Bring award-winning novels to life with this interactive middle school language arts curriculum. Kaleidoscope presents a movie theatre interface for learning about language and literature. Students visit the box office and start with the activity in Movie Theatre 1. Then they complete all six activities in order. In the activities, students study the characters and create a movie poster to promote the book.
http://bit.ly/fKr5om
Talk it Up!
Starting a bookgroup for kids? This is a great place to start. Talk it Up! provides information about how to start and run a bookgroup and over 150 discussion guides to use with specific books.
Need more ideas?
We've prepared many booklists for kids to help you make your reading selections.
Librarian Susan Scatena challenged her summer readers: if they read 2500 books, she will dress as a chicken and do the chicken dance on the library steps! The children were so anxious to see the spectacle, 355 children read more than 5,800 books!
http://www.ilovelibraries.org/news/topstories/queenslibrarychickendance.cfm
Everyone needs a special reading nook where they can unwind and get really interested in a book. Kids need the same. It's hard to find a quiet place where a child isn't distracted by the television, computer games, iPods or gaming systems. A kids playhouse can be just the place for a child to escape to read.
As a parent, we need to encourage our children to read on a daily basis, but it's hard when there are so many things competing for your child's attention. A kids playhouse can be set up to be a comfortable and quiet environment that encourages quality reading time. It might be so inviting, that your child will actually choose to go to the playhouse to read without a battle. How many parents would love to be in that situation?
Here are several tips to make an outdoor play house into a reading nook that your child will want to go to for their reading pleasure:
1. Make it inviting. Place comfortable furniture in the playhouse like bean bag chairs or a comfortable rocking chair to sit in to read. Round it out with a favorite blanket and pillow and it would be hard for any child to resist coming to read in the playhouse. If you're very ambitious, consider putting a window seat in the playhouse that has a soft cushion and perhaps a curtain that can be drawn around the window seat for privacy. How cool would that private area be for getting away to read? Don't forget to have their favorite snacks on hand!
2. Have good lighting. It's important to have good lighting when your child reads. This could be via electric or battery powered lights or it could just mean that the playhouse has bright, natural lighting. Battery operated lighting can be an added "fun" factor because it's like camping and totally different from what their used to in the main house.
3. Encourage even more reading. To encourage even more reading, have additional books in the playhouse so that once a child is done with one book, they can easily pick up another and begin to read that book too. There are some great recommended reading lists available at the library or online that help parents or young readers choose age appropriate books. Or take your child to the library to have them pick out their own books. Make a rule to have the books stay in the playhouse so that the playhouse is considered the designated reading area.
4. Remove distractions. It may be obvious but if the children's playhouse will be used as a private reading space, you need to remove toys, electronics or other items that may potentially distract your child. Check the kids play house periodically to remove distractions that may have made their way into the playhouse.
Following these tips will make both your life easier and your child's life happier. You and your child will feel good when it's time to fill out your child's reading time log with extra minutes or even extra hours. You may want to pass the secret of your kids playhouse reading nook idea on to other parents too!
Sharon Marsh, Ph.D., is a consultant in the food industry. She is a kids playhouse enthusiast. If you would like to know more about a kids playhouse please check out http://www.kidsplayhouseblog.com for more information.
In the Night Kitchen
Written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Sendak's hero Mickey falls through the dark into the Night Kitchen where three fat bakers are making the morning cake. So begins an intoxicating dream fantasy, described by the artist himself as 'a fantasy ten feet deep in reality'.
I'm not sure why it was banned, but possibly for nudity. The little boy, Mickey, is naked for part of the book, just as many little children are at that age!
Out now is the Puffin Designer Classics Limited Edition James and the Giant Peach, beautifully designed by Antony Gormley.
"Books should be good to hold and good to look at as well as good to read."
Antony Gormley
Celebrating Puffin's 70th anniversary, Antony Gormley, creator of the Angel of the North and Another Place, has contributed to the Puffin Designer Classics collection with this beautiful hardback edition of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach.
This is a collectable, limited edition item, with only 1000 copies produced.
"Something is about to happen, he told himself. Something peculiar is about to happen at any moment. He hadn't the faintest idea what it might be, but he could feel it in his bones that something was going to happen soon. He could feel it in the air around him... in the sudden stillness that had fallen upon the garden."
Cheapest edition I could find for Australians is here => http://bit.ly/9cNEeN
or you can buy it from Amazon here => http://amzn.to/am8CWc
Katherine, in the middle of her senior year in high school, finds herself strongly attracted to Michael, a friend, after a party. As their relationship unfolds, the issue of sex comes up early on, more as an emotional and health issue than as a moral one. Both of them are aware that physical intimacy is both common and complicated. Michael has been sexually active, Katherine hasn't. Their relationship progresses slowly; they are accompanied on various meetings by her friend, Erica, a realist, who has known Katherine since 9th grade and believes that sex is a physical act and not a romantic act. They are also joined by Michael's friend, Artie, who, with Erica's help, explores and acknowledges some uncertainty about his own sexuality.
When they do, by mutual consent, have sex on Michael's sister's bedroom floor, they are sure it seals a love that will be "forever." However, separated for the summer by work that takes them to two different states, Katherine finds herself aware of the limitations of the relationship and ultimately attracted to a tennis instructor, Theo, who is older and more experienced in life. She takes responsibility for breaking the news to Michael when he comes on a surprise visit, the summer she knew was over, and Katherine recognizes the loss as a stage in movement towards more complex, probably more satisfying relationships in the future.
more here => http://bit.ly/dwINKL
In a very bad wood,
There was a very bad house.
And in that very bad house,
There was a very bad room.
And in that very bad room,
There was a very bad cupboard.
And in that very bad cupboard,
There was a very bad shelf.
And on that very bad shelf,
There was a very bad box.
And in that very bad box,
There was a VERY BAD BOOK...
AND THIS IS IT!!!
Author Information
Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton are a creative partnership that began with Just Tricking! in 1997 and now extends to seven Just books and over a million copies sold. Their partnership continued with the award-winning The Bad Book, the off-the-wall success of The Cat on the Mat is Flat (which was shortlisted for the CBC Book of the Year for Younger Readers award), The Big Fat Cow That Goes Kapow and What Bumosaur is That?.
Andy and Terry are now published all over the world including the US, where Andy's Bum books have made the New York Times bestseller lists.
The Very Bad Book from Pan Macmillan Australia on Vimeo.
You can buy the book here => http://bit.ly/a07915
If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~Author Unknown
Artist Troy Cummings has created a clever spin-off of the "Eensy Weensy Spider" nursery rhyme in this humorous picture book, sure to appeal to kids and adults who also love fractured fairy tales.
The Eensy Weensy Spider climbed up the waterspout . . . and everyone knows what happens next! By the time the sun comes out to dry up all the rain, the Eensy Weensy Spider has freaked out over her washout, big-time! "There's no way I'm climbing back up that gutter!" she says. Eensy has lost her climbing courage, but with the help of her best ladybug friend, Polly, she begins to take on bigger and bigger climbing challenges until she's rewarded with the most spectacular view of outer space that any bug has ever seen! Hilarious text and a retro, graphic art style take this popular nursery rhyme to new heights. There's also a fun size chart on the end pages for kids to track Eensy's progress as she tackles taller and taller objects. Spin-offs of children's songs and nursery rhymes are very popular with kids, parents, and teachers!
More information => http://bit.ly/a00K5b
