Take 1 Poem and a bouquet of Bug Nets and show your kids a universe of words & adventures! Yesterday afternoon, I popped into Target for a couple of uninteresting necessities, but left with an entire universe of words and poems and adventures. How is this possible? I saw, and purchased, the magic of these… Colorful BUG NETS! I bought [...]

How to improve kids’ reading & vocabulary development AND teach Poetry in just 2 minutes a day… Charming and delightful and oh-so-wicked… words that entice children and make them smile! This little poem by 19th century poet/author Lewis Carroll will have your children smiling almost as gently wickedly as the little crocodile in the poem HOW DOTH THE LITTLE CROCODILE. [...]

It’s never too early to teach kids about Poems & Poetry. I have living proof… My very young grandsons, Ben & Henry, will remember running to the back of my shed to see my RED WHEELBARROW with its glazed rainwater turning to ice. They will never forget the stone chicken skating on the glazed ice in THE RED WHEELBARROW. They [...]

Day 11 of our 31 Letters Literacy Project is about WINDOW SHOPPING. Have you ever stopped to look at something in a store window?  Has this thing enticed you to purchase it?  Today’s letter topic is WINDOW SHOPPING, inspired by the poem Red Slippers that we bumped into on Day 11 of 365 Days of Literacy for Kids: RED SLIPPERS [...]

Day 8 of our 31 Letters Literacy Project is about making up our minds! As adults, we’re always telling our kids, “Make up your mind!”… whether it’s about an outfit to wear, a book or toy or movie or game to choose, a hairstyle, a radio station to listen to, or something as simple as what snack to eat. Do [...]

Day 6 of 31 Letters is inspired by a poem we bumped into on Day 6 of 365 Days of Literacy for Kids. The poem is GERMAN SHEPHERD by Myra Cohn Livingston: He has never heard of tides, of moon and sun pulling the water to ebb, to flow. All that he can know is to outrun white foam and [...]

Think about these things for a minute… When we read with children and encourage reading, we promote language skills, reading skills, writing skills and speaking skills.  We help develop longer attention spans.  When we take time to focus on reading with children in our families, we strengthen family ties. Reading is one of the greatest gifts we can give to [...]

The 31 Letters Project is a magical way to excite your children about literacy. The 31 Letters Project is a month’s-worth of letters about YOU, sent to your own children (or grandchildren, nieces, nephews, special friends) through the mail.  It’s that simple on the outside.  On the inside, your letters will delight children enough for them to read and re-read… [...]

LITERACY is all about WORDS – Written, Spoken, Felt. It is the most amazing and magical feeling to see and hear words that come to life in letters.  In our 31 Letters Project, your children will have the feeling each day for 31 days to live and re-live the experiences of YOUR childhood… in your own words and in your [...]

The 31 Letters Project. It’s March.  And we’re marching into March with LETTER WRITING. Grab your writing materials and get ready to give your child/children, grandchildren, niece/nephew/special friend a wonderful gift… 31 LETTERS all about YOU in your own words.  31 Letters arriving in the mail. LITERACY is all about WORDS – experimenting with words, seeing words, hearing words, knowing [...]