Thursday, December 22, 2011

When Reading to Babies. . .

I have some tips to help mothers / fathers start their baby on the path to reading readiness. This is a subject very close to my heart, because of my background in Early Childhood Education, early reading readiness can be started with the right encouragement from parents. The Parent needs to know what to do to get started. Hopefully, reading aloud to your infant started with pregnancy. I highly recommend Dr. Seuss ABC's, One Fish, Two Fish, and Hop on Pop. I also like Jamberry, a rhyming book. Any book with rhyming and bright pictures will work. Reading to your child should be a daily occurrence, for example before nap and before bed. Read the same story over and over with expression while pointing to the words. Talk about the story after reading together. Take your baby or child to the library once a week and attend the story time, almost every library has one for children. Read labels to your child, traffic signs, etc. Use varied vocabulary every day, do not use baby talk, made up words, and slang, this will confuse the child especially when they start to attend school (no one will understand what your child is talking about). I have seen too many children without a proper vocabulary be held back and have to attend special reading classes. Please pass this information on, the world will be a better place if parents start the learning process at home.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Winter Bugs

Have you seen butterflies in your garden? Several Monarch butterflies and Queen butterflies have come to my Milkweed Forest and laid their eggs for one final time before continuing on their merry way to the next batch of flowers. I find the caterpillars and bring them in for safe keeping until they have made their chrysalis. I will release the newly hatched Butterflies on a warmer than most day without too much wind (I think that I can find a day as warm as any here in Corpus Christi, the wind is still hard to handle sometimes). I feed my caterpillars daily, or twice daily with milkweed cuttings in a butterfly habitat. They are a happy group, as I imagine. I have my very own Butterfly Bed and Breakfast. I will count the butterflies as I release them and take their photos. I hope that they will return their children to me somehow. I imagine the parents whispering to their eggs, " Remember the nice lady with the warm safe house and the Milkweed Forest, she will take care of you. "