Ready-Set-Read

Sammy Experiences God by Tom Blackaby

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:43:00 +0000

Our children have so many experiences in life-- going to school, joining a t-ball team, spending time with family and friends, etc. As parents, we plan their experiences, hoping that each experience adds value to their lives. Sometimes in the hustle of a busy life, we can miss out on helping our children experience the most important part of life, experiencing God.
The terminology, "experiencing God" may have a familiar ring to many parents. In fact, like me, you may have actually done a Bible study, written by Henry Blackaby, called "Experiencing God". These experiencing God lessons are now available in picture book format for children. Experiencing God is something that I want for my boys. When I had the opportunity to review, Sammy Experiences God by Tom Blackaby, I was excited to see how these lessons could impact my boys. After all, I don't want my boys to have all of life's experiences and miss out on experiencing God. The links in this post are affiliate links. I was sent a free copy of this book for review purposes.
Sammy Experiences God: An Experiencing God at Home Storybook by Tom Blackaby, Sammy loves reading Bible stories with his parents and he wants to experience God on his own, just like the Bible characters he has read about. When his experiences aren't as dramatic as those in the Bible, Sammy is disappointed. Luckily, his wise Grandpa Henry steps in and helps Sammy see that God has been with him every step of the way. He shares great principles about experiencing God in our everyday life.
The book, Sammy Experiences God, is a well written story with wise principles. The illustrations are engaging for kids. Kids will love reading about Sammy and seeing each of Sammy's illustrations on each page. There are Bible verses to accompany the illustrations, so families could read those stories as they read the story book. There are also frogs hidden in the illustrations on each page for children to discover. The book includes a secret code, which is a fun feature. There are words written in three different colors. Children find the secret words, write them in order, and read the special coded messages. The codes contain a ton of sight words, which means kids will be able to write and decode the messages pretty easily! The book also includes a parent guide.

Blackaby Books International has released a new line of books so the whole family can share Experiencing God. Check out these other titles. (There are amazon affiliate links)
Experiencing God at Home
Seven Steps to Knowing, Doing, and Experiencing the Will of God for Teens

I received this book free of charge from Shelton Interactive in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

Summer Learning Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Welcome back to Mom's Library. Each week I co-host this linky party which features parenting tips, activities for kids, stories, crafts, recipes, and more! PLUS, now Mom's Library has a weekly giveway! Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss anything.

Last week I was excited to see a ton of activities that my family can use for summer learning activities. We want kids to continue learning during the summer months, but we don't want that learning to be boring! This week I am featuring fun summer learning activities. These activities for kids are hands on. Many of them take the learning into the outdoors. Kids won't even know they are learning all summer!

Dig into Reading Gardening Activities from KCedventures. KCEdventures shares that this summer the National Summer Library Book theme is "Dig into Reading". She has rounded up a bunch of great books and book activities on a gardening theme to help with the summer library theme!

Create a backyard water wheel from iGameMom (yes, there is an app for this).

Splish Splash Water Math from Crayon Freckles Check out these great learning activities for learning about measurement.

Water Bead Science from Gift of Curiosity Water beads are a fun summer activity. Try out this science experiement using water beads.

Magic Paint from Coffee with Us 3 We used to make this paint during Vacation Bible School. I can still remember painting the whole church with it! Find out the "magic" ingredient.

Scooping Ice from Sugar Aunts Cool off with this fun and easy learning activity

Creating Art with NonTraditional Materials from Gummy Lump Use object from nature in a painting project.

Catch a Spider Web from Preschool Powol Packets Go on a hunt outdoors for spider webs. Preschool Powol Packets shares an awesome way to capture spider webs so you can study their formations!

Going on a Shape Hunt from Gummy Lump Explore the outdoors and learn about shapes.

18 Ways to Spend a Day at the Park from KCEdventures Don't let your park time get boring, try these fun, simple ideas!

Frugal Summer Activities from Real Housewifes Clip Coupons I've already added some of these fun and frugal summer activities to my calendar for the summer!

Alphabet Summer Fun from Growing Book by Book Activities for each day that fit with beginning alphabet sounds plus a book to accompany each summer activity.

Summer Bucket List from School Time Snippets Create a list of activities to complete before Summer kicks the bucket.

A Toddler's Ultimate Bucket List of Day Trips from More Fun Mom another fun bucket list that is great for toddlers.

This week on Mom's Library, you can enter to win a Craft Prize Pack from craftprojectideas.com. Check out how you can use this prize pack to create Homemade Birthday Cards and then enter using the rafflecopter below!

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Dinosaur Preschool Theme

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Mon, 20 May 2013 11:57:00 +0000

Dinosaurs seem to be a very popular theme among preschool children. My boys love reading about dinosaurs and we have many favorite dinosaur theme picture books. Each Monday on Ready-Set-Read, I am compiling books to accompany various preschool themes. This week, I am exploring the dinosaur preschool theme. While there are many, many books that would fit the dinosaur theme, these are some of my favorite dinosaur books that have worked especially well with the preschool reading level. Clicking on the book cover will take you to the book on Amazon for your convenience. These are affiliate links.

How do Dinosaurs... Series by Jane Yolen To begin a dinosaur theme book list, I feel like I have to begin with Jane Yolen. Yolen has many books featuring dinosaurs. In Yolen's books, dinosaurs deal with bedtime, going to school, cleaning their rooms, celebrating holidays and more. The illustrations in the book, by artist Mark Teague, label each dinosaur. The books are great for dealing with preschool behavior, but don't give any information about dinosaurs.

Another series of books that uses dinosaurs to focus on preschool topics, are the Dinosaur Vs. Books. These books, like Dinosaur Vs. The Potty, by Bob Shea tell a story about a dinosaur who doesn't think he needs to use the potty. The obnoxious dinosaur jumps around and roars. Preschoolers will love "roaring" along with the dinosaur. (And what's a dinosaur unit without roaring?) Again, this series, will not teach facts about dinosaurs but they are fun for kids to explore during a theme study.

Digging Up Dinosaurs (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science 2) by Aliki follows a child through a museum of dinosaurs. As the reader moves through the book, he/she can read simple facts about dinosaurs on each page. Along with the main text, there are speech bubbles to listen in on conversations in the museum. Some of the conversations are educational, others are entertaining! This is a good book for introducing names of dinosaurs, types of dinosaurs, and the concepts of extinction and paleontology.

Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton is a wonderful "first" dinosaur book. In Dinosaurs Dinosaurs, Barton provides simple, brightly colored drawings of dinosaurs with simple descriptive text. For example, "There are dinosaurs with horns." This book is great for preschoolers to learn to understand the descriptive words without having to cover all of the details. In the front and back endpages, the book provides clear pictures with labeled names and pronounciation guides for kids who want to know more.

Dinosaur! by Peter Sis is a wordless story about an imaginative boy and his toy dinosaur. The book begins with bathtime. The boy takes his toy dinosaur into the bath, and suddenly, a dinosaur pops out of the water. Gradually, larger and larger dinosaurs begin to appear around the bath. The boy gets smaller and smaller. The book opens to a three page spread, to fit all of the large dinosaurs. As the page turns, the boy's mother comes rushing with a towel, and bath time-- and play time-- are over. The bathroom is covered with water! Judging from how our bathroom looks after bathtime, I wonder if my boys have had dinosaurs visiting??

Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs (Harry and the Dinosaurs) Harry finds a bucket of old dinosaurs in Gran's attic. "Dinosaurs don't belong in boxes," says Harry. Harry washes the dinosaurs, puts them in a bucket, and takes them everywhere he goes. Until one day, Harry mistakenly leaves the dinosaurs on the train. But he knows how to get them back. I believe this book was originally published as Sammy and the Dinosaurs We've been reading that one since Logan was 2! Follow the link to an old post with a book activity and a picture of little Logan!
There are several other Harry and the Dinosaur books. My boys really liked Harry and the Dinosaurs Say 'Raahh!'. which was a fun story about Harry taking his bucket of dinosaurs to visit the dentist for the first time.

I Dreamt I was a Dinosaur is an easy to handle board book. Each page features a different dinosaur and names it alliteratively, for example, the Stegosaurus is named "Sammy Stegosaurus." According to the book, "The illustrations were prepared in antique fabrics and felt with sequins, buttons, beads, and assorted bric-a-brac." Which would be completely awesome... if you could actually feel that. However, I guess it was too costly to mass produce books with antique fabric and bric-a-brac. (I love that word). So the book is just pictures of those things. Check out the dinosaur craft project we did to make our own dinosaur touch and feel book after reading this book.

Last week, I asked for recommendations of favorite dinosaur picture books on my facebook page. Laura, from The Seeds Network, recommended this last dinosaur book, Dinosaur Roar! It looks so fun. Make sure you check out the video in the post. My boys loved the book and boogie dance that went with the book. This is a great book for teaching preschoolers about opposites.

Dinosaur Roar (Picture Puffins) Dinosaurs of every shape and size race, roar, and stomp through this colorful book of opposites. And where are all these silly-looking creatures off to? A dinosaur picnic, of course! These prehistoric pranksters and the simple, playful rhymes that accompany them will delight children everywhere.

Do you have a favorite book for teaching preschoolers about dinosaurs? Leave it in the comments or join our discussion on facebook.

If you are looking for more book lists to accompany preschool themes, check out my books by theme page, and follow my preschool themes pinterest board for activities and books.

Free Printables Featured on Mom's Library (+ Weekly Giveaway)

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Wed, 15 May 2013 03:19:00 +0000

Welcome to Mom's Library! Each week, Mom's Library is filled with parenting tips, activities for kids, stories, crafts, recipes, and more! Also, Mom's Library now includes a WEEKLY GIVEAWAY!!
Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss the next Library! Follow the Mom's Library Pinterest Board to see all of our featured posts.

Check out last week's Mom's Library for Book Activities for popular picture books, like this fun bird craft to accompany Are You My Mother? that was shared by Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails. See all of the book activities here.

Featured Activities-- Free Printables

Mom's Library is a great source for a variety of helpful resources. I've noticed each week, there are many writers who share their resources for FREE! This week I am featuring free printables for activities with kids and educational activities. There is a ton of great stuff available for free! I'm just featuring a few of them, so make sure you check last week's Mom's Library for even more freebies.

Laundry Letters (a letter recognition activity) free printable from My Joy Filled Life

Word Family Uno (decoding words in the short a word families) free printable from The Measured Mom

Transportation Clip and Count Cards free printable from The Measured Mom

If you like this one, also check out The Measured Mom's Free Transportation Matching Memory Game. I'm lovin' all of The Measured Mom's freebies this week!

Fun with Forest Facts (great for kids in grades 2-4) free printable from Enchanted Homeschooling Mom

God Makes the Plants (Plant Lifecycle File Folder Game) free printable from Bible Fun for Kids

Weekly Giveaway

I'm so excited that Mom's Library now includes weekly giveaways. I hope you take advantage of entering to win these awesome prizes each week when you stop by to link up or read posts.

This Week's Giveaway

A Complete Geography Curriculum Set

Everything you need to help develop a love for Geography in your children.

The set includes: Basic Weather Features, Terrain, U.S. States, Major Countries of the World, and Printable Maps. It also features 2 Project Around the World activity guides that will take you on a virtual tour of New York City and Alaska.

Check out more about the geography curriculum and watch the videos of the 2 year old and 4 year old. (Their geography skills are amazing! I do not want to take them on in a geography bee!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mom's Library Linky Party

Would you like to participate? Here's How
1. Please follow me and True Aim!
2. Enter the URL of your post below.
3. Support your fellow bloggers and visit 2 other links.

*By linking up, you are granting me permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website. Don't forget to subscribe to ready-set-read so you don't miss any of the features!

Preschool Theme Friendship Book List

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:58:00 +0000

Friendship is a wonderful theme to explore in preschool. At the beginning of the school year, it can be difficult for preschool children to step out and make new friends. Through out the school year, children often have to navigate the ins and outs of friendships. Near the end of the school year, children often have to say goodbye to the preschool friends they have made. Books can be a wonderful way to help children explore friendship. I've been collecting favorite picture books that fit with the preschool theme friendship.

Knuffle Bunny Too by Mo Willems fits with many themes that are covered in preschool, but I think it fits well with the friendship theme too. This is the follow up story to Knuffle Bunny, where we meet Trixie, a girl who loves her security bunny. In this story, Trixie has grown up and gone to preschool. In preschool she deals with another student who has the same "nuffle" bunny. The girls have a hard time getting along with each other and eventually the teacher has to step in and solve their dispute by taking the bunnies away from the girls. Traumatically, the bunnies are mixed up and the girls' dads have to arrange a late night meeting to get the bunnies back with their owners. This results in the girls realizing they have more in common than they thought, and becoming friends over their shared interests.

Dog and Bear (Neal Porter Books) (Boston Globe-Horn Book Award Winner-Best Picture Book) (Awards)) Dog and Bear by Laura Vaccaro Seeger This book consists of three sweet stories of a dog and a bear. They deal with real friendship topics that kids may face while modeling good ways to deal with friends--such as when one friend wants to play together and the other friend wants to be alone.

Best Friends for Frances Best Friends for Frances by Russell Hoban In this story, Frances does not want to be friends with her little sister Gloria. Frances wants to play with Albert, but Albert doesn't want a girl to play with him. So, Frances and her sister team up for a little girl power and show Albert that girls can have fun and sisters can be friends! In the end, they all learn how to play together and get along. One of my favorite parts was this dialogue between the sisters,
"And will you show me how to print my name?' said Gloria...
'Yes', said Frances.
'Then you will be my best friend', said Gloria. 'Will it just be today, or longer?'
'Longer', said Frances."

Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes Chester and Wilson are best friends, they are two peas in a pod. Not only are they always together, they do everything the same way. They are happy being friends... until Lilly moves to town. Lilly does not do things like Chester and Wilson. Chester and Wilson have to learn a lesson about friendship and including others who might seem different.

A Weekend with Wendell by Kevin Henkes is also a good choice for a preschool friendship theme.

A Sick Day for Amos McGee A Sick Day for Amos McGee by Philip C. Stead Amos McGee is a zoo-keeper. Amos McGee goes beyond simply caring for animals. He plays chess with the elephant and runs races with the tortoise. Amos McGee is a good friend. When Amos gets sick, his animal friends pay him a visit at home to return his kindness.

City Dog, Country Frog In this story, City dog visits the country in the spring, summer, fall, and winter. In the Spring, Country Frog teaches City Dog to play frog games. When City Dog returns to the country in the summer, they play Dog games. In the fall, Country Frog is tired and so they spend time just remembering. In winter, City dog arrives in the country but frog is not there. He can't find him anywhere. In Spring again, Country Dog finds a new friend- but he doesn't forget his old friend as he smiles a froggy smile.
While it seems to be inferred that the frog dies, this story could be a beautiful way of helping a child deal with death, moving, changing friends, or deal with change in general.

Free PDF Book Activity for City Dog, Country Frog
Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day is a book about a loyal dog, but I think it's a beautiful picture of man's best friend. In this nearly wordless picture book, a mother leaves her baby alone with the dog for the day-- I know, I know, that is irresponsible parenting. Let's just say this book is a fantasy more than a realistic fiction book. Don't leave your baby alone with your dog for the day, ok?-- The dog exhibits traits of friendship and loyalty as he carefully tends to the child. It is sweet and it will make you laugh! I love subtle friendship that is displayed in this book.

The Rainbow Fish [Board book] Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister In this story, rainbow fish has beautiful scales. The other fish admire him, and one little fish even dares to ask for one of Rainbow Fish's scales. Rainbow fish snubs the little fish, and soon the other fish begin ignoring Rainbow Fish out of fear. Well, what good is it to be beautiful if you have no friends? Rainbow Fish goes on a quest to find a wise Octopus who tells him to give away his beautiful scales, no longer will he be the most beautiful, but he will be happy.

Hunter's Best Friend at School Hunter's Best Friend at School Have you ever had your child choose the "wrong" friend? Maybe a friend who made bad choices and was a poor influence. Hunter's Best Friend at School is a good book for exploring this common issue. Check out the full review and free printable on Wise Owl Factory's Book a Day Blog.

Henry and Mudge Series by Cynthia Rylant is a fun first chapter book that explores the friendship between a little boy, Henry, and his dog, Mudge. The books follow Henry on all sorts of adventures and his loyal companion is always beside him.

The Frog and Toad Collection Box Set (I Can Read Book 2) Frog and Toad Series by Arnold Lobel is the classic story of a frog and a toad who are faithful friends. These are great books for the 5-7 year old crowd. They are beginning chapter books with lots of pictures to support the text. The difficulties that Frog and Toad face together will be funny anecdotes that your young readers will be able to relate.

Do you have a favorite book that you use to teach children about friendships? I'd love to hear your ideas. Leave a comment here or check it out the discussion of friendship themed picture books on my facebook page.

Check out all preschool themes book lists on my preschool themes page. Next week I'll be sharing favorite books for a dinosaur theme.
Follow my preschool theme Pinterest board for books and activities for each theme.

Coloring Pages for Disney's Planes

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Sat, 11 May 2013 12:31:00 +0000

Coloring Sheets can be a fun way to keep little hands strong for writing. Disney has offered FREE coloring pages for this summer's newest movie, Planes. Click on the image below to get coloring pages and connect the dot pages. These coloring sheets would be fun end of the year activities for kids too!

Click on the image to go directly to the free PDF coloring pages.

Disney’s PLANES releases in theaters everywhere on August 9th!

“Like” Disney’s PLANES on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DisneyPlanes

"Follow" Disney’s PLANES on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DisneyPictures

Visit the website: www.disney.com/Planes

Preschool Themes Book Lists

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Fri, 10 May 2013 22:45:00 +0000

Summer break is a time when many teachers review themes and units used in the past year, and begin to plan for the next school year. I've been excitedly planning themes to use in preschool with my three year old next fall. As I've been planning, I've been organizing my book reviews and book activities by preschool theme. I've created a quick reference page at ready-set-read. You can find all of my books categorized by theme by using the button on my sidebar.

Also, each Monday this summer, I'll be adding a new preschool theme book list. Here are some of the themes I'll be covering in the month of May.

friendship
dinosaurs
community helpers
transportation

I gathered ideas for themes by brainstorming with other parents and teachers on my facebook page. If you have a favorite preschool theme, please join our discussion. I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Printable Books for Early Readers

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Thu, 09 May 2013 17:10:00 +0000

In the earliest stages of reading development, children are trying to pull together a great number of skills-- learning to move left to right across a page, learning the difference between letters and words, working to automatically read sight words to increase fluency, decoding words using known letters and letter chunks, and using all of these skills to create meaning from the text. Orchestrating all of these concepts at once can be a difficult task. It can be helpful to use books with simple repeating lines of text for these very early stages of reading.

It is also important to motivate children to love reading in these early stages. Early reader books on themes that relate to classroom learning or the child's interest can be helpful. My oldest son, Logan, turned 5 last week. He is taking off as a reader! It is fun to watch him as he controls concepts about print. It's fun to watch his reading and writing vocabulary grow. In the past few weeks, I've created several early reader printable books to match his interests. He loves outerspace and aliens, he loves animals, and is interested in getting a pet. The books I created for him also featured sight words from the pre-primer dolch sight word list.

The books in this set of printable books for early readers include the following titles:

Community Helpers- Introduces jobs in the neighborhood while featuring the sight words here, is, the.
In Space- Takes readers on a journey to outerspace as they learn the sight words look, I, can, see.
The Silly Monkey- Reviews sight words (look, the, is) and introduces the concepts of up and down.
My Pets- Explores pets that children might like to have while introducing the sight words this, my.
Animals- Reviews sight words (the, is) and introduces the concepts of big and little with some of children's favorite animals.

Printable Books Sight Word Readers Set 2 is a priced item in my teachers pay teacher store.

*** Bonus Book: What's at the Beach?- This is a seek and find book that also teaches sight words with a beach theme. Children will read the words find, a, big, little, blue, yellow, three. After reading the sentence, the child will look for the hidden object. This book needs to be printed in color. "What's at the Beach?" is included in the printable books for early readers pack. I'm also offering just this bonus title FREE to all readers. Click for your free download "What's at the Beach?"***

You can purchase the Printable Books for Early Readers Pack: Pre-primer Dolch Sight Words Set 2 in my Teachers pay Teachers Store or Teachers Notebook store. I also have two other printable early packs you might enjoy.

Printable Books for Early Readers: Nursery Rhymes

Printable Books for Early Readers: Pre-primer Dolch Sight Words Set 1

The goal of this stage of reading is to gain a few sight words and control the basic concepts about print. Students should move quickly through this stage of reading, as there are not a lot of opportunities for decoding or working with words in this stage. While repetitive texts are great for helping students during this stage, simple texts should be balanced with rich read aloud books.

Book Activities and Mom's Library

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:02:00 +0000

Picture books can be so enjoyable for kids when they are extended with book activities. Book activities can include crafts, snacks, and games that help the child more deeply comprehend the book. I often share book activities here at ready-set-read through my monthly Virtual Book Club for kids that I co-host with over 20 other bloggers. I was also excited to see so many bloggers link up their book activities to Mom's Library last week. This week I am featuring 6 of my favorite book activities from last week's Mom's Library.

Are You My Mother? from Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails shared a cute bird craft to accompany the book.

The Donut Chef from Boy Mama Teacher Mama shared writing and math activities for this book by author Bob Staake.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar from Powerful Mothering. Colored beads, colored pasta, and pipe cleaners are used to create a caterpillar that can be used for story retelling.

Miss Rumphius from School Time Snippets used this book in several school subjects, including social studies, language arts, math, art, and science.

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes from Stacking Books. A great review of a wonderful book. Extend the book by simply making paper cranes as you see in the pictures on the post.

Virtual Flat Stanley/ Flat Sophia from Crafty Mom Share is a book activity you can participate in. Check out the post for more information.

Virtual Book Club for Kids Leo Lionni from ready-set-read.com. Each month I participate in the Virtual Book Club for Kids. This month our featured author is Leo Lionni. You can participate too. Choose a book by Leo Lionni and read it to your class or children. Create a book activity to go with the book (craft, activity, cooking project, etc). Come back and link it up on May 20th. The Virtual Book Club for Kids linky will be open for 3 weeks.
(Ps. Thanks to Enchanted Homeschooling Mom for sharing the graphic for this month's book club).

Mom's Library Giveaways

Mom's library has gotten even better! Each week when you come to link up your posts or read great content from other bloggers, you can enter a giveaway at the same time! This is the first week of giveaways and there are TWENTY prizes!

Today’s giveaway is a perfect Mother’s day gift. It is a computer program letting you quickly create photo collages. It is called CollageIt. It has different versions for PC and Mac. Don't forget, we have 20 copies to give away.

To enter the giveaway, there is only one required action – visit the product review post and leave a comment there telling us which version you would like to have, PC or Mac. Once you leave a comment, you will unlock many more options for more entries. The more entries you have, the more chance to win.

All entries entered before May 12 are eligible to win. The winners will be picked and announce on May 13 oniGameMom’s giveaway page. Good luck!

20 CollageIt Program Giveaway

Mom's Library

If this is your first time linking up to Mom's library check out the Mom's library guidelines on True Aim Education. You can also grab the Mom's library button or an "I was featured" button on the guidelines page.

1. Chose an activity for kids, devotional, craft for kids, recipe, etc. to link up.
2. Visit at least two other links and support your other bloggers.
3. Please follow Ready-Set-Read and True Aim.

*By linking up, you are granting me permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website.

Teacher Appreciation Week Sale

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Mon, 06 May 2013 17:35:00 +0000

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. Teacher appreciation week is May 6- May 10. Teacher appreciation week is a fun time to honor the best, hardest working, kindest people on the planet... teachers, of course. Since many teachers spend their own money buying products for their classroom, giving teachers a discount on educational products seems like a great gift for teacher appreciation week. Teachers Pay Teachers is hosting a site-wide sale on May 7-8.

Save 10% site wide on Teachers Pay Teachers when you use the code TAD13. Plus, my entire store will be 20% off! No code needed! I hope you enjoy the sale and use the opportunity to stock up on some early literacy resources like:

Printable Books for Early Readers: Nursery Rhyme

Printable Early Reader Books

Printable ABC Books

Beach Thematic Unit for Preschool

And don't forget, I have several FREE resources in my store, so make sure you snag those while you are shopping.

Zoo Thematic Unit for Preschool

Thank you teachers, for all of the time, energy, love, and talent that you pour into your classrooms every day! I know that your hours are long, and the thanks is small. So a BIG thank you to all of you!!

Mom's Library

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Wed, 01 May 2013 01:49:00 +0000

Welcome back to another week of Mom's Library! Each week I co-host this linky that features activities for kids, parenting tips, crafts, recipes, devotionals, and more.
Since it is screen-free week, I am trying to step away from the screen a little bit. My oldest also has birthday this week-- 5 years old-- what?? Since I'm stepping away from the screen and spending some quality time with my boys, I don't have a feature this week. You can check out last week's feature, Preschool Themes.

My co-host, True Aim: Parenting and Education, is featuring Science activities that were linked up last week and some are really cool! You can always find featured posts on the Mom's Library Pinterest Board , too!
Also, I wanted to mention that weekly GIVEWAYS are coming to Mom's Library. Visit True Aim to see the schedule for giveaways or find out how to sponsor a giveaway.
Here's how to link up to Mom's Library this week, and I'll be back next week with more features.

1. Chose an activity for kids, devotional, craft for kids, recipe, etc. to link up.
2. Visit at least two other links and support your other bloggers.
3. Please follow Ready-Set-Read and True Aim.

DIY Garden Markers

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:07:00 +0000

Gardening with kids can help kids develop patience and kindness. But, kids can also really screw up a garden! I know my boys can drive me crazy picking flowers instead of weeds or stomping on all of the young plants. However, teaching kids a little about gardening while reading books about gardens, can make gardening into a fun family activity and help kids show kindness to the Earth.

After reading Lois Ehlert's "Planting a Rainbow" and "Growing Vegetable Soup", we were inspired to create our own way of labeling our garden plants. We used wooden spoons from the craft store and painted each one to look like a vegetable. Clicking on the images will take you to the book on Amazon. These are affiliate links.

For the corn, we painted yellow and green and used qtips to make the kernels. For the tomato, we added a vine by gluing yarn to the top. For the strawberry, we painted red and then dotted with black seeds. We also made a cucumber by painting the spoon green. It needed a little more life to it so we used a picture from the internet and used Mod Podge to glue the picture to the spoon. Once the spoons were finished, we covered with a coat of outdoor Mod Podge to seal the paint. This will help your garden markers hold up in the outdoors even better.

Today I am participating in a Google + hangout on Crafty Kindness for the Earth. I'll be sharing my DIY garden markers that we made this week while reading garden books. Each week, +Megan Sheakoski from Coffee Cups and Crayons hosts a Acts of Kindness for Kids hangout. Since Earth Day was this week, this week's hangout is on the topic of helping kids show kindness to the Earth. We're focusing on crafts for kids that show kindness.
You can join us live on April 25 at 11 am EST. Watch on G+ or here at ready-set-read.com. I'll be joined by +Carolyn Elbert , +Erica MomandKiddo , +Holly Homer , and hosted by Megan. Come find out how to make these garden markers as well as other crafts for kids. If you can't join live the video will be available after the hangout to watch.

Preschool Themes Round Up and Mom's Library

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:16:00 +0000

Using themes in preschool can be useful in helping children connect with their learning and transfer knowledge. Plus, using themes can be a lot of fun! I was so excited to check out the Mom's library linky party last week and see so many activities for kids that worked well with the preschool themes we have been exploring.
I've been collecting book reviews on ready-set-read.com and organizing those book reviews into preschool themes. You can view my preschool themes page, which is still a bit of a work in progress.

Here are some preschool themes we love and a few activities from Mom's Library to jump start your theme unit with your preschool students.

Colors and Shapes Theme

1. Learning Colors with Colorful Little Books from ready-set-read.com
2. Shapes and Colors Preschool Craft by Coffee with Us 3
3. Color Squirt from ready-set-read.com
4. Free Printable Shape Activity for Preschoolers from ready-set-read.com

Shapes and Colors Books Recommended for Preschool

Space Theme

1. Rocketship Lunch by Creative Kid Snacks
2. Space Play and Craft Ideas from My Little Bookcase

Creepy Crawlies- Bugs and Butterflies Themes

1. Insects Printable Pack from Gift of Curiosity
2. Bee activities for kids from Raptor Mama
3. Bee and Butterfly Trays from PiwiPrincess
4. Butterfly Suncatchers from two-daloo.com
5. Butterfly Snackpack from Meaningful Mama
6. Ladybug Pretzels from Meaningful Mama
7. Bumble Bee Treats from Meaningful Mama

Garden Theme

1. Starting Seeds with Kids from Fantastic Fun and Learning
2. Planting a Pretend Garden from Gummy Lump Toys
3. Recycled Seed Planters from Life with Moore Babies
4. Make Spring Flowers with Egg Cartons from Wildflower Ramblings

Recommended Books for Garden Theme

Weather Theme

1. Spelling with Raindrops from Sorting Sprinkles
2. Preschool Wind Theme from ready-set-read.com
3. Weather Playdough activity from Sorting Sprinkles

If you are looking for additional themes check out this post by Sorting Sprinkles with a list of possible preschool themes to explore.
Do you use themes to teach your preschoolers? Join this discussion on facebook and share your favorite themes. I'm using the ideas shared in this thread to create book lists on all of your favorite topics. Each Monday, from May-July, I'll be sharing booklists for many of these themes.

Mom's Library

Link up your helpful posts for moms. You can share activities for kids, crafts for kids, book reviews, recipes, devotionals, and more. Each week the hosts will feature many of your ideas. I co-host this linky with True Aim and several other bloggers, so there are lots of opportunities for your great ideas to be featured!

Here's How to Link Up:

1. Chose an activity for kids, devotional, craft for kids, recipe, etc. to link up.
2. Visit at least two other links and support your other bloggers.
3. Please follow Ready-Set-Read and True Aim.

Birds by Kevin Henkes

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:44:00 +0000

Springtime brings new birds to our backyard. The boys love watching the birds -- and the pesky squirrels-- play on a tree outside the kitchen. We've been studying birds and one of our favorite books is "Birds" by Kevin Henkes. We've been observing and recording birds, sorting bird feathers, and even painting with bird feathers.

In this story, a girl wakes up to hear birds singing. As she goes through her day, she observes and comments on features of birds. She wonders aloud about birds. She tries to mimic the flight of birds. In the end, she discovers the one thing she can do that birds can also do.
The illustrations and the simple text of Kevin Henke's "Birds" makes it a wonderful choice for preschool children. There are many preschool concepts covered in the book- colors, numbers, ordering objects by size. Also, in the book there are many "I wonder" questions that promote problem solving and creative thinking like, "If I were a bird, I'd ask where all the other birds go when it's stormy and they can't get home to their nests".

Book Activity for Birds by Kevin Henkes

Observe and record colors

In the story, there are birds of all colors. We have many birds visit our bird feeder each day and I thought it would be fun for the boys to try and graph the colors of birds they observed. I made a simple chart for them and posted it near the windows that overlook the bird feeder.

Sort feathers and make patterns

The book covers birds of different colors and birds of every size. I bought a bag of colored feathers from Walmart. We sorted the feathers by color. I planned to order feathers from largest to smallest, but all of the feathers in the bag were roughly the same size. We also worked on building and extending patterns with feathers.

Paint with Feathers

In the story, the author remarks, “If birds made marks with their tail feathers when they flew, think what the sky would look like,”
We wanted to try and experience what the sky might look like if it were painted with feathers. We used some feathers to paint a colorful sky picture.

Each day on facebook, I share a picture book of the day that is recommended by myself or a handful of other kidlit bloggers. Birds by Kevin Henkes is my picture book recommendation of the day. Like my facebook page to get daily book recommendations!

Earth Day Activities for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 18:22:00 +0000

Welcome back to Mom's Library! Last week there were so many great ideas to help kids get outdoors. Getting kids outdoors is a sure way to help kids love the Earth. With Earth day coming up, I thought it would be fun to highlight some activities that get kids outdoors. These are our "Earth Day Activities"-- even though not all of them are focused specifically on Earth Day, I think being outdoors will help my boys respect the Earth and take care of it more.

Activities to help kids love the Earth

Early Literacy Outdoor Activities- Ready-Set-Read.com

Help kids love the Earth by hiking with kids. Check out these tips for hiking with kids from JDaniel4smom before heading out on your hike.

Help kids love the Earth's creatures by helping backyard birds build their nests. Find out how at What Do We Do All Day. Don't miss her book list of bird books!

Help Kids love the Earth by gardening. This will also help kids discover the source of food, which is important for helping kids to make good choices about nutrition.

Check out Raise a Boy's Planting a Garden with Kids Tips

And Calm Healthy Sexy's Healthy Eating Strategy- Grow Some Vegetables

Earth Day Books

If you can't get outdoors to celebrate Earth, these Earth Day books might be enjoyable.

Earth Day Recycling Project

If you are looking for crafts for Earth day, try a simple repurposing craft such as this cardboard box activity.

Each week I co-host The Mom's Library with +Janine LaTulippe from True Aim. Tonight you can check out Janine and Jodi from Meaningful Mama as they talk about manners for children in a live G+ hangout. Find out how to join them in their Manners for Children Hangout and how to win a copy of "The Berenstain Bears Forget their Manners".

Everyone is welcome to link up to Mom's Library this week. Any theme is welcome-- not just Earth Day.

Here's how to participate:

1. Chose an activity for kids, devotional, craft for kids, recipe, etc. to link up.
2. Visit at least two other links and support your other bloggers.
3. Please follow Ready-Set-Read and True Aim.

David Shannon Book Activities

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 11:15:00 +0000

David Shannon is the children's author for the Virtual Book Club this month. Each month the Virtual Book Club for Kids does an author study.

We chose to read David Shannon's book, Too Many Toys. In this book, a young boy named Spencer has a common problem of having too many toys. Family, friends, teachers, doctors, and fast food chains keep feeding his toy collection. When his mom starts tripping over toys, she decides to conquer the mound of toys. Spencer turns into lawyer kid and begins negotiating to keep toys. After an exhausting battle, Spencer's mom finally gains some ground and ends up with a box full of toys to give away. As the page turns, though, the toys are shown strewn all over the floor again, as Spencer has found the best toy of all-- a cardboard box!

Book Activity

Before we read David Shannon's book "Too Many Toys", I told the boys they would get to discover the world's best toy. I explained that the boy in the story, Spencer, had many toys. We looked through the pictures, and decided he did, indeed, have too many toys. I showed the boys the page where the parents are tripping over toys. We looked at the page that shows the mother's angry expression. The boys agreed that the mom probably wanted Spencer to get rid of some of his toys. Then I told the boys that Spencer was going to get to keep the best toy of all. The boys decided to listen closely to the story to discover the best toy ever.

Cardboard Rocket

After reading Shannon's book, I showed the boys two cardboard boxes. We discussed what they boys could create. They had lots of ideas but Logan finally decided to create a spaceship like the boy in the book and Tyson decided to create a flying Ninja Turtle. umm, ok.

The boys loved making their rocket ships. It was a beautiful day and they took their spaceships on the deck to paint them and play in them. They shot aliens and then cooled off with a snack and milk!

Toy Parade

In David Shannon's Book, Too Many Toys, the author shows the excess of toys when the main character, Spencer, has a toy parade that stretches across his house. We had a bag of small toys that we were going to get donate. We used yarn to estimate and measure our toy parade. My idea was then to tell them they could choose 4 small toys to keep and donate the rest. (I figured I was WAY smarter than Spencer's mom who negotiated each toy). Unfortunately, my boys turned on me and started working together to grab armfuls of toys to save. It seems, Too Many Toys, a true to life story!

Virtual Book Club for Kids Link Up

Link up your David Shannon book activities.

Here's how:

Link up only posts inspired by David Shannon that share children's book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
Grab the button and share it on your post if you'd like.

Early Literacy Outdoor activities

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:45:00 +0000

Spring has sprung in these parts and my boys are ready for outdoor activities. No longer do they want to stay indoors and play with playdough, do puzzles, and color. They've packed all of the paper and easels away, and they are itching to get outdoors and play! I am also ready for my two bundles of energy to be outdoors playing. However, I'd also like to continue to add a little literacy learning to their play. I've been anticipating Spring and Summer so much, that I started collecting outdoor activities from other kid bloggers a while back. Today I'd love to share some outdoor activities that promote early literacy.

Here's a round up of outdoor activities that will promote early literacy skills.

Outdoor Letter Name Scavenger Hunt from ready-set-read

Outdoor Letter Sound Hunt from Reading Confetti

Tracing Practice with Disappearing Letters from Reading Confetti

Letter Sounds and Sight Word Spray from Train Up a Child

Alphabet and Sight Word Scramble from Playdough to Plato

Outdoor Literacy Bag by Connecting Family and Seoul (guest post on Toddler Approved)

Literacy Outside by NutureStore

Outdoor fun with Duck on a Bike by David Shannon from Growing Book by Book

Have you taken your literacy learning activities into the great outdoors? I'd love to hear about your ideas for learning outdoors!

I'm sharing this to the Outdoor Play Party. Come link up your outdoor ideas!

Kids Garden Activities and Mom's Library

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 02:33:00 +0000

It's Spring here and the weather is finally warming up enough to enjoy some kids garden activities. I love to garden with my kids and I was so happy to see many great ideas for kids garden activities linked to the Mom's Library last week. Each week, I co-host Mom's Library along with True Aim. This week I am featuring some of my favorite garden posts from last week.

Check out the featured posts and then scroll down to link up your posts to Mom's Library. Mom's library is open to all types of posts the other mom's would enjoy reading. You can find activities for kids, crafts, recipes, devotionals, and more.

Kids Garden Activities

Garden Books for Kids

Gardening with Kids from Coffee with Us 3

Plant Science Lap Book from Learning and Growing the Piwi Way

Spring Nature Table from Buggy and Buddy

Recycled Flowers from An Idea on Tuesday

Spring Garden Decorations from Talented Kindergarten Flyers

(note: This post is written in Romanian but google chrome offered to translate it for me-- if you can't translate, the pictures are still wonderful).

For more Kids Garden Activities and garden crafts, check out my Gardening with Kids Pinterest Board!

Everyone is welcome to link up to Mom's Library this week. Any theme is welcome-- not just gardening, although, I'd love to add some of your gardening ideas to my Pinterest board.

Here's how to participate:

1. Chose an activity for kids, devotional, craft for kids, recipe, etc. to link up.
2. Visit at least two other links and support your other bloggers.
3. Please follow Ready-Set-Read and True Aim.

*By linking up, you are granting me permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website.

Preschool Theme - Wind

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:56:00 +0000

Wind is a fun preschool theme to explore. There is a certain mystery to wind, even for adults. We can't see it, but we can see the results of the wind. Wind can be fun for science time, but wind can also be extended into a preschool theme. There are great books about wind, fun ways to write about wind, and wind can even provide imaginative play.

One book that demonstrates wind well to preschoolers is "The Wind Blew" by Pat Hutchins. In this story, the wind whisks up hats, balloons, kites, wigs, newspapers, scarves and more. As each item flies into the air, the owner of the item joins in chasing the objects. Finally the wind mixes up the items, and deposits them back. The final picture shows all of the items with the wrong owner. My boys thought little girls wearing top hats or wigs made for a hilarious ending.

"The Wind Blew" can be used for children to predict or retell. Before reading the story, we talked about some of the things that could be picked up by the wind. We talked about experiences of having our things blown away by the wind. We predicted which things the wind might blow. After reading the story, we retold some of the items that the wind moved.

Logan made this windsock at preschool. Windsocks provide great conversation starters like, "Is it windy today? Which direction is the wind blowing?" To make a windsock, decorate the top of a paper bowl. Logan's class used small squares of tissue paper which make for a pretty spring look! Then tape streamers around the bowl. Poke a hole through the top, and insert a pipe cleaner loop. Secure the loop under the bowl. The pipe cleaner will provide a hanger for the wind streamer. Hang outdoors and watch the wind blow.

Science observation in early childhood often provides a wonderful opportunity for preschool early writing. After reading the story, we experimented with objects our light wind (our breath) could blow and things our wind could not blow. First, we made predictions as to which objects the wind could blow or could not blow. Then we tested our predictions. We placed the objects on the correct place on the chart and then picked one to write about. (I got this idea from a Science Kit I purchased from Time for Tots on Etsy a couple years ago0> In preschool, writing may be drawing a picture. In drawing a picture, the child is building an understanding that writing is a message sending activity. I helped the boys write a simple sentence. The wind can blow __________. This could make a wonderful class book as well.

Note: Logan and I did a writing activity called, "Share the Pen". He wrote the part that he could write and I wrote the rest. We used an Elkonin box to figure out the word "can" on our practice page. As you can see, he thought he was supposed to draw the sound box into the writing!

We had so much fun pretending to be the wind, the boys wanted to continue playing. I gave the boys straws and cotton balls. We practiced blowing with strong "wind" (blowing hard through the straw) and light "wind" (blowing lightly through the straw). After we blew the cotton ball from a starting line, we measured the distance with string. The hard wind always blew the cotton ball the farthest. This was a good way to involve gross motor, pretend play, and math into our preschool theme on wind.

Would you like more preschool themes? I'm currently working on compiling all of my preschool themes onto one page. It's still under construction, but check out my newly added back to school, shapes, and colors themes!

Ultimate Blog Party 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:19:00 +0000

Welcome to the Ultimate Blog Party 2013! Each year 5 Minutes for Moms hosts this party for bloggers to share more about themselves and meet other awesome bloggers. If you are a blogger, go check out the Ultimate Blog Party. If you like to read blogs, maybe this is a good chance for you to find blogs you'd love and get to know me a little better. The blogs that are linked up to Ultimate Blog Party are categorized, so it's a great way to find blogs to fill up your reader!

About Ready-Set-Read

Ready-Set-Read.com is an early literacy blog focusing on book reviews, book activities, and tips and tricks for growing your babies into readers. I use my experience as a classroom teacher and reading specialist, to share ways that I work on literacy with my two preschool boys.

Simple Tips for Literacy

Oral Language Game	Learn Letters

Book Club for Kids

Kevin Henkes Author Study	April's Book Club

Book Reviews by Holiday and Preschool Theme

Books by Holiday	Preschool Theme: Shapes

There are printable activities-- many are free-- available in my store.

About me

My name is Jackie. I am the mom of two preschool boys, Tyson and Logan-- ages 3 and 4. I spent 8 years teaching grades 1,4,5. For two years I worked as a reading specialist teaching reading recovery teacher and early literacy groups. When I had my first baby, I decided to take a break from the classroom and focus my teaching at home. I still wanted to connect with other educators and learn as much as I could so I would be ready to return to the classroom in the future. I began ready-set-read.com to share my ideas and connect with others. In addition to writing at ready-set-read.com, I contribute to Connect-a-Blog (a collaborative teacher blog K-12 with over 50 teachers sharing amazing resources) and I am on the advisory board for We Teach (a free forum for educators). I also co-lead the We're Bloggers group at We Teach which is a great place for teacher bloggers to connect!

Let's connect online

G+
Reading with Children G+ Community
facebook
pinterest
twitter

I hope you find something you enjoy and can use with your students or children. I'll be hopping over to your blogs as well!

Books for Preschoolers Preparing for Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:35:00 +0000

A few weeks ago, I loaded my oldest son in the mini-van and drove over to our local elementary school to register my child for the 2013 school year. Yes, I said, "elementary school." It seems like yesterday that I was holding him in my arms, rocking him in his nursery, and reading him his first bedtime story. And now, he is headed to Kindergarten.
When I took Logan to register for Kindergarten, they gave me a stack of paperwork half a mile high. They whisked Logan off for a basic screening. I think I had the harder test, in truth. I had to know social security numbers, cell phone numbers, and my husband's work address-- am I the only one who doesn't have enough "memory" in my brain for all of that? Logan needed to know basic colors, shapes, numbers, etc. He had a great preK program and we participated in our Parents as Teachers program, so I felt like he was ready to show what he knew. In fact, he might have even known my husband's cell number before I did... I should have asked!

Both of my boys are growing so fast! Even though countless books have been read, adventures have been taken, imaginations have been stretched, I still worry if my boys are "prepared".
There is a lot of preparing that occurs before sending a child to school. There are social and emotional preparations. There are practical preparations like tying shoes and buttoning pants. Not only do children need social and emotional preparations for kindergarten, they need cognitive preparations too. Children need to be able to problem solve. Those skills are acquired as they play in preschool. There is also a set of skills-- I call it "item knowledge"-- that kids need to be prepared for preK or Kindergarten. This is a basic set of knowledge we try to send off with our kids. Books can be a great way to cover this item knowledge in a direct manner.

Books for Preschoolers Preparing for Kindergarten

A new set of photographic books from Tiger Tales- My First are great books to use with kids from baby through preschool age. These books would be helpful when preparing your child for preschool or reviewing basic concepts with your child before heading off to Kindergarten. Some of them can even be used with babies-- check out the best new books for babies post for more information.

My First Lift and Learn: First Colors This book features a single picture on each page along with a simple question, "What color is the strawberry?" for example. The child lifts the flap and can see the color word along with a picture collage of other items in that color. The simple repetative text may allow your preschooler to read the text independently. Lifting the flap and seeing the color word will build word recognition. I love that this book includes gray-- that was a color that was tested on the preKindergarten screening in our district and it's one a lot of kids miss!

My First Lift and Learn: First Numbers is a similar book. It includes a single photograph with repetative text, "How many kittens can you count?" for example. The child lifts the flap and sees a similar photograph of the same object along with the number in numeric and word form. The numeric form has directional arrows on each number to assist in correct number formation. I love the various arrangements of the objects as I've been working with my prekindergarten child to recognize that objects retain the same value even if they are arranged in a different order.

My First Book of Things to Learn would be a good book for a young child preparing to enter preschool. This book provides labeled photographs of first concepts. The book is almost like a game as one page labels a color and the next page labels the objects. The question at the top of the page asks, "Can you match the colors?" Children will learn color words and word recognition at the same time. This book covers colors, animal sounds, shapes, numbers, and more. This is a tabbed board book.

My First Book of Things to See helps child to sort objects into categories which is great for building problem solving skills. In this book, each page features a category of words. The words are labeled a clear photographs are given. Some of the categories include the beach, the farm, and preschool. Children need to learn how to categorize concepts before going to school.

My First Puzzle Set ABC Puzzle + Book is a fun way to review alphabetical order and learn beginning letter sounds in words. This kit features a 2 sided jumbo puzzle. One side contains labeled photographs of objects for each letter of the alphabet. The other side features upper case and lower case letters that are placed in alphabetical order. The puzzle will help build problem solving skills and develop hand eye coordination, both of those will be needed in preschool or Kindergarten!

Are you sending your child off to preschool or kindergarten in the fall? How are you trying to prepare your child?

Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of the books from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. The links on the books are Amazon affiliate links.

Mom's Library Link Up

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:23:00 +0000

It's time for Mom's Library again! I co-host this weekly link up along with True Aim. This is a fun link up where Mom's can share recipes, craft for kids, devotionals, activities for kids, etc. You can share your ideas and read other's ideas. Come back and find all of your favorite posts in the "library" right here at ready-set-read!

Here's how to participate:
1. Chose an activity for kids, devotional, craft for kids, recipe, etc. to link up.
2. Visit at least two other links and support your other bloggers.
3. Please follow Ready-Set-Read and True Aim.

*By linking up, you are granting me permission to use and/or re-post photographs from your blog or website.

David Shannon Featured Author of the April Book Club for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:35:00 +0000

The Virtual Book Club for Kids is back for April! This month's featured author is David Shannon. David Shannon is a children's author of picture books that are great for preschool and early reader. Many of his picture books that can be used with older elementary grades.
(Clicking on the pictures of the books in this post will take you to the book on Amazon. These are affiliate links).
David Shannon is a well known author. You may know his popular character "David" who is featured in the Caledcott honor book, "No David"

We explored another popular book about David last fall when my son was headed to school.

We read the book, "David goes to school" and we wrote our own "Yes, Logan" book to discuss all of the things he could do at school. Click on the picture to get the free printable activity based on David Goes to School.

According to Scholastic's biography of David Shannon, the character "David" is based on the author and he first wrote the book when he was a young boy -- those were the only words he knew how to write!
There are several other books by David Shannon that feature David as well. David is always getting into trouble. My boys like that!

Shannon not only wrote books based on his own childhood, he also wrote, "Good Boy, Fergus" based on his dog, Fergus. Preschoolers will love this book because it is based on a dog that is just a mischievous as most preschoolers.

Another mischievous character in David Shannon's books is Alice. You can read all about her in Alice the Fairy.

Another great book by David Shannon for preschool through early reader is Duck on a Bike. This book features a repetitive text and animal sounds-- perfect for preschoolers. Plus, it's silly.

Many of David Shannon's books can be enjoyed with older readers as well. They are great read alouds for upper elementary grades.
Jangles: A Big Fish Story is an excellent example of storytelling. I adore this book! My boys (preschool)liked the story but I really had to explain what was happening. Older kids would probably follow the story better. (My husband is an avid fisherman, so they already had an interest in the book!)

A Bad Case of the Stripes deals with issues of upper elementary grade students. This book features a girl who is so worried about what other people think of her so breaks out in a bad case of the stripes. The reading level of the book might work for younger children, but it seems that the themes of the book are much better understood by older elementary children.

The book I'll be featuring this month for the virtual book club for kids is Too Many Toys. Come back April 15th for my full review and a fun, easy, and cheap activity to accompany the book!

Are you participating in the Virtual Book Club for Kids this month? Which David Shannon book will you choose? One that I've reviewed or a different title?

It's easy to participate.
1. Choose a David Shannon book to share with your children or your class.
2. Create an activity based on the book to share.
3. Come back April 15th to share your idea, see what I have to share, and check out all of the great ideas that are linked up. The linky will be open for 3 weeks!

Here are some of the other bloggers who will be participating.

Toddler Approved - Rainy Day Mum - Adventures in Reading with Kids - 3 Dinosaurs - Royal Baloo - The Educators' Spin On It - Inspiration Laboratories - Pleasantest Thing - Edventures with Kids - Two Big Two Little - Playing With Words 365 - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Outlaw Mom - Mommy and Me Book Club - Crafty Moms Share - No Twiddle Twaddle - The Good Long Road - Ready. Set. Read 2 Me - Reading Confetti - Mama Smiles - Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Creekside Learning - Creative Family Fun - The Usual Mayhem - Teach Preschool - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent - Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child - Smile Play Learn - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Coffee Cups and Crayons - Having Fun at Chelle's House- Love, Play, Learn - Juggling With Kids - Motherhood on a Dime - Growing Book By Book- This Reading Mama - Fantastic Fun and Learning

Books for Babies Spring 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 12:56:00 +0000

There are many benefits to reading with babies. It's important to look for books for babies that build on these early reading skills. When we read with babies and toddlers, they are able to:
- hear language patterns and build vocabulary
-learn concepts
-build problem solving
-bond with parents or caregivers
-learn concepts of print (ie. how books open/ close, turning pages, moving left to right)
- examine books in a tactile manner

One of my favorite publishers for young children (birth to 7), recently sent us a box of new board books for Spring 2013. Tiger Tales has many new board books for babies this Spring. These books were provided to me free in exchange for an honest review. I was thrilled to realize that the books built the early literacy skills that babies and toddlers need.

It's Spring Time by Elizabeth Bennett. A group of animals explore the Spring season.
This book will allow babies to hear wonderful rhyming patterns and also hear the vocabulary that accompanies the Spring season.

Splish, Splash, Splosh by David Melling. Darling ducks dressed in swimwear, dive into pools as the book counts up from one to ten! This book will expose babies and toddlers to concepts of numbers and number sense.

Peek-a-boo by Ben Mantle. Animals play peek-a-boo with the reader. This book will help babies and toddlers build problem solving skills. Each page shows an animal partially covered by a tree or a bush, the child turns the page to reveal the entire animal. This book also has magnetic arms that cover the sweet bunny on the cover-- which makes this book fun for playtime as well.

That's My Mommy That's My Daddy by Ann Hodgman
Both of these books show animal babies and parents and focus on all the great things moms and dads can do! Books like "That's My Mommy" and "That's My Daddy" help children to bond with parents as they snuggle closely and hear the reassuring words of the story.

Hug by Ben Mantle
If a child needs to bond with a different caregiver other than a mommy or daddy, Hug would be a great choice. From the very first page it affirms, "there's a hug for everyone." It continues to showcase different types of hugs, big and bouncy or small and snug. Of course, this book would be great to read with mom and dad but could be read with anyone who loves your baby! This book also features magnetic closure arms around the cover.

My First Touch and Feel Pets My First Touch and Feel Farm
Babies need to explore books in a tactile manner. All of the books in this post are board books. This allows babies to mouth the books without destroying them. It also allows for chunky pages that little hands can turn. My First Touch and Feel Pets and Farm, adds a tactile element. Each page shows a clear photograph of an animal. A part of each animal's body has a unique texture for the baby to feel. Parents can grow a baby's vocabulary by using words like soft, rough, bumpy, smooth, etc. while the child feels the textures.

Disclosure: The links in the post are Amazon affiliate links.

April Fool, Phyllis

noreply@blogger.com (Jackie Higgins) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:30:00 +0000

Much of the United States is buried under snow this first week of SPRING. I feel like we got punked by the groundhog that predicted an early spring this year.Snow isn't unheard of in these parts in March, but it is rare. Snow is a strange sight when daffodils have already popped up and birds have already started building nests in bird houses, only to be covered in snow. If you are experiencing the same weird weather, then you might want to check out April Fool, Phyllis.
In April Fool, Phyllis by Susanna Leonard Hill, the weather groundhog Punxsutawney Phyllis predicts a blizzard for April 1st. Phyllis's family decides it is an April fools joke. No matter how much Phyllis tries to convince them to cancel a treasure hunt planned for the day, the family won't listen. Instead, they reply with their own pranks. Pete spreads confetti to trick the other groundhogs that it is snowing, while Phil Jr. ices his paws to prank the family into thinking the temperature is dropping. Phyllis's predicition is no joke, though. When the family is out on the treasure hunt, a blizzard does arrive. Phyllis needs a plan to save her family from the weather and help them find the treasure.
This book has a nice flow to the story and cute illustrations. I like how the illustrator, Jeffery Ebbeler, placed many weather instruments into the pictures. You'll be able to locate weather maps, weather vanes, windsocks, thermometers, barometers, and more. If you study weather in early April, this book is a great addition to any weather unit.
In the book, the family has to read written riddles to find a treasure on April Fools day. After reading the book, we went on a reading treasure hunt. I got this idea when I was shopping at my local teacher store. The employees there are super helpful. When I was purchasing some early reader books, the checker started explaining an activity she did with her son when he was first starting to read.

To have your own Reading Treasure Hunt. Write "clues" on slips of paper. These will be activities for your child to complete. You might write, "Go get a red hat." These are all words I know my son can read. The focus here is making meaning out of what the child reads.
Give the child the direction, have him complete it, and the return for more directions. I know it sounds super simple, but kids love it. You'll love seeing all that your young reader can read independently.
By the way, we haven't given up on spring entirely. We built "snow castles" in the snow with buckets and spray bottles filled with colored water. As the boys built, I may have imagined I was relaxing on a beach...

Looking for other holiday themed books? Check out my books by holiday page.

Today's book is featured as the Picture book of the Day on my facebook page. Like my facebook page for daily picture book recommendations provided by a group of children's literature bloggers!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are Amazon affiliate links.

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April Fool, Phyllis