Memorial Day Surprise by Theresa Golding is for kids 5 to 7 years old.  “It’s Memorial Day and Marco and Mama are going to see the parade.  On their way, they pass Marco’s grandfather’s house.  They usually stop to see Grandfather, but today Mama is in a rush because she has promised Marco a surprise.  Marco can’t imagine what the surprise might be.  Could it be the marching band?  The fire engines?  The candy tossed to the crowd by a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty?  Mama promises that it will be a better surprise than candy.  As the parade goes by, Marco wishes his grandfather were with him to enjoy it.  Then, marching down the street, come the veterans, wearing uniforms and shiny medals.  But look!  Who is that leading them?  Marco never imagined the kind of surprise in store for him.”  Review from Amazon.

Stars and Stripes Celebrate Memorial Day by Madeline Collins.  “This book is dedicated in memory of the brave men and women who have fought to keep our country safe.  Written by Madeline Collins for her Girl Scout Gold Award.  Proceeds from the sale of this book are donated to ReMind: The Bob Wooddruff Foundation.
 
About the Author
 
Madeline Collins is a high school student where she is a member of the Science and National Honor Societies, as well as the president of the English Honor Society.  She is a varsity field hockey and lacrosse player.  She has been writing stories and poetry since first grade.  Her artistic interests include drawing, painting, clay and jewelry design.  This book was written and illustrated as part of her Girl Scout Gold Award.  She lives in New Jersey with her parents, grandparents and brothers.”  Review from Amazon.

The Wall by Eve Bunting is for kids age 4 to 8.  “A boy and his father have come to the Vietnam War Memorial to look for the boy’s grandfather’s name among those who were killed in the war.  They find his name surrounded, but far from lost, in the rows of print that “march side by side, like rows of soldiers.”  “I’m proud that your grandfather’s name is on this wall,” says the boy’s father.  The boy agrees, adding, “but I’d rather have my grandpa here.”  Before this powerful book is half finished, readers will be deeply moved.  Bunting’s understated prose captures the meaning of the memorial to the American people, especially to those who lost loved ones, without being maudlin or heavy-handed.  Himler’s gauzy watercolors are a perfect accompaniment: impressionistic enough for the characters to appear as everymen.  A sensitive and moving picture book, and a great discussion book as well. — Catherine vanSonnenberg, San Diego Public Library, CA Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.”  Review from Amazon.

Tell them that the practice of getting together with family and friends for Decoration Day started before the American Civil War.  The concept of potluck meals was popular then too.  People would spread sheets or tablecloths on the grass and spread various dishes of food out for all to eat.

After sharing this information, tell the kids  to find out  when the name changed to Memorial Day and why.  Another good research topic is for the kids to find out the difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day.  They can write it up, draw pictures or discuss it with you.

Although the Memorial Day weekend has become a time to have fun and welcome summer, it’s important for the kids to understand the history behind the day.  So fly your flags, attend a memorial day event and have a wonderful weekend with family and friends.

The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition by Jim Trelease is for parents of kids from birth and up.  “A New York Times and million copy bestseller, the classic handbook on reading aloud to children—revised and updated.  Recommended by ‘Dear Abby’, The New York Times and The Washington Post, for three decades, millions of parents and educators have turned to Jim Trelease’s beloved classic to help countless children become avid readers through awakening their imaginations and improving their language skills. Now this new edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook imparts the benefits, rewards, and importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by delightful anecdotes as well as the latest research, The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies—and the reasoning behind them—for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.  Penguin Books named The Read-Aloud Handbook as one of the seventy-five most important books it published in its seventy-five-year history.”  Review from Amazon.

Brain Quest Workbook: Grade 1 by Lisa Trumbauer is for kids in, well, first grade.  The Brain Quest series has pretty much any grade level available.  “Jam-packed with hundreds of curriculum-based activities, exercises and games in every subject, Brain Quest Workbook: Grade 1 reinforces what kids are learning in the classroom.  The workbook’s lively layout and easy-to-follow explanations make learning fun, interactive, and concrete.  Plus it’s written to help parents follow and explain key concepts.  Includes phonics, spelling, vocabulary, find the rhyme, addition, subtraction, skip counting, time, money, maps, science, brain boxes, and much, much more.”  Review from Amazon.

Summer Bridge Activities: Bridging Grades Third to Fourth is a compilation by Summer Bridge Activities.  “School Stops for Summer.  Learning Never Should!  Prevent summer learning loss with our award winning, best-selling summer learning series!  Summer Bridge Activities: Bridging Grades Third to Fourth reinforces essential skills across the curriculum and helps prepare children for second grade.  With 12 weeks’ worth of activities, completing Summer Bridge Activities™ is the perfect way to keep skills sharp all summer long!

Includes:

• Reading Comprehension
• Grammar
• Addition and Subtraction
• Multiplication and Division
• Social Studies
• Character Development
• Easy Science Experiments
• Fitness Activities
• Outdoor Extension Activities
• Answer Key

Review from Amazon.

The cure for summer learning loss is really not difficult.  First and most important remember that YOU are the ultimate teacher!  Today’s suggestion is to start asking the kids questions.  The trick is to ensure that the responses require more than a one word response.  For example, start by making a statement that you are looking forward to summer.  Without doubt that will be something the kids can relate to.  A typical response might be “me too.”  Yes, that’s an answer but it’s not adequate.  Encourage your children to give details explaining what they are looking forward to and why.  Getting the kids to give detailed answers is a goal that we work toward all year long.  For example, with reading, it’s the detailed answered provided by the child that demonstrates whether they comprehend the books that they read.

Ultimately the goal is to guide your children into giving explanations that demonstrate the ability to make connections, and inferences when answering questions.  So our suggestion for today is to just talk with the kids, ask questions (READS has 30 of them) and guide them towards giving answers with details.  Sounds easy, doesn’t it?  Just one more suggestion, some kids may be reluctant, and in that case, you provide (model) an answer.  For example, my answer to the question of what I’m looking forward to this summer might be “I can’t wait for our family vacation this summer to Disneyworld”. 

As always we look forward to hearing from you about “talking with the kids” goes.

The Night Before Mother’s Day by Natasha Wing is for kids aged 3 – 5.  “It’s the night before Mother’s Day, and Dad and the kids are determined to show Mom just how much they love her.  They whip up a cake from scratch, and offer a special coupon for a day at the spa, right in their own kitchen!  Kids and moms will love reading this sweet story aloud together for a fun way to celebrate Mother’s Day.”  Review from Amazon.

Someday by Alison McGhee is for kids aged 4 and up.  “ One day I counted your fingers and kissed each one,” opens McGhee’s (A Very Brave Witch) understated yet emotion-charged expression of a mother’s love and hopes for her child. Reynolds’s (The Dot) spare, wispy pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations depict the narrator and her daughter sharing everyday moments that mark milestones in the girl’s maturation: the mother watches snowflakes “melt on your baby skin” and crosses the street as her little one grasps her hand. A transitional spread first reveals the youngster on a tricycle, aided by her mother, and then riding solo on a bicycle (“Then, you were my baby,/ and now you are my child”). Quietly the emotion builds, as the mother thinks of the future in store for her daughter, its joys and sorrows: “Someday I will stand on this porch and watch your arms waving to me until I no longer see you.” Here Reynolds depicts the woman, older than she was at the book’s start, on the left, gazing forlornly across the white expanse of the spread. The narrative comes full circle, as the parent looks ahead to a day, ‘a long time from now,’ when her daughter’s own hair will ‘glow silver in the sun.’  Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.”  Review from Amazon.

Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman is for kids aged 3 – 7.  This book is a classic.  First published on 1960 it still relevant and charming today.  It’s an excellent first reader.  “ Are You My Mother? follows a confused baby bird who’s been denied the experience of imprinting as he asks cows, planes, and steam shovels the Big Question.  In the end he is happily reunited with his maternal parent in a glorious moment of recognition.”  Review from Amazon.

• Make breakfast
• Create a coupon book for doing chores
• Planting flowers
• Write a poem
• Offer up a day without arguing with your brothers and sisters
• Design and make a picture frame (try Popsicle sticks)
• Clean up your room
• Set the table
• No nagging
• Handmade placemats

The best gift of all will be the look on Mom’s face when she sees the wonderful surprise planned by the family, in secret!

 Happy Mother’s Day!!

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (Mar 9, 2013) is for kids in grades 4 and up, younger for reading aloud, but really for kids of all ages.  “As Mark Evan Swartz comments in Oz: Before the Rainbow [BKL O 15 00], L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz “occupies a unique position in the cultural fabric of this country.”  Editor Peter Glassman (Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration) calls the story “quintessentially American.”  Yet it has a universal appeal–which may account for its translation into many different languages.  Although children are often first introduced to the Land of Oz by the classic 1939 movie, the original novel and its many sequels have enchanted both young and old over the years.  Published for the centennial, several new books commemorate the beloved story. Readers unacquainted with Oz are sure to find a pleasing version; readers who already know the story will find something to delight them all over again.  In Oz: The Hundredth Anniversary Celebration, Peter Glassman presents art and words from children’s book authors and illustrators who are big fans of Oz and here pay homage to ‘the enchanted land that inspired them and helped shape their imaginations.’”  Review from Amazon.

The Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose: A Treasury of More Than 300 Classic Nursery Rhymes by Arnold Lobel is for kids age 3 and up.  “The Arnold Lobel Book of Mother Goose (1986), originally published as The Random House Book of Mother Goose, appears here in a complete and unabridged edition with more than 300 nursery rhymes, all illustrated in Lobel’s distinctive style, whether he is winking at the audience (as in “Three blind mice,” when he reveals that the trio can see) or acknowledging the sky’s starry splendor in “Hey diddle, diddle.”
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.”  Review from Amazon.

Magic Tree House #49: Stallion by Starlight by Mary Pope Osborne is for kids age 7 – 10.  “If kids get hooked on Magic Tree House, they’re hooked on reading!  This is one series that kids, teachers, librarians, and parents all agree on.  A perfect blend of magic, adventure, history, science, danger, and cuteness—the topics range from kid pleasers (pirates, the Titanic, pandas) to curriculum perfect (rain forest, American Revolution, Abraham Lincoln) to seasonal shoe-ins (Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving).  Magic Tree House #49 features Jack and Annie heading back to ancient Greece and an adventure with Alexander the Great when he was a child and his famous stallion: Bucephalus.”  Review from Amazon.

Did you know ????

• May 1       Mother Goose Day
• May 3       Dr. Benjamin Spock was born in 1903
• May 4       Susan’s birthday  (from Sesame Street)
• May 5       Children’s Day in Japan and Cinco de Mayo
• May 7       Pulitzer Prize Established in 1917
• May 8       No Socks Day
• May 9       First Newspaper Cartoon inUSA(1754)
• May 10     Clean Up Your Room Day
• May 12     Kite Day
• May 14     National Dance Like a Chicken Day   (link below to )
• May 15     Frank  L. Baum (1865), Author of Wizard of Oz
• May 19     Circus Day
• May 20     Mary Pope Osborn born 1949
• May 22     Arnold Lobel born 1933
• May 24     Mary Had A little Lamb published 1830
• May 30     Ice Cream Freezer Patented in 1848

Some list???  Share with your kids and if they say or “Huh?? or Who??, encourage a little research.

Let us know your favorite surprised day – Mine is the Dance Like a Chicken Day

Miss Nelson is Missing! (Read Along Book & CD) by Harry G. Allard Jr. is for kids age 4 – 8.  “’Rarely has the golden rule been so effectively interpreted for children.’  — Booklist Miss Nelson is the nicest teacher in the school.  She never yells and she gives the easiest assignments.  The kids in Room 207 take advantage of her good nature until she disappears and they are faced with a challenging substitute.
 
This Read-Along Book and CD Favorite includes a paperback edition of the book and a compact disc in a newly designed reusable package.  Perfect for car trips, classrooms, and bedtime listening, these recordings feature lively sound effects and original music.  The CD includes one reading with page-turn signals as well as an uninterrupted reading.”  Review from Amazon.

The Teacher Who Would Not Retire by Sheila Sustrin is for kids age 4 and up.  “The Teacher Who Would Not Retire is a humorous portrayal of one first grade teacher who will do anything to continue to stay involved with her students–including coming to school disguised as a window washer, a firefighter, and a cafeteria cook. The children recognize her every time because of her distinctive ballet slippers.
 
Grandparents, teachers, and parents will love this fun way to teach children about retirement and the love of learning.”  Review from Amazon.

The Teacher from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler is for kids age 4 – 8.  “An outrageously funny tale of how rumors can make a student create a monster out of any teacher!
 
Two popular books from the bestselling Black Lagoon series–TEACHER and LIBRARIAN–are now reissued with fun new covers!  Join Hubie once again as he faces his comically horrific fears during his first day of school and his first trip to the school library.  Featuring a fire-breathing teacher and a library where all the books are bolted to the shelves, these stories are sure to amuse and quell fears of new experiences at the same time!”  Review from Amazon.

This year encourage your kids to draw a picture, write a note, send an email, or simply give a hug to his/her teacher.  When you ask your kids “What do you want to be when you grow up?” you may want to encourage them to consider teaching as a very personally rewarding career.