Category: Caroline’s Blog

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4 Places to Pick Up Free Books for A Child’s Home Library! Including Here!

In the last blog, we talked about how books and snowflakes have a thing in common. The more of each you have in your life, the more your circumstances change. Get a few books here and there, not much will change. Get a few snowflakes here and there, not much will change. But get a blizzard’s worth of snowflakes, or a blizzard’s worth of books..change gon’ come!

Why do we need a blizzard’s worth of books? Research shows that more books in the home mean children read more, read better, and perform better academically. The pandemic has made it harder for children to get to public libraries and school libraries, so now is a great time to build home libraries. Do it for your children or someone else’s!

So, how do we get a blizzard’s worth of books into a child’s life? We can start the way the snowstorm starts – with a few books at a time. We are calling it the Look at My Books Campaign. Set a goal of getting at least 20 more books into your house, a student or child in your community’s house, or join our local campaign in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area.

Here’s how we can begin.

FREE BOOKS – The easiest way to build a child’s library is to stock it with free books.
So where can we find free books? Here are 4 Places to Pick Up FREE Books!

  1. Literacy programs – Ask teachers at your school, the PTA, your local librarian, local government officials and social service organizations about literacy programs in your community that offer free books. Usually, these programs give free books throughout the year. Also, libraries often partner with literacy programs to give away free books at their locations. Earlier this year, I worked with three literacy/education programs in Florida that gave away my books to hundreds of children in honor of Martin Luther King Day.
  2. Head Start, Day care programs, Schools, and After-school programs – Programs that provide education and recreational activities for children often are connected to literacy programs, which donate free books.  Or, they might have their own book giveaway program. Ask around.
  3. Author Giveaways – Authors LOVE to sell books and they also LOVE to give away books! Authors LOVE to give away books to children who are hungry to read. I have given away thousands upon thousands of books in my life. It’s one of my greatest joys to see children treat a new book as if it were a hot fudge sundae — something they can’t wait to dig into! In honor of this blog, the first five people to email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com will receive a free copy of one of three books: Darius Daniels: Game On! (a middle grade novel), Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King’s Dream Come True, or Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day. Also, check the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages of your other favorite authors to find about about their giveaways.
  4. Friends, family, religious institutions – In the process of moving froBarack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King's Dream Come True by Caroline Brewer and Glenn Brewerm my first house, I was amazed to that I still had more than 200 books, which I had purchased for my daughters when they were in preschool and early elementary. I gave those books to a family member who had a young daughter and encouraged her to give some away to friends and family who had young children, too. I continue to this day to go through my stock of books to find books to give away. I also belong to a church where people bring new and gently used books from their homes to our bookstore so that we can also give away books.  So ask around. Ask your friends, ask family, ask people who attend religious institutions, are involved with sororities, fraternities, other social organizations and non-profits, and those who work at government organizations, if they have books they’d like to donate to help a child build a home library.

So, there you have it. Let’s get going on our Look atMy Books Campaign, to help children make homes for lots more books and begin to talk about their collections, and eventually share with someone else! And please, take us along on your journey. Drop us a line or a photo and let us know how you’re doing, who’s been helpful, and any new resources you find. If your children already have plenty of books then let’s work together to find other children who could benefit from some of the books you already have or books you’re ready to go out and find. And let’s all have fun!

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What do books and blizzards have in common?

Did you know that reading is related to snowflakes? I often ask children to think about how nice it is to see a snowflake. Softly it falls from the sky to the ground and as you watch it dance, a twinkle appears in your eye and a little smile creases your face. But then, if the snow begins to fall faster and develops into a blizzard, your smile might turn into an expression of concern – especially if you’re at school and didn’t remember to bring your hat, mittens, or boots.

A few snowflakes here and there are not dangerous. But a blizzard – that’s another story!

The same holds true with books. Having one book fall into our lives every now and then doesn’t change anything. But if we get a blizzard of books into our lives, then it’s going to make a huge difference. That’s what we want children to have and read – a blizzard’s worth of books.

Studies show that the more books children read and are exposed to the better readers they become.

The good news is that a blizzard of books doesn’t mean thousands of books at a time or even hundreds.

Did you know that a mere 20 books in a child’s home can make a huge difference? Twenty (20) books represents the snowfall that will one day turn into a blizzard – a happy blizzard of books.

Share in the comments your ideas for how to get 20 more books into your child’s or a student’s life, and I’ll share in the next blog my ideas.

Stay tuned for how to learn how easily it can be done — and why it’s a worthwhile goal!

 

 

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From Fighter To Writer: How Writing Transformed an Angry Student

Nayana goes deep with poetry and emerges
loving herself and learning

This is the second of my bi-weekly story series call Brilliant Minds, about children who have made quick and remarkable progress in reading and writing through the use of the Higher Way and the Happy Teacher methodologies (Please note the names have been changed)

A month after Nayana wrote her first story, we witnessed more transformation. It came during the admittedly difficult assignment to write a poem about loving yourself. For an hour, Nayana angrily insisted “I got nothing!” All the other students had written their first drafts, received editing, and were busy typing their poems on the computers. Nayana, meantime, kept pouting, crying, and complaining that she had “nothing!” When, finally, Nayana found something, it was practically a slap in the face. She wrote that she loved herself only when she was “fighting,” as in “punching and kicking people.”

Internally, I was somewhat taken aback.  But I remained calm and applauded Nayana for getting started. I then asked a classmate Nayana admired and trusted to encourage her to write more and gently prod her to rethink when she loved herself. As Stacie settled into cheering on Nayana, I focused on helping other students make edits.

About a half hour later, Nayana erased her paean to pugilism and began anew. She wrote that she felt love for herself when she was dancing, doing gymnastics, and outdoor activities. She concluded, “It feels powerful to love myself.”

After Nayana finished that poem, the gloves were off! This child, who had for most of the school year refused to engage in classroom discussions and who had rarely, if ever, completed an assignment, was going to land body blows on every learning challenge that arose. All we could do was back up, and be amazed.

A week later, we worked on rhyming sentences using Word Families. Rhyming was difficult for all the students. Nayana seemed dazed by it. But refused to give up. She threw herself into the world of matching ending sounds day after day, assignment after assignment. She gracefully accepted my feedback and guidance and never complained, cried, or ran for cover in a closet or underneath a desk. She simply boxed it out. After two weeks of taking punches and throwing them back, Nayana mostly, on her own, produced a series of mostly complete, mostly rhyming sentences, with much better spelling.

Nayana’s ultimate triumph was that by year’s end, she had found the confidence of Muhammad Ali as she stood at the blackboard and proclaimed, “I am a writer!”

The secret sauce: Making our classroom a safe space for all students to honestly express themselves, and grow at their own pace was critical, as was patience and praise for every effort they put forth. Providing opportunities for students to read their own stories aloud and do art projects with their written works helped make writing relevant and offered more occasions for celebration. And who doesn’t love a party? What’s not shared in this blog but will be in future blogs was that we mixed writing assignments with word games, which helped students learn from one another and in new, fun ways.

 

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Art pops the cork on reluctant student’s brilliance

This is the first of my bi-weekly story series call Brilliant Minds, about children who have made quick and remarkable progress in reading and writing through the use of the Higher Way and the Happy Teacher methodologies (Please note the names have been changed)

Nayana was a student of mine at DC school.  She refused to write a word for the first two weeks after I returned to teach at the school from mid-March to mid-June. Instead, this third grader preferred to draw, color, cut paper, or, worse, run to hide in cabinets or under tables. In many ways, she was like a volcano – quiet and serene on the outside, but roiling with intense energy on the inside.

On April 4, the Monday after Spring Break, during a journal entry warm-up, Nayana found her voice. She made an entry for six days. Every weekday, except Friday, however, was misspelled. There were errors in most words. Verbs were missing or used incorrectly. Every sentence was incomplete. Yet, Nayana wrote for the first time. And she wrote more about Spring Break than any other student. I was thrilled and so was she. I had been searching and praying for the keys to ignite the learner in Nayana. After this surprising burst of productivity, I kept pushing.

The next day, I unpacked a bunch of art supplies that came in after my plea to friends for donations. I sought out art supplies with the specific idea that giving Nayana permission to draw, paint, and color in class could open her up to engage in other learning activities.

First thing that morning, before diving into traditional subject matter, I invited Nayana and three other students to sit in front of brand new easels with brand new paint, paintbrushes, and paper. They each received a new painter’s apron. They literally jumped for joy, and instantly fell in love with the freedom of expression through art in our classroom. These daily sessions typically lasted 30-40 minutes. That day forward, Nayana became a different student, and, much to my surprise, grew to enjoy writing.

Three days later, Nayana drafted her first story based on our science vocabulary words about climates. This story also contained multiple errors but made much more sense. Best of all, it boasted a strong, witty narrative. Titled, “The Bad Day,” it was about a boy victimized by every type of climate and climate-related element: an earthquake, the heat of the desert, water from a lake, and even the sun, which thought John “looked ugly.” But John’s bad luck changed to good when, fleeing a blizzard, he ran until he found himself in front of a volcano, jumped in, and survived!

Yes, it made me laugh out loud. It also later occurred to me that Nayana was kind of like John – she had survived the most adverse situations imaginable, and finally, when she owned her only option, her volcano, she fought like mad and survived.  Nayana’s story also helped me to see clearly what had been bottling her brilliance and stopping it up with a cork. I couldn’t wait to see what else was on its way out.

I look forward to your questions about how you can inspire such a revolution in the Nayanas in your lives.

 

 

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Darius Daniels: Game On! is a book with endless teaching and learning possibilities

Guest blog by ELA Inclusion 4th Grade Teacher Christay Johnson

Darius Daniels: Game On! is a middle grade verse novel with more than 10 forms of poetry.

As an ELA inclusion teacher with a passion for poetry, sharing Darius Daniels: Game On! (by Author Caroline Brewer) with my class was a breath of fresh air. The book targets and challenges every level of reader in my 4th grade classroom, while giving students a character they can relate to.

We started the book with Vocabulary BINGO (a game provided by the author) to address new and challenging vocabulary they might encounter.  Then, as a whole group read-aloud, with a couple of copies available for students to take turns following along, we read a chapter or two a day. To my surprise, the entire class remained actively engaged. I would stop throughout the text and pause, giving them an opportunity to guess the next word. There were big smiles across the room with every correct guess, and chuckles for every one that was wrong.

Over the years, a common trend among my students on the autism spectrum has been struggling with interpreting concepts that are figurative. The riddles within Darius Daniels: Game On! helped in that aspect, turning the challenge for one of my students this year into fun. He was able to solve many of the riddles that the rest of us couldn’t and was proud to experience success where he normally struggled.

After reading the first book (in the three-book series), the author donated us a class set. Having a book in each hand gave us the opportunity to do even more. There were times we would read as a class, and then some days, I would have everyone partner-read. I let the students perform some of the raps aloud. Partner reading made practicing fluency and expression exciting.

There were days where I was able to use the book in place of some of the curriculum assignments (especially for poetry, vocabulary, and fluency). Our curriculum lessons for fiction and non-fiction are all based around read alouds. My students had already read some of our classroom books in previous grade levels. Instead of using them, we used Darius Daniels several times. We discussed making inferences, drawing conclusions, and themes.

It is a great book to read with students that do not enjoy reading. Many of my students who told me they did not like reading were the ones jumping ahead. We had huge gains this year.  I’d like to think it was from the exposure to Darius Daniels: Game On! I did notice that students were able to be actively engaged with or without the book in front of them, which was always a challenge with (previous) read alouds.

The possibilities with Darius Daniels: Game On! were endless and left us with many opportunities to expand on the book before we started reading, during, and after.  With half of my students receiving Special Education services, I found the book to be great for any level reader in the classroom! I’m already making plans to use it again next year.

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First Classes in the U.S. Give Enthusiastic Video Reviews to Darius Daniels: Game On!

Darius Daniels: Game On! is a certified hit with students in the classes taught by Virginia English Language Arts Teacher Christay Johnson. Her 45 students in two classes are first whole classes in the U.S. to read the book and share video responses. Click here to see what the students have to say about the poetry, imagery, challenges, and adventure provided by 11-year-old Darius and his experience getting sucked into a game world and told that he can’t get out until he hurts somebody.

Click here to order copies for your children or students or email: caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com

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Black Joy! Books that empower children with love of self, strength, and ingenuity

Black children are beauty, intelligence, ingenuity, resilience, and spontaneous joy, peace, power, and so much more. So in that spirit, I offer the following books that are devoted to true and positive identities of black children and adults. I offer books that are in some ways Afro-futuristic, embodying parallel and fiercely optimistic tales of who we are, who we want to be, where we’ve been, where we’re going, and how we plan to get there, against the backdrop of racism, oppression, rising, uprising, and rising again. These are tales of how we and others have found ways to stay lifted and to lift up others even in the deepest, darkest, and even hopeful times like… now. Enjoy!
Kara Finds Sunshine on a Rainy Day is a picture book about hope, healing, and discovering heroes around us and within, as experienced by 9-year-old Kara, whose plans for a fun-filled day get disrupted when it rains cats and dogs. Her mom responds by sharing rhyming stories about historical figures and ordinary people, of a wide variety of races and backgrounds from across the globe (including Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez and Andre Trocme) who found or made “sunshine” in difficult times. This special edition, illustrated by children from the Harlem School of the Arts, was written to support children and families who survived the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005. A child psychiatrist has called Kara Finds Sunshine “a voyage to resiliency.” A cultural historian suggests it’s a powerful education in the “habit of love.” (This book includes an extensive parent and teacher guide and comes with FREE downloads.)
Barack Obama: A Hip Hop Tale of King’s Dream Come True is a picture book is a humorous, satirized and fictionalized account of the presidential campaign of Barack Obama. Its swift-moving rhymes, rhythm and drama entertain while educating children about one of the most important events in world history and the social movement that made it possible. The brightly-illustrated 32-page book ultimately reveals President Obama’s powerful connection to the enduring legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement he so honorably and courageously led. (This book includes an extensive parent and teacher guide and comes with  FREE downloads.)
Darius Daniels: Game On!  – An anti-racist verse novel about identity, black boy joy, family, community, disabilities, moral questions, told movingly through more than 10 forms of poetry.Darius Daniels: Game On! is a middle-grade rhythmic novel about an 11-year-old boy, a video game, and a great and scary adventure the boy cannot escape – until he hurts somebody. D was his name, you see, and he was on the Edge. Family and friends on one side, Getting together at his home. Him on the other, sometimes feeling alone, In a game world that made his head swirl. Jammed up his brain and rained Karate chops and knocked him for a Loop. He didn’t see it coming that Morning. Should have been a warning, but No. Oops. (This book comes with FREE downloads and opportunities and numerous Language Arts learning standards applications.)
Click here to learn more: https://carolinebrewerbooks.com/books/
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The Infinite Magic of Stories

The Infinite Magic of Stories

How to Engage Children without a Computer (Series)

During last Sunday’s Parent Teacher Power Hour, we took a deep dive into the Infinite Magic of Stories, 
and discovered a whole new world! Please click the link to learn more about how you can help stimulate intellectual, social, and emotional development in children by understanding what it takes to create stories and the vast world of stories that you can share.
Sunday, April 26, at 7:05 p.m. Eastern time, join us as we keep going with stories and investigate folk tales, fables, and fairy tales from around the world. We’re going to ask participants who would like to share to share the name of a favorite fairy tale, folktale, or fable, such as the Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Cinderella, Anansi stories, Jack and the Beanstalk, and, of course, many more – and what you learned from the tales and what you hope students will learn.

Links to hundreds of fairy tales, folktales and fables are on the 8 Ways to Engage Children Without a Computer handout.  Email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com for your invitation to the Parent Teacher Power Hour.
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Hear Stories, Tell Stories, Learn how to Create Stories – This Sunday at 7 pm!

Some words. Maybe it’s just one, such as: Love. Hope. Fire. Fear. Music. Tears. That’s all you need to tell a story. Some words you speak. Some words your write. Some words that come to your mind and end up as a picture. You know the saying: a picture is worth a thousand words, and a thousand words is plenty enough for a story.

This Sunday, as a follow up to last week’s discussion of The Higher Way, and my new release of 8 Ways to Engage Children Without a Computer, we’re going to talk about stories.  It’s Way #1 on the download. We’re going to tell you some stories, ask you to tell us some stories (in one minute or less!), and we’re going to talk about how you can support children to create and publish their stories and how you can do the same.

We’re going to have a good time with good old-fashioned StoryTime. You know, once upon a time, or Back in the day, or Honey, let me tell you kinds of stories. And music! We Love stories with instrumental music. So, come along, bring family, friends – all ages are welcome!

We’re going to have a story good time!

Sunday, April 19 – 7 -8 p.m. via Freeconferencecall.com Video or Phone.

Email caroline@carolinebrewer.com to receive the link!

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8 Ways to Engage Children Without A Computer

8 Ways to Engage Children Without a Computer
and support their intellectual growth and development

I love being offline much more than being online and I know how important it is for children to spend time growing and developing without devices. That’s why 8 Ways to Engage Children – mentally, physically, and intellectually  — without computers. This list could have included 80 Ways, or even 800. But I think this list of 8 is pretty substantial, so take a look, try some out some of these ways and let us know what you think.

And, of course, have fun!

Email caroline@carolinebrewerbooks.com with your stories and thoughts. And join us tomorrow at 7 p.m. to learn more about how to have fun with the 8 Ways.