A good friend of mine is going to join me in reading our way through a summer reading list. Caroline and my friend’s daughter over heard our plans and immediately began begging to join us, wanting to create a mini summer book club all their own. The girl’s walked off to school talking about books they had read and what they wanted to explore over the summer. Caroline returned home from school with the list above, titled “10 Books to Read Over the Summer.” Yes- the list has some less than stellar literature on it but I couldn’t be happier. Caroline sat down and proactively made a list of books she plans to enjoy and discuss with a friend. Really and truly as a mother and as a literacy consultant, nothing could make me happier.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when the note below arrived in my in box on the same day that Caroline returned home from school with her list.  The note is from Caroline’s principal, a woman who in the madness of the current public school climate, rises to the top with common sense and love of children and learning. She and her faculty have decided that reading over this summer should be what is designed to be, fun. I’m so glad that Caroline and I had already had already planned on that.

Read below and smile with me…

June 14, 2011

Dear Parents,

You are never alone if you have a book.  You can go anywhere if you have a book.
-Marian Chisholm (Grandmother of Dr. Oates)
               

 Reading is an Oates Family habit.  Another habit is eating nachos and drinking Diet Coke, but I will keep this letter focused on the reading part since it is much more admirable!  Almost every member of my family is “a reader” and my personal favorite hobby is reading a book.  Each year we would go on a vacation and long stretches of time would be spent in silence while everyone read their magazine or book.  Even today, I will often go upstairs on the weekend to “put away the laundry” and end up with my nose in that new favorite book that I just can’t put down.  It is my great hope that my children will also develop a deep seeded love of reading because, like my grandmother, I believe that it is a treasure.
                Looking back I realize that we great to love reading because it was clearly something that brought great pleasure to my grandparents and parents.  Every grown-up was always toting a book, magazine or newspaper and sharing the stories or information with the rest of the gang.  I do not think that any of this was intentional, but they were modeling great reading habits for each of us every day.  Ultimately, that is what parenting is: modeling the behaviors that we want our children to adopt because, like it or not, they want to be just like us! 
                Our faculty had an intense and thoughtful conversation about the value of reading logs during our final faculty meeting of the year.  During this discussion everyone agreed that it is important for children to read over the summer, but teachers also shared the value in students reading for pleasure without an assignment looming over their heads.  Our students are scheduled all year – as we all are – and the summer is a time to recharge and do things purely for pleasure’s sake (like eating a great big ice cream sundae at Van Dyke’s).  The next two months are a chance for students to stretch their pleasure reading muscles, choose books that interest them, and read at their own pace. 
                It is our sincere hope that you will take this summer as an opportunity to read with your children – great chapter books and interesting articles – and find some pleasure books of your own.  Modeling great reading habits by enjoying a book on a daily basis is a gift.  We hope that students see reading as something that you do because you love to do it – not just because you have to do it.  You can encourage reading by visiting the library regularly and talking about reading with your child.  From September through June your child will have mandatory daily reading; we give them July and August to become independent readers. 
                Enjoy these long, summer days with your children (and a good book) and we will see you in September!
Fondly,
Dr. Oates

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I have vivid memories of my summer reading lists as a kid. The only thing I might have loved more than a summer reading list was the list of school supplies that Mom and I would bring to Ann and Hope each fall but that would be up for the debate. Summer reading lists were just great. I would fill blank books full of the titles I read each summer, checking off the long list of required and suggested books given to me at school until each title had been read.

The other day, I had a great idea. I am going to make my own summer reading list. I don’t think the fun should only be for the young. Why not me too. And I might just fill a blank book with titles and cross them off on a list.

Now, I need your help. Please comment with titles you have really enjoyed recently. I’m looking for those just right books- not total trash but nothing too hard. I can’t wait to start listing so comment, comment, comment. And if you’re not a commenter, send me an e-mail…

p.s. My blog is undergoing some upgrades so please ignore the construction and check back soon for some great improvements!

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Yesterday, Katherine had a playdate so Caroline and I had some time alone. This is an unusual dynamic so we rushed to do many of the things that are hard to do when a well loved but younger sister is around. Our first trip was to Bazaar Star Beadery, a wonderful independently owned beading store in town. Caroline and I each made a Whirly Swirly (as pictured above). And yes, if anyone is wondering we are calling this summer the “Summer of the Growing Bangs.” Or what Caroline will later call the “Summer of How Did You Let My Hair Look Like That.”

As we sat and beaded, I kept sighing. I realized that I hadn’t sat and done something like this with Caroline in ages, if ever. We both sat still and focused for close to an hour. I felt my whole self relaxing in a way that almost felt yoga-like. Ironically, I had talked with a dear friend earlier in the morning about an article she had read discussing the importance of making things with our hands. In today’s society it is so rare and so important.

I’m glad that Caroline and I were able to have the chance to prove the article right….

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I  love it when life and literature intersect.

Last night, I was reading the latest installment of the Mouse and Mole books, Mouse and Mole: Fine Feather Friends to the girls. Mouse and Mole set out to create a book about birds, searching for the birds and then writing tales and drawing pictures of the birds they find. Through out the process they discover that Mouse is a natural poet while Mole shines as an artist. They decide that instead of creating their own books they will collaborate on a title together.

As I read,  I kept thinking about the concept of multiple intelligences. I am working through this concept with my teachers at school and I  couldn’t wait to share this book with them. But then the life-literature connection got even better.

Katherine had kindergarten orientation yesterday and she was just as proud of herself as she could be. She couldn’t stop talking about her half hour in the kindergarten room so I shouldn’t have been surprised when she found a connection between her day and the book we were reading. I must say, though, it took me a minute to understand where she was going with the sentence, “Miss J. is a Mole.”

As I paused to figure out what she was talking about, she continued, “The boy next to me was sad, so Miss J. drew a picture of him. It looked just like him. His hair was black and so were his shoes.” So… Miss J. is a natural artist. And also apparently, a natural teacher. Perhaps next year, Katherine will get to be Miss J.’s Mouse. What a book they could create…

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I was reading through my e-mail this morning and got that happy feeling I get when I see my Horn Book newsletter. The Horn Book magazine comes every two months full of writing about children’s literature and amazing book reviews. To tide me over in between issues, I read their newsletter that comes out more often.

This morning my excitement was even greater than usual when I scrolled down to find my dear friend Meg Medina’s latest book highlighted. Meg is one of those people who gives me warm fuzzies every time I think of her. I treated her daughter years and years ago and still consider her a friend despite the fact that we haven’t talked since we left Richmond nearly four years ago now. Thanks to Facebook and e-mail I feel like we are still somehow connected so I knew her book was coming out but had lost track of when.

I couldn’t be happier for Meg that her latest book is receiving attention from the ‘Big Wigs’. She is just one of those people who deserves good things to come her way. Tia Isa isn’t out yet so I can’t review it but if it’s even half as great as it’s author, it’s going to be wonderful.

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One of the most fun job related tasks I’ve had lately is creating a professional development library for each of my schools. I was given a small budget and free reign to order books that would be useful to teachers.

People who know me well know that children’s book and professional development books for teachers are to me what shoes are to many women. I have entire huge book cases full of each.

So given the above task, I’ve been having a blast.

Just today I was reviewing the book, Best of Dr. Jean: Reading and Writing  by the excellent Dr. Jean and found an idea that I just had to try right away.

Egg Words. What a fun, simple and novel way to practice sound blending. I created eggs immediately by writing onsets (beginning sounds) on the left hand side of the egg and rimes (phonograms such as at) on the right hand side. I can’t wait for the girls to get home and try them, flipping the eggs around to create one new word after another.

And as an added bonus, my husband was working from home today and helped me to stage the photo above. He told me he never imagined he would be asked to be a hand model. Maybe he should work from home more often. Who knows what I might have in store for him…

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Before I had children, there were many things I vowed to both do and never do. Many, many of those vows have been broken.

 One vow though that I have held fast to is the ‘no tv in the car’ rule. I’m not so sure why this one has stuck but it has. I pack a bag for Caroline and one for Katherine full of books, paper, markers and games whenever we hit the road for a long trip.

A few weeks ago, we drove to celebrate Rob’s grandparent’s 70th wedding annivesary. This trip involved more hours spent in the car than those spent celebrating and I felt my resolve weakening. I suggested to Rob that maybe we let the girls use their itouches for the trip. I thought that Rob was going to pass out. He reminded that we are nearly eight years into this and there was no way that we were going to loose that investment over one trip. He reminded me of all the crying we listened to when the girls were really young, all the games of Categories and Find the License Plate Game we have played since. He also reminded me of all the amazing conversations we’ve had in the car and the moments of pure imagination that have sprouted as the girls are forced into boredom.

And thank goodness, he brought me back on board because if I had given in this one time, we wouldn’t have gotten these amazing pictures. Nearly the whole ride back, Caroline read aloud to Katherine. You just can’t beat that.

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My girls began hearing chapter books at very young ages. While I love picture books, I also love the stories and characters that develop in longer text so I found myself turning to chapter books as a supplement to the girl’s picture book diet pretty early on. Knowing also that children’s listening levels and reading levels do not coincide until the 8th grade, I knew it made sense to always be reading levels above what they could read to themselves.

Jim Trelease writes about this subject in his magnificent book, The Read Aloud Handbook.

He desribes a logical progression of moving from long picture books, perhaps broken up into mulitple readings, to colletions of stories about one characther such as All About Alfie by Shirley Hughes and then moving into short chapter books. Trelease’s recommendations include, My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, Wolf Story  by William McCleery and Rip Roaring Russell by Johanna Hurwitz.

This is a list that I should have been adding to all along because we have been fortunate to have stumbled upon many but we found a new one this week that is worth mentioning. Almost always, Katherine (age 5) listens contentedly while I read chapter that are more geared to Caroline’s (age 8) level. I know the higher level books will appeal to both girls and they can each benefit in a developmentally appopriate way. Occasionally though, I do try to sprinkle in one of the shorter  chapter books. This week’s choice was Uh, Oh Cleo by Jessica Harper.

In this story, after a run in with a falling bookcase, Cleo must get stitches. The whole books takes place over only a few hours time making it easy to follow for those children new to chapter books. My girls tend to prefer books that take place in the present day. I just can’t get them hooked on historical fiction or even fantasy. I do hope to break them of this as there is so much great stuff they are missing but that’s a conversation for another day. Cleo fits the present day bill with reference to Harry Potter and Candy Land and Lemony Snicket to ground them in the here and now.

Now the irony of this whole post is that we read the book in one sitting. As we started reading, this post began to form in my mind- a great chapter book recommendation for the pre-school set. But then the girls got completely wrapped up in the story and just couldn’t imagine stopping until they knew the ending. While it is an ideal book to introduce young children to the idea of chapters, it is also, apparently a good enough story to hook those kids already used to the idea.

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The latest edition of Literacy Lava is out today!

Click here to read my contribution.

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Today was the Ridgewood Memorial Day Run.

The 5K was a three generation race with Rob, Rob’s dad and Caroline all running. Caroline improved her time last year by 6 minutes finishing in twenty nine minutes and forty seven seconds. She placed sixth in her 9 and under age group. Quite an exciting accomplishment.

After a dazzling finish in the 5K, we all headed to the 1 mile Fun Run.

This was Katherine’s first Fun Run and she smiled the whole way. Here we are crossing the finish line.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this running family!

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