Read For the Record! Be Part of the Event... and Win!

Jumpstart - a non-profit uniting college students and community volunteers with preschool children for year long, individualized tutoring and mentoring - is hosting their annual Read for the Record on October 8th! Their goal is to reach 1,000,000 children this year with the magic of reading! You can be a part of reaching that 1,000,000 by going to their website and pledging to read to the children in your life.

This year's story is Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar! And Jumpstart is giving a copy away to one lucky Literacy Launchpad reader so they'll be ready on Oct. 8th! To enter the giveaway all you have to do is pledge to Read for the Record on Jumpstart's website, and then leave a comment here and let me know you've pledged and are going to be part of the 1,000,000 on October 8th!

Just think how cool it will be to part of the hundreds of thousands (hopefully one million) people all reading the same story on the same day and all spreading awareness about the importance of early childhood education! Pledge to read to your children, to your students, to your neighbors, to your grandchildren, to the kids at the park... Just find some kids to read to! :)

Literacy in Children Begins at Home/Guest Post

Photo by somegeekintn

The literal definition of literacy is being able to read and write and being educated, either in general or in a particular field of study. When it comes to children, most parents believe that the journey to literacy starts when they begin school. But that is not entirely true – in fact, a child begins to learn the minute he or she is born into this world. And if we are talking of the knowledge gathering process, that begins not at school, but at home. For a child to improve his or her literacy at home, here’s what a parent must do:

· Encourage them to read more: The more your child reads, the more literate he or she is. When you’re able to assimilate a book, it’s easy to learn your lessons and understand them. Read to your toddler not just at bedtime but during the day too. The colors and pictures in illustrated books help their memories develop faster. Once they’re able to read by themselves, encourage them to take up reading as a hobby and minimize the time they watch TV or spend in front of the computer with mindless games.

· Get them involved in mentally stimulating activities: Puzzles and acrostics help children develop their mental acuity and word power. They gain a better grasp of language and logic, two aspects that help us maintain an efficient learning process throughout our lives. When your kids pick up skills that are not generally associated with regular learning, they gain an edge over their counterparts and peers.

· Let them be children: And last, but not the least, you must let children be children and engage in activities that are suitable for their age. If you pressure them into other activities that you think are more meaningful and useful, you are interfering with the growing process and in fact stunting their growth, emotionally and socially.

· Spend time with them: When you’re a child, you need love and attention more than anything else. And when you don’t give your children the time and attention they need, you are interfering with their natural growth and literacy process. They become unruly and disruptive in subconscious ways to gain your attention, and this disrupts their learning process.

A child must be given every opportunity to become literate, starting with the environment at home.

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson.

Don't Take a Vacation From Books!

Photo by kerryvaughan

It seems like we have gone directly from one travel trip to another in our family this past month or so. (I'm actually writing this post from my brother and sister-in-law's house.) All our trips have just been visits to family, but even so, they can be quite stressful. From the packing and preparing, to the upset in routine while on the trip, to the re-adjustment everyone has to make to normal life upon returning home. (Not that we don't totally enjoy being with our family!)

In the midst of the chaos (the good and bad kind), what part do books and reading play? When your family goes on vacation, do they go on a vacation from reading too?

There's no right or wrong answer. No judgement here. I'm just curious... and looking for some inspiration, because I'm not real good with maintaining the reading routine while on vacation. Sometimes books are helpful in a stressful vacation situation. Other times, trying to read with tired and cranky kiddos while on vacation creates extra stress.

Tonight, I was putting my son, Isaac, to bed here at my in-laws' house. His pack 'n' play is set up in his uncle's office/music studio, which is full of musical instruments and fun knobs to look at and try to touch. So my attempts at having some quiet reading time with him in there before bed were pretty futile. He would not sit still. And since I couldn't read and chase him around and keep him from breaking something, he went to bed with no bedtime story. In fact, we didn't read together at all today. *Gasp!*

Now that I'm writing this post, I realize I should have done the bedtime story thing in a less distracting room. Something to remember for next time. (We're heading home tomorrow.)

In the future I would like to be much more intentional in making books a part of our vacations, just like they are a part of our normal, everyday life at home. How do I do that? Here are some ideas I've been brainstorming:

- Be intentional about creating a quiet space somewhere, somehow, no matter where you're staying, so it's easier to make reading happen.

- Buy or borrow a few books that are new and enticing to Isaac. Think about his interests and attention span.

- Use down time in the car/plane/airport to read. Take advantage of those opportunities where you have a captive audience.

- Read aloud while Isaac's playing during the day. Even if he's not giving me his full attention, he's likely to wander over to catch snippets of the story here and there. And a read-aloud is better background noise than nothing... or the TV.

Please add to my list! I need ideas!

Pete's A Pizza Lesson!

It's been a while since I last mentioned anything about our August unit. So just to remind you, last month's theme was food. Mmmm. I'm really hungry right now. Hope I can make it through typing up this post without having to make a kitchen run.

We read Pete's A Pizza (William Steig) for our last lesson. Boy, was this story a hit! If you haven't read it yet (where have you been?), it's about a young boy (Pete) who's stuck inside on a rainy day. In an effort to cheer him up, his parents decide to play a game of pretend with Pete and make him into a pizza! They toss Pete around, cover him in pizza toppings, and bake him in the oven. Calm down. Remember I said it was all pretend.

My students were completely captivated. They especially seemed to enjoy the way I whispered, while reading, what the toppings really were (power, paper, poker chips).

Check out all the photos capturing our reading fun:

Tossing our pizzas.

Toppings!

Look at all those yummy toppings!

Pile 'em on!!

Time to put those "pizzas" in the oven.

Whew! This was a messy lesson!

Literacy Lava 2!!!

It's here! It's here! The second edition of Literacy Lava!! Come check it out with me!

Literacy Lava is a free pdf ezine for parents, offering tips on ways to incorporate reading, writing and communicating into family life.

In the second edition of Literacy Lava, you’ll find ideas: for motivating reluctant readers, for literacy on the go, for developing the imagination muscle, for linking math and literacy, for having a pirate party and a book picnic, for rhymes, games, activities and more!

Brought to you by bloggers and writers who are passionate about children's literature and literacy, Literacy Lava 2 is erupting with no- or low-cost activities parents can do with their kids.

So, if you think you'd like a little lava to read with your java...

If the price tag FREE appeals to you...

Grab Literacy Lava 2 today, via The Book Chook blog.

Garage Sale

You may have noticed my lack of post this past Thursday. Sorry! Me, the hubby, and kiddo are in Chicago having a MASSIVE garage sale to raise funds for our adoption. It' been an awesome weekend and it's not over yet! I'll share more on Monday (hopefully), when we're back in town.

Kidlit Superheroes

Photo by Dashu Pagla

I'm having one of those weeks... or maybe months, where I look around at all the brilliant kidlit bloggers and tweeters, and wonder how they have the time to read so many books, keep up on everyone's blogs, maintain awesome blogs themselves, stay informed of all the latest kidlit news, and work jobs and/or care for their families. Seriously, how do they do it? How do you do it?

I am certainly no kidlit superhero. There are never even close to enough hours in my day. Being in the midst of the international adoption process, and doing major fundraising for said adoption doesn't help, but I was far from Wonder Woman even before all that began.

So I'm laying it all out here. (Not that there will probably be any big surprises for anyone.), in the hopes that others will do the same, and make me feel better. I love to try to put on the pretty Literacy Launchpad face, but here's the reality (hopefully you'll still want to follow my blog by the end of this post):

- As much as I love to read, I hardly ever have time to do it lately. I'm lucky to squeeze in a chapter a night. It's depressing. I haven't read much of anything in a while, with the exception of picture books. What kind of reading role model am I?

- There are dozens of kidlit blogs I wish I could keep up with. I used to be pretty good at this, but it's a sacrifice I've had to make lately. It sucks. I feel totally out of the loop. Thank goodness for Twitter. I get little chirps of interesting things from time to time.

- I'm not all-knowing when it comes to children's books. Not even close. I'm sorry if I've ever let you down, or disappointed you by not having that perfect book recommendation, or by having never heard of that picture book you asked if I knew anything about. There's too many! No. I haven't read them all!

- Similar to the point made above, I do not own every picture book (family and friends: it's O.K. to gift me or Isaac a picture book from time to time). Even if I had the desire to buy every picture book, and a place to store them all, I certainly don't have the means. That's why we love our library! So don't be disappointed when you want to borrow some random picture book from me and I don't own it.

I could go on telling you how far from kidlit superhero I am. But I'll stop there for today. That's a just a little glimpse for ya.

None of us are perfect, right? Right? But I do believe we all possess some kind of super power in one area or another. Whether it be in your career, your family, a hobby, whatever.

When it comes to kidlit, my "super power" is that I can take a picture book and make it come alive with fun. Of course, that's what Literacy Launchpad is all about! I also think I'm a pretty darn good read-alouder (made that word up). I'll claim those strengths in the wake of admitting my mediocrity in pretty much every other area.

We can't all do it all. But when we pool our strengths, we can do BIG things together! And when we're talking about pooling strengths in the area of kidlit, that makes me really excited. Teachers, parents, bloggers, writers, librarians, caregivers... We can change the world. We will change the world!

Jump in here! Admit some imperfections, and then put on your cape and claim your super power! I know you've got one (or two)!