Making A Personalized Storytelling Game

Ever play one of those story-making games with you kids? You know, the ones where you take turns drawing a card with a random picture or word on it? Each person has to use what's on the card they drew to add onto the story. It can get pretty silly. We have a couple versions at our house, and the kids really enjoy them. We giggle lots when we play.

A couple weeks ago I gave my boys cameras to use, and let them go wild taking photos that we could make into our own, personalized storytelling game. I had to give them ideas of what kinds of things to photograph to get them going. The photos we ended up with were still rather interesting, but the whole point was that it was their personal game, so I tried to stay pretty hands off with their photo taking. And honestly, the sillier the pictures, the more fun the game is.

I printed the photos at our local drug store and the boys were so excited to give our version a try! We didn't mount our photographs on paper or label then or anything (I'm lazy), but you could, of course. We just used the photos themselves as the cards. We put them in a pile face down and took turns drawing. There was lots of laughing, and we ended up with a pretty crazy story.

You could vary the game some different ways:

Give the kids a specific theme of items to photograph for the game - an items for every letter of the alphabet or something like that.

You could give them some guidance in what they photograph by sending them on a list with specifics on a variety of objects you want them to find and photograph, kind of like a scavenger hunt (something fuzzy, something bigger than yourself, something that makes noise, etc). It would be fun to see how the items compare to one another, if you have more than one child photographing.

If there are two children playing, you could have them take their photos separate from one another and let them be surprised by what the other ends up taking photos of. Let the photos be revealed to each other as they play the game!

Adding labels to your homemade photos/cards would add literacy value to your game. Or if you want your kids to practice reading some specific words, you could put some text only cards in your deck with those words on it, and using those words in this fun storytelling game might help your child become more familiar with the word and more fluent in reading it. Your child's spelling words might work well too (obviously, nouns are the kind of words that work best in this game)!

Remember, narrative skills are a key pre reading skill needed to move into being a successful reader. This game is a great narrative skill builder!

Try it out. Play it with friends, play it at dinner... Laughing together bonds people together. So what could be better than giggling together and having fun over some great, meaningful literacy practice?




  

6 Beach Books + Literacy Skill-Building Activities!

Anybody else planning a trip to the beach this summer? Ocean? Lake? Pond? A DIY beach in you backyard? Or how about a make-believe trip to the beach?

Some beach reading can bring extra fun to your trip while also giving your children practice with those essential emergent reading skills!

• Phonological Awareness
• Alphabet Knowledge
• Vocabulary
• Print Awareness
• Narrative Skills
• Motivation

All You Need For A Beach (Alice Schertle)- We love Schertle's All You Need for A Snowman and this is a perfect summer counterpart! I love that the kids can participate by jumping in and insisting on each page that there's more you need for a beach than what the text tells so far. You could do great print awareness practice with this one by making a list as you read of all the things you need for a beach. Then let the kids do an art/craft project where they create a beach by working off the list you made together. You could check each item off as you add it to you beach art/craft project.

Flotsam (David Wiesner) - A wordless picture book in which a boy discovers a magical underwater camera that has washed up at the beach - Flotsam! What a discovery it turns out to be! This is a great book for introducing new vocabulary to your kids or students! Talk about what "flotsam" is (floating debris or treasures that wash up on the beach from the ocean). Then bring your own magnifying glass and camera to the beach and see what flotsam you can find. Who can find the most unusual flotsam? The largest? Smallest? Most colorful? Give your kids some book handling practice by putting your photos in a book and adding text. Let them read their book to family and friends. 

To the Beach (Linda Ashman) - Can't we all relate to this story? A family tries to leave for the beach, but has to keep turning back for all the things they keep forgetting to bring along. By the time they have everything they need, it begins to rain. They turn around and go back home. Then , of course, the sun comes back out, so they make a pretend beach in their own backyard. This is a great story to inspire your own backyard beach fun or pretend beach play! We read this one in class and practiced our narrative skills by retelling to story by acting it out with fun props. Then we pretended our classroom was our own backyard beach and we played like we were at the beach! It was a lot of silly fun!

The Boy on the Beach (Niki Daly) - I love this book! First, because it features children that actually look like some of my own children. Also because it's just a beautifully, perfect beach story. We see a "boy" on the beach playing and exploring in various ways. It opens up a great conversation of do's and don'ts at the beach. Do: splash, build castles, play in the surf, enjoy cool treats, bury each other in the sand... Don't: forget the sunscreen, run around so fast that your spray sand on other people, wander off and get lost... At the end of the story we learn the boy's name as he writes it in the sand. This book could inspire some alphabet knowledge practice and fun sand writing of your own! Write your own name in that sand and take a photo! How many different ways can you write each letter of the alphabet (big, little, fancy, with shells, with your body...)? Bring some glue and paper to the beach and write letters with glue on the paper; then sprinkle sand on the glue to make cool, sensory alphabet cards. Send the kids on scavenger hunts by writing a letter in the sand and having them find something on the beach that begins with that letter. There are many fun possibilities!

Commotion in the Ocean  (Giles Andreae) - Fun and catchy rhymes about animals that live in that ocean you might be swimming in. Rhyming = Phonological Awareness practice. Yay! Isn't it great when learning is so fun? Talk about which of these animals you think you may or may not see while you're visiting the beach. 

A Beach Tail (Karen Lynn Williams) - A young boy draws a lion in the sand and then promises his dad to stay by his lion drawing. He keeps his promise while also satisfying his desire to further explore the beach by giving his lion a very long tail! "Swish-swoosh" the lion's tale keeps getting longer and he keeps getting further and further away from his father. He finally has to use the tail he drew to find his way back to his dad. This story gave us an idea of something to play on our beach trip - we're going to draw trails for each other to follow with something fun to discover at the end! This book was such a delight. Definitely a new favorite!

This short list of beach books will have you practicing all those needed emergent reading skills! These are good skills even for my older, already-reading kids to practice. And all these games and activities are so fun that your children will be practicing motivation too as they see how much fun their reading is creating!

Writing Fun as Christmas Gifts

If you don't have any ideas for some fun, literacy-inspired Christmas gifts yet, it's not my fault. Ha! I know I've been loading you up with gift posts this month. Sorry, I guess I was just inspired.

Today I'm sharing a little fun gift I made for four of my nieces. They all enjoy writing, and "doing work", and sending and receiving mail. So I ordered some cute little mailboxes from Joanne's and then loaded them up with some neat office and writing supplies. I would have loved something like this as a kid!

I painted the girls' names in the side of their mailboxes, and bundled up all the various supplies. My kids have been watching me put these together and now asking for little mailboxes and stationary for themselves.

Photo by Polka Dot Chair

I think something like this one pictured above would be perfect outside my kids' bedrooms. I love the idea of stuffing all their junk in it that they leave around the house too! Hee. Check out more info on this idea HERE.

I hope my nieces have as much fun using their mailboxes and supplies as I had in putting them all together. Maybe I'll get some mail from them too! Ooo, I should have included some self addressed envelopes! Might have to go throw a few of those in!

Using Digital Scrapbooks to Turn Kids Into Authors

I remember how much I loved creating my own story books as a kid. But they were never very fancy; usually they were just some pieces of plain white paper, or maybe some colored construction paper, stapled together. And not that there's anything wrong with that; it's great. But I have been amazed lately by how easy it is these days to help your child create a beautiful storybook, that looks and feels like it was actually published!

My son loves creating his own books. I stuffed his Easter basket this past year with some blank books for him to create in. He filled those quickly. So when he was asking the other week to create another book and asking if I would buy him more blank books, I had an idea. I suggested he create a story with his Legos, that I would take photos to use as illustrations, and that we could use the computer to compile them into a book that he could write the words for.

He loved the idea, and went straight to work coming up with his Lego story. I figured he would need some help and prompting with arranging his Legos for the photos, but he didn't want or need help with that. He readily created a story, arranging and dictating continually as we plugged away at it. It was so fun to witness, I was really proud of him and his storytelling!

Sitting down at the computer with him to lay it out in a photo book was entertaining. He again needed no help coming up with what words he wanted to pair with each illustration. He came up with hysterical character names. (One character was named "Donkey Rash." I have no idea where he came up with that one.) And the dialogue between all those characters was adorable!

The completed book came in the mail this past week and he is so proud of it! He has me read it to him every day (his brother is getting really sick of it.). He can't get enough of hearing his story told over and over again!

My son loves when we talk about how he's the author and illustrator of this awesome book! He almost can't believe it! Unfortunately, this particular photo book we made didn't allow us to put his name (or even a photo) on the cover. In fact, I wasn't pleased with the website we used in general; I really struggled to figure out how to lay out the book the way I wanted, and was never quite satisfied with it. Then when it arrived in the mail, there were even more errors in it. But my son doesn't notice those things. He just loves it.

So if you're looking for something fun to do with your kiddos, here's a great activity to try. Plus, it encourages literacy! Plus, it makes for a great keepsake for you as a parent!

Let your child come up with creative ideas for making their illustrations. They could use photos of toys, people (themselves/their friends and family), artwork they create... Lots of possibilities!

Have you ever made a book like this with your kids? How did it turn out? What kind of process did they use to make it? Or have you used another method for helping your child create their own book? I would love to hear about it in the comments!!

Catch Them Learning!

Have you caught your kids learning lately? Isn't it the best when they don't even realize it's happening? In our house, literacy learning is pretty laid back. I try to provide opportunity, encouragement, and example and then let my kids pick it up from there.

We bring books and learning toys along in the car sometimes. Like our Word Whammer and Fridge Phonics!

We find fun ideas online like doing a library scavenger hunt. The kids really loved this, and did awesome with it. I was really impressed to see my shy, eleven year old do this pretty much all on her own, even asking the librarians for help (without me having to go with her) when she needed it! It helped us all learn some things about our library that we didn't know! And we stopped for some cold drinks on the way home as a reward for all our hard scavenging.

We have a variety of books and things around the house that the kids can pick up at any time and play with. This one is a book that has magnetic pages and letter magnets to spell words with.

We do bedtime stories every night. With all our kids. Mommy and Daddy take turns doing the reading.

My boys have been digging books like the Franny K Stein series and the Lunch Lady series at bedtime. My older one is still learning to read (ELL), but he often takes a flash light to bed so he can glance further ahead in our stories. The graphic novels are especially good for this. He also really loves his Action Bible.

We remember things from books like, "Hey, this is a waterspout, just like the one the Itsy Bitsy Spider crawled up!"

Sometimes we can't wait till we get home to dig into our library finds!

We do word finds on the back of our animal cracker boxes.

We re-read our favorite books over and over and over again. (Even when Christmas has long since passed.) Isaac especially likes this book because he can "read" it all by himself. Another one he likes to "read" himself is One Boy.

Isaac likes to do his "reading homework" with his Leapfrog Tag pen. I've been trying to get my big kids on board with it too (because it would be great practice for them too as they learn to read), but they don't enjoy it as much.

Storybook apps are always a hit. The Monster At the End of This Book is probably the current favorite.

We read books at the kitchen table a lot... Even though it's a dangerous thing to do with a library book.

Sometimes my kids get a bedtime story read to them, and sometimes they wait till the end of the day to practice their reading and so they have to do the bedtime reading. Having the cat snuggle up and listen too always makes it extra fun!

We go to special reading events like celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday at the library!

Sometimes I find surprises by the bookshelves... like my kids and their friends curled up with books. This truly did happen. The girls were searching my shelves for AR books for school, and my son joined them.

I also catch my kids in spontaneous acts of writing sometimes. On this particular day (earlier this week) my son felt compelled to sit down and write a card to Santa about his "bad" cat.

So there's our randomness. Hope it can maybe help inspire some literacy randomness at your house too!

What are some literacy activities you catch your kids doing?

Early Literacy Teacher Traning

I was asked to do my first ever teacher training recently! And although I was nervous, I was also thrilled that I was going to be getting out of the house to go contribute to society in a way that had nothing to do with my family (though I did end up referencing my children several times in my talk). I got to dust off some of my wonderful books, pack up my handy-dandy gigantic tote, and spend the morning in a building free of children!

For my first time leading a training like this, I think it went well. There are definitely some things I would like to change up for next time. But I think I motivated and maybe even inspired them a little bit... maybe.

One of the things I had them do was spilt into groups (according to the ages they teach) and brainstorm a literacy activity for one picture book (per group). A lot of their responses were ideas for using their chosen book to teach math or other such concepts. Ugh! This is exactly the kind of mindset I was trying to break them free from.

Why do early childhood teachers think a book always has to be turned into a theme that can be taught in each of their classroom centers? Or that books should be chosen based on the theme of the class' current unit? Is that now a part of getting your teaching degree? I think many of the "literacy" resource books geared toward these teachers are often to blame. It just seems to me that the idea of doing actual emergent literacy teaching with a book is a totally foreign concept. As if simply reading a book during circle time fills the early literacy teaching quota for the day.

Anybody else care to weigh in on this? Do you agree? Disagree?

My Compromise Toys

Oh, how my world has changed since we brought our two beautiful Ethiopian children home! I still feel like we're in survival mode. I still miss Literacy Launchpad and what a big part od my life it was, and WILL BE again when we finally shift into thrive mode here someday... soon I pray!

Reading has been such a challenge in our house. Life is just crazy, and not normal lately. There are things I know I should be doing, and I never get around to it, or I just lack the energy some days (I'm parenting in a whole new way these days that can often be very draining).

Our Ethiopian kids are very into the TV, computer, and video games. So as a Christmas gift we went out and bought them Leapster game systems. This is honestly not something I ever imagined buying any of my kids, but if they want to have screen time, this is some of the better kind of screen time they can have. It's educational! In fact, they kind of resisted it at first because of that. One of them had a really hard time figuring out how to play the games because it requires you to think and learn. Gasp!

They have come around on the Leapsters though. And I've been very pleased to see that they play them at appropriate times, and don't seem to be addicted to them. Our son, Mel, recently had a birthday and he got the Toy Story 3 game for his Leapster. I love hearing them it now as they sound out words in parts of the game. It really is helping them learn while also keeping them busy from time to time.

Since we bought the big kids Leapsters, we decided to get Isaac the Leapfrog Tag system. We got the pen and a couple books, and he's really been enjoying it. Again, he doesn't play with it ALL the time, but just enough. He'll go get it out himself, and I'll hear him from the room next door "reading" the books to himself. It's also really great for those moments when I would like to read him a story, but I'm in the middle of making lunch or dinner. I can bring out his Tag books and set him down near me and let him "read" the books to me. They also fit in a bag or purse well, so it's great for keeping him busy at a store, or wherever he might need some entertaining.

Again, neither of these products were something I ever thought we would have in our house, but I'm evolving (for better or worse) as a mother and this is one of those electronic toys I was willing to compromise on. Both products have turned out to be good buys, and with additional games and books we can by, they kids will probably stay interested in them for quite a while.

Note: I'm not getting paid or reimbursed in any way by Leapfrog for this post.

My Home/School

My home is beginning to feel like a little school house. I've been prepping for our newest two additions to our family (via Ethiopian adoption) and for the unique challenges that older child adoption will bring (remember too that our children do not currently speak English). Some of these preparations are things I've been wanting to do anyway, for Isaac's benefit, but haven't been motivated enough.

I am convinced we will never truly be prepared, but it doesn't hurt to try. Check out a few of the things I've been getting ready:

Photo labeling toy bins for easy clean-up.

A sorted craft cabinet. So exciting!

The bookshelf in our breakfast nook. Stocked with play dough, coloring books, paints, pads of paper, pens, crayons, markers, books, CDs, puzzles...

A visual timer to help make transitions a little easier.

A velcro chart for our daily schedule. These cards will also help with communication at the beginning. They have simple pictures of everyday tasks, places, and such.

A calendar. Figure we won't be using it till the kids come home.

Art displays ready to be filled.

Yes, I'm trying to label everything in the house. Hoping it will help all three of my kids learn to read English. The labeling process is slow going, but I'm getting there. I've got enough stuff labeled now that I think David's starting to get annoyed with it. :)

I'm curious if anyone else has done this kind of labeling around their house for their kids at any point? If so, did you attribute any reading successes with it?

Promote Literacy... Buy a T-shirt!!.

They're here!!

A while back I was reading a blog post about promoting literacy. There were ideas of how to this (promote literacy) being thrown around in the comments section. The idea of putting the message on a t-shirt was suggested and so... here you go!

Front

Back

What's so great about these shirts is that there is a three-fold benefit to purchasing one:

1. You get to wear it around, look super cool, and make everyone else jealous!

2. You're promoting literacy to everyone who sees you sporting this bad boy!

3. 100% of the profit from the sale of each t-shirt will be put into our (my husband's and mine) adoption fund. We're currently in the process of adopting two children from Ethiopia! You can read all about that by clicking here. And subscribe while you're there, so you get all our awesome updates! :)

These are standard t-shirts. They're not fitted or anything, so gals AND guys can wear 'em! Since it costs money to have these made (of course), I only have a limited number to sell in this first batch. More will be ordered when supplies start to get low. So get yours NOW, and spread the word!!

ATTENTION (10/110): We currently only have smalls and 2XLs.

Sizes

Small $20.00 Medium $20.00 Large $20.00 XLarge $20.00 2XLarge $20.00