6/7/12

Summer Reading

Research has shown that kids who do not read over the summer break will lose more than two months of reading achievement. This can be overcome by reading 4 to 6 books during the break from school. My friend Kristine wrote this byline with information from the Reading is Fundamental organization. If you are not familiar with RIF.org please check them out and see the incredible work they do to bring literacy to children in the U.S.
For our family we decided to create a board to store reading logs and or forms. See our version below. Second we track progress by having our girls fill in their logs. The log should be either by time spent reading or by books read. Last we reward for the effort and completion. The rewards can be simple and do not have to be monetary.
There is many national companies that reward children as well such as Barnes and Noble, for every eight books kids get a free one, Scholastic.com, Pizza Hut and Pottery Barn Kids have their own programs.
Local libraries participate as well and many have great book clubs through the summer.
With older children read a book that would interest you both and talk about your progress as you both read along.
This could be a way to rediscover the classics you read in junior high or
high school.
Children enjoy reading if its fun and at their level but they also enjoy it most if they see you as the parent enjoying reading. Reluctant readers need encouraging material so a magazine, newspaper or sports article counts. Talk to your local librarian and or teacher for best tips with reluctant readers.

4/25/12

Reusing Containers

Surprisingly a lot of craft supplies come in plastic bags that after opening no longer can be used to store the original item.
For this post I thought I would show how our family reuses containers from take out to store bought dry goods to store art and craft supplies thus solving the problem.
We also reuse our containers to send snacks to school and to make first aid kit boxes.
Our family primarily uses see through containers this helps identify the items stored for easy use and clean up.
Does your family have some great reusing ideas for take out containers?
I would love to hear from you.

2/28/12

Lucky Banner

Simple banner made with card stock. I used MS works to create the letters. Using 2 different size circle punchers, M cut out glittered circles and white card stock letters.
The hats and shamrocks were cut from the templates provided by DLTK-kids.

HAT
http://www.dltk-kids.com/t_template.asp?t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/patrick/images/bplateleprechaun2.gif

Shamrock
http://www.dltk-kids.com/t_template.asp?t=http://www.dltk-holidays.com/patrick/images/bshamrock-small.gif