Summer Storytelling Fun

Summer Storytelling Fun

May 1, 2019 | Handy Tips

Things to do with your children, friends, or grandchildren ...

... spend the summer gathering Family Stories of all kinds!

I bet you are a storyteller and you did not even know it. Every day you share with someone something that happened to you, that is telling a story. From my creative tips I hope  that you have a comfort level knowing you can tell a story, so now let’s build on it ... Writing a quality sentence is like putting a puzzle together. You know the basics, noun and verb. But if you want to paint a picture for the reader you need to include various parts of speech. Hence puzzle pieces!

Why?

In my humble opinion knowing your family history gives you a solid foundation of who you are and builds a stronger family relationship.

Supplies

  1. A way to record or video with sound
  2. Select where you will store your recordings
  3. A box - decorate it and place items, pictures etc that your family member gives you.

Extra bonus If you want make a family scrapbook with the pictures, letters, as well as any other treasures you collected.

Storytelling Topics for the summer time

In this assignment two things will happen?

Part One: you are the detective learning about the topic, therefore the person being questioned is the storyteller. You are learning the art of listening!

Part Two: In order to be a good storyteller you have to acquire the knowledge in order to share and tell a story.

Have fun!

Part One - Detective Work

Arrange a time to record several people in your family. Some suggestions for this month. (Of course once you get the hang of it, I bet you will come up some of your own ideas for questions to ask your loved ones.)

  1. ASK your mom and dad to tell you about the day you were born.
    1. How did they feel when they saw you?
    2. How big or little were you?
    3. How long did you stay in the hospital?
    4. What day of the week and what time?
    5. If you have a baby book check it out!
  2. RECORD your mom telling about the day she was born or ask your grandparents if they live in the same town or Skype them if possible.
    Do the same for your dad.
  3. RECORD your parents telling you the family line, How far back to they know their grandparents, great grandparents and who knows they might even know the names of your great grandparents. Find out any information you can. Have fun locating where they were born on a map.

Part Two - You become the Storyteller

TAKE the information you have acquired and put together several stories.
Record yourself for fun telling the family stories.

Suggestion: You could introduce yourself as a family history reporter and with each story introduce yourself your 'Show'.

Example: Good evening everyone and welcome to my Family history channel. Today my story is _______

  1. The day I was born
  2. The day my mom was born
  3. The day my dad was born
  4. My family line — mom’s side
  5. My family line — dad’s side

You know have 5 shows!

Congrats you are a Family History Storyteller!

Have a fun time in June. Can’t wait to hear the stories.

 

ADDED BONUS

Make a scrapbook of your family history, Pictures, names etc. write the story in the scrapbook for safe keeping. Now you have a Scrapbook and a video.

Stay tuned for the Summer fun for July!

Creative Writing Tips

Creative Writing Tips

Apr 22, 2019 | Handy Tips

My  DFB Creative Writing Tool Box!

Communication is Power!”™

  1. Words
  2. Parts of Speech
  3. Punctuation Marks

Writing a quality sentence is like putting a puzzle together. You know the basics, noun and verb. But if you want to paint a picture for the reader you need to include various parts of speech. Hence puzzle pieces!

Nouns | Verbs | Adjectives | Adverbs | Prepositions | Articles

Give Power to the Verb

Examples:

The angry man screamed.

The angry man screamed with all his might.

The old schoolhouse on the hilltop is haunted.

Creative Writing - Inspiration

It takes all styles of books to inspire writing. Maybe poems, inspirational words, fun books about colors and of course the moon. In my creative writing class at the British School in Saudi Arabia I enjoyed sharing not just my Little Girl in the Moon Series but several other books also;

No matter what your age. Remember children’s books are for adults too!

You can schedule to have me visit your school too so get in touch. Until next time …

March Visits

March Visits

Mar 19, 2019 | News

Temphis, Tennesse

Recently I had the opportunity to travel with my husband to Memphis, Tennesse. There were many things to do and I did but one thing I wanted to do was to find a place where more inspiration would occur and sure enough I found the spot during a visit to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – with its amazing history and daily miracles, and also on a place I never imagined existed, Mud Island in the Mississippi River.  The island has a great museum and other attractions.  My inspiration, however, came from contemplating that mighty river.

Texas and Virginia

I attended Good Shepherd School, in Kingwood,  Texa,  Washington Mill Elementary School in Mount Vernon, Va and Sandra Mossman Elementary, Texas.  As always I greatly enjoyed and learned a lot from reading to the classes at the schools and taking the students’ questions.

I even had a question from a sweet girl with the name HOPE just like our word of the month. With a friend she is co-authoring a book.  I am looking forward to hearing more about, and one day buying her work. 

Memorizing Sight Words

Memorizing Sight Words

Mar 19, 2019 | Handy Tips

Reading

Last month we discussed reading to your children. This month I thought I would share ideas on sight words. What is a sight word?

Sight words are also referred to as high-frequency words and it means they are words that do not follow the phonics rules for pronunciation. They are some of the first words young children are encouraged to memorize to make learning reading and comprehension easier. The most popular list among educators is the Dolch List.

How can you help your child memorize sight words?

In the classroom, I would place a word on a card shaped according to the theme for the month. During the center reading time, the students would take turns at their reading center time to learn to read each card. 

Basically, these are flash cards with a twist. I turned it into a game for the children. Before I knew it, they were ready for more words, and they were reading with success.

For my own kids, I took word strips, but you could use large index cards.  Write the word and cut the word out according to its shape. Practice the word with your child and then  paste the word on their bathroom mirror, bedroom bulletin board or a location that would involve them to see the word often. If you color code the word then they learn the part of speech at the same time. Exmaple:  adjectives could be yelllow, verbs could be orange and nouns could be green.

SCBWI Conference 2019

SCBWI Conference 2019

Mar 19, 2019 | News

I attend The Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference in New York City this March, and what a great experience it was!

As I took my seat for the opening ceremony, I looked around the ballroom filled with over 800 authors and illustrators, and I could not help but be in awe of all the creative people in one room. It was inspiring to meet illustrators and new and seasoned authors, all of whom were very gracious and welcoming to us new members.

The opening keynote was none other than Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor who is also a children’s book author. She was humble, inspiring and honest in her story sharing how and why she started writing children books and how she felt she was making a difference by being an author for children.

It was very touching. She gave a signed copy of her book to all of us. I had the honor to speak briefly with her as well as shake her hands. And no, I did not get a picture as they were not allowed.

The days were filled with the gala, keynote speeches, breakout sessions, sign books, purchase books, and network with other authors, illustrators, agents, and other wonderful keynote speakers.

The keynote speakers were outstanding, along with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor there were authors like Jarrett Krosoczka, Elizabeth Acevedo and Christopher Paul Curtis.  This was not one of those conferences where you leave the speaking sessions and only attend the networking.  The stories told by the speakers were riveting and revealed the human being inside each of these highly acclaimed authors. Over the next few months, I will be introducing you to the talented illustrators and gifted authors from the conference.

Signing books at The SCWBI conference gave me a feeling of accomplishment. For those who don’t know, it has been a long journey to becoming a published author. I am so grateful to OC Publishing who believed in me and publishes my books.  To be meeting other authors, from aspiring to best-sellers is a milestone to be sure.

For more about the society see their website here