Lucinda's Library Notes

  We all want to follow the best practices of life and excel.  Unfortunately, there are very diverse definitions over the course of time and distance as to just what practices are the best. Even when you think we should all agree on something, like 'washing your hands is important' and 'breakfast is a vital part of your morning routine', there are people who have opposing views.  It is just part of being human.  We all have different backgrounds, experiences and thoughts.  There are of course some suggestions that are widely accepted as being valuable when it comes to the world of reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.  When working on communicating and building literacy skills, there are general guidelines as to what practices are best that I will share here. It is not an exhaustive list so please share your additions in the comments below. 1.    Read, read, read.  There is nothing better.  Practice makes perfect. Quite often...

 A Child's Play picture book based on the action song, The Ants Go Marching is a fun book that will engage your children and create a fun literacy experience. The benefits of a song base is that it increases the interaction with the written text. Pointing to each word as you sing along helps with word recognition and being able to 'guess' what the next word is for new readers.  This builds their confidence that they can  read which makes the whole process even more encouraging for young readers.  The very clear pace and rhythm can help with a child with fluency and/or articulation difficulties, making this a great selection. Other that reading the book with a child, there are many other ways to build positive interactions with the text. Here are a few ideas to get you started. Play the game "Spot It" : Find the little one! What is he doing now? Sing Along Time:   Get out toy microphones and instruments and enjoy the musical aspect of this book. Use cheerleader...

  A is for Ants means three things to me: ants as in insects, ants as found within words and ants as in automatic negative thoughts.  I cannot do any of them justice here but will start off a long list of ideas that we may add to over time.   Music/Math/Literacy : The Ants Go Marching One by One book/poem/song. I will do a separate post with ideas based on this book that will include more ideas for younger ones too. Science : Read and Write about ants, ant homes, ants as insects, etc. Study them.  Make an ant home. Art : Draw ants as cartoon characters or as part of science class or with the letter A Word Families :  Discuss rhyming words that belong to the same word family.  Have a picture of an ant, plant, hydrant, elephant, giant, infant, servant, antler, antelope and anteater.  They can be on a page with the words below for matching or the pictures can be around the room on "ant" cards and they can use magnifiers or binoculars to search for ...

 One of my favourite activities when I tutor is to teach ADJECTIVES.   It is such an easy way to spice up a sentence and enliven an otherwise mundane story. Here are some ideas to build up your literacy skills in the area of adjectives. ABC ADJECTIVES : ( Writing ) One of the best activities for this is to write out the alphabet with one letter per line. Then, together, try to think of an adjective for each letter.  A-awesome, amazing, artificial   B-beautiful, botanical, boring, Once you have gone through the alphabet once, go through and add a second adjective, then a third.  It is a fantastic vocabulary builder and becomes a great reference when writing stories. NOTEBOOK ADJECTIVES:   ( Writing )Another good option is to take a notebook and have at least a page for each letter of the alphabet and as you find descriptive words, write them in alphabetically.  This strengthens your ABC skills at the same time.  The advantage to a noteboo...

 Update:  Tentative Plan Tuesdays are for Library Notes Thursdays are for Building Skills 'How-tos' Saturdays are for Themed Activities The next three posts will be  A is for Antonyms (building literacy skills) , A is for Ants: themed activities (actual ants, words with 'ant' in them and Automatic Negative Thoughts) and The Ants Go Marching One by One: Library Notes. I am so excited to share them with you!

One book that has proven the test of time is called "Clap Your Hands" by Lorinda Cauley.  The sheer number of lessons that can be covered by reading this book are incredible.  You can find the book online to purchase and/or to listen to in a recorded storytelling  Here are some accompanying thoughts. Expression: With body and words this book helps you express ideas in a fun manner alone or in a group Engagement: It is an interactive book to entice reluctant readers and engage children in the class. Understanding Emotions:  Build on the phrase, "Show me a smile. Show me a frown." Connection to the world:  Connect to people ("Tell me your name.  How old are you?") and to the animal world by making animal sounds and copying their actions ("roar like a lion, growl like a bear") Language Skills:  Study verbs (action words) such as clap, stomp, shake, wiggle, wave. How many are in the book? Vocabulary: Label body parts ("clap your hands, stomp you...

🗪Communication skills continue to grow over our lifespan.  Many times we do not even realize the extent of communication we are engaging in.  An infant can cry in a different manner to express whether he or she is hungry, tired, bored, in pain or scared and we learn to comprehend the baby's various cries as well.  We can see from subtle physical changes whether a person is getting agitated or angry, whether they are tired or bored or not feeling well. We can see a person's joy, disappointment, hurt, fear, satisfaction, pride all without verbal communication and it is worthwhile to build nonverbal communication skills.  However, this post is about vocabulary building. 🗒Note:  Vocabulary may be in any language, including sign language and grows from infancy through to old age.  There is no reason not to keep learning new words in your native tongue or in a new language throughout your lifespan! 1.  It is beneficial to support vocabulary with sign langu...

  Here is another on the spot activity to add in reading, writing, listening and speaking activities to your day.                                                                       Cloud Watching⛅ 1.  What do you see?  Do you see a dolphin in the sky? A funny face?  A bunny?  Do you see white, puffy clouds or dark, gloomy clouds?  Describe them.   2.  Expand.  Oh, so you see a boat in the sky?  Where is it going? Who is on the boat? What kind of adventure do you think they will experience today? 3.  Read about clouds.  Are these cirrus, cumulus or nimbostratus clouds (high, low, midlevel clouds).  How are clouds part of the water cycle?  Based on the clouds you see, do you think it will rain today? ...

Welcome to my new blog!  I want to share with you my knowledge of how to help children with their language skills, whether it is taking in the information through reading and listening skills or through outward expression through speaking or writing skills.                                  INPUT                                                        OUTPUT                      AUDITORY               LISTENING                                                 ...

Using your time effectively. Having a book ready for those moments when you have time to spare is ideal but not necessarily possible. So what do you do then?  Try a different activity to build up those literacy muscles.  Here are 10 suggestions. 1.  Find logos that are recognizable as prereading skills.  Examples may be local to your area. Examples would be: Apple, Nike, McDonald's, Disney 2. Share a story.  It can be from your life, from the world around them or from something you encountered such as a book you have read. 3.  Play I Spy .  Find an object that begins with a certain letter of the alphabet (I spy something that starts with C)  Take turns. 4. Retell a story.  Maybe you have read them a storybook so often that you can retell it word for word without the book or you can paraphrase a popular story such as "The Three Little Pigs". 5.  Find shapes in the environment matching letters of the alphabet. Maybe a stick is shaped like ...