Time spent snuggling while reading aloud is a gift that grows within the child.

Time spent snuggling while reading aloud                                                                         is a gift that grows within the child. 

Consider less time holiday shopping                                                                                 and more time holiday nurturing.            

This linking of family love with love of learning                                            perpetuates for generations.

http://magellanmontessori.com/blog/85/little-more-art-reading-aloud

I wholeheartedly agree with this post from Magellan Montessori.  A young child who listens to fluent, heartfelt reading aloud imitates it.  That child is gaining an advantage that will serve a lifetime.  We all need others to listen to our ideas, feelings, dreams.  Yet if we deliver them without emotion or intention, they often fall on deaf ears.  Each of us who cares about children must make a personal effort to expose them to dramatic and persuasive reading, then encourage them to 'ham it up' themselves. They will have fun and build essential life skills.

ALL STAR! by Jane Yolen... great book about Honus Wagner

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6656790-all-star" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="All Star!: Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1275817159m/6656790.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6656790-all-star">All Star!: Honus Wagner and the Most Famous Baseball Card Ever</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5989.Jane_Yolen">Jane Yolen</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/301254783">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
In luminous artwork that plays so beautifully with shadows, illustrator Jim Burke manipulates perspective in interesting ways, such as one page that provoked my husband to look over and joke..."He's so big, what team was he on?  The Giants!"  Truly Wagner was a giant, and one of my favorite writers, Jane Yolen, gently reveals so many reasons for his status.
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<br/>If you love picture books, read it.
<br/>If you love picture book art, enjoy it.
<br/>If you love American history... sports... baseball... inspiring stories... Get it!
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/5888239-june-pecchia">View all my reviews</a>

I will never outgrow picture books! Use the library to enjoy the gestalt.

Following is a post I made a year ago to a Shelfari group "Children's Book Repository" about a year ago.  I no longer use Shelfari; my friend/neighbor/pro-librarian has switched to Goodreads.com and so have I.  Try a site like Goodreads to keep track of your personal literary development!

Am I member #2? Where are all the chidlren's book lovers? I bet it's mostly adults who buy them and hoard them.

I will never outgrow picture books. As a former elementary school teacher of students with reading levels from K-12, and many second language learners, I have a good number of picture books on my shelf at home. I left full-time public school teaching when being treated for breast cancer in 2005. Tried to return a couple of times after the most drastic treatments were done, but just could not fit back into the groove. One of the things I had to leave behind was the majority of my classroom library of over a thousand books. I kept only those I was certain I'd paid for myself.

Now I really use the public library. The reason I recently posted two books by Cynthia Rylant (I could easily post every book she's written) is because when a concept hits me, I check out a wide swath of books that I can see at once. Cynthia Rylant was my most recent mass check-out. This interest was sparked when I recalled one of my all-time favorites: The Snail's Spell, written by Joanne Ryder and illustrated by Lynn Cherry. I thought of this book because of the way it asks the reader to become the snail. I am thinking of trying to write some chidlren's books of my own in a related vein. ANYWAY... illustrator Lynn Cherry has done several books for Cynthia Rylant... and off went my ADD brain. Glad I got the books all together at once... love the gestalt.

Easter Sunday... a book for children

By chance, I checked out a children's Easter book from the library recently. This morning, Easter morning, The Easter Cave, by Carol Wedeven, was stacked on the kitchen table with a  bunch of books I found on the theme of "The House That Jack Built."  That theme came to me about a month ago as a possible construct for a poem I'm creating in my mind.  I thought of Jack's theme as ‘one thing piled atop another’, as well as a ‘chicken or egg?’ question poser.  Via quick research, particularly looking for the English view – since it dates back to sixteenth century England – I found this, to my surprise: The phrase 'This is the house that Jack built' is often used as a derisory term in describing a badly constructed building! http://www.rhymes.org.uk/this_is_the_house_that_jack_built.htm

That interpretation has been rattling around in my head ever since, and lead me to check out the aforementioned bunch of books on the theme. 

So, I happened upon The Easter Cave on the kitchen table this morning.   The title surprised me… why, I tried to remember, would I check out a children’s book about Easter?  One whose author I don’t recognize?  One that has quite sentimental and prosaic art on the cover?  What possessed me?   Well, since it was Easter morning, I decided to give it a look. 

It opens with a Biblical citation about Joseph of Arimathea giving his tomb to Jesus … Matthew 27: 57-60. 

But over the next two pages, I saw the pattern of “The House That Jack Built” emerge.  Tacky, I thought, especially if this phrase evokes “a badly constructed building”.   And to take such a sacred moment and turn it all singsong?  Hmmm.

But as I read on, it grew on me.  Carol Wedeven has chosen her words and rhymes thoughtfully. And although I’m not very fond of the art, I do like the way each text box has an oval inset at the top that frames a detail image from the larger art on the opposite page.  O.K. It’s not a landmark book, to be sure, but I’d say if I had children I’d include this in the Easter books I’d share with them.  The repetition and rhyme really make the story stick in the brain.  I wouldn’t own a copy probably, but I’d get it from the library once a year, to help them learn this essential story from Christian culture.

The last page is another Biblical citation, Luke 24:6:

“He is not here; He has risen!”

This finally helped me reconcile the association with a badly constructed building… certainly that tomb was not built well enough entomb Jesus!

News | SDSU | Baby Talk

News | SDSU | Baby Talk

Our local university is performing research on which to base future education programs.

...and I've adopted Flora Vista Elementary School, too...

Sadly for me, I have no children of my own.  Instead,  I enjoy children as a teacher/mentor/coach.  At Flora Vista Elementary in particular, I've volunteered since 2007, after treatments for breast cancer caused me to take a leave of absence from teaching in elementary schools in University City in San Diego Unified School District.  Currently at Flora Vista, I am a Playground Partner and co-leader of Kids Helping Kids lunchtime club.  

Volunteering at Flora Vista prepared me to open my business, Teaching UP: Unlimited Potential.  This April will be the fourth year I'm coaching children to compete at the San Diego County Fair Oratorical Competition.  One remarkable Flora Vista boy I've coached, Tristan Siljander, has taken the podium at the fair in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  Several other of my Flora Vista students have competed and won awards.   I can't wait to watch them move me to tears again this year on Sunday, June 10, 2012 at the San Diego County Fair.

From my home on Hill Top Lane I teach all kinds of language arts, always in my heart hoping to point the way to positive leadership for our children.

The Little Tree That Could

Here's the story of our avocado tree that will be officially adopted by our neighborhood elementary school this Arbor Day...
I especially like the fact that I grew it from the seed of an avocado I ate 2-3 years ago.  It was an exceptionally delicious avocado, so I decided to see what would happen if I planted it.  Well... it grew!  And then I realized it would probably be way too big for our backyard, and undoubtedly happier in another place.  Then I thought, Where could any living thing be happier than surrounded by children's voices and loving hands?

So, I'm thrilled that the 'little seed that could' will be part of the celebrations at Flora Vista Elementary's Arbor Day program.

Interactive Education is here now... or should be.

http://www.apple.com/education/#video-textbooks

Highest quality storytelling in this video helps us see the future of "textbook learning" for all of us. Sorry that it's a bit of a promo for Apple, but I think it's worth the time to really get the broader message about interactive education in the future. Take a look and let me know what you think.

Anya video

My Animoto Video

Our "faux" niece, Anya, is the sweet pea in this video who will bring tears to your eyes. Enjoy.