Tag: schools

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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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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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How to Keep Children from Plucking Your Last Nerve during #Covid-19 Times or Any Time

How to Keep Children from Plucking Your Last Nerve during #Covid-19
Home-Schooling, Distance Learning, & Literacy Engagement

Home-schooling and distance learning offer new opportunities to bond with our children and students – and also for us to snap on one another.

As an 18-year veteran of teaching and learning in classrooms, through literacy activism, and as an author, I have come to understand that the best way to succeed with children — at any time — is by adhering to The Higher Way.

The Higher Way means responding in a way that allows children to easily get back on track without feeling pressured, chastised, or humiliated. Importantly, it means responding in a way that gives them a say in how to proceed.

For instance, When Jared is not paying attention, drumming his fingers on the table, or tapping his feet; when Kayla is twisting her hair or making sucking sounds instead of focusing; this is the time to let your love and patience wrap around their sweet little souls like cotton candy on a paper stick.

Responses to nerve-plucking behavior could include: “How can I help you? You can do this. Would you like me to read today, and you just listen?  It seems as if something is bothering you. Would you like to talk about it?  Thank you for trusting me to help you. You’re doing great.”

Please understand how much power there is in your words and actions designed to open the door to a Higher Way.  Without preaching, condemning, and often without even mentioning the challenging behavior on display, I have stopped elementary, middle-school and high-school students from cursing like sailors, from fighting every day, and from throwing tantrums using The Higher Way. Using The Higher Way, I’ve seen children go from refusing to read or write to reading and writing, and declaring their love for it.

Working lovingly and patiently with children means that we seek, always, to understand the child. We put ourselves in the child’s shoes. Empathize. Learning to read or write for children who have not yet grasped how is often painful. Understand that they are suffering almost every moment they sit with you and the work before them. Your extraordinary display of love and patience will ease that suffering, bit by bit, and slowly turn it to joy – which is critical to children’s success, the development of confidence, and their trust in you and themselves.

If we create children or students who do work but are miserable,  we have failed. Because failure is not an option, we must stay on the love and patience track. Swallow our tongues. Sit on our hands. Breathe. And smile – smile a lot. Whatever it takes to let love and patience pour forth like the morning sun when inside we are a bit rattled, irritated, concerned, even annoyed.

We have everything to gain if, when they seem to go low, we go high.

 

 

 

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Caroline and Four Amazing Children Celebrate International Literacy Day, Poem-Style

In celebration of #InternationalLiteracyDay 2019, I’m encouraging all adults to make a commitment to spend time feeding the hungry readers and writers in your life with your time and words – words from books, rhyming books, poetry books, comic books, magazines, newspapers, street signs, buildings, letters, cards, and words from their own mouths! Check out our new video reciting my poem, Why I Read, and use it to ignite a discussion about why reading is a good and useful thing, a discussion I’m betting will help them tap into their own power to excel as readers and writers. And, please, let us know how you like the video and how your new reading and writing experiences go.

Click here to read entire poem.WHY I READ POEM BY CAROLINE BREWER 090819