Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Currently

Reading:     Stuck in Manistique by Dennis Cuestra .  It is our March book club pick.

Loving: chex mix.  I made some on Friday and I ate the majority of it.  So addicting.

Feeling: ready for summer!!!

Anticipating:  my peanut butter chocolate pie for my birthday

Grateful: for not having to work.  

Working: on making plans for spring and summer

Listening: all the true crime podcasts ha

Watching: Land Girls and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City

Wishing: that someone could come and clean my house and organize it for me.

What are you reading/listening/watching?

Thursday, March 10, 2022

Early Literacy: Vocabulary

 I obviously am a huge proponent of putting books in kids hands.  It's my go to gift and we live surrounded by books.  We use the heck out of the library but, I do love having books that we can read or look at in our own home.  I also don't like checking out board books at the library cuz I can't even handle thinking about germs on the other books, but baby books I just can't do it.  I was a huge germ avoider pre-covid and it's just gotten worse!

The last few times I've read new books to my two year old I've really been thinking about how vocabularies in kids that are read to are more robust than kids who are not.  In our home, we have two college educated adults, and a ten year old avid reader.  Even with that, and knowing how to include bigger or rare words into conversations to introduce them to our toddler, just by picking up a book, I get new words that aren't spoken on a daily basis.

Take for example while reading Corduroy Lost and Found by B.G. Hennessy based on the character created by Don Freeman I was thinking of words I don't think we've said in our house:

- perked 
- crept
-overalls
-newstand
-lollipop

Also in the book When Will it Be Spring? by Catherine Walters I came across:

-bleary
-squealed

It may not seem like a lot but try as I might I'm not sure I'd easily work these into every day conversations a lot.  And I try very hard to use unique words and an expansive vocabulary in our house.  Children learn the language spoken in their home and around them most often.  A lot of what we (general we) say is lazy and nicknamy and kids have to decode what you mean, which are also skills to learn, but when learning to read and speak to others an expansive vocabulary helps you get your point across.

The more words kids have the better they can describe what they are feeling, what they need/want, and what they are thinking.

Books are a great way to learn new words, use them in different ways, learn about new places, and have kids use their imagination.  I have to say that sometimes my ten year old busts out with words and descriptions that I know came straight out of a novel because there is no way she heard or learned from any person how to say certain phrases! Love it! Also when she mispronounces things because she's only ever read them! Love the confidence of using new words in sentences.

These are some of my favorite children books for vocabulary:

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

Harry Potter series

Fancy Nancy books

Amelia Bedelia books

Anne of Green Gables series

On the Night you were Born by Nancy Tillman

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy 

Not Your Typical Dragon 

Meet me at the Moon

Little Owl's Night

Dream Big Little one

CeCe Loves Science

ABC What Can She Be?

Reading is such an easy way to introduce so many concepts to small kids and there are so many good ones out there! I have a picture book problem, so I probably have a book for any topic one could dream.

What books do you like to read that have expansive vocabularies?






Monday, March 7, 2022

What I read in February

 I read 6 books in February and I find that to be quite impressive since most of them either were read in a day or it took over a week.  I have not been able to focus.  It's been horrible! And I honestly really enjoyed all of the books I read!



Malibu Rising was soo good.  I love books that introduce the reader to a family and then takes the different viewpoints of each member, slowly giving their sides of a story and having it lead up to an epic event.  

Some Choose Darkness appears to be the first in a series based on the main character, Rory Moore.   Rory is a quirky forensic reconstructionist who gets thrust into the role of lawyer/mentor to a convicted killer.  The book goes back and forth between a hot summer a couple decades early and the current time while Rory tries to figure out why her father spent so much time on this one client and if he was responsible for more murders that he wasn't convicted of, but many thought he had committed.  It's fast paced and quite the thriller.

A Hundred Summers was another Beatriz Williams winner! I really have enjoyed all the books of hers that I've picked up.  It's set in 1930s and is set in the northeast among high society families.  

Untamed is a memoir from Glennon Doyle and she cracks me up! I really appreciated her words and it I was glad I made time for it finally.

The Woman in Cabin 10 was a bit of a let down but I still enjoyed it.  I read a Ruth Ware book probably two years ago and LOVED IT, so then I thought I'd enjoy all her books and the other book of hers I read I was slightly disappointed and I was worried about this one because I had heard far too much hype about it.  It was good, but it wasn't amazing.  Keeps you on your toes thinking about whodunnit though.

It happened One Summer was a funny romance where the main character is based off of Alexis Rose from Schitt's Creek. Cracked me up and I totally enjoyed it.  Can't wait to read the second book in this series.  

Still trying to work on the focus but I have a ton of books out from the library that I'm hoping to read soon!

What did you read in February?