Leveled Book Teacher and Parent Resources

To celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, May 3 – 7, 2010 and Teacher Appreciation Day, May 4, 2010 . . .

We, here at Leveled Reader.com, and I am sure all of our many customers who care so much about literacy, helping educators supplement reading programs and providing a key to a child’s success, want to thank teachers everywhere.

“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions,” Anonymous.  This is true.  Few other professionals touch as many people as teachers do.

“What the teacher is, is more important than what he [or she] teaches,” Soren Kierkegaard. National Teacher Appreciation Day is a good time to learn about the contributions educators make to our communities every day.  Among other things, teachers work to open students’ minds to ideas, knowledge, and dream.  Teachers fill many roles, as listeners, advocates, explorers, role models, motivators, and mentors.

“The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior,” Marva Collins. It is our continued desire to be part of the community that brings learning to life, supporting and supplementing the teacher’s efforts.  For teachers looking for books to supplement leveled book selections and encourage children to read outside of their school leveled reading program, one of the resources Leveled Reader provides is Lily’s Choice Pre-Packaged Book Sets with the flexibility to create your own leveled book set with the handy substation tools.

“A master can tell you what he expects of you.  A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations,” Patricia Neal. Just like books and reading!  And, to all the teachers and educators, Leveled Reader says “thank you” for opening the door.

“A teacher affects eternity; he [or she] can never tell where his [or her] influence stops,” Anonymous. It is true that teachers continue to influence us long after our school days are only memories.  We all have a fond memory of at least one teacher who had an impact, who made that difference.  For that, and so much more, thank you.  You are appreciated.

The month of May is designated to celebrate many things, among them is “Mental Health Month.”  According to experts, to have good mental health, your brain needs to be physically fit and emotionally fit.  To keep your brain physically fit, keep your body healthy.  This will boost your self esteem, mood, and overall mental state.

At least 30 minutes a day of some sort of physical activity helps improve memory, reasoning, and reaction times in your brain.  You can do things like walk 100 steps after eating, you can spread the 30 minutes out over the day.  A balanced diet helps improve memory, decision making and thinking abilities, and mood.  Getting enough rest helps keep your body and brain stay healthy.  Exercising your mind is important for good mental health, too.  Simple mind puzzles like word searches, cards, Yahtzee or crosswords, or reading the newspaper will help stimulate the brain.  Deep breathing, listening to certain types of music, writing, a hobby, or reading helps your emotional state.

Maintaining a healthy self esteem is integral to good mental health.  A person with healthy self esteem realizes their strengths and weaknesses, they are confident, able to act independently, be responsible, take pride in achievements, tolerate frustration, try new things, and offer help to others.  A healthy self esteem improves your mood, mental ability and enjoyment in life.

To help build self esteem in your child, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”  Children thrive on positive attention.  Encouragement goes a long way.  Offer praise, teach them how to think in positive ways, avoid ridiculing or shaming, let them own their problem but teach them to recognize when they have made good decisions, show them you can laugh at yourself.

By laughing at yourself, one thing you are showing your child is that they are not alone.  Another way to show them this is by reading about how other children experience similar situations and emotions and ended up okay.  Leveled Reader has a Self Esteem section with books for various levels of readers.  Read about “A Bad Case of the Stripes,” “Lucy on the Loose,” “Finklehopper Frog Cheers” and others.  By reading, your child will be improving their mental health in so many ways!

Quote:  “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends and the most patient of teachers.”  Charles W. Eliot.

April 22 was the 40^th anniversary of remembering to care for our wondrous ecosystem and environment.  May 1 has been a day celebrated for hundreds of years marking the end of winter, the one where we used to entwine streamers around a maypole and make baskets out of colorful construction paper strips, celebrating spring flowers in bloom.

With the recent Earth Day celebrations–and May Day just around the corner, I am reminded of something Frank Lloyd Wright wrote, “Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.  It will never fail you.”  I think the same can be said of the ability to read and reading.

Keeping ecology and spring in mind, Lily has selected a few books for your child to practice reading.

Lily says there are “We Both Read” books with topics about the seasons, rainforest, ocean, bugs, and endangered animals.  These books are chosen by Leveled Reader’s team of educators and other professionals for age groups ranging from 4 – 8 years and for grades ranging from Kindergarten through Third.  There is a handy leveled reading guide for those who want to specifically supplement your child’s current reading program.

For springtime topics, Lily loves the tale, Follow Me, Mittens, where the adventurer romps through all the spring flowers with the help of a butterfly.  And Lily thinks the tale, On the Way to the Pond, a springtime adventure where the adventurers get lost in the woods, is great, too.  These books are chosen by Leveled Reader’s team for age groups ranging from 4 – 6 years and for grades Preschool through Second or Third.

Lily thinks the stories about the Octopus or the Tiny Turtle are good, too…and the story about the Journey of a Humpback Whale.  I think our Lily could go on and on!

Happy Spring to you!

Quote:  “Learning is acquired by reading books; but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading man, and studying all the various editions of them.”  Lord Chesterfield, British Statesman and Diplomat (1694-1773).

We know reading sets the stage for success.  And becoming a reader really starts soon after birth.  If youth can read easily and understand what they are reading by third grade, they can more easily take advantage of the learning opportunities in subsequent grades and beyond.

Before school life begins, youth are hearing the spoken word, then begin to understand the written word when being read to and seeing others reading—this is the beginning.  The beginning of forming a habit that will have such great benefit—and provide endless opportunities.

We have already identified some tips to start forming an appreciation for reading, to improve the creative thinking process, to widen the young reader’s world to infinite possibilities.  Some of those tips include setting aside time every day to read.  Here are some more tips to start forming that habit of reading at an early age—even before school life begins.

Try to incorporate reading activities into the daily routine by:

• Keep various reading materials around your home.
• Let your child see you read—and bring books with you when you go somewhere…reading while waiting in line or for an elevator is a great use of time.
• Read with your children.  Point to the words, explain the pictures.  Let them turn pages, make up stories, read to you even when they can’t yet read, talk about the story, ask what comes next.
• Building off your child’s interests, then suggesting related articles and books.
• Reward your child with books and other reading material.
• If you are planning a trip, design fun activities that include reading to learn about the destination.
• After watching a show, video, or movie, introduce a book on the subject.

Lily has lots of preschool books selected at Leveled Reader.  If your child or the child you are wanting to encourage to read is older, Lily can help there, too.  Try selecting books by grade.

Quote:  “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.”  Maya Angelou, American Poet, b. 1928.

Bears…Who doesn’t like bears?  I think of a stuffed Teddy Bear, Smokey the Bear, and even Ben, the bear on Grizzly Adams.  Well, Leveled Reader has books about a multitude of lovable bears.  Even one called “Big Brown Bear.”

Mind you, the bears in “Big Brown Bear” are not like the brown bears photographed by Scott Cromwell Solent recently grappling then wandering off to catch salmon together in Alaska.

No, the bears in “Big Brown Bear” end up finding out that balls, bats, bikes, and paint mix with hilarious results. Young readers are encouraged by the playful rhythms, repeated phrases, strong spoken language patterns and creative story.  It also includes enrichment activities at the end of the story.  [Age Level:  4-6 years.  Grade Level:  Pre-School to K.  Leveled Group: A-B.]

And what about the bears in the other bear stories?  You might select books about Goldilocks, Goldilocks with Chicken Pox, a snoring bear, a princess and a white bear, or…..well, check them out for yourself as excellent options for you and your child as you select leveled books and other books and book sets to supplement your child’s reading program.

After reading these great bear stories, you can relate them back to historic bears, companion bears, amazing bear stories, television bears, or even bears in the news today.  Or, simply relish in the time spent with your child reading or being read to:  never time wasted.

Quote:  “Reading to kids is to ordinary reading what jazz is to a string quartet.”  Sean Wilentz.

Whether your relationship to the youth in your life is one of teacher, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or someone else special, part of what you do can be considered coaching.

As a coach, there are a few qualities that lead to success.  Things like patience, fairness, commitment, leading by example, willingness to learn, keeping everyone involved, making it fun, and encouragement.

You can apply these good coach qualities to reading, in whatever reading technique you are using:  reading aloud to the child, reading aloud in unison, having the child read the same thing back to you, helping the child while he or she is reading, and having the child read independently.  (There are specific things you can do during and after reading, too.  Another time we can touch on some of those tips.)

Coaching is important, but so is selecting the book that is just challenging enough; books should be just beyond the child’s reading ability range, but not enough so reading it is discouraging or overly frustrating.  That’s where leveled books help.  These are books that experts have selected according to criteria such as reading scores.  For a handy table and full description of the leveling criteria used by LILY at Leveled Reader, go to http://leveledreader.com/cart.php?page=leveling_guide.  Once you find what level your child is at, Leveled Reader can help you select those books to enhance your child’s reading program.

And what is most important?  To set aside those few minutes every day to read.  Whether you are the teacher, parent, grandparent or other relative or special person, your child will remember that extra effort you made providing those books that were just challenging enough and coaching them with their reading.

Lily says “Way to go coach!  You are helping your youth reach for the stars!”

Quote:  “Never judge a book by its movie.”  J.W. Eagan

[In honor of 'Turn Your Television Off' week]

In a recent Parade magazine, several people were asked what they most liked about their job.  A library director answered, “I like creating an environment that encourages people to read more, learn more, and do more with the ideas that spring from the books they find in the library.”

In that same Parade issue, a teacher success story from Bakersfield California told of an unusual problem he experienced in one of his classrooms with students, many of whom were unable to read or were in special education, after he obtained books with a $1,000 grant from Scholastic. That problem?  “Books began to disappear from the classroom.”

This teacher was inspired through his life long passion of literature.  Growing up without many advantages, once in junior high, he wanted to “read what educated people were reading, so he chose the biggest book in the school library” and subsequently “devoured classics.”  His parents were from modest roots, “whatever [his] parents lacked, they made up for in stability.”  He motivates his students with his inspiration and his story of earning scholarships to Berkeley and Harvard and planning to return to earn his Ph.D.  He is living his dream through his love of literature and helping others realize nothing is impossible, if only to dream.

These stories exemplify the importance of reading and encouraging reading through simple efforts.  The teacher got a late start.  For the child in your life, providing them with the reading opportunity as young as possible, who knows how they will change the world!

Let Leveled Reader help you choose books and book sets from a variety of subjects to supplement the child’s (or classroom) current reading program and aptly challenge and motivate them.  Lighting that spark is inspiration in and of itself

Quote:  “Nothing happens until first a dream…”.  Carl Sandburg

Not too long ago, a study was published confirming “happiness spreads readily through social networks of family members, friends and neighbors.”  Further, it described how a person’s emotional state depended not only on actions and choices made, but also on actions and choices other people made—even persons unknown.  People who are happy tend to live longer.  In essence, the study “concluded happiness is like a contagious disease.”  Unfortunately, other studies concluded the same for obesity and smoking:  they, too, spread among groups of friends and relatives.  An interesting finding was that happiness was more contagious face-to-face—not via the Internet or cell phone.  The study postulated the reason was that “happy people spread their good fortune directly by being generous with time and money,” enhancing social bonds so “successful groups” were formed.

Why write about happiness being like a contagious disease?  Well, it is a wonderful notion to consider.  We all want to be happy.  But, this is also an example of the benefits of reading.  Seeing others around you read, will encourage you to read.  Readers spread their knowledge gained from reading, that creates an environment of creative thinking, and, there you go:  a chain reaction of the most positive kind, enhancing social bonds and potentially even society.  To me, this potential is exciting!

Leveled Reader’s team of professionals and experts have selected books to stimulate young minds to encourage reading in such a way that it enhances their current reading program in an easy, yet challenging and satisfying way.  Let Lily help you not only find the book to start your young reader on the road to success within their family and community, but also find some books on being happy, too.

Start the contagion, let your child see you read, get your child reading, and let Leveled Reader help.

Quote:  “Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.”  Inscription over the Thebes Library door.

We all want the best for the youth in our lives.  Developing skills that lead to a child having the best advantages to make the most of their talents, skills, and dreams must be started at a young age.  Just like walking – skills were learned incrementally and practiced to the point where walking was easy and, from there, we could run if we chose.

The time to lay the foundation for success is now.  To get started, here are some key habits:

• Read to your child.  Not only can you set aside 15-20 minutes every evening to read out loud, but you can read out loud all of the things you are reading throughout the day:  newspaper or internet articles, recipes, advertisements, signs, emails, instructions . . .
• Point out objects and name them out loud as you go about your day with your child.
• Have your child tell you a story and later read out loud to you.
• Let your child ask questions about, or add to, the story.
• Decrease television time.
• Provide a variety of books for your child to explore independently in the home—or at the library.
• Set aside a quiet time for independent reading.
• Ask about what they are reading in class.

When you engage in the above, you are building listening, language and communication skills; increasing attention span, comprehension, vocabulary, proper grammatical structure, curiosity, and creative thinking skills; and expanding exposure to new words, experiences and knowledge.  Armed with reading and language skills and all that comes with it, school assignments (and later work assignments) become easier and the ability of confident and creative self expression is enhanced.  And the added plus?  Bonding.

Start laying the foundation today.  Let Leveled Reader help you select those books and book sets that not only interest your child, but appropriately challenge your child’s reading level and enhance their current school reading program.

Quote:  “That is a good book which is opened with expectation, and closed with delight and profit.”  A. Bronson Alcott.

For those readers who are educators or teachers, you know the National Education Association (NEA) shares information on a variety of educational topics.  Among those topics is C.A.R.E. and C.A.R.E. Strategies for Closing the Achievement Gaps.  Those strategies include:

• Allowing students to select a reading partner.
• Showing a short video clip as a pre-reading activity.
• Reading aloud with stops for quick oral responses.
• Engaging students in challenging discussions of the meaning of reading materials that reflect on their direct experiences.
• Know your students reading level.
• Offering a child balanced reading that incorporates books about other cultures all year round.
• Reviewing with students how reading is of benefit physically, emotionally, intellectually….
• Including tasks that provide opportunities for students to apply content vocabulary and use content language in discussions or extended reading or writing assignments.
• Broadening your own palate, being a model by reading on your own (consider when you last read out of your comfort zone to explore another culture) and share your experience.
• Encouraging family involvement like providing time, space, quiet and materials for child’s studying, reading and hobbies; setting an example by reading at home and engaging in other learning activities….

For those readers who are family or friends, the NEA C.A.R.E. strategies include:

• Reading and listening to children read.
• Discussing school day, family members’ lives, and current events.
• Storytelling, recounting experiences, and sharing problem-solving strategies.
• Writing of all kinds (e.g., grocery lists, telephone messages, letters, diary entries).
• Relating everyday experiences to what is being learned in school, and using these experiences as teaching opportunities.
• Helping to expand vocabulary.
• Conducting family activities that help expand the world view.

Lily can recommend a few specially chosen books to enhance the reading program in your child’s life that pertain to culture.  Explore the LeveledReader books chosen by our assembled team of educators and other professionals to bring the power of the leveling system to everyday popular literature with regard to culture…such as:

• A Bad Case of Stripes.  A story about fitting in and being true to yourself. [Age Level: 7-9.  Grade Level:  2-4.]
• Sacagawea and the Bravest Deed.  A glimpse into what life may have been like during the childhood years of one of our most famous Americans, a member of the Shoshone tribe.  [Age Level:  5-7.  Grade Level:  K-1.  Leveled Group:  G-H-I.]
• Helen Keller and the Big Storm.  This book fits in with both the NEA’s literacy program and next month as “Better Hearing and Speech Month”.  Among other things, it helps learn about the life of someone who is deaf and blind, helps develop an interest in learning sign language and is an introduction to biographies. [Age Level:  4-7.  Grade Level:  K-1.  Leveled Group:  G-H-I.]

And do join the NEA’s year-round Reading Across America literacy program that celebrates the joy and importance of reading by visiting their site at http://www.nea.org.

Quote:  “The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests; just as the charm of music dwells not in the tones, but in the echoes of our hearts.”  Oliver Wendell Holmes.