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North Carolina is well known for its great beaches and mountains, yet if you’re in the Triangle there are many other great ways to spend time outdoors as a family. This week is Take A Child Outside Week, which is an annual reminder to find time to turn off the TV and step out our front doors to be explorers of the nature around us every day.
This week’s weather looks to be great, but as explorers of nature you and your kids can begin the adventure by making sure everyone is equipped with sun block or raincoats depending on the forecast. Parents, in planning your nature adventure keep your kids in mind. What would make this a positive experience for my child and for us together? If you want to support your child’s observations of the world around them consider finding a place you can both sit comfortably to close your eyes and listen to the sounds around you. Ask questions: What can you hear? What may be making that noise? How do you think that sound is being made? Can you tell where the sound is coming from?
If you want to activate your child’s imagination and individuality to have their own ideas you can look to books like Not a Stick or It Looked Like Spilt Milk (see more ideas from Topic 3: Imagine That! from Lucy’s Book Club). You and your child can walk around outside looking at or picking up objects and thinking of all the possible uses or ideas about what they are. Or you all can find a spot to cloud watch and describe the different things you can see float by in the sky.
You can find more inspiration for activities to do on your outdoor adventure at: http://takeachildoutside.org/activities/gettingstarted.html
Whatever you chose to explore with you child, take this week to do it outside. The Triangle offers many museums and trails to explore nature, but be certain that many educational family adventures are just waiting for you in your own backyard or neighborhood park!
The Power of Pictures
When Molly Bang was in town for Bookmarked! many of us were fortunate to be able to attend her Sunday morning workshop based on her book, Picture This: How Pictures Work. What an eye-opener! I will never again look at illustrations in the same way. Using geometric shapes and four colors, participants created scary pictures and then comforting pictures, and then…the most intriguing part of the workshop… we all examined each others' pictures and with guidance from Ms. Bang, we “played with the shapes”, perhaps turning a shape to the left, or repositioning it in the picture, or placing it partly off of the picture – subtle moves that dramatically changed the feelings that our pictures evoked. We were fascinated and in awe of the power that placement, color, and shape could make in creating a mood and portraying emotion. Check it out for yourself. Picture This: How Pictures Work is easy to read and provides a step-by step basic guide to the creation and interpretation of pictures that do work!
Apr 14, 2011 by Jenn Reid |
Filed in: Book Club
If you haven't already, check out our page on this year's featured author, Molly Bang.
When Sophie Gets Angry and All of Me! A Book of Thanks (2009) have been featured on Lucy’s Book Club lists, and her philosophy as a children’s author reflects the purpose behind LBC and Bookmarked!: “Reading picture books together is one of the nicest ways to snuggle with your child, be close, and talk about things that are important,” she has said.
Have you had a chance to read All of Me! with your young child? All of Me! (A Book of Thanks) encourages children to think about their bodies and how they use their many different body parts in everyday life. The simple text and mixed media illustrations entice youngsters to explore what they can do with their bodies with pride, admiration and gratitude, which fosters self care skill development and a healthy body image.
Take a look at this and other Molly Bang titles in preparation for this year's Bookmarked! event - a festival of reading with young children. See our website for more details!
Wemberly Worried (Kevin Henkes) and Just in Case (Judith Viorst) both explore the topic of children's worries in an engaging way. Both of these books are read often in classrooms at the Lucy Daniels Center. Why do children want to listen to stories again and again about characters feeling worried? In this week's post, we'll discuss how reading about characters with worries can help children to understand and feel more comfortable with their own.
Wemberly Worried is a story about a little mouse girl who worries about many things, some of which could happen and some of which would never happen. Similarly, Charlie, the main character in Just in Case, worries about all sorts of scenarios and has a back-up plan for each one because he "likes to be prepared." Both of these characters can do something very important for a child: they let a child know that he or she is not the only one with worries. That in itself can be very reassuring! Hearing the characters talk about the things that worry them, as outlandish as some of their worries may seem, help children to understand that all boys and girls have thoughts that trouble them at times, and that there are ways to overcome them when they feel real and strong.
When we read books like these in the classroom, we often pause and help the children make meaningful connections to their own lives. For example, when Wemberly checks on her parents in the middle of the night to be sure they are still there, we pause and ask, "Oh, that kind of nighttime worry... Do you ever feel like you just need to check?" When Charlie has a plan just in case a bird swoops him up on his way to school, we esteem his good thinking: "Oh, look, he even has a plan just in case a bird swoops him up on his way to school. Good for Charlie, he knows how to help himself feel safe on his way to school - and his worry is not stopping him from doing what he needs to do!"
Worries are a natural part of being human. Worries can become problematic when they impede upon a child's ability to carry out developmentally appropriate tasks and routines and disrupt everyday life. For more information on childhood anxiety, take a look at the following Center articles:
Building Mental Muscles to Overcome Childhood Anxieties
How Can I Help My Anxious Child?
When to Seek Professional Mental Health Help
Our current Bookmarked! topic, “knowing my body” encourages children to get to know, respect, and care for their bodies. Sometime between the ages of 2 and 3, children also demonstrate an increased interest in the physical characteristics of other people. They begin to notice that other people’s bodies may be a different color or a different shape. They notice things like clothing, gender, and hair color. This is an ideal time to introduce books that feature people of different races and cultures, or perhaps folks who may have a physical disability. Books can be very instrumental in helping children understand and respect the diverse culture in which we live. Look at pictures together and talk about what the characters have in common as well as how they may be different. It is important to emphasize the relationships in the stories as well, looking for universal themes such as how mommies and children do things with each other, or what families do when they are together. As children get a little older (ages 3 - 4) use multi-cultural literature to help them explore questions they have that address where people live, why they might wear different types of clothes, or why they do things that are not in that child’s particular repertoire of experiences. Alert children to what all people have in common - that they all have similar emotions and feelings i.e. mommies and daddies love their children, other children also cry when they are sad and smile when they are happy, and everyone has hopes and frustrations. Books that esteem diversity and encourage multi-cultural activities can play an important role in helping children develop respect for and an understanding of others.
Daniels Goleman, author of the best seller Emotional Intelligence (1996), tells us that a person who is emotionally intelligent is one who (among other things) can recognize the emotions of others. Researchers and developmental theorists wholeheartedly support the premise that this is an essential skill – a foundation for successful relationships and interactions. How then can we use children’s literature to reinforce and expand a child’s understanding of the emotions and behaviors of others- an aptitude known as social cognition.
When we identify a person as having “good” solid social cognition, we are describing one who can not only empathize with another’s situation, but also put aside his/her own feelings about a situation in order to take the other’s perspective, This requires reflection that is based on an understanding of this other person’s experiences, and then speculation on what behaviors might ensue and why. Adults can help children improve their social cognition through literature. As you read to your child, explore the story characters together. Ask children to pretend that they are one of the characters in a book and expand on that theme, having them try to infer why that character may be doing something or saying something. What made the character choose to say that? Why did the baby cry? Does the little girl look angry? How can you tell? What would you do in her particular situation? What might her Mommy say to her, or what might your sister say or do and if she met that little girl? Look at a situation from many angles and explore lots of options. Supplement these activities with artwork and creative dialogue. This is not only an exercise in social cognition - it is a chance for an imaginative “work out!"
Lucy's Book Club's current topic is Knowing my body. For young children, healthy living and a healthy body image starts with learning about one's body. For the youngest of children, this starts with simply knowing that "my feet are my feet and I use them for walking!" The books we have selected for younger children explore body parts and what they can be used for. As children grow older, they gradually take on their own self-care tasks. The books selected for older children (ages three to six) discuss and explore self-care.
Below is an excerpt from an article from Scholastic about helping children learn about the bodies. You can read the full article by clicking on this link: All About My Body.
"During his first years, your child will change and learn more than in any other period in his life. As a parent, you have the unique opportunity to not only witness, but also to support and foster, your child's amazing physical transformation. He grows from a soft bundle of needs into a vibrant, independent being who can speak, run, climb, and begin to care for himself and others. As your child becomes more aware of his body, he can and should take part in exploring and caring for it, with your loving guidance."
Jun 8, 2010 by Jenn Reid |
Filed in: Book Club
Our two week reading festival, Bookmarked!, was a huge success and lots of fun for all of us, ending with an entertaining and inspiring weekend with author Judith Viorst. To see photos from Ms. Viorst's reading event at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, as well as other reading events throughout the Triangle, click here.
May 19, 2010 by Jenn Reid |
Filed in: Book Club
The kick-off of Bookmarked!, Lucy's Book Club's two week long festival of reading is right around the corner! Join us at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh this Saturday, May 22, at 10:00 AM, for our first public reading event. Our guest reader at this event will be Lucy Daniels!
Quail Ridge Books is also hosting a book fair featuring all 44 of the Lucy's Book Club books from the 2009-2010 booklists. The book fair will run from May 22 through June 6, 2010.
This is an excellent time to purchase your own copies or copies for gifts and benefit the Lucy Daniels Center's Family Support Fund at the same time.
Twenty percent of total book sale receipts will go to the Lucy Daniels Center's Family Support Fund. This fund makes up the gap between what families receiving services at the Center can afford to pay and the actual cost of providing services.
Click here for a reading event near you!
May 5, 2010 by Jenn Reid |
Filed in: Book Club
Lucy's Book Club's fourth topic, Becoming a big brother or big sister, is available now! You may view and print the current booklist and bookmark from our website, or you can visit your local Wake County Public Library or other Lucy's Book Club partners for your free bookmark. All ten books, plus the parent selection, are on display at the Lucy Daniels Center.
Check back soon for posts related to this topic! If you have a specific question, please contact us.
