simple directions if you're not sure where to start. Or kids might like to play with a digital version I found at GirlsGoTech. It's a simple matter of dragging geometric shapes into position on your workspace. You can see the one I created there above.

Another great place to colour mandalas is Scrap Coloring which I wrote about in my article, Scrap Coloring (so innovative with these posts titles!) I love the opportunity this website gives us to fill shapes digitally with pattern and colour. The mandala I coloured on their template is the lower image on this post. 


Find other art-related posts on The Book Chook via the Art tag.

Let's Celebrate Chinese New Year

The Year of the Rabbit begins today, February 3, 2011. To celebrate Chinese New Year, I think we should go fly a kite!

If kite-flying doesn't appeal:

• check out the list of resources I wrote about for Chinese New Year last year. 
• There are many more ideas on Cybraryman's site, and at Larry Ferlazzo's blog.  
• I found some lovely ideas to do with preschoolers for Chinese New Year on Fairy Dust Teaching. 
• Tech Savvy Mama has excellent ideas too.
• Stay and Play has resources in a lovely pdf.

I love what kite flying has to offer kids. Kite-making can be a great opportunity for dads and kids to get together for some special time. Kite-flying is a sport in its own right and may well be something your teens, tweens and adult children will all find an interest in. Just creating a kite of one's own, decorating it and experimenting with ways to make it fly can be an absorbing project. And examining different kites from around the world can be an excellent way to gain an inkling of other cultures.

Crayola have some instructions for kite making and safety tips for kite flying. They suggest decorating the kite with one of the 12 animal zodiac signs. This first Crayola kite seems purely ornamental. The second one is simple but should fly. Here's a third Crayola kite, the air-flow, and they also have a more difficult Maori kite.

Gomberg Kites has a gallery of kites from around the world. The same website has instructions for kite-making under Artistry and Craftsmanship.

Song suggestions for your kite-flying:

• Let's Go Fly a Kite from Mary Poppins with separate music and lyrics or as a sung animation on Youtube. 
• Rosie Thomas Kite Song 

Decorate a kite cupcake at Family Fun. http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/kite-cupcake-685437/

Book suggestion:

• Kite Flying by Grace Lin 
• Not specifically about kites, but Riley and the Dancing Lion by Tania McCartney would also be a lovely picture book to share for Chinese New Year. 

I am fascinated by mini-kites. Admittedly, it doesn't take much to fascinate the Chook, but I love the way these things fly! I think your primary and junior high school kids might enjoy experimenting with these incredibly light and manoeuvrable kites. You can see one in action in this video. Don't be put off by the beginning, the guy soon cuts to the chase and shows you mini kites flying and how to make them.

Kiting USA has some mini kite plans,  plus galleries and more information. Here's another mini kite, made of straws and tissue paper,  and a similar kite from eHow. There's also a miniature kite guild, with templates, but you need to register to download.

If your kids enjoy making things fly, you might like to check out my articles Let's Celebrate Australia Day (mini boomerangs)  and Follow and Fly (paper aeroplanes.)

What will you do to celebrate Chinese New Year? Xin nian yu kuai!

Hand Picked Reading Lists - Guest Post

I would like to welcome Gina Clifford from Spotty Banana blog to The Book Chook.

Gina is the author of the eclectic home learning blog Spotty Banana, where she shares information on all sorts of subjects. Gina is a child-led, project-based learning advocate who enjoys exploring fun math, science, and technology-themed activities with her son, who is a fanatic like her. 

Hand Picked Reading Lists For Young Readers
by Gina Clifford

What do you do when your child is obsessed with reading everything about dragons or cats or mysteries? Or what if your kids are learning about the Holocaust, and you need some recommendations for appropriate reading material? It's not always easy to find quality children's literature.

Flashlight Worthy is a website dedicated solely to handpicked book lists organized around hundreds of topics. For example, there are interesting lists with titles such as "Great Reads for Culinary Kids" and "Books to inspire Book-Loving Boys"

Although lists aren't solely for children, simply use Flashlight Worthy's search form with the keyword "kids" to find interesting reading lists about all sorts of topics relating to children. Here's the link to the Flashlight Worthy search result set using the keyword "kids". Otherwise, simply scroll through the lists and check out the book lists for Children, Tweens, and Young Adults.

Creating a free flashlight Worthy account will allow you to build your own list of books you want to read - Flashlight Worthy can then give you custom book recommendations based on your lists. Or, if you have lists of your own to share, simply fill out the "Contribute a List" form on the Flashlight Worthy website.

Book Review, Teaching the Teacher

Children's Book Review by Renee Taprell

‘If you could swap places with your teacher for a day, what would you teach your teacher to do?’

Teaching the Teacher, written by Joan van Loon and illustrated by Chantal Stewart (published by UQP 2008), humorously turns the tables on the teacher and child relationship.

The teacher, Ms Cherry, demonstrates whilst doing a sum, that even she can make mistakes. ‘But, it’s all right if you make a mistake because everybody comes to school to learn.’

A young boy and his class mates decide to teach Ms Cherry what it’s like to be a child again at school. To hurry up and line up, sit cross-legged on the floor, climb a tree, and eat an apple with no front teeth.

Learning is tough and Ms Cherry is finding out the hard way!

But the class isn’t finished yet. Ms Cherry still has to learn how to climb the monkey bars, play dress ups, and dive-bomb in the swimming pool.

The children lend a helping hand to their poor exhausted teacher who has fallen in a heap in the cushions. ‘Open your eyes. Wake up, please, Ms Cherry.’ The young boy is woken from his daydream by Ms Cherry and the class.

Children and teachers will enjoy the lively water colour illustrations that depict the amusing events of school life. There are many opportunities for discussion, and this clever story reinforces the message that we never stop learning, whatever our age.

Reviewed by Renee Taprell (Books for Little Hands)

Renee Taprell is an Early Childhood Teacher and aspiring children's author. Her blog, Books for Little Hands, focuses on picture books and writing for young children.

Find more Children's Book Reviews on The Book Chook via the Table of Contents.