April 2006
Monday, April 10th, 2006 at 7:37 pm by carol
From The Reading Room
April 2006
Reading Strategy Spotlight - Synthesizing
Synthesizing is putting together the information gained from the text and the reader’s own ideas to form new thoughts. An analogy would be baking a cake. You take eggs and milk and flour and sugar and mix it all together. After it has been baked it becomes something new. The original ingredients no longer stand alone. Summarizing a story is a good way to synthesize. Ask your children to tell you about a story in their own words. Help them determine the main idea.
Quote for April
To read is to empower;
To empower is to write;
To write is to influence;
To influence is to change;
To change is to live.
~Jane Evershed~
April Book Choices
The character trait highlight for April is conviction. Conviction is standing up for what is right even when others don’t. Here are some books in which the main character shows conviction.
The Butterfly By Patricia Polacco
Monique is a young girl in France during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Her family must protect a Jewish family.
Freedom on the Menu By Carole Boston Weatherford
This story is about the 1960 civil rights sit-ins in Greensboro, NC as seen through the eyes of a young girl, Connie.
A Bad Case of the Stripes By David Shannon
Camilla does what everyone expects her to do in order to be popular until finally she doesn’t even recognize herself.
Important Days in April
April 1—April Fool’s Day
April 2—Daylight Savings Time Begins
April 9—Palm Sunday
April 16—Easter Sunday
April 22—Earth Day
April Showers Bring May Flowers
Have you heard the saying that “April showers bring May flowers”? Ask your children if they’ve heard it before. Then talk with your children about the seasons, about rain and about the water cycle. You can discuss or list all the good things about rain (provides water for flowers and other plants, cools things off, etc.) and then talk about the bad things about rain (keeps us from playing outside, makes the roads slippery, etc.). Remember that talking with your children is vitally important to their learning.
A Spring Activity to Share with Your Family
A great project for your family might be putting up a bird feeder and then keeping track of the birds that visit the feeder. Keep a journal of each kind of bird that visits. See how many different varieties come during the first day, week, month, and then year.
Earth Day Fun
Earth Day is celebrated in April each year. The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. Earth Day is celebrated to bring attention to the need to take care of our planet. There are many things you can do to care for our earth. You can plant a flower, tree or shrub to celebrate Earth Day. You can recycle, reuse items when possible, shop wisely, or clean up around your home. There are also some good books for children about taking care of the earth. Some examples are: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss, The Wump World by Bill Peet, and The Berenstain Bears Don’t Pollute by Jan and Stan Berenstain.
Daylight Savings Time
Daylight Saving Time begins for most of the United States at 2:00 a.m. on the first Sunday of April. At that time clocks are moved forward one hour. Then clocks are changed back to standard time at 2:00 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. You might wonder WHY we have Daylight Savings Time. The main purpose of Daylight Saving Time is to make better use of daylight. We change our clocks during the summer months to move an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening.
Free Books for Preschoolers
Attention parents of children between birth and five years: There is a program that will provide a free book each month for your child—mailed to your home at no cost! The program is Dolly Parton’s “Imagination Library” program. The purpose of the program is to encourage you to read with your children because that is the most helpful thing you can do to help them become lifelong readers and learners. To find out if the program is offered in your area, go to http://www.imaginationlibrary.com/
The real purpose of books is to trap the mind into doing its own thinking.
~Christopher Morley~
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