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Resource #1 - Peter Reynolds' Creativity Series 

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Resource #1 - Peter Reynolds' Creativity Series 

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Peter Reynolds' Creativity Series consist of four books titled: Ish, The Dot, Sky Colour and Playing from the Heart. The stories are about a young child named Marisol and her journey through creating and inspiring art. The series are beautiful children's stories that are full of vibrant and creative photos that would appeal to young learners. They are great stories to help teach moral lessons at a young age. Primarily, the stories help to encourage creativity and teach that art is always going to look different. Children often have these "perfect" images that they target to complete however upon completing the art, it is more often than not that they do not see their art of "perfect". The stories teach students that there is no such thing as perfect art. It enforces the idea of seeing art from different perspectives and learning that what one child may find unpleasant, another child might find brilliant. The stories are fun and have beautiful images that will keep your child engaged in the story whilst encouraging their creativity. Most importantly, the stories are teaching lessons that “could also be applied to real events that students would need to understand” (Scheffel, 2016).  It is important that children are respectful of other peoples idea's; this is especially important as children prepare for school. Your child is going to be surrounded by children who believe in different things and have different opinions therefore this series is full of important values that will benefit your child's learning experience. Children have a habit of comparing themselves to others so this series helps to break that trend and push children to believe in themselves and their own creativity.

References:

Reynolds, P. H. (2004). Ish. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Reynolds, P. H. (2004). Playing from the Heart. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Reynolds, P. H. (2004). Sky Colour. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Reynolds, P. H. (2004). The Dot. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press.

Sheffel, T.L. (2016). Becoming Literacy Leaders: Teacher Candidates Initiate a

Community-Based Literacy Program. Language & Literacy. 130-147.

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KidsTV123 is a YouTube channel that provides a great alphabet phonics song for children. The song not only helps to learn the alphabet but also goes through what sound each letter makes. The song goes through the alphabet and coordinates an item with the sound. For example: A is for Apple, A-A-Apple. The song says the letter, what sound the letter makes and then chooses an object to match the letter sound. The song is not in the typical ABC rhythm, which is actually a good thing. When teaching the alphabet with the regular rhythm, the letters "L, M, N, O, P" often get turned into lemon-yellow-p. It is a spot in the alphabet song where the tempo speeds up and a group of letters get turned into one big jumble. By singing this slow phonics song, it allows the child to see each letter, hear each sound and associate it with an object. It is a great resource to help learn the alphabet in a fun way. Peggy Semingson support this idea by stating that "studies show that singing and rhyming can foster early phonological awareness"(Semingson, 2017). A fun addition is to create the object in the video and use them as your child sings along. Another idea if to pause the video, sit with your child and think of some other words that have the appropriate letter sounds. By doing so, you and your child/ren are creating their own song which helps to foster creativity and independence while reinforcing letter sounds. This resource will really help your child learn the alphabet, its sounds and later enhance word recognition!

References:
KidsTV123. (2010). ABC Phonics Song. Retrieved from, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saF3-f0XWAY
Semingson, P. (2017). Digital Literacies for Young Readers and Writers: Ways to harness mobile learning for early literact development. Literacy Today. 30-31.

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Resource #3 - Animal Planet Animal Bite's Series

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Resource #3 - Animal Planet Animal Bite's Series

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Animal Bite's is a series of non-fiction books written by Animal Planet. Many people believe that non-fiction books are for an older age group however I believe that it is extremely important to incorporate non-fiction texts in early literacy years. Hernandez supports this idea by quoting "nonfiction books an amazing way to let kids explore and learn about the world around them" (Hernandez, 2018). I choose to use non-fiction texts for the following reasons: it helps prepare children for future years of reading, it helps to expand children's vocabulary and most importantly, it helps teach students about the area we live in and the world around us that we do not necessarily see first hand. It is important that children learn about the world we live in and are not solely reading fictional texts so they can learn factual information, different perspectives and life skills. Animal Planet's Animal Bites Series is a great way to introduce non-fiction texts to early literacy learners in a fun and engaging manner. Non-fiction texts can appear intimidating to young learners due to the heavy amount of information however this series is nothing of the sort. It contains 6 books on the following types of animals: ocean, wild, polar, baby, farm and animals on the move. The books are full of clear, colourful and vibrant photos that give the children a "bite sized" view on the animal. Students will learn about the animals habitat, behaviour, food, playtime, family relationships and so much more! Animals are a topic that most children love to learn about therefore this series, in addition to being extremely kid friendly, is a great tool to begin reading a different type of text. Introducing Animal Bites into your child's reading repertoire is a very beneficial tool that I highly recommend implementing.

ps. all of the books come with a free download of printable educational activities to extend learning at home!

References:
Hernandez, Alyssa. (2018). Must Have Nonfiction Animal Books for Kids. Where Imagination Grows. Retrieved from, https://whereimaginationgrows.com/learn-about-animals-nonfiction/

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Community walks are an absolutely amazing resource to use with your child! A community walk is when you take your child and guide them through an area that is filled with environmental print. The walk could take place in your neighbourhood, school, grocery store or outdoor trails. It can really happen anywhere however the main focus is to draw attention to purposes and meanings of signs. Environmental print is the print of everyday lives. It is seen in signs, labels, logos and wrappers; our world is filled with it. Environmental print is always around us and researcher Jannette Pelletier states that it is crucial to capitalize on this form of print for early literacy development (Pelletier, 2011). It is a sign that children are beginning to recognize a relationship between print and their visual representation. Community walks are great way to start your day to get up and moving however it is also something that can be done throughout the day. One thing to keep in mind is to refrain from going on community walks at night for safety reasons and also for the soul purpose that it might be difficult to read environmental print when it is dark outside. It is something fun to do throughout the year as well because you can tie in many different aspects of the environmental changes and seasons so this can become an extremely cross-curricular activity. Community walks are used in all grades of classrooms therefore teaching your child to self-regulate on a walk and notice environment print is something that will definitely benefit them as they begin their school journey. Community walks are a fantastic and free resource that I highly recommend taking advantage of! If your little one needs a bit more of a challenge or something to keep them interested, try creating a community walk scavenger hunt to spice it up and raise engagement!

Reference:
Pelletier, J. (2011). Supporting Early Language and Literacy. Research into Practice.

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I have yet to meet someone who has used GoNoodle and disliked it so I knew I had to add this to the top 10 list! GoNoodle is an amazing website and app created by Abby Perociello, Aaron Brigs, Scott McQuigg and John Herbold where children can play games and interactive activities. The program promotes physical activity, active learning, heightened engagement and enhanced focus.
The website is filled with activities based around different subjects, with one of the subjects being language and spelling. There are many activities that can get your child moving and spelling/reading at the same time! By using GoNoodle, children are learning literacy through play which is something that literary researchers Roskos, Christie and Richgels support. They explain that growing up in a literacy enriched play environment exposes children to valuable print experiences. This strategy "is effective in increasing the range and amount of literacy behaviours during play" which allows children to practice emerging skills. (Christie, Roskos & Richgels, 2003). This is an important skill to develop as children are getting ready to start school! GoNoodle is very popular in early grades at school therefore it would be beneficial to introduce your child to something they might see at school where they could connect and be familiar in a new environment. It is a great tool to use in the morning to get the children awake and moving however it is also a fantastic tool to use throughout the day. Another great aspect about GoNoodle is that it is free and can be used from any technological device whether it be a smart board, iPad, cellphone. computer etc. It is very user friendly and something that can easily be used at home or anywhere you travel. Most importantly, it is a literary resource that your children will love!

Reference:
Brigs, A., Herbold, J., S. McQuigg, & A. Perociello. (2018).  GoNoodle. Retrieved from, http://www.gonoodle.com
Christie, J., Roskos, K. & Richgels, D. (2003). The Essentials of Early Literacy Instruction. National Association for the Education of young Children. 1-8.

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Learning the calendar is a very important concept to teach your child. Time is difficult for children to understand so it is important that we begin teaching the days and months of the year at a young age. Children need to understand where Wednesday falls in the week and what day school starts and what month Halloween or Christmas fall in. It is also a great tool to teach math skills, time management and even a way to help your child prepare for an event that is coming up. Purchasing or creating a wall calendar is something that I highly suggest. Although your child might not be reading or writing yet, you can still sit with them at the beginning of the week and ask what events are happening this week or any ideas of things they would like to do. Track when you go to story time, the park, the library, a playdate or even when you do groceries. Highlighting the weekend days is also a great opportunity to show your child when siblings will be home from school or when a parent or guardian might be off work. At the end of each day, allow your child to cross it off so they know it has passed and Friday, March 12 only happens once a year. This is a great learning tool that exposes your child to the days of the week.
Now, keeping a yearly calendar is also very beneficial. It allows your child to see what months summer, fall, winter and spring fall in. You can also sit and connect what major holidays fall in what season. They might not fully grasp the time concept but it is a great stepping stone for introducing and getting your child thinking about the calendar year.
In addition, Magnetic strips are one of my favourite resources to keep around the house. They are a great tool to use on your fridge where your child can practice changing the day of the week and the date as each day passes. They can even change the month when a new one rolls around. Creating a rich print environment is really important. Janette Pelletier argues although your child might simply play with the magnetic strips at first, they will soon start associating the pictures with the days or months of the year and eventually, their attention will gradually shift from pictorial clues to the letters shown on the strip (Pelletier, 2011). This is turn prompts letter and word recognition! YouTube is also a great resource full of videos to help teach your child calendar skills as well; I have attached an example of one below! There are many resources you can use to teach your child calendar skills but it is something that is very beneficial and important to start at a young age!

Days, Weeks and Months of the Yea Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NA6sCLgqkL4

References:
Pelletier, J. (2011). Supporting Early Language and Literacy. Research into Practice.

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This is a resource I have recently learned about and it is absolutely amazing! It is a concept developed by Rosalind Zimbalatti in her program called Powerful Printing. Magnetic letter trays are great as a beginning step for children to start learning their letters and orientation. Zimbalatti suggest using a cookie tray, no less than 43x48cm that has a paper insert with the alphabet letters printed around the edges. Once the letters are printed, you can use magnetic letters and place them on top of the written letters. As a parent, you can draw a dock and water on the paper to prompt the initial stages of learning letters. The object of using a dock and water is to conduct stories of the letters going fishing and placing them on the dock as to associate the letters with a deeper meaning for children. The letters are sorted into 3 groups. The first group are standing tall letters which include letters such as: b, d, f, h, etc. The second group is called sitting small letters which include letters such as: a, c, e, i, m, n etc. The third and final group is called going fishing letters which include: g, j, p, y, q. You can create oral stories with your child about letters going to the dock and going fishing. An example could be:

One day, it was a beautiful, sunny day and some of our letter friends wanted to go fishing. Our friend "c" wanted to go to the dock but wanted to rest so she sat nice and small on the dock. Another friend "h" wanted to go to the dock as well but he didn't want to get his feet wet so he stood nice and tall on the dock. Our last friend "g" wanted to go to the dock and put a line in the water to go fishing so he sat on the dock and dropped his line into the water (the bottom of the g that hangs down would be the "line").

After each letter idea, the child will take the magnetic letter from the side and place it on the dock. There are countless stories that you and your child could create together and the "dock" will in turn eventually be a line on a piece of paper. In addition to stories, you could simply ask your child to place all the sitting small letters on the dock or all of the going fishing letters to help letters orientation. This activity allows students to orientate where letters sit on the line and how they would one day write them. By telling stories and bringing the letters to life, it helps children associate letters to something they remember and therefore enhance their memory and understanding of the alphabet. This is an essential concept of early literacy that will help enhance their learning experience.

References:
Zimbalatti, R. (2018). Powerful Printing. 1-15.

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Canada is becoming more and more diverse as each day passes. This is great however we must acknowledge that with Canada becoming more diverse, children are now being exposed to many more languages. If you are someone who has recently immigrated to Canada and English is not your first language, this is also a great resource for you! Dual language books are great to use when trying to close the gap in knowledge or the gap in language barriers. Dual language books are storybooks for children that are written in the child's first language but also written in a second language below. This provides a story to your child that they understand in their native language while also exposing them to a new language. They can associate the words in the new language to the pictures they see and since they already know what happens on that page in the story, it helps them comprehend the new language. It is an amazing way to expand your child's knowledge of their first language while helping them learn some words in a new language. This is important to use when children are young because their brains are like sponges. They are in a critical learning stage where they can take in and retain copious amounts of information (Kolb & Gibb, 2011). If your child's first language is not English and you are trying to prepare them for an english speaking school, this is a great opportunity to help your child understand stories that they might not have been able to if the story was only in english. Multilingual Matters is an organization that explains how dual language books "enhance your child’s self-esteem and their status as they demonstrate their skills and show their talents" (Multilingual Matters, 2018). Dual language books are a rather new phenomenon that come in all languages. It is a great resource to help prepare english language learners for english speaking environments or simply provide your english speaking child a challenge to learn a new language!

References:
Gibb, R & Kolb, B. (2011). Brain Plasticity and Behaviour in the Developing Brain.      Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 265-276.
Multilingual Matters. (2018). Use dual-language books to boost your child’s              literacy. Channel View Publications.

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Resource #9 - Giraffe's Cant Dance - Giles Andreas

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Resource #9 - Giraffe's Cant Dance - Giles Andreas

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Andreas' Giraffe's Can't Dance is a wonderful book to read to your little one. The book is about Gerald the giraffe who's legs were too skinny and had a neck too long. Everyone in the jungle are great dancers but for Gerald, he seems to have a hard time dancing like everyone else and fitting in. Animals in the jungle are making fun of Gerald's different dance moves which makes him very sad. Fortunately, Gerald meets a little cricket who helps him believe in himself. He learns that being unique is okay and that the world would really be quite boring if everyone was the same. At the next jungle dance, Gerald attends and shows off his funky dance moves. His confidence is contagious so the animals dance along with him and some even try his dance moves! They all learn to accept each other for who they are.
The book shares a great message to young children about how important it is to believe in yourself while also accepting others. Andreas presents this concept in a very simple way that children can relate to. It makes Gerald sad when animals laugh at him which is something easy for children understand. It is important for children to understand that everyone is different and we need to accept friends for who they are. When preparing for kindergarten, this is especially important as children are going to be entering a classroom with twenty to thirty new friends who are all going to be different!
The picture book is also a great resource to teach new words to your child. It is full of new words that your child can ponder and ask questions about which is a really beneficial literary resource (Hornsby & Wilson, 2013). The book is also full of rhyming words, which Hornsby and Wilson continue to explain is a great opportunity to comment about letter-sound relationships and work on grouping words together based on their sounds (2013)! Finally, the book is full of vibrant and beautiful illustrations that are sure to keep your child engaged and having fun! Giraffe's Can't Dance is a fantastic story that I believe every parent should share with their children.

References:
Hornsby, D. & Wilson, L. (2013). Early Literacy is more than Phonics.

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Mini-whiteboards are a fantastic resource that I highly recommend keeping readily available in your home. Children love working on their own whiteboard and claiming their own space. It is also a great place for children to start writing letters. Letter writing can be a very daunting task for a child. Something that seems so simple to us as adults is extremely overwhelming as a child. There are so many decisions a child has to make when writing letters that we do not even think of. For example, when writing a lowercase d, the child needs to decide which way to draw the circle, which side to put the "stick" on, how long the line is supposed to be, if I draw the line from top to bottom or bottom to top and how to put the "stick" so that it touches the circle (Zimbalatti, 2018). All of those decisions simply for one letter and the list could go on and on. While mentioning decisions, whiteboards provide children with an open space to write. There are no lines and therefore no decisions on where to place the letter on the page. They can write it in the corner, in the middle, to the left or to the right - it does not matter! With the use of a whiteboard, the child has the option to write the letter and if it is not done correctly, they simply erase it and start over (ps. old socks are great DIY erasers). Once it is erased, there is no visible memory of the mistake. It is gone and they have a fresh start. If they were writing on paper, children will often see the erased marks or scratched out letters which discourages their writing process. In addition, whiteboards are a nice, big space for children to write. It allows children to write at the size that works best for them. At such a young age, children are still developing their fine and gross motor skills so the whiteboard is a fantastic space to start writing. An additional benefit is that whiteboards are something that your child will see when they begin their school journey. Starting school can be a frightening thing therefore having something familiar in the classroom is sure to help calm your child's nerves. Whiteboards are used in all grades and are something that your child will continue to see throughout school so it is beneficial to begin introducing the resource at a young age! Also, if you do not have any whiteboards kicking around the house, they are extremely easy and cost efficient to make. I have attached a link below that can assist you in creating your own DIY whiteboard!

DIY Whiteboard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v52PvQsounI

References:
Zimbalatti, R. (2018). Powerful Printing. 1-15.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v52PvQsounI