Summer Reading - Favorites from 2nd Grade

My son's 2nd grade class compiled a list of their favorite books read during the year.  Their compiliation makes a great list for summer reading!

Judy Moody*
Robert Munsch*
Miss Nelson
Ready Freddy
Eric Carle
Nate the Great
Hardy Boys
39 Clues
The seeks*
Very Hungry Caterpillar
Diary of A Wimpy Kid*
Funny Lunch*
Rainbow Magic:  Shannon the Ocean Fairy*
Pet Fairies*
Jewel Fairies*
Horribly Harry
Tinkerbell*
American Girl
Sophie the Awesome*
Berenstain Bears
Babysitter's Club*
Magic Treehouse
Junie B Jones*
Magic School Bus
Nancy Drew
Books about animals

I put an asterik beside the books that we have not yet read, or don't totally love for this age group.

Happy Reading!

Creative Writing Story Starters

If you have children that need practice with creative writing, check out this link with pictures and captions to kick off a writing adventure.   

Depending on the task, creative writing can build many assets, including Commitment to Learning, Boundaries & Expectations, Positive Values, and Social Competencies.

Kids Off the Couch - Creative Learning Adventures

This whimsical website connects media (movies/books) with super cool educational adventures.  For example, they watch Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, then go visit a chocolate store to sample/judge chocolate flavors.  After watching Bug's Life, they went to visit an insect zoo.  After watching Field of Dreams, attend a baseball game.  Read/watch Chronicles of Narnia, then plant a tree together.

They have paired together some very fun activities with classic and new films and books.  My media savvy husband is going to love these ideas!

Wouldn't this be a super cool way to celebrate a great week of learning?  Fantastical Fridays could be afternoons of learning and adventure all over town.  How fun!

Tips to Help Your Child Avoid Summer Brain Drain

This article from Children Today shares creative ideas for integrating academic skills into summer life - at the pool, on vacation, in the kitchen, playing games...

Reading Helps Plug the Summer Brain Drain

Summer brain drain. It's what happens during the long, hot summer months when kids who are out of school, forget a lot of what they learned in class.


What's a parent to do? Experts agree: Reading helps to plug that summer brain drain. And parents – who serve as role models for lots of different behaviors – can help their kids develop a love for reading, as well.

Read the rest of this article from Connect with Kids here.

Raving Reviews of Building Character from the Start

Cathi MacRae just wrote a raving review of our new book in Youth Today, the premier newspaper for youth workers.  Hooray!!

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Building Character from the Start: 201 Activities to Foster Creativity, Literacy, and Play in K-3
by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor
151 pages. $29.95 paperback with CD.


Applying youth development strategies to children from kindergarten through third grade, this collection offers activities that foster creative arts, reading and writing, movement and other forms of play in which children absorb such life skills as conflict resolution and responsibility. Each activity builds one or more developmental assets.


“Tools of imagination” are organized in three units:


• Forty reproducible worksheets encourage artistic expression with unfinished pictures. For example, children fill a blank comic balloon above a laughing boy’s head with a picture of “something that makes your family laugh.”


• More than 90 books are recommended in sections for grades K-1 and 2-3, with story summaries, discussion questions and activities. After reading Yoko by Rosemary Wells, in which Yoko’s lunchbox sushi makes her classmates laugh, children try new foods, along with the story’s characters.


• More than 70 games organized in 11 types, from community building to word games, including Olympics games like “Disk Throw” with paper plates and Artsy Games like “Human Band.”


In settings from Boys & Girls Clubs to babysitting, camps, church groups, after-school programs and classrooms, leaders can use these lively activities to help children explore values that shape character – while they’re having fun. (800) 888-7828, http://www.search-institute.org.

Inspiring Readers

Looking for tips to inspire your preteens to read more? Check out this article:
"Is Your Middle Schooler a Reluctant Reader?" by Renee Kirchner. She offers easy and practical ideas, and read on into the comment section to find even more ideas!

**Did you know that "Reading for Pleasure" is one of the 40 Developmental Assets proven to hlep kids thrive?**

Another Book Review for Building Character from the Start

The Canadian Mommy blogger Northern Mama just reviewed our book, Building Character from the Start: 201 Activities to Foster Creativity, Literacy and Play in K-3. You can read the review here, but here are some highlights:

"A perfect foundation for Character education or as an addition to a pre-existing Character building Curriculum. Building Character from the Start offers some fabulous worksheets but what impressed me most about this teacher resource is the section dedicated to literacy related activities. A great deal of time has been spent finding children’s literature with character building themes and creating discussion questions to stimulate conversation and then further exploration activities based on the stories. ...

Community building games and hands on activities are another fabulous feature of this resource and can easily be applied to other units and can be used as valuable time fillers for substitute teachers like myself . I actually have included this book in my subbing kit and used it just last week as an add on to a teaching plan about decision making and choices.

Well organized in a way which allows you to easily see the connections between assets and themes for fast and effective planning I would certainly recommend this to elementary school teachers and homeschoolers."

Easter Eggs - Lessons Learned

Have you ever thought about the concepts a child can learn from coloring eggs? In addition to building the assets of creative activities and support, you can also use it to build a commitment to learning. Here are some quick lessons I thought about, and I'm sure you'll have more ideas!

•Science: temperature for boiling, bacterial precautions, chemical reactions, nutritional values


•Art: wax art, shrink wraps, layering colors, color wheel, cutting out the ‘egg holders’ on the cardboard boxes


•History: why eggs (I haven’t studied this!), why color eggs?, when did the tradition start?, other Easter traditions


•Math: cost of eggs and supplies, color density in relation to time in the dye, counting as you leave the eggs in the dye, following recipes that use boiled eggs


•Spelling: writing the child’s name, Happy Easter, Jesus Lives, or other phrases on the eggs


•Reading: reading the directions for boiling or decorating eggs

Book Review

Another Great Review on our latest book, Building Character from the Start:201 Activities to Foster Creavity, Literacy and Play in K-3:


Deirdre Smith, a retired teacher and educational technology trainer, reviewed Building Character on her parenting blog, JDaniel4's Mom.

As someone who taught primary aged children for twenty years, I found a lot of reason to love this book. You can open this book and start on an activity with very little preparation. The books include almost everything you would need. There alternative ways listed to complete activities. There is a wide variety of activities described. Each activity works on a particular set of character traits or what the author’s call assets.

The book is divided into three sections. The first is Finish the Pieces and Masterpiece Creations. It contains worksheet like pages with a coloring area and Let’s Talk Section. The Let’s Talk section offers questions you can ask a child about the picture they have created to fit the theme at the top of the page. The second section is Experience Books. It is my favorite section. Why? It takes wonderful children’s books and applies their lessons to everyday life. This section also contains a Let’s Talk section as well as an Explore More section. The Explore More section asks children to create or participate in activities that helps further put feet on the character trait you are working on. The final section is called Play and Move. This section is filled with games and activities to do with a class or group of children that will help them work on an aspect of their character. There are word games, team building, scavenger hunts, Olympic events, and more. There is also a Let’s Talk section with each activity.

You don’t have to be a classroom teacher or counselor to use and enjoy this book. A mom who wants to help her children be the best they can be would love it too.

Book Review: Building Character from the Start

Ms. Sarah at the blog Caiafa Craziness just posted a great review of our newest book, "Building Character From the Start: 201 Activities to Foster Creativity, Literacy and Play in K-3"

Here are some of the quotes that made me smile. You can read her entire review at the link above.

"This book totally rocks. My kids and I have been having so much fun. This book helps creativity, literacy and play. It is age ranged for children in kindergarten to 3rd grade. "

"I love that this book gets family discussions going. It also incorporates great lessons such as boundaries, responsibility and self esteem. It comes with a CD that you can recreate activity sheets and games. "

"I highly recommend this book if you have children that fit the age range. I say even some of the activities are good for the younger ones. I had a 2.5 year old doing the three wishes and the making up. He did just fine. "

New E-Book Release for K-3 Educators, Youth Workers and Parents

Our 3rd book is now available electronically, so you can pick which version best fits your needs, or you can easily send it as a gift!

Building Character from the Start: 201 Activities to Foster Creativity, Literacy, and Play in K-3
$23.95

Grounded in the 40 Developmental Assets , a research-based framework for healthy child development, this inspirational activity book lets kids have fun while building new skills and character. Kids are prompted to finish a coloring page with their own ideas and dreams while synopses of nearly 100 books include follow-up questions and ideas for taking the book's lessons even further. Fun for every grade level and area of interest is provided through word games, community-building games, team-building games, and more. Included with the book is a CD-ROM of reproducible handouts to engage kids even further, rounding out this ideal tool for teachers, day-care providers, and after-school program providers.

Click here to find more info or purchase the e-book for $23.95.
If you prefer to hold your books in hand, click here for the paperback version.

Detective Books for Kids

Sometimes the key to building a love for reading in children is simply to find the types of books that they love to read. I love detective stories (and so does my 2nd grader!), so I was thrilled to find this list of detective books at the PBS Kids' history Detectives site. It has current favorites (A-Z and Cam Jansen) as well as classics (Nate the Great and Encyclopedia Brown) and everything in between.

Did you know that "Reading for Pleasure" is one of the 40 assets? That's how critical reading is to healthy child development!

Share the Love - Valentine Traditions that Build Healthy Relationships

Holidays offer a great opportunity to be intentional about building assets, building memories, and having fun together. Valentine’s Day, in particular, is a great time to show others that you care, leading to a more caring school climate, a more supportive home environment, stronger intergenerational relationships and healthier friendships. Here are some ideas you can use in the weeks surrounding Valentine’s Day.


Kitchen Celebrations

• Hide a Valentine message and candy treat as a surprise.
• Write ‘love notes’ with a sharpie marker on the peel of a banana or a sandwich bag
• Cut out hearts - sandwiches, pizza, pancakes, cookies, rice crispy treats, napkins, placemats....
• Have friends over for a pancake breakfast. Make heart-shaped pancakes using a metal cookie cutter. Serve with raspberry or strawberry preserves and a dollop of whipped cream.
• Incorporate red, pink, and white foods into your Valentine’s Day meals (Red: strawberries, apples, dried cranberries, red peppers, raspberries, red hots, spaghetti, lasagna. White: bananas , cauliflower, yogurt covered raisins, marshmallows, vanilla yogurt, alfredo pasta. Pink: strawberry ice cream, strawberry milk, strawberry yogurt)
  

Loving Words

• Hide conversation hearts around the room for children to find. Let children hunt and hide them again and again.
• Get sneaky – put mini love notes in each other’s pockets, lunchboxes or on their pillows during the week. On each note, share a specific trait you admire about that person such as, “Your hugs every night make my day,” “I love your ready smile,” or “Thank you for your helpful spirit.”
• Send cards to people you care about. Draw pictures or write poems to tell them why they are important to you.

Loving Hands

• Make Valentines on the computer. Create labels using your own photo, add a Valentine message, and then stick the label to treats.
• Remember old fashioned paper weaving with paper strips? Weave pink, white, and red placemats.
• Get creative – make valentine t-shirts with paints or draw hearts and fill in with words and pictures that represent things that each is proud of themselves and each other.
• Make ‘stained glass’ hearts using recycled crayons and waxed paper.

Show Some Love to Others
Volunteer together to help someone in need. (Need inspiration? For young children, read Berenstain Bears’ Think of Those in Need by Stan and Jan Berenstain. For pre-teens and teens consider reading our book, Ready to Go Service Projects: 140 Ways for Youth Groups to Lend a Hand.)


On the Big Screen
Spread out sleeping bags and enjoy a box of popcorn as you enjoy classic movies about love and friendship. Some of our favorites include: Ever After, Beauty and the Beast, The Sound of Music, Shrek, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Lady and the Tramp, Cars, The Lion King, or The Princess Bride.

Whatever you do, seize the moment to show attention, love and care for those around you. Don’t miss the opportunity to say you care.

Assets Built through These Valentine’s Traditions * Family support * Positive family communication * Other adult relationships * Caring neighborhood * Caring school climate * Service to others * Positive peer influence * Creative activities * Youth programs * Time at home * Reading for pleasure * Caring * Equality and social justice * Planning and decision making * Interpersonal competence * Self-esteem

Valentine's Day

Here's a list of children's picture books that promote friendship and love. I have not read all of them, but they look super cute. If you have a favorite book to share, you can leave it in the comments section - we'd love to learn from you!

A Valentine for Ms. Vanilla by Fred Ehrlich
Clifford's Valentine's Day by Norman Bridwell
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
How Do I Love You? by Marion Dane Bauer
I Like You by Sandol Stoddard
I Love You the Purplest by Barbara M. Joosse
If You'll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant
Love Bugs by David A. Carter
Love by Lowell A. Siff
Love, Splat by Rob Scotten
Nate the Great and the Mushy Valentine by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
Queen of Hearts by Mary Engelbreit
Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch by Eileen Spinelli
The Best Thing About Valentines by Eleanor Hudson
The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
The Night Before Valentine's Day by Natasha Wing
The Story of Valentine's Day by Nancy Skarmeas
The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjorie Williams
The Very Special Valentine by Maggie Kneen
Today is Valentine's Day by P. K. Hallinan
Valentine Hearts : Holiday Poetry by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Valentine School Parties by Wilhelminia Ripple
Valentine's Day by Anne and Lizzy Rockwell
Valentine's Day Is by Gail Gibbons
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Mr. Valentine by Mara Conlon
You and Me by Martine Kindermans
You Are My I Love You by Maryann Cusimano

Valentine's Day Educational Fun

Connecting educational ideas to holidays is an easy way to capitalize on the fun of learning, and help children/youth develop their own commitment to learning (one of Search Institute's 8 Asset Categories).

Here are some of the many Valentine's Day curriculum ideas that I found on EducationWorld's website. You'll find ideas from science, math, writing, vocabulary and technology on their full list.

A Knife to the Heart
Students investigate the history of heart surgery and create a time line showing the most important breakthroughs in cardiac medicine. (Grades 6-12)

The Heartbreaking Puzzle
Students assemble and reassemble pieces from a heart-shaped puzzle to form a variety of geometric shapes. (Grades 3-8)

The Heart of Mathematical Thinking
This Valentine Hearts Investigation engages students in collecting data, making predictions, and graphing.

Candy Heart Stories
Write a story that includes the text of the candy conversation hearts you chose. (Grades 1-8)

Teacher Feature
Valentine Battleship allows kids to combine math practice with holiday fun.

Have a Heart
An Internet scavenger hunt for students in grades 2-6.

Check out their website to see more ideas for Valentine's Day and other holidays.

Global Exchange's National Valentine’s Day of Action: 3,500 for Fair Trade!

Global Exchange invites K-6 teachers to teach their Fair Trade cocoa curriculum during the National Valentine's Day of Action. Their goal is to educate at least 3,500 children about Fair Trade, and help thousands of kids in cocoa farming communities.

Global Exchange's Fair Trade curriculum features ready-to-use lesson plans based on inquiry- and experiential-based learning. It satisfies state teaching standards in every discipline. Kids learn they have the power to make a global impact AND it's fun!

Best of all, it is the culmination of a service-learning project where students from Evergreen State College's Master in Teaching program authored the lesson plans.

PART 1 (Book): Global Exchange's Fair Trade Chocolate Book
PART 2 (Unit): Setting a Higher Bar: Global Exchange's Fair Trade Cocoa Unit for Kids

Find more info here.

Connect with Kids Research and News

Here are some of the articles from this week's Connect with Kids email. Click on any of the links to see the full article.

Fewer Kids Smoking
A new government survey finds that more kids are smoking marijuana, abusing prescription drugs and using smokeless tobacco than a decade ago. But there is one area of abuse that is going down dramatically- cigarettes.


Reading Comprehension
If your child has trouble reading, this finding is remarkable: researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that when kids with delayed reading skills or learning disabilities were put through a comprehensive remediation program, their brains physically "rewired" themselves, increasing reading comprehension and language skills.


End of Make-Believe
With video games, DVD's and hundreds of cable channels, more and more kids are relying on electronic gadgets for entertainment, which means they're missing out on the age-old staple of kids' play: imagination.

MLK Day and Inspiring Kids to Change the World

Looking for an easy activity to do with children this week? Read this article to see how one educator is challenging kids to make a difference. If you have favorite educational activities, we'd love to hear them - email us at ann (at) TheAssetEdge (dot) net.

I just found a great free newsletter for teaching children reading, writing and creativity. Check out "Literacy Lava" at http://ow.ly/IDZY.