Today, 31 January is the 7th Multicultural Children’s Book Day.
Read reviews of two multicultural picture books in celebration Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 with the theme Read My World:
The Secrets Hidden Beneath the Palm Tree by Angeliki Stamatopoulou-Pedersen and Ribbon’s Traveling Castle by Elizabeth Godley.
Continue reading: Multicultural Children’s Book Day 2020 — #ReadYourWorld – readilearn
It is during the final weeks of January and the first weeks of February that most teachers and children in the Southern Hemisphere begin their school year. Parents breathe a sigh of relief as the long holidays come to an end and teachers and children look forward to the year ahead with mixed feelings ranging from the excitement of a new adventure to anxiety or even dread. Perhaps it is no coincidence that Children’s Mental Health Week falls in the first week of February.
Children’s Mental Health Week runs from 3 – 9 February this year. The purpose of the week is to encourage children to look after their bodies and their minds. A positive classroom environment that is both welcoming and supportive helps to ensure children stay happy with healthy mental attitudes. It supports the development of self-esteem, self-confidence and the development of social skills, including getting along with others.
Here at readilearn, we can help you establish a supportive classroom environment and provide you with teaching resources that focus on developing social-emotional skills. While these are appropriate for any time of the year, a special focus during mental health week provides opportunities for reading books and engaging children in activities that are conducive to positive attitudes.
Of special note this year is that many children in Australia may begin the school year distressed by what they have personally experienced or may have seen or heard about the bushfires that have caused so much damage to our country.
While I am unable to give specialised support for dealing with trauma, this article in the Conversation has suggestions to help teachers support students, and includes links to other information. It is pleasing to see that extra funds have been made available to assist teachers and students who have been affected by the fires. If you have been affected and I can support you with a free subscription to readilearn, just let me know.
You can find suggestions for establishing a supportive classroom in these previous posts:
Continue reading: Special Days and Events for Classroom Celebrations — February – readilearn
This week at the Carrot Ranch, Charli Mills challenged writers to In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a carried wife. Why is she being carried? Who is carrying? Pick a genre if you’d like and craft a memorable character. Go where the prompt leads!
In her post, Charli
Please pop over to the Ranch to read Charli’s post and other responses to the prompt.
I agree with Charli that we are always evolving.
When I started writing this blog six and a half years ago, my intention was to write about education. Whenever I responded to one of Charli’s prompts, I attempted to embed my story in a post that focused on education or child development. I was mostly successful.
However, not all prompts, such as this wife-carrying challenge, lend themselves easily to education, though I could certainly do it if I tried with a story about children in school learning about Finland and Finnish customs, for example.
Since I also write posts about education for my second blog at readilearn, which I republish here, I have decided to allow myself a little more flexibility with my responses to Charli’s prompts. From now on, with my word for this year being ‘prioritise’, I will focus more on writing a story than embedding it in a post.
This is my story for this week. I hope you like it.
The Strong One
“You’re strong,” she giggled as he piggy-backed her around the playground at lunchtime.
“You’re strong,” she murmured as he lifted her over the puddle outside their graduation dance.
When he carried her over the threshold on their wedding day, her eyes sparkled with words unsaid but understood.
When they heard of Finland’s wife carrying contest, she smirked. “We could do that. You’re strong.”
He indicated the sleeping children. “When they’re grown.”
When cancer ravaged her body, she soothed, “Stay strong.”
When he and their sons carried her from the chapel on her final journey, he’d never felt so weak.
Thank you for reading. As always, I appreciate your feedback. Please share your thoughts.
I was recently approached by some parents who had been informed by teachers that their children were not achieving the expected level in reading for the class and that, although they were only in year one, were not on target for success in NAPLAN eighteen months later.
The parents were anxious and wanted to know how they could support their children at home. Tutoring was out of the question due to distance and, while it is always best to tailor strategies to a child’s individual needs, there are some basics which are applicable to most.
My first recommendation to the parents was to reduce the pressure — on all of them, parents and children, and to be as relaxed as possible about their learning. I explained that learning doesn’t occur in a stressful situation and that parents need to support their children by working with and not against them.
I consider these to be the main non-negotiables.
Continue reading: Strategies for parents to support their children’s reading – readilearn
I wish you all an enjoyable, rewarding and successful 2020.
For many of us in the Southern Hemisphere, the school year begins later this month or early next month. Most of us are already making preparations for the year ahead, thinking about how we will organise our classrooms and what we will teach. Preparation can take a lot of our ‘own’ time but being organised can reduce anxiety when the school year begins.
At readilearn, our aim is to lessen your workload by assisting with preparation, giving you more time for those things non-work-related things you enjoy.
When you are confident and organised from day one, the children (and their parents) will feel welcome and have positive attitudes to you, your classroom and school. You will set the tone for a successful school year for both you and your students.
The free resource Getting ready for the first day with Busy Bee resources lists some first day resources with suggestions for using them; including a welcome letter, a welcome sign for the door, desk name templates, name badges and a birthday chart.
Continue reading: Preparing the classroom for a successful school year – readilearn
Norah Colvin 