More books for your little ones!!! Part 2

So here are the next 50 children's books recommended  by a reading specialist at our children's elementary.

#51.  Maisy Goes Swimming by Lucy Cousins
#52.  Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
#53.  Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming
#54.  The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordicai Gerstein
#55.  Marth Speaks by Susan Meddaugh
#56.  Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia L. Burton
#57.  Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag
#58.  Miss Nilson is Missing by James Marshall and Harry Allard *
#59.  Mr. Gumpy's Outing by John Birmingham
#60.  Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe *
#61.  Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by CandaceFleming
#62.  My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann
#63.  The Napping House by Audrey Wood *
#64.  No, David!  by David Shannon *
#65.  Off to School, Baby Duck! by Amy Hest
#66. Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth
#67.  Olivia by Ian Falconer *
#68.  Owen by Kevin Henkes
#69.  Papa, Please Get the Moon For Me by Eric Carle
#70.  Pierre:  A Cautionary Tale by Maurice Sendak
#71.  The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg *
#72.  Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault *
#73.  The Random House Book of Mother Goose:  A Treasury of 386 Timeless Nursery Rhymes by Arnold Lobel
#74.  Round Trip by Ann Jonas
#75.  Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky *
#76.  The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats *
#77.  Spots, Feathers and Curly Tails by Nancy Tafuri
#78.  The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
#79.  The Stray Dog by Marc Simont
#80.  Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
#81.  Swimmy by Leo Lionni
#82.  Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
#83.  The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter *
#84.  Tar Beach by Raith Ringgold
#85.  Ten, Nine, Eight by Molly Bang
#86.  There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback *
#87.  The Three Bears by Paul Galdone *
#88.  Trashy Town by Andrea Griffing Zimmerman
#89.  The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by a Wolf by John Scieszka *
#90.  Tuesday by David Wiesner
#91.  Uptown by Bryan Collier
#92.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle *
#93.  The Wheels on the Bus by Paul O. Zelinsky
#94.  Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak *
#95.  Where's Spot?  by Eric Hill
#96.  Whistle For Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
#97.  The Wolf's Chicken Stew by Keiko Kasza
#98.  Yoko by Rosemary Wells
#99.  Zomo the Rabbit:  A Trickster Tale From West Africa by Gerald McDermott
#100. It could Always be Worse:  A Yiddish Folktale by Margot Zemach

Great List of Children's Books

So here is a list of children's books in alphabetical order recommended by my children's reading specialist at their elementary.  Thought I would share with my fellow bloggers.  This is the first 50 books.  I will post the next 50 later.  The Books marked with an asterisk * are the books that I have read or have a copy of in our children's book collection.

#1.  Abuela by Arthur Dorros
#2.  Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst *
#3.  Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock by Eric A Kimmel *
#4   Andy and the Lion by James Daugherty
#5.  Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
#6.  The Bossy Gaillito: A Traditionl Cuban Folk Tale by Lucia M. Gonzalez
#7.  Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban
#8.  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Jr. Martin *
#9.  Bruno Munari's ABC by Bruno Munari
#10.  Buz by Richard Egielski
#11.  Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina *
#12.  The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
#13.  A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams
#14.  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Jr. Marin *
#15.  Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin *
#16.  Come Along, Daisy! by Jane Simmons
#17.  Corduroy by Don Freeman *
#18.  Curious George by H.A. Rey *
#19.  Dinosaur Roar! by Paul and Henrietta Stickland *
#20.  Don't Let The Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Williams *
#21.  Duck on a Bike by David Shannon
#22.  Fire Truck by Peter Sis
#23.  Freight Train by Donald Crews
#24.  Froggy Gets Dressed by Jonathan London
#25.  The Gardener by Sarah Stewart
#26.  George and Martha by James Marshall
#27.  Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley *
#28.  Goin' Someplace Special by Patricia McKissack
#29.  Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
#30.  Goodnight Moon by Margaret W. Brown *
#31.  Gossie by Dunrea Olivier
#32.  Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say
#33.  Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson *
#34.  Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
#35.  Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson
#36.  Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss *
#37.  How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night?  by Jane Yolen *
#38.  I kissed the Baby! by Mary Murphy
#39.  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura J. Numeroff *
#40.  John Henry by Julius Lester
#41.  Julius by Angela Johnson
#42.  Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes
#43.  Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes *
#44.  The Line-up Book by Russo Marisabina
#45.  The Little Red Hen: An Old Story by Margot Semach *
#46.  Lon Po Po:  A Red Riding Hood Story From China by Ed Young
#47.  Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile by Bernard Waber
#48.  Mabela the Clever by Margaret Read MacDonald
#49.  Machines at Work by Byron Barton
#50.  Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

How to get your children to love reading

I have had many people ask me over the years how I got my kiddos to read early and how to get their children interested in books because they hate to read and so on. I have been thinking of this question lately and how to respond. I came up with a list of some things that I have done with my 3 little piggies to get them to love reading. If you can't tell, I love lists.

#1 Visit your local library. When #1 was little and we were living in sunny Arizona, I would take her to the library every week for story hour. Then we would check out like 20 something books and then head over to the park. I did this forever. I also love the library because in the summer, they would do the summer reading program and had all of these incentives for kids to read and come back to get prizes. It was a great experience. I have continued to go to my local library with my kiddos and enjoy books, though not faithfully like I did back in AZ. So go, go, go to your library. It is so much fun.

#2 Sight words are wonderful. We make lists of sight words at my house and I stick them on the fridge. I periodically grab the list and run through them with my kids.

#3 Flash card games and memory are always a fun way to learn new words.

#4 Use silly voices when reading to your kids. They LOVE it!!!!!

#5 Pick out books that interest your kids. They will want to read them over and over. For example........We love scary books at my house. I do not know why. Maybe, it is because my birthday is on Halloween, so we have a ton of spooky books, but my kids love reading scary books. I love to do creepy voices and then scare them. We all laugh and always try to scare each other. I had to laugh because one time at my book club, I brought a list of suggestions for children's books and pretty much every book was a scary one. Some that I recommend would be a) Go Away Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. b) The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt and Tony DiTerlizzi c) The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams d) Where's My Mummy by Carolyn Crimi e) There's an Alligator Under my Bed, There's Something in the Attic, There's a Nightmare in My Closet by Mercer Mayer f) Monster Goose by Judy Sierra. Those are just some off the top of my head. I'd have to look at our book shelf to get more because I KNOW I have more. haha!

#6 Pick a book that has a movie to go with it. For example, a couple of summers ago, we read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. This was a wonderful book and when we were all done, we rented the movie, popped some popcorn, ate a bunch of treats, had a pajama party and loved it. I mean you could really get into it and buy Wonka treats and chocolates, etc.

#7 Read books with values and talk about the values and stories that have happened to you while you grew up. Share experiences together and teach the importance of this particular value.

#8 Start a little kid book club and let them talk about the books they have read. So cute!

#9 Get involved in your children's school and participate in Read-a-thons, reading celebrations, contests, and giveaways. My children have a kite festival coming up that if they read so many hours they get a free kite.

#10 Read to them and let them read to you every single day. You will be so glad you did! :)

Reading at an early age

So I decided early on that I wanted my children to read before they entered kindergarten for various reasons. One- because I believed that they were perfectly capable. Two- because I wanted them to have a head start and not fall behind in school work. School can be overwhelming to students who don't even know their abc's. Three-I wanted to instill a love for reading at an early age. Four- well there are many more reasons but I am going to stop here.

Now I have to admit I was an over-zealous mom with a lot of ambition and hopes for my first child. I went a little over board to say the least. At age 16 mo. old she knew her alphabet, colors, numbers, shapes, letter sounds and talked like a miniature adult. One of my friend's daughter- who was 15 mo. old when she had learned all of that- inspired me. I thought to myself, "If she can do that, so can my little girl." So I did the flash cards, and read a million stories, did object lessons, etc. Seriously I think I must've been crazy looking back. At age 4 I started reading Dick and Jane books with #1. I also bought the book, "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" by Engelmann, Haddox, and Bruner. After that book she was reading beautifully but let me just say (those lessons weren't always easy for the parent and there were literally 100 of them). With #2 things were a little different. First of all he didn't even talk until he was 2 years old. I actually had someone approach me about having him be tested for learning disabilities. I let that one blow off my shoulders but I was worried because he was so "far" behind #1. Well let me just say that he is now 4 years old and reading at a higher level than my #1 child did at his age. When he did start to speak, he spoke in sentences. I still read to him everyday and started the Dick and Jane books early on but I have to give a shout out to Waterford's upstart program. He has been in their online preschool since September and it has done wonders. It just goes to show that every child is different and can learn in new and challenging ways and you don't have to be a crazy mom to get them to reach their potential.

So my point of this post is to read, read, read to your children every day. They will catch on and be interested in books if you do this from an early age. In college I took many child development classes and graduated with a degree in Family Consumer Sciences/Nutrition and have seen first hand how powerful books can be.

Check out these websites to find out the research on why early literacy is so important.
http://www.reachoutandread.org/impact/importance.aspx

http://www.utahupstart.org/about-upstart/

http://oomscholasticblog.com/2011/11/thoughts-on-the-importance-of-early-literacy-programs-and-a-giveaway.html

Check out this great website for your kids
www.starfall.com

So go turn off the computer/t.v. and read to your little one.....right now....go on.....go.