Thejoyofliteracy.blogspot.com Website Review

The single most important condition for literacy learning is the presence of mentors who are joyfully literate people. ~ Shirley Brice Hi friends! This blog is for teachers and families- all for the sheer joy of literacy. When we are enthusiastic about reading and writing our students and our own kids become excited to read and write. I hope that we all can be models for those in our care- how did you show your pas*ion for reading, writing, learning, language, or words today?? It's in those small, daily moments that we teach kids to love Hey all! I have to admit that I am usually nursing during story time at night these days...so my hubby has been reading with our 3yo. We're a real winner with my daughter. Here's another recent fav: My daughter chose this one at the library a couple weeks ago. Who picks a pumpkin book in March? I love that preschoolers have no preconceived notion of what is in or out of season...reading though this book right now made me think that it is a great any-time-of-the-year book...despite this not being pumpkin season! Pumpkin Jack has great, quality writing. And the book is moving-- you almost become friends with this pumpkin that is alive, dies slowly, then brings new life again. I'm not sure why my daughter likes it so much (she's asked for it night after night recently)- but the story is quite compelling. It unravels some of the mysteries of the life cycle and shows how a seed creates a new (pumpkin) plant. A boy carves a pumpkin. He is captivated by the light the pumpkin casts on the wall of his room and the smell it makes when a candle is placed inside of its carved shell. He's reticent to throw out the pumpkin when it starts to mold, so he puts it out in the dead winter garden- with the brown ghosts of last summer's plants. The pumpkin completely decomposes. The boy is delighted to see pumpkins grow the next summer and fall from the seeds of his dead pumpkin. He shares the pumpkins he's grown with his friends.