UrbanMommies » Get Reading http://www.urbanmommies.com Your Online Baby Resource Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:10:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 en hourly 1 Tips for Teaching Kids to Read http://www.urbanmommies.com/featured-1/tips-for-teaching-kids-to-read/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/featured-1/tips-for-teaching-kids-to-read/#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:56:56 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=8044 Reading to your babies and kids is one of those important things like brushing teeth and eating veggies that can sometimes slip by the wayside (or can give your mother-in-law fodder for more unwanted advice).  UrbanMommies loves books (make sure you check our Get Reading section regularly), so we asked a child reading specialist for some helpful tips on making sure your kids are well versed (so to speak) in reading. 1. Read to your child as soon as they can focus on a book in front of them.  Although they may not understand the finer points of the story, they are learning concepts...]]> Family readingReading to your babies and kids is one of those important things like brushing teeth and eating veggies that can sometimes slip by the wayside (or can give your mother-in-law fodder for more unwanted advice).  UrbanMommies loves books (make sure you check our Get Reading section regularly), so we asked a child reading specialist for some helpful tips on making sure your kids are well versed (so to speak) in reading.

1. Read to your child as soon as they can focus on a book in front of them.  Although they may not understand the finer points of the story, they are learning concepts of print:  how to hold a book, how to turn the pages, where to start a book.  As they grow older, they’ll begin to understand that the words on the page carry a message which is linked to the pictures in the book.

2.  Allow your child to turn the pages and touch the book – books with different textures or flaps they can open will increase their interest and allow for their need to move and explore.

3.  Expose your child to the cadences of language – read with expression and try different voices when characters are talking.  If you’re reading a rhyming book, let your child guess the word at the end of the line (ie. I do not like green eggs and ham, I do not like them, Sam I…..).  If there is repetition in the book, let your child recite the repeating lines (”Bang, bang, rattle, bang-bang, gonna make my noise all day!”).

4.  Do not limit reading to bedtime.  Seek out reading experiences in the real world – read signs and posters around the neighbourhood.  Children can recognize “stop” on a stop sign or the name of favourite restaurant.  Have them read cereal boxes, shopping lists, price tags and toy store flyers.  You may even want to make labels with your child for things around the house like “chair,” “window,” “fridge” etc.

5.  When your child is beginning to read simple books, let them use the picture to help make sense of the words on the page.  Many parents make the mistake of covering up the picture, but at this early stage, children need to use a variety of different strategies to figure out the text.

6.  Allow your child to read many different types of texts:  fiction, non-fiction, magazines, the internet, comic books etc.  Boys, especially will appreciate outside the mainstream books like Captain Underpants or The Day My Butt Went Psycho.  And don’t worry if they’re just looking at the pictures.  Think about how adults browse at the bookstore – we flip through the pictures, read a few captions – it’s a very real way of reading.

7.  When your child is reading by themselves, listen to them read out loud, but be cognizant of when it is becoming too difficult or they’re getting tired.  Offer to finish reading, or share the reading.  And once they’ve started reading books by themselves, don’t give up on you reading to them.  Choose books they might not be able to read independently, like novels, and read a little bit each night.

8. If you find your child is struggling to read the books they’re bringing home from school, talk to the teacher.  Children will learn to read and enjoy reading if they read books that give them some challenges (figuring out a few new words), but they may become discouraged if they are spending most of their time decoding words and therefore will lose the meaning of what they are reading.

Steph Dawson is an elementary school teacher in Toronto with a specialist qualification in Reading.

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/featured-1/tips-for-teaching-kids-to-read/feed/ 1 Free Jewish Children’s Books http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/free-jewish-childrens-books/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/free-jewish-childrens-books/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:31:29 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=7865 Joseph OvercoatFree Jewish children’s books and CD's are about to be delivered to homes across the Lower Mainland through The PJ Library® – no strings attached.  On a monthly basis, The PJ Library (PJ as in pajamas) sends out high quality, age-appropriate Jewish children’s books to participating families with children aged six months to five years. Each book includes a guide to help parents and children connect with the Jewish themes and values reflected within. The PJ Library is an award-winning initiative of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, launched locally in partnership with Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. The PJ Library delivers 59,013...]]> Joseph OvercoatFree Jewish children’s books and CD’s are about to be delivered to homes across the Lower Mainland through The PJ Library® – no strings attached.  On a monthly basis, The PJ Library (PJ as in pajamas) sends out high quality, age-appropriate Jewish children’s books to participating families with children aged six months to five years. Each book includes a guide to help parents and children connect with the Jewish themes and values reflected within. The PJ Library is an award-winning initiative of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, launched locally in partnership with Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver and the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. The PJ Library delivers 59,013 books free each month to families in 130 partner cities.

“PJ Library is a meaningful and effective way to reach Jewish families with young children, and connect them with their community, particularly those who live in outlying suburbs for whom PJ may be their only connection,” said Michael Fugman, board chair, Jewish Federation.

Books include beloved mainstream stories that convey a Jewish sensibility such as the Caldecott Medal-winning picture book, Joseph Had a Little Overcoat by Simms Taback (shown).  Canadian author, Phoebe Gilman’s Something from Nothing is a PJ favorite.

Robyn Moreno, a mother of three who lives in the suburban Lower Mainland, reads with her kids every night and had this to say: “We want our children to learn traditions and celebrate the holidays, and it’s very difficult out here. You can’t just go into any kids’ bookstore or library and find Jewish books.”

Thousands of households across the Lower Mainland recently received the introductory mailing. Registration is now open at www.jewishvancouver.com/pjlibrary and in the first year is available to 360 children.  To learn more about The PJ Library visit www.pjlibrary.org.

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/free-jewish-childrens-books/feed/ 0 Little Star Handmade Books http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-goods/shopping-for-the-wee-one/little-star-handmade-books/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-goods/shopping-for-the-wee-one/little-star-handmade-books/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 22:04:16 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=7609 Elaine Muldrew’s handcrafted books make the perfect heirloom baby gift.  If you have Kleenex. The ribbon-bound keepsake describes the search of one Little Star for its own Earth Child.  The premise is that each child has its own special star, and at the end of the delightful bedtime story the new baby is introduced to his or her own star.  "Hello Little Star", said the Earth Child.  "My name is..." The absence of personal pronouns makes it appropriate for either gender, and the personal naming at the end helps babies and parents alike become familiar with the musical sound of their name.  So if you're looking to give the most cherished gift,...]]> little+star+collage+jpgElaine Muldrew’s handcrafted books make the perfect heirloom baby gift.  If you have Kleenex. The ribbon-bound keepsake describes the search of one Little Star for its own Earth Child.  The premise is that each child has its own special star, and at the end of the delightful bedtime story the new baby is introduced to his or her own star. 

“Hello Little Star”, said the Earth Child.  “My name is…”

The absence of personal pronouns makes it appropriate for either gender, and the personal naming at the end helps babies and parents alike become familiar with the musical sound of their name.  So if you’re looking to give the most cherished gift, and have an interest in our universe and the connections of us all within it, well.. look no further.  There are a limited number printed, so be the first in line.

In the Vancouver area, Little Star is available at:
Isola Bella in Kerrisdale
Blackberry Books on Granville Island
tartooful in Edgemont Village
Utopia Gifts on Lonsdale
Favourite in Lonsdale Quay
Firestar in Horseshoe Bay
Vancouver Public Library downtown in their gift store, Bookmark
Courtney  (Vancouver Island) at Firefly
Hornby Island at 32 Books.

Alternatively, for Canada wide shipping, please contact buildabookmedia@gmail.com.

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-goods/shopping-for-the-wee-one/little-star-handmade-books/feed/ 0 Canadian Legends http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-baby/healthy-baby/canadian-legends/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-baby/healthy-baby/canadian-legends/#comments Sun, 27 Dec 2009 05:48:45 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=5914 In preparing for a new year, we often reminisce about times gone by.  But have we perhaps been lazy with our heritage and our own education?  Here are our top 100 'Canadian' legends that we feel you should be able to utter a sentence about - either at a cocktail party or in answer to your children's questions.  We're bracing ourselves for lots of comments about what we may be missing...  please add your thoughts below.  We sometimes forget that we are our children's best teachers and role models.  Neglecting ourselves will eventually affect our children.  So if a few of these things are fuzzy in your mind... look...]]> Lawren HarrisIn preparing for a new year, we often reminisce about times gone by.  But have we perhaps been lazy with our heritage and our own education?  Here are our top 100 ‘Canadian’ legends that we feel you should be able to utter a sentence about – either at a cocktail party or in answer to your children’s questions.  We’re bracing ourselves for lots of comments about what we may be missing…  please add your thoughts below.  We sometimes forget that we are our children’s best teachers and role models.  Neglecting ourselves will eventually affect our children.  So if a few of these things are fuzzy in your mind… look them up on your Blackberry while you’re at the gym fulfilling your other New Year’s Resolution.  (And enter our Fitness contest pronto).

Canadian Legends you should know enough about to teach your kids:

  1. The RCMP Musical Ride
  2. Lord Simcoe
  3. General Wolfe
  4. The Group of Seven
  5. The Queen
  6. The Bluenose
  7. Winnie the Pooh
  8. Hudson’s Bay Company
  9. The Metis
  10. The Halifax Explosion
  11. The Ripple Rock
  12. The War of 1812
  13. Pier 21
  14. Wampum
  15. Anne of Green Gables
  16. The Fundy Tides
  17. Permafrost
  18. Joual
  19. General Montcalm
  20. The Loyalists
  21. Billy Bishop
  22. The Great Lakes
  23. Upper and Lower Canada
  24. Montreal Smoked Meat
  25. The Governor General
  26. Stanley Park
  27. The Senate
  28. The Rocky Mountains
  29. Mosquitoes
  30. Bre-x
  31. Portaging
  32. How to paddle a canoe
  33. Residential Schools
  34. the Seal Hunt
  35. Peacekeeping
  36. Eh
  37. Conservatives, Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party
  38. The Bloc Quebequois
  39. Plains of Abraham
  40. French and English
  41. Canadian Tire Money
  42. Two Versions of our Anthem
  43. Tim Horton’s
  44. Remembrance Day
  45. WW1
  46. WW2
  47. Conscription
  48. Prohibition
  49. The Great Depression
  50. Why Alberta pays no provincial tax
  51. Oil Sands
  52. Beaver Dams
  53. The First Nations
  54. Alexander Graham Bell
  55. Universal Health Care
  56. Don Cherry
  57. Ice Fishing
  58. The Order of Canada
  59. The Stratford Festival
  60. Toronto International Film Festival
  61. The longest unguarded border in the world
  62. CBC
  63. Icewine
  64. Canada vs. Russia
  65. Lacrosse is our National Sport
  66. The Second City
  67. The Original Six
  68. Cirque de Soleil
  69. Ben Johnson
  70. Montreal Exhibition
  71. Calgary Olympics
  72. Whistler
  73. McGill University
  74. Distinct Society
  75. Free Trade
  76. Fringe Festivals
  77. Sociable
  78. Molson and Oland
  79. The Navy
  80. Toronto Film Festival
  81. Algonquin Park
  82. Banff Springs National Park
  83. Gold Rush
  84. Dogsledding
  85. The Globe and Mail
  86. The National Post
  87. The Giller Prize
  88. The Voice of Fire
  89. Canada Council for the Arts
  90. Melting Pot vs. Mosaic
  91. Representation by Population
  92. Canada Day
  93. The Moose
  94. The Beaver
  95. The Trans Canada Railway
  96. The Titanic
  97. The meaning of the icons on our coins and bills
  98. The Muskoka Chair
  99. Digby Scallops
  100. Lumberjack shirts

Image:

Painting by Lawren Harris  titled ‘Greenland Mountains’
Painted circa 1930 – An Oil on Canvas, 107.4 x 128.4 cm. Purchased in 1936 National Gallery of Canada

(no. 4279)

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-baby/healthy-baby/canadian-legends/feed/ 0 The Christmas Kitten http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/904/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/904/#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:20:58 +0000 admin http://www.urbanmommies.com/libraries/904/ Christmas KittenWritten by Caroline Repchuk Illustrated by Susanna Ronchi This is a magical tale of friendship and caring for Christmas! As Santa’s sleigh sails high over the forest on Christmas Eve, a calamity occurs—a little toy kitten falls from the sleigh! Luckily the kitten lands safely in a snowdrift where she is soon found by a family of mice who overcome their fear to help her find her new home in time for Christmas.]]> Christmas KittenWritten by Caroline Repchuk
Illustrated by Susanna Ronchi
This is a magical tale of friendship and caring for Christmas! As Santa’s sleigh sails high over the forest on Christmas Eve, a calamity occurs—a little toy kitten falls from the sleigh! Luckily the kitten lands safely in a snowdrift where she is soon found by a family of mice who overcome their fear to help her find her new home in time for Christmas.

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/904/feed/ 0 Reading the Classics http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/reading-the-classics/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/reading-the-classics/#comments Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:13:49 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=5919 The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?  Note... if you can't find childcare for New Year's... it's a good night to crack open one of these tomes.  Feel free to comment on this article and add some of your own selections.  For your kids?  See our Get Reading section. 1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen 2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien 3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte 4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling 5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee 6 The Bible 7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte 8 Nineteen...]]> Top 100 Classic BooksThe BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books here. How do your reading habits stack up?  Note… if you can’t find childcare for New Year’s… it’s a good night to crack open one of these tomes.  Feel free to comment on this article and add some of your own selections.  For your kids?  See our Get Reading section.
1 Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulk
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Graham
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34 Emma-Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Inferno – Dante
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/reading-the-classics/feed/ 3 Yellow Red Blue, by SAMi http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/yellow-red-blue-by-sami/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/yellow-red-blue-by-sami/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:06:21 +0000 admin http://www.urbanmommies.com/libraries/yellow-red-blue-by-sami/ A Baby Flip a FaceBy SAMi A blue hat becomes a red hat and yellow hair becomes red hair in this soft, foam-filled book that will stimulate the minds and imaginations of babies and encourage them to grab on and flip the pages!>Designed for infants, the Baby Flip-a Face series reveals new faces with the flip of a page. In this addition, babies are introduced to basic colors. A great way to start reading with your baby!]]> Yellow Red Blue by SAMiA Baby Flip a FaceBy SAMi

A blue hat becomes a red hat and yellow hair becomes red hair in this soft, foam-filled book that will stimulate the minds and imaginations of babies and encourage them to grab on and flip the pages!>Designed for infants, the Baby Flip-a Face series reveals new faces with the flip of a page. In this addition, babies are introduced to basic colors. A great way to start reading with your baby!

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/yellow-red-blue-by-sami/feed/ 0 Personalized Storybooks http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-goods/shopping-for-the-wee-one/personalized-storybooks/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-goods/shopping-for-the-wee-one/personalized-storybooks/#comments Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:07:34 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=5382 Sometimes you just need the perfect gift.  A first birthday, a baby gift for a respected business colleague, or maybe for the homecoming of the baby who has just been released from the NICU.  It happens - and these occasions should not be allowed to slip by.  You might not be able to grab it from Winners a hour before the event, but it will most certainly be perfect.  Custom Made for Kids prints individual, bound storybooks about the life of a child. The company’s first book, The First Adventures of Incredible You, is a professionally bound, hardcover book with rhyming verse written by Sarah Headrick...]]> BalloonsSometimes you just need the perfect gift.  A first birthday, a baby gift for a respected business colleague, or maybe for the homecoming of the baby who has just been released from the NICU.  It happens – and these occasions should not be allowed to slip by.  You might not be able to grab it from Winners a hour before the event, but it will most certainly be perfect.  Custom Made for Kids prints individual, bound storybooks about the life of a child. The company’s first book, The First Adventures of Incredible You, is a professionally bound, hardcover book with rhyming verse written by Sarah Headrick and Sarah Rivera, with illustrations by Chicago artist Jill Dryer Bartolucci.  Here’s the fun part – you answer a series of questions on their website, and the answers are printed as part of the story so that every tome is unique to the child for whom it is intended.  In the book that we received, Uncle James made an appearance, as did the family dog and Zoe’s favourite dinner made by Grandma Mo.  The only catch for us (don’t repeat this to Uncle James), was knowing enough about the individual in question in order to supply personal and applicable answers.  We had to do some sleuthing to find out the favourite beach, the apparatus my niece loves at the park, and which Zoo is closest to her home.  This story outlined each aspect of a baby’s life – from eating, to bathing (Daddy does the bath), playdates with friends, and family members.  The opportunity to create a baby book of sorts, with memories from year to year is so easy.  All you need is a week,… and the answers to the questions.  Very definately, the perfect gift.

www.custommadeforkids.com.
(And now available at Pottery Barn Kids.)

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-goods/shopping-for-the-wee-one/personalized-storybooks/feed/ 1 The Frog and Toad Series http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/the-frog-and-toad-series/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/the-frog-and-toad-series/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:40:06 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=5040 The Frog and Toad SeriesThe "Frog and Toad" series written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel Arnold Lobel wrote this series of books featuring little stories about kindred spirits Frog and Toad over 30 years ago and they have become award-winning, timeless classics. They are the kind of books you read as a kid and you will read to your children and grandchildren. There are four books in the original series: Frog and Toad are Friends, Frog and Toad Together, Frog and Toad All Year and Days with Frog and Toad. The books even inspired a 2003 off-Broadway musical that was nominated for three Tony awards. Each chapter book contains...]]> The Frog and Toad SeriesThe “Frog and Toad” series
written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel

Arnold Lobel wrote this series of books featuring little stories about kindred spirits Frog and Toad over 30 years ago and they have become award-winning, timeless classics. They are the kind of books you read as a kid and you will read to your children and grandchildren. There are four books in the original series: Frog and Toad are Friends, Frog and Toad Together, Frog and Toad All Year and Days with Frog and Toad. The books even inspired a 2003 off-Broadway musical that was nominated for three Tony awards. Each chapter book contains five stand-alone stories suitable for beginner readers and story-lovers of all ages. From a writer’s viewpoint, each story is absolute perfection. Short and sweet, warm and funny, they are all about the beauty of life and the bond of friendship, no matter what species you are.

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/book-of-the-month/the-frog-and-toad-series/feed/ 0 The Word on the Street http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/the-word-on-the-street/ http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/the-word-on-the-street/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 21:45:22 +0000 Jill http://www.urbanmommies.com/?p=4423 The Word on the StreetThe Word on the Street: Vancouver: Library Square Toronto:  Queen's Park Kitchener: Victoria Park Halifax: Cunard Event Centre When:  Sunday, September 27th, 2009 Time:  11am - 5pm This is a great place to get lots of great kids' books, and expose your little ones to a world of reading.  Men on stilts, magazines, activities and special memories.  Enjoy! The Kids Tent Books, storytelling, music, and more for young readers. Ages 4-12 The Vancouver Sun Raise-a-Reader Corner Picture book authors for the youngest members of your family, plus storytelling by children's librarians from the Lower Mainland, representing the InterLINK Children's Services Committee. Ages 0-3 Wordsearch On The Street Check out our giant Wordsearch on Hamilton Street (aka Literacy Lane)...]]> The Word on the StreetThe Word on the Street:
Vancouver: Library Square
Toronto:  Queen’s Park
Kitchener: Victoria Park
Halifax: Cunard Event Centre
When:  Sunday, September 27th, 2009
Time:  11am – 5pm

This is a great place to get lots of great kids’ books, and expose your little ones to a world of reading.  Men on stilts, magazines, activities and special memories.  Enjoy!

The Kids Tent

Books, storytelling, music, and more for young readers.
Ages 4-12

The Vancouver Sun Raise-a-Reader Corner

Picture book authors for the youngest members of your family, plus storytelling by children’s librarians from the Lower Mainland, representing the InterLINK Children’s Services Committee.
Ages 0-3

Wordsearch On The Street

Check out our giant Wordsearch on Hamilton Street (aka Literacy Lane) for an exciting contest. Get the whole family looking for words and submit your list for a chance to win a Word On The Street Vancouver Prize Pack!

Family Literacy Tent

The Family Literacy Tent hosts over ten literacy and education organizations; this space is offered free of charge to qualifying exhibitors, who gain invaluable exposure and visibility for their organizations’ work.

  • Canucks Family Education Centre (CFEC)
  • College Educacentre
  • Fraser Valley Regional Library
  • Frontier College
  • Scholastic Book Fair

7th annual Kids Only Scavenger Hunt

It’s back and here’s how it works:

First, purchase a Kids Only Scavenger Hunt card at one of the Info Tents on site ($1). Then, answer the 10 questions on it. When you’re done, take the completed card to the CBC Television Tent on Hamilton Street to collect a cool prize!

There are only 150 cards available. Plus, you’ll have to read the program and wander around the festival site to answer all the questions, so be sure to wear comfy shoes and keep your eyes peeled!

www.thewordonthestreet.ca

]]> http://www.urbanmommies.com/the-hood/the-word-on-the-street/feed/ 0