Just One More Book- pleeeeease!

A couple months ago, I went to an Osborne book party at my neighbors. I've always believed it's important to read to my kids. With my mom being an elementary school teacher, she has always stressed the importance. Sometimes it's good to get a reminder though to step it up a bit. The lady that sells the books based her presentation on the Read-aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. It is a great resource for finding studies that have been done with reading aloud to children and has great suggestions for age appropriate books. Very motivating!

The lady that did the class had some great ideas to help get more reading done with your kids. One of her suggestions was to display your child's books so they can see the cover. When your child can see the cover, it makes the book so much more interesting to them and more likely to pick up. She even went as far as to say they will grab books and look at them rather than playing with toys.

Sophie's books had been in a basket in her closet. It seems like we would usually read the same few books over and over. So I wanted to change that. First, I brought in an unused bookcase that was in the guest room. Then I found some shelves that used to be in the front room but since I had redecorated and not found a new place for the shelves. The lady suggested putting up a rain gutter and displaying the books in that (you can get it inexpensively and in different colors and styles) but I like free even better so I stuck to what I had on hand. (the bookcase and the shelves I got at garage sales a few years ago)

So it has worked. Sophie reads a variety of books now. I switch out the ones that are displayed, I have her pick from the ones that are out when it's reading time, and then put out new ones and I rotate with some of the ones that are in Scotty's room. She keeps saying, "this is my new favorite book," and then says it again when I introduce a new one. I usually read two books to her at night and then have her read one to me. She would have me read to her for hours if she had her way. Yesterday we cleaned up her room and she had books all over the floor mingled with some little stuffed animals. My plan worked, yeah!!

I would say we have a good number of books but I am always adding to our stash. I like to get them at DI for $.25 to $1.50 or at garage sales for $.10 to $1 per book. I have also gotten some off of www.half.ebay.com. When I want a specific title, this is the way to go. It's about $3 for shipping and sometimes the books cost as little as $.75.

Another new find is Jibjab Jr. app for our Ipad. You know those little dancing elves at Christmas time that you add your face too? It's usually all over Facebook. Well, this is an app by them with children's story books. You put your child's face, name and skin tone in and then there is a story that you read them that is animated. There is a cute pizza one for free and then you can preview their others and read part of the story with your child's picture. To buy the book it is $7 for unlimited editing with who's face is in it or get a new book each month for $3 with limited editing. Last night, we spent at least 30 minutes putting the kids faces in and reading the previews and the Pizza book. I might need to invest in the monthly membership. It is great fun and would be nice when we are away from home to have a collection of personalized books. My 11 & 13 yr old even like to play with it and read the stories.

Here's a link to you tube to see Sophie reading the pizza story. (I can't figure out how to make the link live and to upload a video takes FOREVER! So if you want to watch it, you'll have to copy and paste, sorry!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD0pno_SPos

JibJab Jr. Children's Books Starring You

With JibJab Jr. Books, you can make your child the STAR of the show. In just a few simple swipes, you can create personalized storybooks that feature your child's face and name. Your child will be enthralled by the great stories, colorful art, and awesome animations in every JibJab Jr. book. So download the app, turn out the lights and take your child on a personalized journey!

Download from iTunesDownload from iTunes >

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Add Faces (Boys or Girls)

Easy photo upload from your photo library, Facebook or from your iPad2 camera!

Personalize with a Name

Each book can be customized with your child's name for a truly personal experience.

Choose Skin Tone

Because Sophie and Scotty love me to read to them so much, I also have recorded myself reading several books to my computer, then I transfer it into Itunes (a folder called "books read by mom") and download it onto my little ipod nano. Sophie gets how it works and eventually Scotty will too. I say the title of the book at the beginning and then wait a few seconds so they can find the right book. Then I say "ding" each time the page needs to be turned. The Ipod isn't as easy for her to handle as a CD would be though so I need to burn them on a disk and then I think she would be able to do the whole thing on her own. What a fun thing for my grandkids too eventually. I would have loved to listen to books read by my grandmothers.