Your Family Can Enjoy Arts & Cultural Events Nationwide For Free

       I was wondering what kinds of budget friendly activities there are available for families this summer...I was excited when I discovered the following & I hope you are too! Did you know that Target sponsors programs, exhibits and performances that make artistic and cultural experiences more visible and accessible to children and their families? I had no idea....I knew that they did a great deal for education via grants and supporting literacy in the schools and was thrilled when I read about their community outreach in support of the arts and cultural events. Thanks to Target our families will be able to participate in a variety of artistic and cultural events across the United States.  Click the link Celebrate Arts and Culture to check out the events in your area. Scroll down to about midway on the page and then enter your city in the search box.  If you found this information helpful....share it with a friend:))

Here are just a few sample events I ran across while checking out the site....

(1) Chicago Children's Museum, Chicago        
     Target Free First Sundays of the month
      chicagochildrensmuseum.org                       

(2) Glazer Children's Museum, Tampa, FL      
     Target $2 Tuesday 1st Tuesday of the month
      glazermuseum.org                                       

(3) Children's Museum of Houston, Houston     
      Free First Sundays of the month
      cmhouston.org                                               
                                                                              
(4) Arden Theatre, Philadelphia                         
     Target 2-for-1 Family Series-various dates
      ardentheatre.org                                            

You will be surprised at all the many events that may be offered in your area!  Good Luck and enjoy!

  

     

 

 

A Funny Book....at least to me

    
     I wanted to share a funny book that I ran across recently ..It's a Book (yes that is the title) written by Lane Smith.  This a story about a lovable monkey, a jackass (really) that is "techie", and a little mouse that speaks the truth...a straight shooter and what occurs when they encounter print in a book.

This book is a fun & silly take on the issues of the new digital age and how our children are "digital 

natives"  vs. adults  known as "digital immigrants."The author does a great job of bringing to surface the great debate between book lovers vs. e-readers in this children's picture book iced with tongue in cheek humor. 

     Lane Smith is a very accomplished author and illustrator he has won several awards for his books.  He has won the Caldecott Honor Medal for illustrations in The Stinky Cheese Man & 3 of his books have won the New York Times Best Illustrated Book.  Some of his bestselling books are The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, It's a Book , and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.
Check out the trailer clip to the left for It's A Book under video bar.

Phonics ....The Association of Sounds With Letters of The Alphabet

     Phonics is a popular term used frequently when referring to students learning to read.  Phonics is the ability of readers to correlate sounds with letters or groups of letters based on the alphabet. The 26 letters of our alphabet symbolize 44 English speech sounds. Phonics differs from phonological awareness & phonemic awareness in that it involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols. Remember....phonological awareness & phonemic awareness focus on sounds in spoken words. As a result, phonics focuses on teaching sound-spelling relationships & is connected with print.  For the most part phonological & phonemic awareness activities are completed orally.
     The primary goal of phonics instruction in the classroom is to teach the most frequent sound-spelling relationships in order for the student to decode words. Decoding is a critical component of reading success~thus one of the reasons that strong phonics instruction is imperative.Phonics instruction is most effective when presented in an explicit manner.  Research shows that explicit instruction is important for all children, but essential for struggling readers.

Excellent Phonics Sites

Starfall

BBC KSI Bitesize Games

Sadlier-Osford Phonics Games

GameGoo-Educational Games

Building Language For Literacy

Read Write Think: Picture Match