environmental print

10 tips for read-aloud learning

March 6, 2012

Hip, hip HOORAY! This week has a little gem of a day hiding inside — World Read Aloud Day! March 7th is World Read Aloud Day, and I stand firmly behind the idea that every child, every person should be able to read.  And who wouldn’t, right? And I’m a huge fan of reading aloud–with [...]

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magazines rock: creative, crafty, sneaky-learning fun

December 4, 2011

We are huge magazine fans over here. We love finding them in the mailbox, reading them, playing detective with them, crafting with them, and learning with them.  When they arrive in the day’s mail, it’s like a getting a little gift, just for you.  And when we sit down to read a magazine, it never [...]

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quick trick: have a. . . placemat party!

September 16, 2011

Every. Single. Day. We’re rocking a Placemat Party over here. At breakfast. At lunch. And at dinners at the kitchen table (because the kitchen table is so less fancy than our totally fancy-schmancy dinner table). It’s a seriously awesome party–reading, counting, talking about the states or dinosaurs or sea creatures or letters. This happy Friday [...]

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back-to-school shopping with three crazy-cool kids

August 15, 2011

After our crazy-successful Smart Summer Challenge, I needed a little week-long offline vay-cay to say the least! Our Smart Summer Challenge was a smashing success (woo-hoo!), but blogging daily for six straight weeks had me just about nutty by the time I hit day 42.  So a quick trip to Florida to do some work [...]

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breakfast time reading: cereal boxes and more

July 21, 2011

It all started with Gorilla Munch, and it ended with a ton of reading about adopting gorillas, thanks to a box of cereal and three curious kids. Sure, we’re doing a lot of book reading this summer–in between swim and dive practices, trips to museums and splash parks, and just hanging out, doing nothing summertime-style. [...]

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adding practice with street sign math

July 29, 2010

Today, we hit the road a bit, to a new-for-us library to hang out with some friends and learn about 4-H and county fairs and then to (our fave!) Ikea to pass a rainy afternoon. (And the free kids’ meals don’t hurt, either.) Being on the road gave us a chance to play with numbers [...]

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beach bingo– fun in the car and at the shore

July 15, 2010

Woo-hoo! Nothing like spending a long weekend at the beach, especially when the trip only takes a few hours. We didn’t even think for a second to let the rainy ride there keep our spirits down. No way. Last weekend, we beached it up at the Delaware shore, and it was awesome. We had an [...]

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getting a little sneaky with literacy

March 8, 2010

Too many times, parents think that in order to support their children’s developing literacy skills, they have to sit down with a book on their laps, read through the entire book, and then drill their kid with basic comprehension questions when they’re finished reading. No, no, and no way, Jose. Sure, I am all for [...]

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travel bingo

July 2, 2009

Maddy, Owen, Cora, and I have been in Pennsylvania for the last few days so that I could say goodbye to the father of one of my best friends while my husband re-couped from knee surgery. It was an emotionally–and physically–exhausting trip to say the least, and after our usual 3 hour trip back to [...]

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let’s read, baby, read!

March 24, 2009

March is National Reading Month, since March 2 marks the birthday of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel was born on March 2, 1904). I am an admitted not-so-big Dr. Seuss fan, but I am a lover of books and reading, and I love any reason to celebrate. I think that a month set aside to celebrate [...]

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road trip full o’ fun

March 20, 2009

I traveled yesterday, so I needed some big-time engaging activities for Maddy, Owen, and Cora while I drove. We (gulp!) don’t have a DVD player in our van, so I had to get creative. I had 3-3 1/2 hours of driving time to fill, so here’s what I planned: Lunch: I packed a lunch for [...]

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