How and why would we want to incorporate activity and sticker books into our family reading rituals? Activity and sticker books are often used by parents as “babysitters”, but when used appropriately they may help a beginning reader make connections between visual images and words on a page with reality. In fact, these valuable resources can be an excellent teaching tool when used in conjunction with reading daily, especially for children who may struggle with some form of a learning disability.

Turkeybird’s Struggle
Our sweet Turkeybird was an early reader, but a late talker. He was diagnosed with a form of Autism called “Hyperlexia” at just around 20 months of age. It basically boils down to him reading by the time he was just older than a year old, but not being able to communicate verbally or interact socially until he was a bit older. I know you’re thinking, “he couldn’t talk, but he could read???” Yes, he would literally read words off of pages but hardly say hello when greeted by another family member or friend.

We sought the aid of a speech therapist and children’s counselor not knowing how else to help him. They used evaluations and problem solving games to help him express visually the words he was struggling to connect verbally. This continued for a few months and shortly thereafter our sweet Littlebug was born. For some reason, maybe a lack of attention, triggered in him a greater desire to communicate with us, but he still struggled to connect the “truck” on the page with the truck in his bedroom.

Soon, we moved across country and no longer had the aid of outside therapists and counselors. I decided there had to be something else that I could do as a parent to help him make those little connections. While looking through some “teaching” books and materials on the internet one day I came across some sticker books. The Turkeybird has always been a huge fan of sticker and activity books. What kid doesn’t love a sticker as a reward for a trip to the doctor or for a job well done? This was it, I thought! I ordered some and the work began.

Work Together!!!
Working with The Turkeybird was the key to progression. Children learn the most when they are read to or when they are taught directly.* Starting with the above pictured Sticker Activity book and moving on to many others, we worked together.Every day, while Littlebug slept, we sat down together at the table and went through the pages of the books one at a time. The first book focused on numbers, but also used “real” life objects to illustrate the numerals. Even from the beginning I tried to allow him to place the stickers in the appropriate places and verbally tell me what each was. After this we would go on excursions, be them around the house or to different venues (the park, petting zoo, etc.), and we would point out the different things he found in his activity books. Soon, he began to connect the dots.

Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
To this day we still use the sticker books on a daily basis. We read on a daily basis. And we play together on a daily basis. It’s important to create routines in all children’s lives, but especially in those that struggle with some form of learning disability. Even as adults we benefit from a daily routine and continued persistence with a difficult task. Why would it be different with a child?

Everyday the Turkeybird looks forward to our “mini-school” sessions and asks for the next task. This shows me that he is making connections and learning more everyday. He loves to learn and I can tell when I see his face light up at the mention of crayons, stickers and books.

The End Result
The Turkeybird is talking more now, carrying on long conversations with non-family members and can now connect the words on the pages in his books to real life objects.  His social skills have progressed far beyond what was originally thought he would be capable of at this age. He continues to love reading and learning and his mom continues to love to read to and teach him.

I’m not saying that sticker and activity books will solve all your learning/teaching dilemmas, but if done right they can’t hurt. I’m not a professional, just a mom, and I make no presumptions about how effective these activity books may be in your own child’s life. Make sure to use them with your son, daughter or student; this is where you will find the best result. Children love to be taught, they love attention and exultation when they’ve accomplished something they’d never been able to do before. Interact and show you care about the outcome. And then, do it all over again.

This post was presented as part of the Share A Story Shape A Future Day Two. Make sure to stop by The Book Chook’s site for more posts pertaining to Literacy My Way/Literacy Your Way!

Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

*Referenced & paraphrased from: On the Road to Reading: A Guide for Community Partners – December 1997

Colors & Counting by Emily Bolam

Published by Tiger Tales

Pages: 10

Ages: Baby-Preschool

Publishers Summary: Colors: A delightful introduction to colors for the very young springs to life in this vibrantly illustrated board book that features an embossed bumpy texture on the cover and throughout! Touch the textures to reinforce recognition, look at the pictures and words, and learn a rainbow of colors!
Counting: A delightful introduction to numbers for the very young springs to life in this vibrantly illustrated board book that features an embossed bumpy texture on the cover and throughout! Touch the textures to reinforce recognition, look at the pictures and words, and learn to count from one to five!

Littlebug Speaks: “These books are so much fun! I’m just starting to speak up and tell my mom exactly which books I want to read and these are always first on the list. My favorite pages are a bumpy read strawberry and the smiling giraffe with the number one next to him. Every page is so much fun to feel and I love all of the colors, they’re so bright! Even the outside cover of each of these books is covered in bumpy rising colors and numbers!

“My mom bought these for me because I’m definitely a touchy-feely kind of girl. I like to hold onto things and the more bumps and lumps the better! She still won’t let me get them in my mouth though, but I’m going to keep trying. These are great books and I highly recommend them!”

Mom’s Two Cents: “She’s right, I bought these books because my Littlebug (who’s not looking so little recently) loves textures and colors. Since she was a very small baby she enjoyed cuddling up with a soft cozy blanket and always had to have socks on her feet. The Turkeybird was/is quite different and definitely enjoys more technical analytical things. So, when I saw these books in the new Tiger Tales catalog, I knew I had to get them for her.

“Each of these books teach basic beginning concepts – colors and numbers – five in each. In the counting book it not only shows an actual numeral representation, but a physical representation ie. five fish. The colors book has pages the help even a little reader connect actual ‘real life’ images (an ocean with sailboats) with the words on the page. All of the pages are covered in textured goodness and beautiful colors. These books are for the kiddo in your life who loves touching, snuggling, smooshing, and just about anything tactile. Wonderful beginning books for beginning readers and learners!”

For the Comments: Do you have a favorite counting or ABC book from your youth? Or do you remember how you learned to count/say your ABC’s?

These books were purchased for our home library.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

Little Pea, Little Hoot, Little Oink

By Amy Krouse Rosenthal and illustrated by Jen Corace

Published by Chronicle Books October 2009

Ages: 4-8

Pages: 80 Total (3 Individual books)

The Turkeybird Takes Over: “Let me just take the reigns while Littlebug goes off to chew on some other book. I’m not sure exactly why my parents thought that these books would be more appropriate for Littlebug, but they were wrong. She received them this Christmas and no sooner had she received them did she toss them to the side for a more flashy glowing singing worm thing. In my opinion, she’s made a grievous mistake. These books will soon become classics, as anyone with any taste will obviously see upon their first reading.

“Now, I’m not going to say that Littlebug doesn’t have any good taste (she must, she likes my “That’s Not My Truck” book), it just so happens that in this particular case she has fallen a bit short. In fact, I think she may have fallen asleep.

“But that’s besides the point! These books have everything! From skateboarding to playing with dad to going to school and even cleaning up my room (which believe it or not, I like to do). Just incredible books with wonderful fun friends I’m sure you’ll enjoy. Pea, Hoot and Oink are some of the best characters in modern literature and you would be just silly not to pick these up!”

Mom’s Two Cents: “When the Turkeybird speaks, he speaks. I won’t argue one bit. We judged a book by it’s cover so to say and by so doing gave the wrong book to the wrong child. That’s not to say that Littlebug won’t enjoy these in a year or so from now, because I’m pretty sure she will, she just doesn’t today.

“He’s right though, these are great books! For me as well as for the kids. I honestly LOVE reading these aloud to The Turkeybird. They’re so fun and entertaining, but also have a twist of teaching to them. Each book focuses on a different point of a child’s life of learning, be it sleeping, what to eat or cleaning up. Each one is taught in such a way that it makes each task seem like the enjoyable part of the day and not the chore to be completed. The illustrations are simple and beautiful. And overall wonderful books, great for the whole family. (I think I’d even read them without children.)”

The1stdaughter Recommends: Age 3 and older, boys and girls alike will love these delightful stories.

“If you’re still thirsty for more take a look at this adorable book trailer for the third book in the series Little Oink”:

These books were purchased for our home library.
Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

Yes, I know I tricked you all…tomorrow morning very early (well, early for me anyways 5 am) The American Library Association will be announcing this years Newbery Winner. It’s a very exciting time and you can even watch it live via the internet. I have my favorite, which I’ve already reviewed, but we’ll see if Rebecca Stead can pull it off!

Well, onto today’s topic, Lois Lowry. She is a two time Newbery Award winner. A feat which has only been accomplished by a total of five authors. Lowry originally won the Newbery for her work, Number the Stars in 1990. After receiving the award in 1990 she won it again for her novel The Giver.

Lowry is quoted on her website as saying, ” ‘The most distinguished contribution to American Literature for Children’ is what it says on the medal itself. Imagine how the author feels to have a book described like that! When the Committee called me in 1990 to tell me that Number the Stars had been awarded the medal, they found me at my desk, where I usually am. But in 1994, they couldn’t find me. I was in Antarctica! Eventually they reached me by sending a radiogram. So I was feeling on top of the world, though, technically speaking, I was actually at the bottom.”

Her contribution to children’s literature is astounding and I would go as far as saying she was one of the first authors to begin a venture into dystopian fiction. Although The Giver is not technically a dystopian novel, it has the beginnings of the thought process in so many of today’s popular young adult novels. And may very well be most readers first exposure to the genre.

As for The Giver itself, I highly recommend it. The main story revolves around the life of a young boy, Jonas, and the choice that is made for his life long career. How the decision is made and everything that follows after it changes not only him, but the “perfect” community in which he lives. It shows how one individual can have a lasting impact on an entire group of people just by the choices they make. Inspirational and one I would recommend even to young readers. Although, I will add that there are some very visual images that may be disturbing to someone very young, but well worth it, especially if they have a parent ready to discuss it with them.

The1stdaughter Recommends: Age 11 and up.

Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

Have a review of The Giver and/or other Lois Lowry titles? I’d love to read them! Link them up here:

Yes, I know, “wonderfulness” is not a word, oh well! I have to say I feel like I’ve climbed a mountain with a mariachi band in tow. It was a blast and I feel like I was able to accomplish more than I ever thought I would. Whew!

Here’s the short list:

• Hours Spent: 26
• Mini-challenges completed: 14
• Comments Left: 50+ (I think it was more, but I stopped keeping track.)
• Favorite Part: Feeling of accomplishing SO much!
• Least Favorite: Not taking enough time to write.

My long list of all I did:

• Pam’s mini-challenge on copyrighting.
• My favicon IS working! That’s was over at Trish’s site for those of you interested.
• Finished my Google Reader with Rebecca’s mini-challenge on how to get things under control. And boy did it help! My GR is amazing now!
• Over at Farm Lane Books Blog Jackie is hosting a super-easy mini-challenge that will be a life saver in the event you lose your blog sometime. I did it in a matter of seconds, honestly, it took longer to write the follow-up comment. Check it out and back up your blog!
• Great way to get your site organized: Label and categorize your posts! Check out Beth’s post at Beth Fish Read’s and start labeling. I was lucky enough to start doing this from the get go and man does it make a difference!
• Checked out my deadlinks with Karin at Karin’s Book Nook. Great reference material for future use as well!
• Jill’s comment challenge coincided nicely with Mother Reader’s and I was able to complete that as well. I’ve actually commented on well-over 20 new blogs and more than 50 total this weekend.
• Got listed at Kidlitosphere! Wohoo! Thanks to this little challenge at The Infant Bibliophile. And set up my button!
• Set up my Google Alerts thanks to Emily at Emily’s Reading Room!
• Completed the Anchors Away mini-challenge at GalleySmith’s site and know it’s been helping, my site is actually showing up in a Google Search now!
• Had my site graded and only received a 78…again. I’m thinking I’ll work on this for next Bloggiesta again. Thanks though Bookish Ruth!
• The Comment Challenge hosted by Mother Reader this has been really fun! I plan on keeping it up past Bloggiesta through the end of her challenge.
• Set up a few more feature spotlights. I’ve actually set up an extra months worth so far, but I’d really like to have more. If you’re interested in participating just let me know!
• Set up an RSS email feed option as well as added some new pretty buttons for them.
• I’m set up and ready to go in Kristen’s blogging mentor program.
• Made my blogging buddies “official”, learned all about that from Amy!
• Fixed my contact page. I think. If you notice any problems try and let me know, I’d really appreciate it!
• Chatted with tons of great new friends in Twitter land!

What I didn’t get done and am still going to be working on:

• Believe it or not, I did not finish my own cheat sheet! I did get a lot of it put together, but I still need to do some tweaking.
• Jenn had a great post all about creating 10 Post ideas that I wanted to take advantage of. Alas, I will be working on this one as time goes forward.
• Write at least this weeks worth of posts. This means I will be up typing away this week, but that’s probably okay since The Baker is still studying away for his Bar Exam.
• Update Goodreads, Glue, and Amazon with reviews.
• Clean up my archive page.

All in all I feel really great about all I was able to accomplish. I can always write more and that’s the large majority of what I didn’t get to. The technical stuff I’m really happy about and it was great to have such wonderful resources available to get through it all, as well as everyone on Twitter. Next time around I think I’d like to see more about what I didn’t do great on: writing, more on grading your website and how to improve visibility. I also think it might be fun to have a challenge to see how many review we can get transfered to sites like amazon, glue, goodreads, etc. It was all great though!

Thanks again to Natasha at Maw Books Blog for organizing Bloggiesta, getting all the mini-challenges together and gathering all the wonderful prizes that will be awarded. It’s been a fabulous weekend and I’m looking forward to it again in June!

Here it is, Day 3, wow! This really has been a whirlwind of a great adventure! Let’s start off with all the fabulous things I’ve been able to accomplish:

• Pam’s mini-challenge on copyrighting.
• Make sure my favicon keeps working, it comes and goes like it’s visiting other sites or something. That’s at Trish’s site for those of you interested.
• Finish my Google Reader with Rebecca’s mini-challenge on how to get things under control. That’s the first thing to get going! Yay! I did it!
• Over at Farm Lane Books Blog Jackie is hosting a super-easy mini-challenge that will be a life saver in the event you lose your blog sometime. I did it in a matter of seconds, honestly, it took longer to write the follow-up comment. Check it out and back up your blog!
• Great way to get your site organized: Label and categorize your posts! Check out Beth’s post at Beth Fish Read’s and start labeling. I was lucky enough to start doing this from the get go and man does it make a difference!
• Checked out my deadlinks with Karin at Karin’s Book Nook. Great reference material for future use as well!
• Okay, so I just keep adding and adding, but Jill’s comment challenge coincided nicely with Mother Reader’s and I was able to complete that as well.
• Got listed at Kidlitosphere! Wohoo! Thanks to this little challenge at The Infant Bibliophile.
• Set up my Google Alerts thanks to Emily at Emily’s Reading Room!
• Completed the Anchors Away mini-challenge at GalleySmith’s site and know it’s been helping, my site is actually showing up in a Google Search now!
• Had my site graded and only received a 78…again. I’m thinking I’ll work on this for next Bloggiesta again. Thanks though Bookish Ruth!

What I want to accomplish today:

• Keep going with the Comment Challenge hosted by Mother Reader, yesterday I made about 20 comments at all new sites I’d never commented at before and I’d like to keep that up. It has been really fun!
• Set up a few more feature spotlights. I’ve actually set up a few so far, but I’d really like to have more. If you’re interested in participating just let me know!
• Write at least this weeks worth of posts.
• Jenn has a great post all about creating 10 Post ideas that I’m going to take advantage of!
• Set up my Kidlitosphere button! I just found out today that I’ve been added to the site, which also helps to knock off another challenge!
• Believe it or not, I need to work on my own cheat sheet and get a little more organized that way!
• I’m really interested in Kristen’s blogging mentor program.
• I need to make my blogging buddies “official”, learn more from Amy! Done! Wohoo!
• Clean up my archive page.

Wow! That’s a lot to do today, but I think I can manage to get quite a lot of it done. If not, I’ll just keep going through the week. Thanks again to Natasha at Maw Books for organizing this event, it has been fabulous!

On a side note, I’d like to mention that Kristen over at Bookworming in the 21st Century is featuring yours truly! If you have a minute, take a look!

Well, here goes day two of Bloggiesta! Day one was fabulous even if I feel like I spent most of the day on cleaning out my Google Reader (and it’s still not done, almost). Hopefully today I’ll be able to accomplish quite a bit since I have no kiddos to keep track of for the most part. I do have to make a quick run to the library and to the store, but the rest of the day will be spent with my eyes glued to the screen. Here’s what’s on the agenda for today:

• Keep going with the Comment Challenge hosted by Mother Reader, yesterday I made about 20 comments at all new sites I’d never commented at before and I’d like to keep that up. It was really fun!
• Pam’s mini-challenge on copyrighting.
• Jenn has a great post all about creating 10 Post ideas that I’m going to take advantage of!
• Make sure my favicon keeps working, it comes and goes like it’s visiting other sites or something. That’s at Trish’s site for those of you interested.
• Finish my Google Reader with Rebecca’s mini-challenge on how to get things under control. That’s the first thing to get going! Yay! I did it!
• Set up a few more feature spotlights. If you’re interested in participating just let me know!
• Write at least this weeks worth of posts.
• If I get done with that I’ll refer to my first day’s list and go from there.

Just Added:

• Over at Farm Lane Books Blog Jackie is hosting a super-easy mini-challenge that will be a life saver in the event you lose your blog sometime. I did it in a matter of seconds, honestly, it took longer to write the follow-up comment. Check it out and back up your blog!
• Great way to get your site organized: Label and categorize your posts! Check out Beth’s post at Beth Fish Read’s and start labeling. I was lucky enough to start doing this from the get go and man does it make a difference!
• Checked out my deadlinks with Karin at Karin’s Book Nook. Great reference material for future use as well!
• Okay, so I just keep adding and adding, but Jill’s comment challenge coincided nicely with Mother Reader’s and I was able to complete that as well.

Good luck to everyone participating and I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around! If you haven’t signed up, it’s not too late, go do it!

So, here it is! Bloggiesta! Wohoo! I have a long list of what I want to accomplish and a pretty free weekend ever since I informed The Baker of my voluntary exile behind a computer screen for the duration. First things first, mini-challenges. There are so many, including the one I am hosting that you definitely need to check out if you are at all interested in saving time. I don’t think I will be able to get to them all, but here are a few I’m really looking forward to sinking my teeth into:

• I’m already in for the Comment Challenge hosted by Mother Reader, I just need to sign up on Mr.Linky.
• Believe it or not, I need to work on my own cheat sheet and get a little more organized that way!
• Definitely going to check out Pam’s mini-challenge on copyrighting, I’ve already seen some of my images and words dragged places I don’t want them.
• I’m really interested in Kristen’s blogging mentor program.
• Even if my site is relatively new I really don’t want to lose any of it. I’ve never had this problem with past blogs, but I’ve never used WordPress before so who’s to say it can’t happen? So, I’m heading over to Jackie’s post on backing up your blog at some point.
• And who doesn’t need an excuse to have posts saved for a rainy day? Jenn has a great post all about creating 10 Post ideas that I’m going to take advantage of!
• Done!!! YAY! I highly recommend doing this, so easy: I’ve really, and I mean really got to figure out my favicon thingy. It’s all added but for some reason, not working. So, that’s on the list over at Trish’s site.
• I need to make my blogging buddies “official”, learn more from Amy!
• Listed a few places, but could probably use some more. This is where The Infant Bibliophile comes in..
• Boy do I need to clean up my feedreader! Rebecca has got an excellent post on how to get things under control and I’m going to take full advantage of it.

That’s the list from all the places I plan to go this weekend, it may be more I just have to see how much I can get done. Here’s the list I want to accomplish all on my own:

• Get my business cards set up and ordered.
• Manage and set up all the reading challenges I plan on doing this year.
• Set up a few more features I want to have lined up and ready to go.
• Write at least 5 review posts.
• Clean up my archive page.

Those are just a few things, but I’m already getting worried so I think I’ll stop there for now. If I get it all done, maybe I’ll treat myself to a new book! Either way I think this is going to be a great weekend and one where I will be able to accomplish A LOT! I’m loving Bloggiesta and if you haven’t signed up, it’s not too late, go do it!

Blog Name: Imagination Soup
Blog URL: http://imaginationsoup.net
Twitter Name:@imaginationsoup & @melissawrites
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/54666

When did you start your blog and why?

I started Imagination Soup on a whim this past May. My freelance writing was slow and I decided to teach writing classes for kids over the summer.  I named my program Imagination Soup and started a blog to share fun literacy activities with parents, hoping to inspire children to take my writing classes.  My writing classes took off and so did Imagination Soup, the blog.  Now, Imagination Soup has learning activities in literacy, math and science, all of which can be integrated together.  I love writing and researching these ideas.  It combines my background as a teacher with my new life as a mom and writer.  It’s my perfect job!

Tell us a little about yourself outside of your interest in books.

I’m a mom of two girls, a freelance writer, teacher with an M.A. in Global Education and coffee aficionado. As a child, my mom would take a cardboard box to the library to haul home our weekly books — on our bikes. We didn’t own a television so all I did was read.  I was the kid who got in trouble at school for reading instead of doing my class work.  Such a trouble maker!



Your favorite book from your youth and the story behind it.

My favorite book was a series of books, The Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  My mom read aloud to us every night and I can still imagine Laura’s story as I did in bed so many year ago.  I vividly remember a scene from (I think) The Long Winter where the snow was so high that the family had to hold onto a line tied to the barn and the house so they wouldn’t get lost in the blizzard-like conditions. All the books stuck in my mind as I imagined myself as Laura, facing the trials and challenges of the frontier. Her entire life was such an adventure, I loved reading about every bit of it.

Melissa’s site is wonderful! As a mom of two little ones I have to say that the site wasn’t only well put together, but it’s also a great resource for activities and educational tools. Everything is broken down into categories and it makes it so easy just to jump right into what you’re looking for. In particular I love the “Imagination” section. I’m not very creative sometimes when it comes to making up things to do with little kids that keep their interest, but she has numerous ideas that require little or no money to put together. I highly recommend it!

Also, Melissa is currently holding a few different giveaways one for a free one year subscription to Little Bird Tales activity books. Another for those car kids out there a Solar Racing Car. And two ebooks – Get Smart Play:  15 Fun Themes from Bakery to Veterinarian and Ready, Set, Blog:  Writing a Family Blog. So head on over and check it out!

And if you’re interested in joining in on the When I Was Young Feature just let me know by filling out my contact form and thank you!

Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.

Tomorrow it will be announced (Jan. 5, 2010) that the new face of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature will be Katherine Paterson.

I thought this was fitting considering the discussion of the Newbery Award this month and Paterson is a two time Newbery Award winner (not that I had anything to do with the decision of course). Most of you may recognize her from the film Bridge to Terabithia which is based on the book that Paterson wrote and won the Newbery award for in 1978. She also won the Newbery award for her book Jacob I Have Loved in 1981 as well as a Newbery Honor for The Great Gilly Hopkins in 1979.

The theme for Paterson’s platform will be “Read for Your Life“. I have to say that from the start I LOVE this! It can mean so many things, but specifically for Paterson she says, “With books, kids (and adults) use their ‘powers of intellect and imagination’ and experience ‘delight.’ Stories also teach children about people from other religions, races, and countries. Books help us make friends who are different from ourselves.” There is so much to be learned from Paterson as she uses this theme to touch the lives of children all over the country.

The position of National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature was created just two years ago and until today was represented by John Scieszka, a powerhouse in children’s literature (especially for boys). Paterson will hold the position for 2 years and another representative will be selected. It is sponsored by The Children’s Book Council and The Library of Congress’ Center for the Book with the intent of, “raising national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education, and the development and betterment of the lives of young people.”

Scieszka will be deeply missed by many, but I’m sure that Paterson will bring to the cause a new perspective and wonderful insight into the continued education of our children through reading. I look forward to the next two years to see how the presence of young people’s literature changes with Paterson at the helm.

For more information check out these sites:

The National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

School Library Journal

Publishers Weekly

Katherine Paterson

Purchasing products by clicking through the links in this post will provide us a modest commission through our affiliate relationship with Amazon.com.