Some new additions

Well I think I am starting to get to grips with this blog now, I have managed to change the layout and menu a bit, added a picture of some of the old book bears in our house and loaded more pages recommending books. I still need to sort out adding links and also tags and categories but we will get there eventually.

Some of the new pages added include Nick Butterworth’s Percy the Park Keeper books, The Paper Dolls by Julia Donaldson and Alice’s Bear Shop’s books by Rikey Austin. I have also added some Usborne non-fiction books which are popular in our house (See Inside and Usborne Beginners). I do have a lot more books to add though, there is definitely no shortage of children’s literature in our house.

I am working on a couple more Spotlight articles including Laura’s Star, I also hope to include a couple of illustrators soon as I think illustration is such a large part of a successful children’s book.

 

 

 

Versatile Blogger Award

http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com/

Well the lovely Sherri of http://sherrimatthewsblog.com/ A View From My Summerhouse nominated me so thank you Sherri. I have to confess I have very little clue about what I am supposed to do now. According to the rules I have to select 15 blogs to nominate. Well I don’t have 15 yet so this could be a fairly brief post.

oh and 7 things about me

1) I have worked at 2 Olympics

2) I have been on Grandstand

3) I did a special study on Volcanic Hazards in Iceland as part of my degree

4) I still have 4 baby teeth even though I am in my late 30s

5) I have been round the world 3 times but I don’t like flying

6) I scored 174 in a supervised Mensa test when I was 16 (172 was the maximum score on the test but because I was under 18 it was adjusted to take into account my age) – shame I have a rubbish memory so it means nothing

7) I love lavender

now my nominees

ok well I don’t follow many blogs yet so I will come back to this when I find some but to start off …

http://jerasjamboree.com/ – I will be amazed if Shaz hasn’t already had this but it was thanks to our husbands working together that I found her blog and started doing my own.  One day perhaps I will be able to run as successful a blog as she does.

http://eileenlangsley.wordpress.com/ – Eileen Langsley is one of the most amazing photographers in the World and astonishingly I really think she doesn’t realise just how good she is. I feel very lucky to be friends with such a lovely and inspirational lady. She has done a lot for the role of women in sports photography and has won many awards. Eileen has worked at an unbelievable number (if even countable) of major international sporting events including 13 Olympic Games and although she is best known for her work in gymnastics (which is how I know her) she has also worked across a whole range of sports producing photographs which not only capture the sporting achievement but the atmosphere and personalities of the competitors. I feel honoured to be her friend.

Reading Challenges/Book Track

So we signed up for the library summer reading challenge again this year on the 2nd day, and we finished it in less than 90 mins (that time also included walking home from the library and having a snack!). SO we left it a couple of weeks before going back to the library and daring to say that we had finished but when we did the librarian (assuming my eldest daughter was at least 6 because she is so tall) suggested she started the Book Track.

Book Track involves reading 100 books. Any 100 books over any amount of time but every time books are finished and returned to the library the child has to sit and discuss the books they have read with one of the librarians who then logs the books on a card (max of 4 books at a time).  At various points they are given badges or stickers (sticker to start, badges at 10, 25, 50, 75 and 100 and stickers at something like 40 and 90 – can’t quite remember with the stickers).

26 days after starting it (and we were away for 12 days of that with no library books) daughter number 1 has read and reported on 25 books. She has actually read more but they won’t let her talk to them about her own books, only library ones so she has decided to discontinue it.  It seems a shame to me as surely the whole point is to get kids reading. I assumed that as long as they can take the book along and talk about it (and are mostly reading library books) then they should be able to count it in their total.  Anyway she has decided that mummy has to create her a book track of her own to do at home.

To try and dissuade her from just reading the shorter books that she finds easy we are going to have to make it more complex (her idea – she knows she will pick easy ones if it means she gets through more of them and gets stickers quicker…). We are currently deciding the tariff. Probably a simple picture book will be 1 point, a longer picture story book will be 2, an early reader 3 and a chapter book 4 or 5 depending on the length of it.  At least doing something like this at home means daughter number 2 can’t whine about not being old enough to do the library one and she can join in herself now she is starting to read.

Now I need to work out what they will get as rewards and at what stages. Little certificates are bound to go down well, especially with daughter 2.

 

summer break

I haven’t forgotten about thebookbears but have been a bit tied up playing with the children during the summer holidays.  We have read lots of new books though so will be adding many more soon and doing some reviews as well. New spotlight articles are also being written ready to be published.

Hope you are enjoying your summer.