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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here is wee Henry James to wish everyone a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For fun, visit my website and try to make your way through the

maze and reach the leprecaun's gold before he does.

And you'll be wanting to try your hand at writing a Limerick, for sure now. Here's all you need to get you started, plus a clover leaf shape to write it on.

Congratulation to Kim Chatel, RAINBOW SHEEP Author

Kim Chatel, author of RAINBOW SHEEP from Guardian Angel Publishing, has just been asked to create some of her wonderful fiber art illustrations for Colin Thompson's new book for the Save the Children Foundation. Mr. Thompson discovered Kim's illustrations at the Children's Illustrated Art Museum in St. Louis.

Kim is the book trailer creator for all my Guardian Angel books, so you can see some of her handiwork on my website: Kitty Kerplunking, Doggie Day Camp, Hamster Holidays, and Gifts from God. And for a sneak peek at Kim's RAINBOW SHEEP, visit this month's edition of Guardian Angel Kids, an online interactive ezine for kids.

Congratulations, Kim!

More on Reading--Of Course

When I worked as a school librarian, we had Accelerated Reader for the students to use. This program certainly increased the amount the students were reading, helped them expand the genre of books they tried, and helped access their reading comprehension.

With that said, the program did have its problems. The ones I encountered included incorrect assessment of student's reading level, consistency with the levels assigned to the books, students competing against one another rather than challenging themselves, or students pressured to achieve with little supplemental help from faculty or parents.

As a child's literacy advocate, I am intrigued with a new reading approach from educator, Laura Candler. Ms. Candler has experience with the Accelerated Reader program but has devised her own reading strategy for students which she says works even better. It's called EMPOWERING READERS. You can become part of her ongoing discussion group focusing on these reading strategies. And you can take a preview of the Ms. Candler's work in progress to see if her reading strategies could work in your class or homeschool environment.

The preview is intriguing. And there is nothing I love better than to see children caught up in the reading adventure. You might want to take a look and see what you think. Would a reading workshop work in your class?

Helping Children Write

Today I read a short article by author, Anastasia Suen, about "Teaching Sentence Fluency with Wordless Books." She suggests using wordless picture books and letting the students write the story based on the pictures.

We did much the same technique when I worked in an elementary school library. Each year we would have the three second grade classes put into words the wonderful wordless classic, THE SNOWMAN by Raymond Briggs.

With each different class we had them decide as a group what the name of the characters in the story were to be. Then 2-3 students would be given one page of the story to tell. We would gather each group's page, put them in order, and post the entire story on the wall outside the library. The students loved this activity. They enjoyed reading the other two classes' stories as well--because even using the same illustrations, the three classes' stories differed. A wonderful way to emphasize the unlimited creativity we each possess--how we each see the world a bit differently.

What a great way to encourage young writers and readers. This activity could easily be used at home as well. The simple truth is the better a child can read and write the better he will do in school. Help your child(ren) become great readers and writers and have fun while doing it.

Grammar Games

Hey, I had a really nice thank you note today from a mom who bought a copy of DOGGIE DAY CAMP. When she shared it with her stepson, who was struggling a bit recognizing adverbs, Bubba's story seemed to flip the adverbial light on for him.

Hip-hip-hooray for all THE PET GRAMMAR PARADE critters! Their mission is to make learning fun for kids-- KITTY KERPLUNKING and HAMSTER HOLIDAYS.

Check out these online grammar games for more grammar fun:

Fun Brain Grammar Gorillas

Grammar Blast from Houghton Mifflin

Celebrate Black History Month with Books

I found a great site featuring Coretta Scott King Award winning books at TeachingBooks.net.

The site presents all the winning and honor books with presentations from the authors and illustrators.

Hear illustrator Sean Qualls talk about how he illustrated BEFORE JOHN WAS A JAZZ GIANT by Carole Boston Weatherford. (2009 Illustrator Honor book)

Or listen to author Joyce Carol Thomas read from THE BLACKER THE BERRY: POEMS.(2009 Illuatrator Award winner and Author Honor book)

What a great way to connect with the creative talents who made these books happen!

What a great way to celebrate Black History Month.