Join the Fun at The “Bounding for Books Blog Tour”

Kick your summer of right. Join me here from June 1st to 14th, 2009 where I’ll be participating in a book blog tour. Each of the six days I’ll be featuring a different book and author. My schedule is as follows:
June 1st “Nothing Stops Noah” by Shari Lyle-Soffe
June 3rd “Rattlesnake Jam” by Margot Finke
June 5th “Dotty’s Topsy Tale” by Donna Shepherd
June 8th “A Talent for Quiet” by Kim Chatel
June 10th “A Star in the Night” by Jennifer Gladen
June 12th “Crash!” by Mayra Calvani

See how each of these books goes beyond reading.

You can follow “Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa” each day as follows:

June 1st I’m visiting with Mayra Calvani over at Mayra’s Secret Bookcase.

June 3rd I’ll be popping in at Jen’s blog with Jennifer Gladen.

June 5th Donna Shepherd is hosting me at Topsy Turvy Land.

June 8th Visit with me at Chatel Daily News where I’ll be sharing inspirational ideas whit Kim Chatel

June 10th Margot Finke and I will be having a great time over at Margot’s BOOKS for KIDS + Writing News.

June 12th The grand finale of the tour I’ll be spending the day with Shari Lyle-Soffe over at Shari Lyle-Soffe “Out of My Mind” About Books for Children.

Get a head start by popping over to the Trailer page and see what each book is about.

I hope you can all join us on this tour. All the books are great summer reading for you and your children.

Spread the word, we’d all appreciate it.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!

Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Easy Way To Start Teaching Your Child A Second Language

Even if you don’t know a second language it’s good to have your children learn one. Why? Because in this ever shrinking world, knowing a second language (or even more) will give your child a competitive edge when they set out on their own.

So, here is a very easy first step.

Look around your home and yard. What do you see? Chairs, tables, trees, doors, etc. Now, go to your computer and do a search for a multi-lingual dictionary. For example: to translate words from English to Spanish, I use SpanishDict.com

Okay, now type in the words one at a time and get the translation.
Examples:

Door – Puerta
Window – Ventana
Tree – Árbol

Next, make word cards with the Spanish (or what ever language you want your child to learn) and write the words on them.

Last step, put the word card on the object so your child can read the word in their new second language.

You can go further and work on learning the alphabet, numbers and colors in your new language. (You’re going to learn it too.)

Have fun, you never know when your new language will come in handy!

See you back here Monday with another great book that goes beyond reading.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Ways To Get Children Interested In Writing

There are many ways to spark imagination in a child. Here are a few ways to get those creative juices flowing even in the youngest children.

“What if”
Start by asking a “What if” type question and see what they say. Example:What if it really did rain cats and dogs?
What if you could fly? (Where would you go? What would you see?)

Give them a fill-in-the-blanks sentence. Example:
The ________ _______ down in a ________.
animal action word place
___________ put a _________ in the __________ and it _______________.
name object place action


“What happened next?”
Start telling a story. Then have each child in turn add to the story.
These are fun, especially when you have several children. Go around the circle continually adding to the story.

Take it a step further...
Record the story. You can type it out and have the children illustrate it.

Hope these ideas got your creative juices flowing. Have fun, and if you have any other ideas, please share. I promise to give you full credit.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Are Babies Too Young To Learn To Read?

What do you think about this? If you’re like many parents, you probably started reading to your children before they were born and then continued the habit after they came into this world.

Like learning a second language, children’s brains, young children’s brains are like a sponge and can learn all kinds of things at a very young age. Many agree that before a child is 5 years old they can learn a second language and now studies show they can learn to read as well.

Check out this interesting article and then drop me a note on if you agree or disagree.
http://blogscience.cn/592601-Why-Babies-Can-and-Should-Learn-to-Read.html

See you back here Monday with another great book that goes beyond reading.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Go Beyond Reading: Take it one step further

Need another idea to take a book beyond reading? Try taking it one step further. For example, you’ve just finished reading a book about moving to a new place. Ask your child or students to pick a city and research the area as if they are going to move there. What does the new city have for children to do? Do they have a library? Parks? Museums? Is there a lake or a river nearby? Are there any amusement parks? Mountains?

Next have them pick a different country to move to. What would be different there? What kind of money would they need? What language would they have to learn to speak? Is the country inland or on the sea? What do the houses look like there? What are the traditional foods? Holidays?

This can lend itself to all kinds of ideas and get the children excited about learning about new places.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Drawing is fun!

I love to draw, don't you? Drawing is a great way to help your child take a book beyond reading. They can draw their favorite part of the story, draw what they think happened after the story ended, draw their favorite character in the story, and the list of ideas goes on.

Here are a few sites to help your child start drawing. Have fun with them yourwelf. You never know, you and your child might just be budding artists!

Let’s Draw The pictures on this page are free drawing lessons. You can purchase their books too.

Hello Kids Lots of fun drawing pages with step by step instructions

Draw with Uncle Fred Simple easy drawings any child can do. A great starter webiste for a young child wanting to learn how to draw.

Have fun and I'll see you back here Friday with some fun math sites.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

A Few Cool Kids Sites I Found While Surfing

The internet continues to amaze me. It doesn't where in the world you live, you have access to it all. Truly global.

Okay, on with today's post. I like to surf the net like most people. I'll get an idea in my head and google it to see what pops up. While I doing that, I've come up with some great sites. Here are a few of them.

Pitara is full of interesting links. They have literature, a magazine, discover (science) and activities and games. They a
Have a Junior section for young children with fun games and stories.

Enchanted Learning Diorama Like to make dioramas with your kids? Here are lots of ideas. Go create one for their favorite book. Have fun! There are also lots of other crafts ideas you can use here for free.

Like animal trivia and facts? Go to Sheppard Software’s free pages on just that.

Part of PBS Kids, Reading Rainbow has short video book reviews, games and other fun stuff to do.

What are some of your favorite sites? or those of your children?

See you back here on Monday with another great book that goes beyond reading.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Places to Learn More About The Animals In The Books You Read

Ever read a book about giraffes, hippos or okapis and wanted to learn more about them?
Where do they live?
What do they eat?
How big are they really?
Here are a few places you can go to learn all kinds of interesting facts about animals:

The Ultimate Ungulate
This site is all about hoofed animals. Anything you want to know about a giraffe, kudu or bongo you can find here.

Animal Diversity Web
This site is for older children and has information you can use even if you're in college. Learn about any type of animal in very good scientific terms. Great for when your child has a report they have to write.

Zoo and Aquarium Visitor
Want to know about zoos, aquariums or any animals that live in them? This site is full of all kinds of information. Poke around, I’m sure you’ll find something that interests you.

Animal Planet
Connected to the TV channel, this site is filled with all kinds of cool stuff.

Animal Games
For the younger set. Fun games to learn about your favorite animals. Devided into mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and insects. Have fun playing game 12 under mammals.

See you back here Friday with more interesting sites that can take any book beyond reading.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

On line magazines

Most magazines today have a web presences. At their sites they give away free stuff, have more information than in their paper magazines and links to a variety of information.

A few of my favorites for children are lsited below.

National Geographic for Kids
Here you’re in for a real treat. Like anything from National Geographic, this is full of fun fact finding features. There are games, videos, stories and more. On a rainy day your child, or you, could get lost here for hours.

Time for Kids
This is another great site. Broken down into grades levels, you can find current issues, past issues, around the world and more fun current events things.

Dimdima
This is a kids online magazine from India. Lots of good stuff here. Check it out.

Children's Web Magazine
This is geared towards children 8 and up.

Internet Public Library
Kids Space lists all types of magazines that have fun stuff for children online.

Highlights Kids
This is connected to the paper magazine Highlights. Play games, do puzzles and give your opinion of what you read in the paper magazine.

OwlKids
Three different levels of kid fun.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out these online magazines with me. See you back here Friday.

Kid Craft Sites

Who likes crafts? I know, you ALL raised your hands, right? How many of your children like doing crafts? Again, all of you said "Mine do!"

There are so many sites out there for crafts. You can find sites for anything you can imagine in the craft world.

I've got a few here for you today to help you on your quest to getting more out of the books your children read. Have fun!

DLTK’s Kids
Stuck inside? Need a simple craft? This is your place to be.
Use this to take your child’s favorite book beyond reading. Pick out a story. Now look through the many categories and pick a craft that fits your book. Read the book and then make the craft. Take it further and bake something that the characters in the book might eat. Enjoy!
Poke around here and you’ll find all kinds of neat things to do.

Another great site for kid crafts is Amazing Moms.
Pick an age group or a holiday and you’re off to the races with tons of great craft projects. Remember Potato Art? She’s got it. Have fun. Be a kid again and join your child in the fun of making crafts.

Squigly's Playhouse
Here’s a fun craft site! Want to make a no mess easy stained glass window? Or how about a bird feeder box? Or some jewelry? This site has so many things to do it will keep you and your little ones busy for hours.

Ever wanted to learn how to make those animals and hats out of balloons? Go to KidsStuff. Here you’ll be able to learn and have fun with your kids. Try to make balloon creations from your favorite picture book! Now there’s a challenge.

I have some crafts on my site too. Mine are all geared to go with our book, "Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa."

I think that's a good start. Of course, you can always google what ever craft your child wants to learn and find a few hundred sites dedicated to it.

See you back here on Monday with another great book that goes beyond reading.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Let's go to the Library!

Libraries are a wealth of information and inspiration. Living in Puerto Rico the past few years this is something I’ve missed. That’s not to say there are no libraries here, just that there aren’t any near me. So, what do I do? Turn to the internet. There I’ve found everything my heart could possibly desire.

Here are a few websites I’ve collected over the years:

The Internet Public Library
Here you can; ask a librarian questions, read newspapers, in the side bar you can link references, reading room, kidspace, teenspace and more. Check it out, it’s worth the trip.

Another site is Public Libraries.com
This lists all the libraries in the US. Not just public city or county libraries, but State library and archives, Library of Congress, Presidential libraries, College libraries and Law libraries.

Pick a state, pick a city, pick a library. If the library has it’s own website (most do) you can access it from here.

One of the biggest most comprehensive sites is the Library of Congress.
Here you’ll find resources, general information and more library resources down the side bar with numerous links under each heading. You can look at past and present exhibitions, leaf your way through their vast digital collections and library catalogs. If you need information, this is a great place to start.

Reading Books Online

Remember those great books we read as kids? Can’t find them anywhere?

If they are no longer copyright protected in the US, you could find it at Project Gutenberg. This site is a treasure find of old books. I copied ebooks of all the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy stories with art work.

This had not just children’s books, but books form all over the world in all languages. Have a favorite author from long ago? Check them out here. This site is defiantly worth exploring, if you like books.

Lookybook
These books are flip books, meaning even though they are ebooks, the pages turn instead of scroll. Depending on your internet connection these can take a while to upload. You can preview the book and purchase either an e-book or hard copy.

Bookbox
Here you’ll find e-books you can preview for free or purchase in multiple languages, free stuff like games, stories and more. They’ve also put together for you a list of sites for teachers. They have hundreds of sites here, so you don’t have to search all over the net for them.

With e-books becoming popular, there are many places you can go online and read books with your children. Here are a few to get you started.

Children’s Storybooks Online
The Rosetta Project These are antique storybooks you can read online.

See you back here on Monday with another great book that goes beyond reading.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Book of the Week: Doggie Day Camp: Verb and Adverb Adventures by Cynthia Reeg

Todays’ pick is an adventure in verbs and adverbs.

Cynthia has really mastered taking a book beyond reading. This cute story encourages children to read and at the same time having verbs and adverbs color-coded helps new readers to identify them and understand what verbs and adverbs are.

At the back of the book, Cynthia has a study guide and six fun word game activities for children to do. There’s no better way to teach than by showing, and Cynthia does that perfectly.

You can pick up your copy at:
Barnes & Noble

Fictionwise

Jump over to Cynthia’s website and check out all the fun things she has for you to do there.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra - Books for Children

Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Book of the Week: Rainbow Sheep by Kim Chatel

Today I have a beautiful storybook to share with you. "Rainbow Sheep" by Kim Chatel.

Genevieve is a shepherdess high up on a hill. It’s been raining for days. Everything is soggy, wet and miserable. Genevieve’s had enough and goes up to the top of her hill to make the sun shine through. When she does she finds a tattered, sad rainbow. She tells the rainbow all about her sheep, the land and the sea.

Can Genevieve make the rainbow happy? Why do her sheep turn colors, all the colors of the rainbow?

This adorable story is one you can read over and over again to your children. Genevieve, I mean Kim has a wonderful way of telling stories that your children will love.

Kim’s art work with wool is creative and innovative. She has a true talent at felting. She takes this book beyond reading with including directions on making your own sheep out of felt. She tells you all about felting, what to use and how to make felted soap and a needle felted sheep.

Here is a video of how to make your own sheep. It’s long, but by the end you too can make a felted sheep.



Part two is over on You Tube.

Over at Kim’s website you can find lots more fun things to do.

You can get your copy at:
Guardian Angel Publishing

or from Amazon right here.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
http://www.laughing-zebra-children-books.com/
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
http://zooprisepartyfiestazoorpresa.blogspot.com/

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posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Stories For Children online Magazine

Stories for Children Magazine
This is a really great online FREE magazine for your children. Top quality stories, art illustrations, crafts, puzzles and much more. It’s downloadable so you can save them and read your child’s favorite stories over and over again.

You can hop over to Fun Links to find other web sites with things for children to do. One of my favorites here is the Writing Life for Kids and Teens. These links accept stories written by children for children. If you have a budding author in the house, you really need to check these out.

Hop over to the Book Reviews and see what books are being talked about. (If you have a children’s book, you can get the guidelines for submission too)

As this is a FREE magazine, donations are greatly appreciated to help keep the website up. A worthy cause for such a good source of fun and information for you and your children.

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posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Finding Teacher Resources on the Internet

There are all kinds of sites out on the internet that are useful to teachers. I've done some searching and found a few that help parents and teachers make learning fun. Here are some of them. Check them out and see what you think.

The Teacher's Corner
This is geared towards helping teachers in all they do. As parents, this site has lots of information you can adapt to things you do at home with your children. A few things on the home page are:

Monthly Activities and Resources – you’ll find lots there to make your month a success

Seasonal Activities – goes over all special days for that month and activities you can do to reinforce them in your children/students

In the side bars there are links to printable worksheets, book nook, free printable maps and free puzzles.

Looking around this site you’re sure to find something you can use to enhance the books you’re reading with your children.

A to Z Teacher Stuff
This is another site packed full of useful stuff. Mainly for teachers, again you can find lots to do at home with your children too.

Have a child who loves science experiments? Computers? Math? Look under lessons on the home page for subject and age appropriate lessons.

Under printables you’ll find books, coloring pages, games, worksheets and much more.

Click on all the tabs across the top of the home page and discover a world of learning fun.

Note: some of the items here are not free but many of them are.

A few more to check out are:
teAchnology
Lesson Plan Library

Do you have a favorite one that you go back to over and over again?

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Tip #30 Make up Songs to go Along With the Story

We are on the last of my 30 Tips to take a Book Beyond Reading. Today’s tip will get all your children or students laughing.

Using the story line, make up songs. You can use the tunes from other songs, like Row Row Row Your Boat, or I’m a Little Teapot, or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Anyway, try it. Here’s mine.

Sing to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Mori, Mori why so blue?
It’s your birthday all day through.

Have some cake,
And ice cream too,
It’s not time to say boo hoo.

Mori, Mori why so blue?
It’s your birthday all day through.

Have fun making up songs. (I bet you won’t get this little ditty out of your head any time soon.)

See you back here Monday as we continue to explore ways to take Books Beyond Reading.

Tip# 29 What happens AFTER the story ends

Today’s tip comes once again from Terri Main. Terri says:

One I like is to have kids tell me what they think happened after the story to the characters.

Thanks Terri. This is a great way to get children really thinking about the story they just read. What happened to the seven dwarfs once Snow White went away with her prince? What happened the next time Nemo’s class when on a field trip? What kind of adventures did Pinocchio have after he became a real boy? The list of ideas for this one are endless.

You can read more from Terri at her sites:
Wayfares Journalblog
Wayfares Journal
Creative Calisthenics

Okay, your assignment, put on your thinking caps and come up with a few of your own. Then read the story to your children and ask your questions at the end. I bet you’ll have a very lively discussion result.

Only one more tip, and it’s coming your way on Friday. See you then.

Tip #28 Help for Reluctant Readers

Today’s tip comes from Max Elliot Anderson. He says:
I grew up as a reluctant reader. And my father was the author of over 70 books. Now I write action-adventure and mystery books especially for tween boys.

Author James Patterson has a ten year-old son who doesn’t like to read. So Patterson has established Read Kiddo Read to help other reluctant readers.

Thanks for sharing Max.

I’m sure there are lots of sites out there that can help children who don’t like to read. I suggest start by reading with them every day. Let them pick the book and even if you don’t like the subject, sit down and read it with them. You can also try any number of the other tips shared here to jump start their reading habit.

You can read more about how to motivate reluctant readers at Max’s two blogs,Books for boys, and Confessions of a Reluctant Reader.

* * * * *
See you Tomorrow. I know it’s not my usual day, but I’m hosting “Prairie Dog Cowboy” on both of my blogs as part of their book tour. See you then.

4th in the 4th tag

Another Friday and another tag. This one's from Elysabeth's Emerald City.

It works like this:

I go into my pictures and post the fourth picture in the fourth album.

So, here's mine. It's a picture of when my book, "Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa" was being printed. Here the quality control guy is making sure the greens are the right shades of green, the blues are too ans so on. I'm glad I was there because there were some blues, greens and browns that weren't right and we had to start all over!

So, now I have the honor of passing this tag onto four more people. Here are my picks:

Shari Lyle-Soffe

Margot Finke

Kathy Stemke

Bill Kirk

Have fun!

See ou back here Monday with another great guest tip on how to take books beyond reading.