Thank you for subscribing to the Storytime Standouts newsletter.  This issue includes :

A Firefighter Sight Word Printable

An Upper and Lower Case Illustrated Alphabet

A Canadian Picture Book Author & Illustrator Crossword Puzzle   Solution

Word Family Printables for “...an”, “...est”, “...ill” & “...ock"

Printable PDFs

In this newsletter we are offering seven new printables for your use...

This can be used in a variety of ways. Some children enjoy copying words using letter tiles or magnetic letters. Alternatively, children may like to copy words onto a white board or use a pencil and paper. Older children may enjoy creating stories using these words. If you wish, you can print out two sets of words and create a memory game or print one set of words, separate the pictures from the words and make a matching game.

The Storytime Standouts 2006 May / June newsletter included a Father’s Day word search and a Things You Can Learn From Mom word search.  You will find those printables (and many more) archived on our newsletter page.

Hightlights from the Storytime Standouts Weblog ...

"d" or "b"?

One of the topics of discussion at my parent group presentations is how we can help children avoid reading a “b” as a “d” and vice versa. Here, I am not addressing serious learning challenges like Developmental Dyslexia (a condition / learning disability which causes difficulty with reading and writing). I am talking about ways to help youngsters with letter recognition including correctly identifying “d” and “b".

One mom mentioned that in their household they used the following:

“This is the bat, and this is the ball, together they make a “b". (Visualize: l + o = b, where “l” is a bat and “o” is a ball)

“This is the dog, and this is the tail, together they make a “d". (Visualize c+ l = d, where “c” is a dog and “l” is its tail).

Another method is to examine how we print the letter “d". It looks much like a “c” with a “l” added to it. Using this method, we discuss the fact that c + l = d and “d” is after “c” in the alphabet.

My favourite memory device is to make a “bed” with the child’s fingers. Imagine making two small circles with the thumbs and forefingers, and pointing the remaining fingers upward. Push the two circles together to make a “bed” (minus the “e"). The left hand makes the “b” and the right hand makes the “d.” It looks like this: “bd.” “b” is at the beginning of “bed,” “d” is at the end of bed.

If you have similar memory devices, I’d love to hear from you. Jump in with a comment.

Talking Openly About the Science of Sex

In our household, it is not at all unusual for us to talk about sex at the dinner table. Don’t get me wrong, my husband and I don’t share intimate details of our relationship, but we do talk about the science of sex with our two sons. We use anatomically correct vocabulary. We answer questions, we share facts and our values. We have always operated this way and can’t understand why more people don’t.

Talking openly about the science of sex is one way to protect children from abuse, disease and unwanted pregnancies. When we talk with our children, we pave the way for our children to talk openly with us, ask questions and keep themselves safe.

There has been an uproar over this year’s Newberry Medal winner because of a reference in The Higher Power of Lucky to a dog’s scrotum. I have had the pleasure to read the entire book and would have no hesitation in sharing it with either of my children.

On the first page of the book, Lucky secretly overhears Sammy relate his “rock-bottom” story… “he saw a rattlesnake on the passenger sear biting his dog, Roy, on the scrotum…”

Ten-year-old Lucky has no idea what a scrotum is and, sadly, trusts no one enough to ask. The significance of this is made more poignant when we learn more about Lucky’s circumstances: her mother died in an accident and her father has abandoned her. Lucky fears that her guardian is about to leave her and force her into an orphanage many miles from where she now lives. She fervently hopes she can find her Higher Power before hitting her own personal “rock-bottom.”

For those who understand that giving children scientific names for body parts is not sexy or sexual - The Higher Power of Lucky presents no threat. Read it and enjoy the wonderful characters, the dangerous desert setting and Lucky’s joy in finding her Higher Power.