WHAT'S THIS WORD?

Do you teach your students how to decode words, but when they come to a word they don't know they still ask, "What's this word?" You might want to focus on the "Tools of Good Readers."

Brainstorm
What do good readers do when they come to a word they don't know? Write children's responses on a chart and post in the room.

Model
Demonstrate the tools by looking at the picture, sounding out the letters, reading it again, and looking for chunks.

How Did You Know That?
Encourage students to "think out loud" by asking, "How did you know that?" If you can get brighter students to talk about how they figured out a word it will help others scaffold to that level.

The Tools of Good Readers
Here's a poster Susan Smart sent me several years ago. Turn it into a toolbox the students can keep in their desk. Remind them to "get out your toolbox" and use your tools when you come to a word you don't know.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1SnEagA4jljV2M3Mjl6WGNsTkE/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-QUDLsjs9xV4_b9PRh_Ldfg


This Is How You Learn to Read 
(Tune: "Old Macdonald Had a Farm)
Oh, this is how you learn to read – a e i o u
Use your eyes and what do you see? a e i o u (Circles around eyes.)
A picture here, a picture there.
Look at pictures everywhere. This is how you learn to read - a e i o u

Oh, this is how you learn to read – a e i o u
Use your ears for sounds you hear – a e i o u (Cup hands behind ears.)
Consonants here.
Vowels there.
Put sounds together everywhere.
This is how you learn to read – a e i o u
Oh, this is how you learn to read – a e i o u
If you forget words in you head – a e i o u (Point to head.)
Just skip one here. (Snap finger.)
Or skip one there.
Then read it again and it will be clear.
This is how you learn to read – a e i o u

Oh, this is how you learn to read – a e i o u
Look for a little chunk you know – a e i o u (Index finger and thumb.)
If there is a chunk at the end
Put the sound in front
And then blend.
This is how you learn to read – a e i o u
Now you know the tools you need – a e i o u
Just use your eyes and ears to read – a e i o u (Point to eyes and ears.)
Pictures, sounds, and letters
Use these tools
You’ll read much better! (Tap head with index finger.)
Now you have the tools to read – a e i o u

SUMMER SKILLS KITS

As summer approaches, I know you’re brainstorming ways to encourage children to read, write, and practice skills over their summer vacation. Here are a few projects that may encourage your students to continue to practice sight words.

Note! You can adapt these activities to letters, math facts, or other skills you want the children to master.

Treasure Boxes
Ask parents to send in empty mint cans. Cut paper into 1 ¾” by 3” rectangles. Have children write sight words on these rectangles and store them their containers.

Hint! Explain that lifetime words are words you will need to be able to read all your life. They are like a “treasure” because they will belong to you forever!!!


Word Pockets
Seal envelopes and cut in half. Cut down 1” from each side and fold down the flap as shown. Punch holes in the sides and tie on a piece of string or yarn. Give children strips of paper cut 2 1/2” x 4” on which to write their sight words. Students can take the words home in their little pockets for summertime practice.



How about some games parents and children can play with the flashcards?

Hide and Seek
Hide the words around the room. Children find them one at a time, bring them to you, and read them.

Sentence Makers
Children choose a word and use it in a sentence.
*Older students could write a sentence.

Sidewalk Words
Children practice writing words with chalk on the sidewalk.

Sort the Words
Put all the one letter words together, two letter words, three letter words, and so forth.
Sort the nouns and verbs.
Sort the words by syllables.

Can You Find?
Can you find the words in a book? Can you find them printed on food labels or other things around the house?

sightwords.com is a website I'd definitely recommend to parents. It's a good free resource.

SUMMER FUN JOURNAL

You will need a pocket folder for each child for this summer writing activity. Remind the children what wonderful writers they have become and how important it is for them to keep writing over the summer. Explain that many famous writers started keeping diaries and journals just like them when they were young. Motivate them to make their own “Summer Fun Journal” so they can record all the special things they will be doing over the summer.

Provide the children with markers, crayons, construction paper, and other art media to decorate the front of their pocket folders. (You might suggest they title it “Summer Fun.”) Run off copies with the attached writing prompts or create your own based on the interests of your students. You might even want to ask your class to brainstorm topics for these journals.

Hint! Be sure and include some blank paper at the end.

*Encourage students to add photos, brochures, or other special keepsakes.

*Add a line for the date on each page.

*Tell your students you’d love to see their journals when the come back for the new school year.

Note! For younger children encourage parents to have their children illustrate the topic and then dictate sentences for their parents to write.



Here are some summer writing prompts.

I like summer because

My favorite book is

This is one of my chores

My family is going

This is what I like to do outside

These are my favorite summer foods

My goal for this summer is

These are my friends

I wish

When it’s hot I

These are games I like to play

This is what I like to wear in the summer

This is my favorite place to play

These are my favorite toys

My worst day ever

My best day ever

I can’t wait for school to start because

FREE Summer Journal
Carolyn Kisloski created this free download a few years ago and it’s a wonderful way to encourage children to write over the summer.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Summer-Writing-Prompts-Journal-2521920

SUMMER READS AND FAMILY FUN CALENDAR

Reading is like anything else. The more you do it, the better you will become. Here are a few ideas to get children started on a summer reading adventure.

Library Card
What better gift can you give your students at the end of the year than a library card? Take a field trip to your local library or ask the children’s librarian to visit your school and describe all their summer reading activities.


Summer Reading List
It’s easy to do an internet search and find a suggested reading list for your grade level. Parents would probably appreciate this when helping their child choose books to read over the summer.

*I think this summer reading challenge at Scholastic.com is perfect for any reading level:

https://www.scholastic.com/parents/books-and-reading/raise-a-reader-blog/reading-challenges-kids.html

This summer’s reading challenges will encourage kids to expand their learning horizons this season and beyond. Packed with fresh new ideas for summer reading fun, your child will be inspired by the limitless wonder found in books. Variety is key to encouraging reader engagement — for young readers, reluctant readers, and avid readers alike! 

This reading challenge consists of 10 badges for children to color in as they complete each reading goal. With fun-filled stories to read on-the-go and bright new books to enjoy under the sun, who says summer reading has to feel like a chore? 

Family Fun Calendar
Here’s a summer calendar that you can run off for your students. Glue it to a heavy piece of cardboard and attach a string so it can be hung up in their home. Read over the activities to motivate your students, and then let them decorate their calendars with markers or crayons.

http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2014/05_May_css/pg05.html

Bucket of “Fun” 
You can buy sand buckets or just use a plastic cup like I did. Punch holes and add a pipe cleaner handle. Let children decorate their “buckets of fun” with markers, stickers, etc.

Make a list of activities that children can do with their families over the summer to reinforce skills you’ve worked on during the school year. Cut into strips and place in the buckets. Send the bucket home with a note encouraging the parents to let their child select a strip each day and do the activity.

Some examples might include:
Read a story with your parents. Tell what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. What do you think will happen next?
Play a rhyming game. How many words can you think of that rhyme with "can"? "Pot"?
"Book"? "Coat"? "Sheep"? "Like"?
Trace around your hand and your foot. What can you make out of them?
Count as high as you can. Can you count by 2's, 5's, and 1O's?
Ask your parents to teach you a song they learned when they were your age.
Look in your kitchen pantry. How many labels can you read?
How many ways can you move? Can you hop, skip, jump, gallop, tiptoe, walk
backwards?
Can you draw a circle, oval, square, rectangle, and triangle? What other shapes can
you draw?
Write a special letter to someone in your house.
Look at some of your baby pictures. How have you changed?
Find something that begins with these letters: B, H, S, M, L,
Draw a picture of your neighborhood.
Make a list of 5 things that are non-living. Make a list of 5 things that are living.
Do you have a library card? Visit your library and check out some books.
Do a job around the house.
Write your name on a piece of paper - first, middle, and last. What are your initials?


End of Year Letter
Give parents with a positive lasting impression by sending a letter similar to the one below. It might be thoughtful to send a picture of their child along with the note.

Dear ______,

Lucky me to get to spend this special year with your child! (Child’s name) has worked hard and has grown in many ways. One of my favorite memories is (something unique about the child).

I appreciate all the support and encouragement you have given (child’s name) at home. Behind every great student is a great family!

Saying good-bye is bittersweet. “Bitter” because I will miss (child’s name), but sweet because I am so proud to have been a part of his/her life! Please keep in touch because I know the future holds many wonderful things for your child and your family!

Remember to read and laugh every day this summer!

Fondly,

EMPATHY UP, ANXIETY DOWN

I know you're going to be encouraged by this meaningful 

May Day article from my friend Barbara Gruener.  

Do you know the tradition behind May Day? Growing up, I was told that young people would pick a basket of wildflowers on May 1st each year, place them on the doorstep of an elderly neighbor, ring the bell and run. A fragrant version of Ding, Dong, Ditch, if you will, meant to bring springtime cheer to someone’s heart after a long winter’s chill. My sister and I even did this a time or two, and guess what? It warmed our hearts as much as it must have melted theirs.

Research by the Society of America Florists shows myriad mental-health benefits from having flowers in your house, including an elevated mood and a reduced stress level, due to your body’s release of its feel-good chemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. Flowers have also been known to reduce anxiety and depression.

So why not take your learners outside to hunt for flowers. Breathe in the beauty and exhale the worries as you look for a bouquet of all of the hues of the rainbow. Use all five senses as you let the flowers do what flowers do best, give us that booster shot of energy and joy. Lady Bird Johnson said it best when she reminded us that “where flowers bloom, so does hope.” Once back inside, invite your class family to draw what they experienced.

May is also Mental Health Awareness month, so I put together this collection of stress busters that we practiced in my 25 years as a school counselor.

From the research of Dr. Michele Borba, we know that when empathy increases, anxiety can decrease, creating a supersized win-win that prompted the theme of empathy in all of our Mom’s Choice Gold Award books.

In What’s Under Your Cape?, kindly endorsed by Dr. Jean herself, you’ll find an entire chapter (E is for Empathy) devoted to that glorious skill of putting yourself in another’s shoes. Since we are hardwired for empathy, it’s never too early to put that word into our students’ vocabularies and help them make it actionable by understanding, embracing, and helping in another’s time of need. Head. Heart. Hands. Empathy up, anxiety down.

We also know from Dr. Borba’s research that reading fiction can stretch empathy muscles, so empathy is prevalent in these three picture books. As you read them aloud, remember to pause throughout and ask, “How would you feel if you were that character?” or “What do you imagine that you would you need in that situation?” or “How could you help that person?”

Open up Mr. Quigley’s Keys to find a hero handyman jingling through the hallways of his school looking for ways to serve. His adoring students love it when they hear the cacophony of keys, the very same keys that he can’t even hear because he lost his hearing in the Korean War. Sometimes empathy is quiet like that. Just as he steps into their stories, not to fix it for them, just to feel it with them, the students plan a special surprise that will leave you feeling all the feels.

Find ASL embedded into this treasure as well as the ASL alphabet and numbers in the enrichment back pages to treat your class family to an additional way to practice empathy.

Have fun with this little ditty using hand-jive motions or dancing the bunny hop:

Meet Birdie & Mipps, an older sister who helps her little brother process a conflict with his friend Patty. He didn’t mean to call her a nickname without her permission, but can their friendship survive what he did? Join these sweet siblings on a walk ‘n talk through their farming community to learn all about treating others the way they want to be treated, starting with leadership lesson number one: Names are important!

Find out if they have a nickname and if so, are they willing to share it? Where did the name come from and who has permission to call them that?

The backmatter in this book includes enrichment activities to help elevate empathy, mobilize compassion, and practice kindness in your character building.

As Knit Back Together unravels, serendipity steps in to help Levi, whose Grams recently passed away, move through his grief even as he navigates moving to a new school. It’s as he’s rolling yarn into balls to relax that he meets Frances, a potential new friend who offers to do something that Grams ran out of time to do: Teach Levi to knit. Will Frances be able to cut through his fog of uncomfortable feelings and help knit Levi’s heart back together? And will Levi, in turn, find another friend who needs the healing benefits of knitting, too?

Look for some tips for navigating grief, a coloring page, even Grams’ recipe for Monster Cookies in the resource pages of this niche newcomer.

For more information, please visit me at barbaragruenerauthor.com for an author visit or to let me know how I can encourage and support your empathy journeys.

Happy cheers as you slide into summer. Barbara

FAMILY FUN CALENDAR

We all know how critical it is to engage parents in their child’s education. All parents want the best for their children, but many of them don’t have the resources or know what to do – other than to hand the child their phone!!! So here are some great old-fashion, hands-on, ideas to encourage parents to spend time with their children this summer.

Family Fun Calendar
Here’s a summer calendar that you can run off for your students. Glue it to a heavy piece of cardboard and attach a string so it can be hung up in their home. Read over the activities to motivate your students, and then let them decorate their calendars with markers or crayons.

http://www.drjean.org/html/monthly_act/act_2014/05_May_css/pg05.html

Bucket of “Fun”
You can buy sand buckets or just use a plastic cup like I did. Punch holes and add a pipe cleaner handle. Let children decorate their “buckets of fun” with markers, stickers, etc.

Make a list of activities that children can do with their families over the summer to reinforce skills you’ve worked on during the school year. Cut into strips and place in the buckets. Send the bucket home with a note encouraging the parents to let their child select a strip each day and do the activity.

Some examples might include:
Read a story with your parents. Tell what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. What do you think will happen next?
Play a rhyming game. How many words can you think of that rhyme with "can"? "Pot"?
"Book"? "Coat"? "Sheep"? "Like"?
Trace around your hand and your foot. What can you make out of them?
Count as high as you can. Can you count by 2's, 5's, and 1O's?
Ask your parents to teach you a song they learned when they were your age.
Look in your kitchen pantry. How many labels can you read?
How many ways can you move? Can you hop, skip, jump, gallop, tiptoe, walk
backwards?
Can you draw a circle, oval, square, rectangle, and triangle? What other shapes can
you draw?
Write a special letter to someone in your house.
Look at some of your baby pictures. How have you changed?
Find something that begins with these letters: B, H, S, M, L,
Draw a picture of your neighborhood.
Make a list of 5 things that are non-living. Make a list of 5 things that are living.
Do you have a library card? Visit your library and check out some books.
Do a job around the house.
Write your name on a piece of paper - first, middle, and last. What are your initials?


End of Year Letter
Give parents with a positive lasting impression by sending a letter similar to the one below. It might be thoughtful to send a picture of their child along with the note.

Dear ______,

Lucky me to get to spend this special year with your child! (Child’s name) has worked hard and has grown in many ways. One of my favorite memories is (something unique about the child).

I appreciate all the support and encouragement you have given (child’s name) at home. Behind every great student is a great family!

Saying good-bye is bittersweet. “Bitter” because I will miss (child’s name), but sweet because I am so proud to have been a part of his/her life! Please keep in touch because I know the future holds many wonderful things for your child and your family!

Remember to read and laugh every day this summer!

Fondly,

MOTHER'S DAY

Mother's Day is just around the corner on May 10th. I'm sure you'll find an idea just right for your special moms on my blog today.

A Box for Mommy (Tune: "Polly Wolly Doodle")
I wish I had a little box (Pretend to hold a box in your hands.)
To put my mommy in. (Pretend to put something in the box.)
I’d take her out and go (Take something out of the box
(kiss, kiss, kiss) and kiss in the air.)
And put her back again.

If my mommy were in my box
Were in my box, then she would always know.
School or play, night or day,
How I love her so! (Cross arms over chest.)

I made this box for mother’s day, (Pretend to hold a box.)
It’s full of love for you.
When we’re apart, hold it to your heart, (Put hands over heart.)
And know I’m thinking of you.

Box of Love Necklace
You can collect small boxes that jewelry come in or use matchboxes for this project. Spray paint the boxes and then let the children decorate them with stickers, glitter pens, etc. Glue a small picture of the child inside the box. Punch a hole and attach a ribbon so it can be worn around the neck. Teach children the song and let them present their necklaces at a Mother’s Day tea, or send the boxes home with the words to the song.

My Mom Can
Let each child make a predictable book about all the things their mom can do.



Hats off for Moms
These are adorable hats from paper plates that children can make for their mothers. Cut the inner section out of the plate. Decorate the outer rim with markers. Cut 4” squares out of tissue paper and wad up and glue on the rim to look like flowers. Punch a hole in each side and tie on a 16” piece of string or ribbon. Place the hat on your head and tie under the chin.

LOVE YOU Flower
Trace around children's hands on construction paper and cut out. Glue to a stem and fold down the middle and ring finger to make sign language for "I love you!"




A Gift from the Heart
Make a flip book and write the following on the flips:
Some gifts are round.
Some gifts are tall.
Some gifts are large.
Some gifts are small.

Open and write:
But a gift from the heart is the best gift of all!

(Glue the child's photo or let them draw a picture of themselves.)
*Hint! Write "flip book" in my search engine to see how to make this book.


Handprints
Have children dip their hands in mud (or use paint) and press them on a sheet of paper. Let them decorate and then add this poem:
Here are my handprints made for you
this happy Mother's Day.
These are ones you can always keep
and not have to wash away!