A Fun Thing to Do at the Library!

I always struggle with ways to get my boys actively involved in book selection at the library. My oldest girl always begs to go to the library and keeps herself very busy searching for books while we're there. My two boys love reading books, but they often depend on me a little too much to pick out good books for them don't always put much effort into themselves on our library trips. My middle one is getting better bit by bit, but My Little Reader will still usually just quickly grab a few books to fill his bag and then want to go play with the trains or the computers.

This week we were all on a hunt for some new Christmas books to read (it was our Advent calendar activity for that day). I looked up some Christmas-y titles on the computer card catalog and starting browsing the shelves to find the books on my list.

My boys were wandering aimlessly so I enlisted their help. "Can you boys help me find this list of books? There's a lot of them. Work together and start by looking for 'E FON', then see if you find a Christmas book there." (I didn't write down all the book titles on my list.)

They were so excited to go hunting! My little guy wasn't able to find the call numbers himself, but with a little help from his big brother or from me, he could! Trying to then hunt out the Christmas title with that particular call number I gave them was like a treasure hunt. They were so proud of themselves with each book they found.

When we completed hunting out the books on our list, they begged me to make a new list so they could find some more. They seriously could have done that all day. And what great practice with their library skills and even practice with their alphabet and spelling.

To Have a Fun Library Book Hunt...

1. Choose a theme of books to look for (Holiday, Dogs, Back to School, etc.)

2. Do a computer catalog search and make a list of books to hunt for o
n the shelves. (You could involve your kids in this part too if you want.) Decide if you want to write down the book titles or just let your chosen theme guide your kiddos in hunting out the correct books.

3. Give your kids a list of the library call numbers your copied from the computer catalog. Or verbally tell your kids the call numbers as you go. If you want, you could write a few separate call numbers on separate sheets of paper and give one paper to each child. Let them race to find all the books on their list (if you trust them to not get too competitive and disruptive).

4. Assist younger children with this activity. It's great fun and helps them practice their alphabet and library skills. We sang the alphabet song a few times as we hunted for our books.

Try These Ideas to Kick Off Summer Reading Fun!

Need to kickstart your summer of reading with your kids or students? Try these ideas!

1. Take a summer reading field trip.

2. Read Swimmy and make something fishy!

3. Write and draw a summer journal/scrapbook.

4. Read camping stories and make cool lanterns!

5. Read Psst! and take a real or pretend trip to the zoo.

6. Surprise your kiddos with reading rewards!

7. Read I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean and make squid hats.

Meeting Mo Willems

In February Literacy Launchpad did an author study on Mo Willems. So how serendipitous that my local independent bookseller, Parnassus Books, was hosting an event with him today in promotion of his new book The Duckling Gets A Cookie!?. Did you know today was the book's official release date? Or as Mo refers to it, "The first day you can legally read it!"

(See Parnassus Books get the Colbert Bump!)

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I only found out about the event last night, and spent this morning emailing the parents of my students in hopes that some of them might be able to make it to the event as well. At lunch, my kiddos (and one of their friends) made some Mo-inspired art (Literacy Launchpad projects from February) to bestow upon the author when we met him.

We made it to the event on time, bought a copy of The Duckling Gets A Cookie!? to get signed, and even got pretty good seats.

Mo came out and wanted to get the photo-taking out of the way so we could all spend our time "experiencing the event, instead of documenting it." Love that! So he did a bunch of goofy poses for us all. Us moms got our photos. The kids got some giggles. He even did a booty-shot pose for us (Which I missed with my camera, darn!).

Mo was very funny and extremely entertaining. He read us Listen to My Trumpet, which he explained is an "easy reader," but a "hard writer." And he of course also read us The Duckling Gets A Cookie!?.

Both books were big hits with the crowd.

Mo also took questions. Did you know...

• Every night when Mo's family sits down together for dinner, they put a big sheet of paper down the middle of the table and they all draw during the meal. "Elephant Gerald" came into being as a dinner doodle originally. "Piggie" followed shortly after.

• Mo used to be a writer for Sesame Street. Do you know what "Elmo" means in Spanish? It means "the Mo!" TeeHee!

• Mo gets all his ideas from Belize, because they have to be "belizable."

Mo's newest book is excellent! Laugh out loud funny (but I'm sure it helped that Mo was reading it to us). I'm really glad that all three of my kids were able to be there for the event. My older ones were talking with their friend that had come along, after we got home, and I overheard them saying that they thought the event was going to be "babyish", but that it was actually "really good!"

Check out this trailer for The Duckling Gets A Cookie!?

Field Tripping

Today was the big day - our first Literacy Launchpad field trip!! I would like to say a BIG THANKS to all the families who came out and joined me and Reid. I had a lot of fun. I hope everybody else did too. And the best part was getting to meet some of you, parents. That was really great for me, and I'm hoping that I'll get to see you guys some more in the future (the wheels are already turning for the next Literacy Launchpad field trip). I'm also hoping that I'll get to meet more parents. I know Saturdays are tough for many families because there's soccer and all sorts of things going on. Plus, our trip today was way up in Nashville, which is quite a haul for some families. Thank you especially to those of you who drove from far away to come today.

This whole idea of field tripping came from a friend, Bryn. I was telling her that I wished that I could meet more of the parents of my students, and she had the brilliant idea of planning periodic field trips. Thanks, Bryn!

Today's field trip was pretty brief. We met up, entered Cheekwood as a caravan, made a potty stop, then found Reid and read him a story. The parents and kids then had time to explore the gardens and the other scarecrows, which was nice. But I wish our time together had maybe been a little longer. Especially since some of the families drove so far to come.

Ideally I would like these field trips to be a chance for parents to do something fun and literary with their child, meet-up with me, and also meet each other. So hopefully the next field trip will allow us some more time to chat and make some new friends.

I have to say, story time at Cheekwood was a challenge today. being outdoors offers many distractions, and I worried I wasn't reading loud enough for my voice to carry to everyone. I also wished we had been able to discuss the story a little bit when I was finished reading (like we usually do in class), but we were all somewhat spread out and the kids were anxious to get up and go see the other scarecrows. So again, we'll see if we can work that out on the next field trip.

I was so glad to see some other, non-Literacy Launchpad families stop by as we were reading and listen too! They were honorary class members for the day! How fun!

Roughly 10% of my students were there today for the field trip. It was a good size group for my first venture of this sort, but I would love to see more families come out for our next trip. I'll try to plan our next field trip at a more central location, which will hopefully make it more convenient for people. So if you're reading this, and you weren't there today... We missed ya! Come on out for the next trip!

Here are some photos from today's trip! Man, I love my job!!

Reid Toomey

Keep hanging in here with me. I have internet at my new house, but I still don't live at my new house yet. So my internet access is still limited. I move Saturday though, so I'll things will be back to normal soon... theoretically!

As many of you know, Literacy Launchpad will be submitting a scarecrow for display at Cheekwood Botanical Garden's Scarecrow! exhibit this autumn. Well... the scarecrow is ready, and his/her/its name is "Reid Toomey"! He turned out cuter than I imagined he would, and he is traveling with me to classes this week! He's cumbersome to travel with, but so worth it! The kids are enjoying having the visitor, and I can't wait to be there when they see him in the gardens at Cheekwood!

If you are a parent of a Literacy Launchpad student, you are invited to come visit Reid, at Cheekwood (in Nashville) with your child this October. Literacy Launchpad is taking a "field trip" to Cheekwood to visit Reid, and read him a story. There will also be many other scarecrows to see in the gardens. (None as cool as "Reid though, of course!) Cheekwood is offering us special school benefits, so admission will be free for all the students, and only $5 for adults! More details will be arriving in your child's mailbox soon! Feel free to email me with any questions if you just can't wait to know more!! :-)

Farewell Harry... (No Spoilers!)

I had a fabulous Friday evening participating in the Harry Potter fanfare that was going on nationwide... and beyond! A few of my book club pals and I met-up at our local Barnes and Noble around 9 p.m. for some partying - Harry Potter style! I have to say, Barnes and Noble did a great job hosting the event.



When we entered we were given some ultra-hip (somewhat small), white, Harry glasses. We sported our cool spectacles as we made our way around the festivities. First we dropped our raffle tickets into the Goblet of Fire (a large jar). We then made our way to Diagon Alley (the music section) and made some sharp-looking wands and amulets.



Next it was off to the sorting hat! The Sorting Hat was done for fun, and was also an attempt to organize people for book-puchasing. They did not acheive the latter goal, but pulled off the former very well! A very authentic looking Professor McGonagall placed the sorting hat on our heads, as someone peeking out from behind a bookshelf a few rows back spoke the house name into a microphone (the speakers were hidden under a table behind the sorting hat). The bookstore employees really got into the sorting: I saw a boy visit the Sorting Hat, apparently for a second time, and the hat told him, "You have been here before and the answer is STILL Ravenclaw!" ...Awesome!



A couple of the gals in our group took their O.W.L.s (trivia), and did us proud! We all had our photo taken at Hogwarts Castle (a backdrop in the children's section). And a couple of us each had a school crest painted onto our arm.

Some minor chaos began when they attempted to sort us into our houses and line us up for the book-selling. This effort failed, and it basically turned into an unorganized mass of people attempting to get as close to the cash-wrap area as they could. Very hot (not in the good, Paris Hilton-ese way)! Very uncomfortable!

The count down was great though! Better than any New Year's Eve party count down I've ever been to! The anticipation in the air was palpable. And it was exciting knowing that everyone there was friends with my Harry too, and was just as eager as me to find out what he and his friends are up to next.

Spent all day Saturday, and half the day Sunday, reading the book aloud with my husband. But I promised I wouldn't spoil any of it for those who are still reading, so I will end my blog here for now.