My oldest child is on the upside of very very smart. We try not to talk about his intelligence in front him especially when he seems to be following in his father’s footsteps and the every day common things are a bit tougher for him to master. You know, garbage day is EVERY Monday…..no the mail has never run on Sunday’s or Christmas Day…argh…..
Anyway, prior to starting school it was fairly obvious that he had some gifts. The second born refused to even acknowledge that we were trying to teach him anything. He would remain steadfast that he couldn’t count past 4 when in reality, we hear playing hide and seek and counting to 20….sometimes in Spanish. Yea, I know, odd, but, he is going to the be the one like me, he can learn, he can study and learn more and it won’t come naturally but generally speaking it’s not difficult either. And, like me, he too seems to have a keen sense of direction along with other common everyday activities.
However, he cracks me up with his great skills sometimes. For instance, because Walker is constantly explaining rhyming words, diagraphs and more to us, Jace has picked up on it and is constantly asking us or actually telling us about words that rhyme. It’s pretty funny the words he makes rhyme and normally he is right. Occasionally he makes up his own words when it comes to finding a word that rhymes but these 2 little boys simply never cease to amaze me!
Local/National Contest Encourages Children to Write and Illustrate Their Own Stories
Alabama Public Television and PBS KIDS GO! have announced a new contest designed to let children’s creativity flow while they improve their literacy skills. The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest, a local/national contest for children in kindergarten through third grade, invites children to write and illustrate original stories, then submit them to APT for judging.
Original stories written and illustrated by the child must be mailed to APT (postmarked no later than March 26, 2010), who will select first, second and third-place winners in each grade level. Winners will be notified of their winning status and will receive a certificate and prizes for their work at the Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery on April 17.
Local first-place winners will be entered into the national level of the contest, where a renowned panel of judges will identify the best of the best. National contest winners will earn additional prizes including laptops, digital cameras and MP3 players.
For contest details, rules and entry forms, log on to www.aptv.org/rr. A PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest Web site, at www.pbskids.org/read, will include the winning stories in each of the contest categories as well as an archive of winning stories.
Cindy Kirk, vice president of educational services at APT explains that developing writing and other communications skills early is important in school achievement.. “This contest also gives free rein to an active imagination for added value,” she adds.
The PBS KIDS GO! Writers Contest is a part of PBS KIDS® Raising Readers, a national program that uses the power of public media to build the reading skills of children ages 2-to-8, with an emphasis on children from low-income families. The effort is funded by a Ready To Learn grant from the U.S. Department of Education, part of a cooperative agreement with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), PBS and The Ready To Learn Partnership.
Now, don’t you want to get your first grader to get going on that first book? This replaces the Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators contest that APT has been part of for more than ten years. It’s so exciting to see the kid’s faces when they read or have their story read at the Alabama Book Festival! There’s tons of information at the above Web site.
Getting kids enthusiastic about reading may seem like a monumental task when you see all the techno-competition around—video games, movies, computer games etc. Actually, one can use all sort of elements to get kids as enthusiastic about books as they are about all their other gadgets.
· Most of the time, children are either bored or switched off by the reading choices at school. Kids are riveted by what interests them, so find out what captures your child’s imagination, and direct their attention toward the books on that subject/s.
· Kids love computers so turn the idea of reading around—let them create their own story, become an author. What could be more empowering! This will allow them ‘ownership’ of the story, and that’s an irresistible challenge for any child. The subject can be about them, an incident, or a fictitious character. They’ll not just create it but illustrate it (either their own drawings or using images available from the Internet), design it and print it out. You’ll be amazed at what happens once the child takes charge of their own project. You can help your child develop the story, getting them to write it out first by hand, and then going through it several times (maybe another family member can also give their input). They can then create the project on the computer. When it’s finished, suggest the child hand it in to their grade teacher for inclusion in the school magazine or newspaper. Or perhaps it’s a gift for a grandparent or family member. You could even have it properly bound at your local stationers.
· Praise and success are incredibly motivating factors in any child’s development. They’ll automatically feel inspired to achieve more. Now you can introduce new activities that show books in a very novel light.
· Find a book you both like and, besides reading together, ask your child to suggest alternative actions on the part of certain characters, asking if they agree on how the story is unfolding, and how they would have written the characters’ actions if they disagree. Encouraging a thought process will make your child feel their opinion counts. Once the book is finished, have your child write a ‘review’ and even send it to your local bookshop or library. Imagine their pride and delight if the review is published in a local newspaper, or put up on the library notice board.
· A book series is a wonderful way to capture a child’s imagination. If they ‘bond’ with a character such as a young hero/ine, they’ll be eager to continue reading the series as each new book comes out. Two of the most popular that spring to mind immediately (apart from my own Chronicles of the Stone!) are Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. You can cement this enthusiasm by buying hard cover books for your child as ‘collectibles’—something to be cherished and read again and again. If there’s a movie, even better, and merchandising such as T-shirts, mugs, badges etc, also keep the enthusiasm going.
· Following on with the above, most successful books have websites with interesting aspects to explore. Is the series set in a real or fantasy place? Do the characters have important choices to make? Don’t be afraid to let your child get onto the computer and read all about the series, the author, the movie, the actors, the settings, and the characters. Ask your child questions about what they have learned and praise their research.
· The Secret of the Sacred Scarab has a great website www.secretofthesacredscarab.com with an interactive journey the reader can take with the book’s heroes. Photos, clues, Hidden Chapters, and (the best) a great Curse of Thoth that leads you into the first chapter of Book Two—The Search for the Stone of Excalibur.
It doesn’t matter how your child comes to enjoy the written word, but that he or she does. Some imaginative ways of ‘packaging’ the reading process will reap wonderful results.
You can enter the competition above to win a copy of the book and…you can enter here to win a copy as well……here is how…
The contests starts today, November 20th and will end with my other contests at Noon Central Time on November 25th.
Mandatory Entry:
The mandatory entry will be for the reader to explain why you would like to have a copy of this book.
Extra Entries
1. 5 extra entries will be awarded for posting about this contest on your blog, you must return and leave a comment with the link to the exact url of your post, not your general url. If you have multiple blogs, you can post about this contest once on each of your blogs and receive 5 extra entries for each blog.
2. 5 extra entries will be awarded for following me on Twitter @The_Jerri_Ann. You must return with your username and let me know that you are following me.
3. 2 extra entries will be awarded for each Tweet up to 5 tweets per day for Tweeting the following phrase:
“@The_Jerri_Ann and….Fiona Ingram have it all http://bit.ly/5oTzuX”
You must return and enter each link of your tweet in a separate comment.
4. 5 extra entries will be awarded for taking the survey in the sidebar for the Demographic information of you, my readers.
Disclaimer: Education Uncensored’s reviews and its author assume no liability for damages associated with any prizes awarded here or contents contained therein. Prizes lost in the mail or those not delivered by sponsors are not the responsibility of Education Uncensored or its author. Prizes not claimed within two weeks of notification to the winner will have to be forfeited.
Entrants must be 18 years of age or older to enter, and entrants must follow state and local laws concerning sweepstakes.
Multi-platinum, 3-time Grammy Award-winning Def Jam recording artist Ne-Yo adds two new credits to his long list of successes over the last three years, starting with the announcement that his new song, “Never Knew I Needed”, will be the featured end credit song in Walt Disney’s‘The Princess and the Frog’ animated motion picture event. The single was blasted out to Urban, Urban AC and Rhythmic radio on October 14th. Plans for the video, directed by Melina, will be announced shortly. The soundtrack album will be available November 23rd, and the movie, whose action takes place in New Orleans and the Louisiana bayou, will open in theatres on December 11th.
In addition to Ne-Yo’s contribution, ‘The Princess and the Frog’Soundtrack boosts a colorful collection of original songs and a lively orchestral score, both composed and conducted by Randy Newman.
1. Never Knew I Needed - Performed by Ne-Yo 2. Down in New Orleans (Prologue) -Performed by Anika Noni Rose as "Tiana" 3. Down in New Orleans -Performed by Dr. John 4. Almost There -Performed by Anika Noni Rose as "Tiana" 5. Friends on the Other Side -Performed by Keith David as "Dr. Facilier" 6. When We’re Human – Performed by Michael Leon-Wooley as "Louis," Bruno Campos as "Prince Naveen" and Anika Noni Rose as "Tiana" featuring Terence Blanchard on Trumpet 7. Gonna Take You There – Performed by Jim Cummings as "Ray" featuring Terrance Simien on Accordion 8. Ma Belle Evangeline - Performed by Jim Cummings as "Ray" featuring Terence Blanchard on Trumpet 9. Dig a Little Deeper – Performed by Jenifer Lewis as "Mama Odie" featuring the Pinnacle Gospel Choir 10. Down in New Orleans (Finale) - Performed by Anika Noni Rose as "Tiana" 11. Fairy Tale/Going Home – Score 12. I Know This Story - Score 13. The Frog Hunters/Gator Down – Score 14. Tiana’s Bad Dream – Score 15. Ray Laid Low – Score 16. Ray/Mama Odie - Score 17. This Is Gonna Be Good – Score
The Hot Author Report is your place for what is happening in the virtual world of online book tours, promotion, marketing and more. Jaime is a self-confessed sushi addict who spends most of her time as an online publicist for Pump Up Your Book Promotion when she’s not roaming around Australia. When she’s not working, she is reviewing books and cafés around Australia on Down Under Views, obsessing about writing and finishing her novel on InkyBlots, and reflecting on the life as a US expat in Australia on The New Australian.
Here we go with the homework obsession. Last night though, when we were prepping for bed, we were planning our story like we always do. But, when my son realized he was going to have the read the book himself, he flipped out. He was crying and begging us to read him the book.
When I explained that the weekend homework was a reading assignment and he could choose any book he wanted to read for that assignment. He did not want to read. He wanted us to read to him. But, I have to figure out what to do, should I have just lied to the teacher and signed his paperwork saying he did his reading. Walker would tell her differently I think.
We could make him do the reading another time during the weekend instead of Sunday night but thus far, it doesn’t matter, any reading he has to do extra, he flips out. He has always loved to be read to and that is no different, he still likes for us to read to him. And, he doesn’t complain about reading the assignments that he gets as homework assignments. But anything after that, he wants us to read to him.
So, it’s getting to be an issue with us. I refuse to cause my son to hate reading just because his dang teacher insists on it. But I can’t be dishonest and teach my son that it is ok for that to happen either.
Now, let me say this, if you don’t already know how important it is for us to learn to read at an early age (what with all the ideas of learning foreign languages and the like as well), it’s just painful to watch kids read and not enjoy it. But, when children are forced to sit and read and not play and run and let energy released, they become very reckless when it comes to reading.
If you have any questions about what you think might be excessive, just visit my son’s first grade blog that I am handling. PhD in First Grade is going to be great site, but just look at the stuff that’s been required and it’s just the second week of school.
With that, I am excited that my son still loves to read. And, considering the amount of time that my husband and I spend on line, for quite a while he thought all books and magazines should be stored near the toilet. But, then….then I received a book last summer, one from the Daniel X series. My husband sat down and it took him about 3.5 hours to read it. I was in the hospital and he was just sitting with me. Once he started, he simply would not put the book down.
So then there’s the new book. It came and my kids were ecstatic when they realized that a book was in the bag. Now, with that said, they aren’t old enough to read or understand it but the importance of seeing us read is that important. And, the book sat on the sofa for a day or two, I had decided that I would read this book.
However, before I could settle down with it, it was in my husbands hands. He let the internet go that day and he read…and he read…and I requested a few favors here and there but mostly, he just kept reading.
When the afternoon turned to evening, he proudly closed the book, a smirk turned to a smile and he declared, that really was better than the last one….there’s two more in this series right? I wasn’t sure how many more are available in the series but I know what he is getting Christmas…
