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So mostly in true 2nd child fashion, Rachel reads books that we already owned from when James was little.  But during our library visits we have been looking for new books for her as well.  This is one of our great new finds.  Rachel absolutely loves looking at the kiddos in this book.

When we brought it home I noticed the writing at the top...huh???  Yeah it's a bilingual book English/Burmese... They have it in all sorts of languages apparently, our library just happens to have the English/Burmese one.  Kinda random...  I'll be honest I don't even know where they speak Burmese.

Rachel's age: 4 months

Firefly Lane

So this was another Kristin Hannah book that I found at the library. This one was even better.

It's the story of an unlikely pair of best friends over their 30+ year friendship. I am a sucker for a good story of friendship. Seriously. It kinda reminded me of Beaches with one friend who shines and the one who lives in the shadows.

If you are looking for a beachy read (it is spring break and you might be going to the beach), I highly recommend it. I am finding Kristin Hannah very easy to read and fast paced enough to keep me interested.

Read: March 2013

Pages: 528

true colors

A friend of mine recommended that I try reading some Kristin Hannah books when I asked for recommendations recently.  So the next visit to the library I grabbed this one.  I have never read any Kristin Hannah books before this one and I must say that I enjoyed it.  It reminded me of Karen Kingsbury or Nicholas Sparks.  I can totally see myself reading more of these.  :)

But on to the book...  this is the story of 3 sisters and the ties that bind them together.  I could totally relate to the characters {which i think is the most important thing for me}.  It wasn't too long and not too short.  The book wrapped things up nicely and I just enjoyed it.  These would be great beach reads!

Read:  February 2013

Trains & Cars

I know you were probably totally shocked when you saw the title of this post, right. ;). Another lucky find at the library. They were definitely the books de jour when we brought them home. These are cute and easy. About one line of text per page. Good stuff for a little guy.

Y'all seriously the library is great because we only have the oops for a few weeks and then get new ones. Usually by *new* I mean a favorite that we are rediscovering. {I wish we had a toy library. Or I just need to get better at rotating toys so they seem new!}

James' age:  3 years 10 months

Learning to Read

I have had some people ask me recently how to help their preschooler learn how to read.  Although I used to be a Reading Specialist as well as 1st & 2nd grade teacher, I don't feel like I'm am expert (especially in preschool reading).  But here are a few things that I do know.

1.  Read to your child, every day if possible.  This is #1 on the list for a reason.  All research points to this as being super important in children learning to read.  From personal experience this has taught James tons.  Not only does it teach your child how a book works, book language, but also increases their vocabulary.  {This is awesome to do as part of your bedtime ritual!}

2.  Look for book topics that interest your child.  As you know my child loves to read books about trains, cars, and construction vehicles.  It doesn't always have to be the most high quality literature.  Just get books in your little ones hands.

3.  Reread their favorites over and over again.  This will help them memorize some books, which is the beginning of reading.  I seriously have memorized so many books because I had to read them every.single.day for months on end!  I know that it's not fun for us grown ups, but children thrive with routine.

4.  Let them "read".  I have written read in quotes because some of the beginning stages of reading are memorizing books and approximating text.  Your child will likely memorize his or her favorite book and that is amazing!  Another thing is to let them tell the story based on the pictures.  Using the pictures is a natural progression to learning to read. Sometimes you may find your child sitting on his or her own looking at the pictures rereading the book.  Encourage that!

5.  Have fun!  Learning to read should be fun.  If this is not a fun time for your family and most especially your little one, he or she will not want to engage in reading.  Don't pressure them, just follow their lead.

6.  Educational TV.  Seriously y'all PBS has some awesome, awesome shows to help little ones learn how to read.  Super Why and Word World are two of our favorite shows and I think that Super Why really helped James to learn his letters.  We all know our kiddos are most likely going to be watching tv {I mean momma has to shower sometime , right!}  so it might as well be teaching them something!

I hope that this helps.  The bottom line is reading to your child is important, but it should be a fun time of the day.  Don't worry about having your child read before they get to kindergarten.  It's your job to give them a foundation, but the teacher will teach them how to read.  {and have lots of books at just the right level!}