Dino Facts with Down in the Valley

 

Did you know? 🦕🦖 Down in the Valley not only teaches you how to count but also shares some awesome dino facts! 🌟 Can you guess which dinosaur could swim? Or which had a spiky tail for defense? Comment below with your guesses!

From Sketch to Book

 Ever wonder how dinosaurs come to life in a book? 🖌️🦕 Author and illustrator Cassie Veselovsky takes you for a quick look behind the scenes of Down in the Valley! 🎨✨ From sketch to final creation, every dino has its own adventure. 🦖  Would you rather be a dino explorer or a dino artist?

Three Things to Avoid When Helping Your Child Learn to Read

The top three things to avoid when helping your child learn to read:

1. Pushing Too Hard, Too Soon: Pressuring children to read before they're ready can lead to frustration and a negative association with reading. It's important to gauge your child's interest and readiness, introducing reading in a fun and relaxed manner.

2. Focusing Solely on Books: Limiting reading practice to books only can make the process feel rigid and boring. Incorporating a variety of reading materials like comics, magazines, menus, and signs can make reading more engaging and enjoyable for your child.

3. Neglecting Phonemic Awareness: Jumping straight to reading whole words without building a strong foundation in phonemic awareness (the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words) can hinder progress. Spend time on phonics games, rhyming activities, and sound matching to develop these essential skills.

Singing plays a powerful role in developing phonemic awareness in children, which is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds in words. Songs naturally break language into smaller sound units, such as syllables and phonemes, because the rhythm, rhyme, and melody of songs emphasize these elements. When children sing, they become more aware of how words are made up of different sounds and syllables. For example, in nursery rhymes or singable books, repetitive patterns like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" or "The Wheels on the Bus" slow down speech, allowing children to clearly hear and distinguish individual sounds and sound patterns. This repetition helps them recognize rhyming words and syllable breaks, all while boosting memory and recall. Singing also incorporates playful language that encourages listening for sounds in a stress-free environment, making it easier for children to absorb and process. Over time, this sound recognition helps children with reading and spelling, as they can more easily decode and blend sounds to form words. In short, singing is a fun, engaging way to strengthen phonemic awareness, setting the stage for successful reading development.

Down in the Valley

Get ready for a dino-mite adventure! Head down into the valley and meet amazing dinosaurs like T. rex, stegosaurus, ankylosaurs, and more in this fun, singable counting rhyme, inspired by the classic "Down in the Meadow." You'll learn your numbers while discovering cool dino facts! Plus, there's a coloring page and fun activities inside to keep the prehistoric fun going!

Follow along on Instagram and Facebook for the pre-release fun and for your chance to win a free copy of the book!
 

CANDY for the Literacy Win!

Familiar songs like Bingo are great for learning! 🎶 Have you tried singing ‘CANDY’ with your child yet? Singing helps them hear every syllable!" #HappyHalloween 

 

Five Little Hedgehogs

 

Did you know hedgehogs can curl into a ball for protection? What superpower would your little one have if they were a hedgehog?

Five Rascally Raccoons

Ever seen five rascally raccoons running around and getting into mischief? Neither have I, but they’re in this book! 

What’s the silliest animal adventure your child has had?
 

Sing Your Books!

Singing is a powerful tool for early literacy development because it helps young children build foundational skills for reading and language.  

1. Phonological Awareness: Singing breaks words into smaller sounds, helping children hear the distinct syllables and phonemes. This awareness is crucial when they start learning to decode words while reading.

2. Vocabulary Building: Songs expose children to new words, phrases, and sentence structures, broadening their vocabulary in a fun, engaging way.

3. Memory and Retention: The rhythm and repetition in songs make it easier for children to remember words, phrases, and concepts, which strengthens their overall language skills.

4. Listening Skills: Singing encourages children to listen carefully to words and sounds, fostering better concentration and comprehension skills as they grow.

5. Engagement and Bonding: Singing with children is interactive and encourages participation, making reading time more enjoyable. It also creates emotional connections, making learning feel safe and fun.

By integrating singing into storytime, parents and educators can support early literacy in a joyful, musical way!

 Check out my books you can sing:  https://www.amazon.com/author/cassie_veselovsky

Play is Learning

Explore the world of trucks, cars, and everything in between with 'Cars, RVs, Trucks and Vans!' Perfect for your little vehicle enthusiast. #EarlyLiteracy

Playing pretend with a bunch of vehicles or anything really, is fun and educational.  Play is a crucial part of how children learn and grow. From building social skills to developing problem-solving abilities, play offers a world of benefits that shape young minds. Here are a few reasons why play is so important in children's learning:

1. Encourages Creativity and Imagination
   When children engage in pretend play or explore different roles, they're using their imaginations to create new scenarios. This kind of creative thinking helps them develop problem-solving skills and fosters innovation, which are key elements in learning.

2. Builds Social Skills
   Through play, children learn how to interact with others, take turns, share, and collaborate. Whether they're working together to build a fort or negotiating the rules of a game, these interactions teach valuable social and emotional skills that are important for their development.

3. Enhances Cognitive Development
   Play supports brain development by encouraging children to think critically, plan ahead, and make decisions. Activities like building with blocks or playing a memory game help strengthen cognitive abilities like focus, memory, and reasoning.

4. Promotes Physical Health
   Active play, like running, jumping, or climbing, not only helps children burn off energy but also improves coordination, balance, and fine motor skills. Physical play is a healthy way for children to stay active while also learning about their bodies and movement.

5. Boosts Emotional Well-being
   Play provides a safe space for children to express their emotions and work through different feelings. Whether they're pretending to be superheroes or acting out real-life scenarios, play allows them to process their experiences in a healthy way, building emotional resilience.

In short, play is essential to children's learning because it helps them grow in every aspect of life. It's more than just fun—it's how they learn to explore the world, solve problems, and develop the skills they need for the future. So next time you see a child at play, remember they’re doing some of their most important learning!

 

Create a Reading Nook

 

Create a magical reading nook! 🌟 A special space makes storytime even more inviting. Where’s your favorite reading spot? #ReadingNook

There was a farmer who had a dog and Bingo was his name-o

 

My Bingo books have caused much confusion since I first started publishing them a couple of years ago.  I get it; the game is more popular that the old song, but for a youth librarian, the song is more memorable!

I started creating Bingo Books (well, the songs with felt pieces) when I was doing a theme that happened to be a five letter word, such as APPLE, ACORN, CANDY (for Halloween!), TEETH, PIZZA, SHARK and more!  Including songs in library storytimes for young children is incredibly valuable for several reasons:

1. Language Development: Songs introduce rhythm, rhyme, and repetition, which help young children build vocabulary, phonological awareness, and listening skills.

2. Engagement: Music captures attention, making storytime more interactive and fun. This helps children stay focused and involved, even at a young age.

3. Memory and Comprehension: The repetition of lyrics helps children remember new words and concepts, reinforcing what they’ve learned during storytime.  My Bingo Books can be easily adapted to your group, choosing to use one of the verses and repeating it or using all of the different verses. There are many subjects as well to fit a variety of themes and interests. 

4. Motor Skills: Many songs include actions or movements, which encourage children to develop fine and gross motor skills as they follow along with hand motions or dance.  With my songs written to the tune of Bingo, kids and their adults can clap along to the beat which helps them focus on the letter and word sounds.

5. Emotional Connection: Music evokes emotions, creating a positive association with books and reading. And using familiar tunes helps to invoke confidence as the kids and their adults know the tune. This makes children excited to return to storytime and encourages a lifelong love of reading.  

6. Social Skills: Group singing helps children learn to take turns, share attention, and participate in a group setting, which are key social skills for young learners.  If you take one of my Bingo Books and create simple felt pieces to go along with it, you can help each child participate in taking down letters when you lose a letter.

Songs make storytime a more dynamic, enriching experience, helping kids learn through play which is so very important.  After all, remember what Mister Rogers had to say about play:  "Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.  But for children play is serious learning.  Play is really the work of childhood."  

So go out there and play with your children - and SING!

There is a Treat at Halloween

 

Who’s ready for some sweet Halloween fun? 🎃🍬 ‘CANDY’ is the star of this Bingo song! What’s your little one’s favorite Halloween candy? Let us know!