This past Saturday morning, my little family was sitting around the kitchen table eating pancakes and drinking milk and coffee. In the background played music from the show Mister Rogers Neighborhood. My husband and I began to discuss the various tasks we were hoping to accomplish later in the day, …
In the last several years, there seems to have been a shift in parenting and teaching styles that includes instruction and promotes conversation surrounding a child’s emotional intelligence and emotional capacities. There are countless books that instruct adults on how to give children room to express their emotions in a …
Rhyming is one of the most important pre-reading skills a child can attain. A child’s ability to rhyme is often directly related to their reading readiness. One great way to introduce rhyming to pre or early readers is through books. Reading books with an intriguing narrative and rhyming diction can …
Every year, we give our children three Christmas presents: something they need, something they want, and something to read. This year, I decided to share three of my favorite books to put under the Christmas tree. These books reflect the warmth many of us appreciate about the Christmas season, and …
The Spectrum of Children’s Books Not all picture books are created equal. There’s a spectrum of picture books, and each kind offers a unique benefit. This all starts with selecting the right books and reading them well. Today I want to share with you 5 picture books that represent the …
One of the reasons children’s literature is complex is because it requires not only literacy of the text itself, but also some sense of visual literacy. Simply put, visual literacy is the ability to evoke meaning from an image. Though we can say that simply, it can be a relatively …
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Why is the book Goodnight Moon so popular? Why does everyone read it? It seems so boring!” Today I want to explore the book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown with you and show you the important skills it can develop for children when it is read intentionally.
Selected Works Sand I am speckled and dustyWith black, brown, and grey.Tiny pieces with storiesWashed together.They fall through my fingers.They can’t be caught.Only seen,Only felt.They are dead.But my heels dig inSearching for the chill.A sign that my skin lingers in the depths forA reminder of water.There is an edgeWhere the …