What’s in a Name? A Back-to-School Literacy Unit | Scholastic.com

Here is a great literacy unit for back to school based on names.  The article includes a list of related read alouds and graphic organizers.  

What’s in a Name? A Back-to-School Literacy Unit | Scholastic.com

Back To School Linky Party

Back to School Linky Party Please link up your awesome back to school products.

Summer Reading

It is once again almost time for students to return to school. If your children haven't been reading during the summer months, it is not too late to get them started once again before the school year begins. Not every child likes to read but it is so critical during the school years to practice and build upon reading skills. Here are a number of ideas to make reading more fun and to encourage reluctant readers to give it a try.
Start an incentive for your children based on reading time or number of pages read. After they attain their goal, take them to get ice cream, a small prize, or plan an activity that your child will enjoy.
Find a wide range of reading materials for your children. Introduce them to multiple genres to teach them about different kinds of reading to choose from. They can try reading a mystery, and then a non-fiction book. Science fiction and adventure books are popular with boys. Girls like books that they can relate to. Find books that are well-suited to their age level. And don't forget the  little ones. Reading to them will help them take pleasure in reading as they grow older.
Children that don't like to read can still find things they enjoy reading about. There are magazines available for every topic. You can find something on their preferred subject that they can read. If your child wants to be a pilot when they grow up, find books on flying and building airplanes. Finding something that is interesting will help encourage them to keep on reading.

Make sure your children see you as a reader.  If they see you reading it will show them the importance of it and will encourage them to want to become lifelong readers as well.  You could set a family reading time where everyone reads together as individuals or a read aloud together as a group. 
Reading develops  a foundation for learning that will follow your children throughout their lives. It is such a necessary skill to have and develop and is crucial for success in school. Teaching your children good reading skills also leads to discipline for other studies. It aids with concentration and comprehension.
Successful reading skills will help your children become better at school as well as to help ensure their love of reading and keep them on the road to become lifelong readers. 

I am being featured on Take Your Students Beyond The Worksheet

I am being featured on Take Your Students Beyond The Worksheet.  Click the link and check it out!

ABCs of Teaching Reading | Reading Rockets

ABCs of Teaching Reading | Reading Rockets

You Just Broke Your Child. Congratulations.

You Just Broke Your Child. Congratulations.

Make the Time; Just Write

Make the Time; Just Write

This is an article that I wrote about writing 

and it was published in the Winter 2005 Vol.37, No.2 

edition of the Michigan Reading Journal 

Writing is something that I have always enjoyed.  When I was younger, I often sat for hours at a time writing poetry and short stories.  Due to the demands of adult life, however, it was difficult to find time to craft any piece of writing.  All that changed this past summer.

As I sat in a classroom at the university thumbing through the course syllabus, I saw that one of the assignments was to keep a writing journal.  I was being required to write whatever I felt like writing, as long as it included a poem, an essay, and a story.  Some students in the classroom had the look of pure terror on their faces, but not me.  I was elated and could not wait to begin the assignment.  Although writing was actually something that I loved to do, I could never seem to find the time.  The sacred secret of the practicing writer was revealed to me in that very instant.  It is not finding the time but making it.

My mind immediately went to my living room end table.  Stuffed inside its drawer sat a request that I had received more than a month earlier.  The Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation had asked me to craft a very special piece of writing for them.  They requested a thank you note for the motorcyclists who ride in their "Ride For Kids" fundraiser.  As the mother of a son who, at the age of 2, almost lost his life fighting this horrific disease, I had a strong desire and intent to write the piece but I never seemed to find the time. 

After class that evening, I rushed home and grabbed a notebook and a pen.  A note of thanks to the participants in the "Ride For Kids" events was my first priority.  I had been thinking of this piece and crafting it in my mind from the moment I received it.  When my pen touched the paper the words fell into place one by one, leading to a poem i titled Angels Ride Motorcycles, Too.

I sent my poem to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Association, thinking they might use it as a thank you note inside the motorcyclist's lunch bags at the Ride For Kids events.  Three weeks later, I received a phone call asking permission to publish my poem in the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundations newsletter.

I could not believe what I was hearing.  The dream that I had carried since childhood was coming true:  I was becoming a published author!  Had I not made the time to write, this would not have happened.

I realize now that writers don't find the time; they make it.  Now I write on a regular basis.  I have also learned just how powerful the weaving and intertwining of words can be.  Through a well-crafted piece, we can touch the hearts of others, whether it is through joy and laughter or sorrow and tears.  I truly believe that within us all lives a writer just waiting to be exposed to the world.  For some of us, the writer lives near the surface.  For others, the writer may be buried deep within.  Whatever the case, we all have stories within us that can touch the lives of others.  Stories that are meant to be shared.  We all have something important to say: words that are meant to be heard.

Angels Ride Motorcycles Too

Some say that angels walk the earth,

and I believe this is true.

But what many people fail to see,

is that they ride motorcycles too.

For without the money that you raise,

no research could be done.

Without this research the doctors

may not have saved my only son.

There are many others like my son Cheston,

Alive in part because of you.

But as we all know, brain tumors still exist;

We have so much more to do.

So thank you all from the bottom of my heart,

For coming here each year.

For helping do the work of God;

Helping to find a cure.

Some say that angels walk the earth

And I believe this is true.

And I hope someday that all will see

That they ride motorcycles too.