Holiday Shopping in a Teacher Supply Store

While my family is gearing up for Thanksgiving and a quiet weekend at home together, many are gearing up for a busy weekend of post Thanksgiving shopping.  We have a few favorite shops for finding toys that teach, craft supplies, and the newest learning games.  Hint. Sometimes teacher supply stores are one of the best resources for filling stockings, finding great toys for the little ones on your  gift giving list, picking a useful gift for a teacher, or stocking up for birthday parties. Your children More than just bulletin board decorations, curriculum kits, and name tags, teacher supply stores are full of great toys, puppets, books, games, and puzzles.

I have already done a bit of my Christmas shopping at MPM School Supplies.  One of our younger sons is really into Schleich animals. We found a few of the creatures he didn't already have in this online teacher store.  They are a different brand, but similar in quality and appearance. These are tucked away to be added to his stocking.

My oldest son is a huge LEGO fan. He has mastered many kits, so for Christmas he thinks he is up for the challenge of NanoBlocks. We are looking forward to wrapping up the Space Shuttle set for him.

MPM School Supplies has competitive prices, a large selection, speedy shipping within the US, and a great selection of clearance products for you to check out!  The regular priced items are organized by department.  Many of you will appreciate their fun selection of Dramatic Play and Active Play products.  I also found myself dreaming up activities while searching the Manipulatives.  I am also tempted to go back through the store and pick out some Art & Craft Supplies to stuff my daughter's stocking with.

MPMSchool Supplies is offering the readers of ABC & 123 an opportunity to shop their store at 10% off throughout the holiday season.  Use this link to receive 10% off your first 10 orders.  Happy Shopping!

Disclosure: MPMSchoolSupplies.com gifted me with a $25 certificate to purchase the items of my choice in exchange for posting about their online store here.  The opinions are my own.

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Online Interactive Manipulatives

Perhaps this is a site that is familiar to many of you, but after I discovered it during my grad class this week I was anxious to share it here.

The site, National Library of Online Manipulatives, has been compiled by Utah State University.

There are options to chose from a variety of math topics including: Numbers & Operations, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis, and Probability.  After identifying your topic of interest the options are available to choose the grade level you will be working on the subject with.

Once your preferences are made, the site directs you to a library of online manipulatives.

The screenshot below  gives you a very limited glance at the type of tools available, but you are really going to want to check it out for yourself!

I am anxious to experiment with several of the interactives and to increase my planning productivity with this one stop online library. 

We would all enjoy hearing about any lessons you plan using this resource.  Tell us how your students liked it!

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Introduction to Urban, Suburban, and Rural Communities

One specific social studies objective for second grade students is to be able to identify urban, rural, and suburban communities.  To help introduce this concept I have created  an interactive discussion tool using Prezi.  It was my first time experimenting with the format and I recognize that I still have a lot to learn.  However, I can see that this might be an interesting tool for presenting lots of different themes, as well as for students to share their understanding of our topics of study.

Types of Communities on Prezi

Have you used Prezi in your classroom?  Do you see ways it might be useful?  Do you have any great resources about urban, suburban, and community life that might be fun to add to this work in progress?

Disclosure:  This is not an advertisement or personal endorsement for Prezi.  I am currently working on a grad class that required me to experiment with the tools and publish my presentation on my educational blog.  Thanks for putting up with it:)

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The Stories of Your Life

The giveaway here is now closed.  Congratulations to Comment #9, as chosen by Random.org, who will be receiving the complete Storybook Template download from Digital Scrapbooking Albums.

 Mrs. I said...

I am subscribed to the newsletter and follow on Facebook. My favorite story is The Monster at the End of this Book.

In addition, all of those who let us know that you liked Digitial Scrapbooking Albums on FB and subscribed to the newsletter will be receiving your freebie downloads via email shortly!  This part of the offer is not closed, so if you are interested in these great products for FREE let us know.  Thank you all for your participation!

This past weekend my husband gave me quite a gift.  He offered to solo parent our four little loves while I spent the time at a retreat center crafting!  It was a wonderful getaway.  While I had a few hand made holiday gifts to work on my #1 goal was to get caught up on our piles of pictures.  I have always enjoyed scrap booking with stickers, paper, and tape, but it isn't always the most effective way to stay current on my albums.  In recent years I have become more excited about digital scrabooking.  With premade pages that require only a drag, a drop, and a digital embelishment it is easy to document our family's stories.

Hopefully you have noticed the links in our recent Show and Tells featuring Digital Scrapbooking Albums.  This online service is the hard work of one of our dear readers, Liz.  She Yes. I want the review! In addition to creating many thematic premade digital layouts for putting together digital albums, Liz has several digital pages intended for students, teaching, and story tellers.

We all know that reading to our children and inspiring their love for learning is one of the most powerful academic gifts we can give. What better way to introduce literacy than by designing stories that feature your children as the key characters?  Liz has put together a selection of storybook layouts to help you tell your family's stories.



There is no need to purchase an expensive program to use these premade storybook templates.  While I was able to easily add the pages to my digital scrapbooking program, these pages can also be used with programs that are available free online.  Liz explains how to use these free program with her pages on her website.

I started with the simple text Little Child, Little Child (which follows the pattern of Brown Bear, Brown Bear) to put together a storybook for our youngest son as a reminder of the many people who love him! Below is a sample page.

In addition to the Storybook collection, which I believe to be a perfect fit for our educating audience, Digital Scrapbooking Albums offers a variety of layouts for life's special events: pregnancy, babies, vacations, holidays, family, and more.

Digital Scrapbooking Albums also offers an ABC Memory Book  ideal for parents of preschool age children.  The page layouts have plenty of space for picturing the many activities your family uses to learn the individual lettesr of the alphabet.  Re-reading this memory book is an opporunity to review the letters and sounds while building memory skills.

Scrapbooking may not be for everyone, but creating digital storybooks for your children and students easily can be.

Exclusive Offer!
Liz would like to get you all set up and on your way to putting your pictures and memories into your own stories.  For anyone who subscribes to her newsletter and likes her Facebook page (where she lets her fans in on fun freebies as they become available), Liz will be sending you a FREE link to her ABC Memory Book template bundle! Leave a comment on this post or email abc123(at)gmail(dot)com, letting us know that you have done so and we will forward your information to Liz who will pass on your free download.

GIVEAWAY
We would also like to offer one of our readers the complete Storybook Template Bundle ($60 value). Leave a comment letting us know you are interested in this giveaway to be entered to win.  We would love if you would share the title of your favorite children's storybook. A winner will be chosen randomly after comments close at 10PM EST on Friday, December 2nd.

Disclosure: Digital Scrapbooking Albums provided me with a free download of the Picture Perfect Childrens Storybook template bundle for the purpose of review. No purchase or specific requirement is necessary to be entered in the giveaway. 

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First Day of School Memory Celebration (with a giveaway)

Update:  This giveaway is now closed.  They randomly selected winner is comment #4,  ruthhill74.  Enjoy!

We know every proud mama - and the dads too -enjoys showing off their kids all dressed up in their back to school finery. I don't know about you, but my facebook feed has been packed with pictures of adorable kids in their back to school best.  Many of you have back to school traditions from supply shopping to a special breakfast. We want to know about them! Share your excitement for a new year of learning with us! Whether you started school this week, still have a month of vacation, or have already been back at it for a month we would love your participation!

We'd love for you to share your:

• First Day of School Pictures and Posts
• Back to School Traditions
• Tips for Going Back to School
• Your Curriculum Plans for the 2010 School Year
• Favorite School Themed Books
• First Day of School Lessons and Activities
• Anything else Back to School Related

GIVEAWAY

Collectively I am certain we will come up with all kinds of frameable moments during this celebration.  If you are not already familiar with the online printing company, UPrinting, you might appreciate their various services such as canvas printing for a quality way to keep your back to school memories.

UPrinting has offered us the opportunity to give away one 16” x 20” rolled canvas print to one of our readers.
 Details:  Limited to *US residents 18 years old and above only - 1 business day turnaround - free shipping

There are no requirements to be entered to win, just leave your comment below.  However, we would love for you to link up with any of your back to school memories and pictures. The giveaway will be open until 10 PM EST on Tuesday, September 13th. A winner will be notified ASAP. { The linky will stay open until the 15th}.

This canvas printing giveaway is sponsored by UPrinting, no monetary compensation was given for hosting.http://www.uprinting.com/canvas-printing.html

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Classroom Set Up Resources: Back to School Giveaway

Update: This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations comment #7, chosen by Random.org, julia shoemake. 


Our newest feature writer, Ana from Ingles360, has been sharing with us for a month now.  In response we have heard from several of you who have been looking for ways to incorporate a second language into your teaching.  On her personal site Ana has put together many downloadable kits to enhance your teaching.  This week she is offering a giveaway here on ABC & 123!

Are you  ready for this giveaway?

you will receive my Back to School Kit with 50 reproducibles ready to print, cut and use!

my Back to School thematic pack with lots of printables for literacy and math skills

and a set of printables for the first days of school with bookmarks, pencil toppers and cards

How to participate: To be entered to win this fun back to school collection please leave a comment below.  

Additional Entries: Consider following Ana's personal blog and letting us know in a separate comment.  If you choose to tell others about this giveaway via twitter, facebook, or your blog please let us know that as well for additional entries!

Entry in this giveaway will be open until Wednesday, September 7th at 10 PM EST.  A winner will be chosen randomly after comments close and will be notified accordingly.  Good Luck!

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Lessons for Life with the Berenstain Bears

Today we would like to introduce you to Jill, from The Enchanted Homeschooling Mom.  She has just put the finishing touches on a 32 week curriculum using the books about The Berenstain Bears. She is offering her ideas and activities for free to friends and readers across the web.  The curriculum, Year of Lessons with the Berenstain Bears, is appropriate for children ages PreK - 3. The majority of lessons deal with Social Studies, Science, and Language Arts.

Objective:

In putting together the lessons Jill has chosen topics from the text and expanded on them with age appropriate worksheets, projects, and discussions.  The entire curriculum is something children can relate to in the real world using the favorite furry family as a guide. Each lesson ranges from 20 minutes – 1 hour in length, depending on the preferences of you and your children.

Materials:

You will need 16 Berenstain Bears Books to complete this curriculum. Each book will be used for a lesson plan intended to span 10 days, or a 2-week period. Worksheets are included. Each individual lesson plan will explain suggested materials in more detail.

If you are in the process of planning your lessons for the 2011-2012 school year, check it out! This might be the series for you.  Thanks Jill!

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Introducing Slimy Bookworm

Welcome! New to ABC and 123? Please check out our FAQ in the sidebar.

In the midst of celebrating a month focused on reading we are pleased to introduce you to an amazing online bookstore aimed at serving the parents, teachers, and friends of children age 0-12 with personalized service that can not be beat!

SlimyBookworm is a new online children’s bookstore with the goal of being “The Destination for Books Kids Love!” This online bookstore stocks titles for children age zero to twelve on a wide range of genre. Also available are parenting books and toys based on popular children’s books characters.

SlimyBookworm.com aims to replicate the feel of walking into your neighborhood independent bookstore where you can browse titles, have your questions answered on what books would make a good gift for a child by filling out the Book/Gift Selection form on the homepage. You then get back a personalized hand-picked selection of the most appropriate children’s books.

Books are presented clutter-free with time-pressed parents and shoppers in mind “Our Gift Selection Service has been well received for it’s time saving benefits for busy parents and relatives not conversant with children literature looking to buy children’s books,” states Bola Ajumobi, founder of Slimy Bookworm.

Slimy Bookworm is committed to improving literacy in children and cultivating lifelong Readers and to this end will be donating up to 20% of profits to fund literacy efforts in the inner cities of the US and oversees.

The website offers free shipping to anywhere in the United States with orders over $45. Gift wrapping services are also available for just $1.99.

Slimy Bookworm and its website, SlimyBookworm.com, an online children’s bookstore founded in 2010 with a mission to cultivate lifelong readers. The bookstore serves children from age zero to twelve with a wide selection of books to suit every interest.

We are very pleased to be partnering with Bola as affiliates and appreciate the shop's commitment to donating a percentage of profits to fund literacy efforts for inner city children! Welcome Slimy Bookworm!

While shopping the site, we hope you will take advantage of 10% off your order with the code SLIMY1.

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Guest Post: Quirky Momma Reviews Headsprout, with Discount Code

Welcome! New to ABC and 123? Please check out our FAQ in the sidebar.

We'd like to welcome Rachel, who shares a lot of fun learning activities at her blog Quirky Momma, who shares with us an teaching resource review today. She recently wrote to us about Headsprout, a program that impressed her when she started using it in last spring, because of how quickly her then 3 year old began grasping the concepts of how words are formed.

We hope you all enjoy learning about this neat sounding program. My interest is certainly sparked because as ER nears 4, I could use a few more good resources.

A friend of mine, Chelsea, has been using Headsprout to help her daughter learn-to-read and gave me rave reviews. I just had to check it out myself. After contacting Headsprout, they gave me a trial. Headsprout is an all-online system. The have a map of activities and objectives for the kids to reach. The kids use the keyboard and mouse to manipulate the letters and form words. They also have a trove of coloring sheets, mini-books, and flashcards that you can print out corresponding to the various episodes (or lessons). I’ve been impressed we have been using it for nearly two weeks and I have noticed an improvement in E’s ability to recognize patterns in language. The characters of Headsprout are little aliens who are on various missions. Our kids have to solve the missions using letters, creating words and sentences in order to say, fill up the space shuttle with gas, or go to the alien circus (our kids favorite!)

Ways this curriculum helps early readers:
■Headsprout is very incremental. Each step builds on each other with repetition, and yet as the “environment” or goals changed it didn’t feel like the same exercise. Ex: At one point they might be shooting at the letter, another time they might be dragging it to a location on the screen.
■Kiddos learn computer literacy as they have to navigate pages, mostly with the use of a mouse.
■It is so cute, even my 2 year old sat enthralled and would shriek out when one of his favorite aliens, Mo-mo or Gus, popped on the screen.
■Love the print outs. We used the flashcards to help supplement our learning. In later episodes you can print out mini-books.
■They provide detailed feedback to you the parent/teacher so you can know where your child is, what errors they are consistently making, and where you should work with them more.

It was fun, I actually sat and listened to my little gal as she was “working” and the stream of though was entertaining. “See Vee” was the title of the latest episode we did together (Vee is one of the aliens). E saw the word see and could differentiate it from the word “set”. She’d say, it starts with the right letter but has the wrong ending. I was impressed with how quickly this program taught word patterns.

Negatives of this program:
■If you have more than one early reader in your home, you will need to order multiple months worth of curriculum.
■Headsprout is not set-up to easily backtrack if your child needs more repetition or if you wanted to share the program between two learners of different paces.

Coupon Codes:
If Headsprout sounds like something you'd like to check out we have some coupon codes to share with you!

- Headsprout Reading Comprehension: QUIRKYBEE
- New code - Headsprout Early Reading: QURKYERBEE

You'll even get a free puppet with purchase!

Disclosure: Rachel was given a free trial to faciliatate her review, that was originally posted on her blog Quirky Momma. She does not receive a percentage of sales or any click-through perks from being reposted here.

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Tips for a Successful Science Fair Project

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Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

The late winter months are traditionally science fair season. Millions of children across the country will begin dreaming up experiments and projects to enter in school science fairs.

5 Tips for a Successful Science Fair Project

1. Pick a realistic project to complete: All too often kids pick science fair experiments and projects that are difficult to complete, leaving parents with a frustrated child, and students with no project to turn in. When brainstorming possible projects with your child, walk them through the logistics of completing the project so that you can flag any difficulties at the onset.

2. Start early: A science fair project can be a student’s first attempt at time management. Work with your child to plan out when he or she is going to work on their project to meet key deadlines.

3. Keep a record: It is obviously critical to record the data and information collected during the experiment, but you also might want to keep a photographic record that your child can use in their final display board. Pictures are worth a thousand words!

4. Follow the rules and requirements: If the rules stipulate no live animal displays, soil samples, hazardous materials, glass containers or animal products, don't choose a project that demands such items to be displayed for judging. Always refer back to the rules and requirements of the project to ensure your child won’t be penalized or disqualified.

5. Get the judges’ attention: If you’ve spent countless hours working on a science fair project, make sure that your project gets the attention it deserves with a great display.

5 Presentation Tips for Youngsters

1. Practice out loud: Practice may not make perfect, but it sure does help. Aim for giving the presentation out loud to a family or friend in advance of the real date. Reading it to yourself off the paper doesn’t count!
2. No ifs, ands or buts: If you lose your place or get nervous, just pause a second, take a breath and restart your sentence. Avoid the tendency to fill in presentation gaps with speech bloopers such as “um,” “er,” and “uhh.”

3. Keep an eye on your body language: Awkward shifting and hand gestures can be distracting to your audience. Practice your speech in the mirror or videotape it to see just how much you move while speaking.

4. Look ‘em in the eye: Ensure you make eye contact with your audience several times during your presentation. Eye contact keeps people interested and engaged in what you are saying. Plus, this small gesture will make you seem confident and look like a pro.

5. Don’t let a poor visual ruin your presentation: Make sure any visual, like a poster, is attention grabbing and complements your presentation. If you need tips on creating a poster, check out ArtSkills for a step-by-step guide on quick and easy poster creation.

Thank you to ArtSkills, a family owned company specializing in posterboard accessories, for sending us this helpful resource for putting together a spectacular science fair presentation. The company’s website is the go-to resource for poster making, featuring an exclusive design tool and ever-increasing gallery of poster layout ideas.    The example posters have been used with permission from Vault Communications.

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My Storytime Friends

This giveaway is now closed.  The winnings go to comment #34, chosen by Random.org.  Congratulations Beth!

What better way to kick off a new year than by offering a fantastic, and educational, giveaway to our dear readers?  If you have children between the ages of 3 and 8 you are going to love what My Storytime Friends has to offer!

The My Storytime Friends kit includes a plush stuffed animal, a beautifully illustrated hard cover story book, and membership to My Storytime Friends online & Book of the Month club.  The My Storytime Friends membership includes: a new free book each month, online games, learning tools, and audio versions of all stories.

Upon arrival, each Storytime Friend is registered on the website with a unique code. After registration the kids had full access to the interactive website including: a post office, library, newsstand, friend store, and more.  Their first stop was the library where we chose the option of reading the interactive audio book.  Gavin especially enjoyed following along with the childlike watercolor illustrations on each page of the story.  The book, A Winning Dream, is about Brady Bear who finds his talent at skiing and uses it to help rescue a little bear in trouble. The book's theme is about overcoming challenges, finding your strengths, and using them to help others.  Although there was quite a bit of text per page, the length of the story was just right for keeping their 5 and 3 year old attention (and giving me enough time to throw dinner in the crock pot while they sat by me in the kitchen - double bonus!!).

This book, like all of the others offered by My Storytime Friends, is written by the award winning author Andrew Wolfendon.  Themes focus on helping others and achieving dreams.  

Similar to the Build a Bear concept, My Storytime Friends offer a fun line of dress up clothes: playwear, fanciful fashion, character costumes, and jammies, making the plush bear a fun toy as well as an educational assistant.  I tried not to let the kids go crazy on this part of the site, but they did ooh and aah over a couple of the cute outfit options.

With each book of the month Storytime Friends gives you the option of downloading and printing the book, printing a corresponding coloring book, listening to an interactive audio book, downloading the MP3 of the book, or using the hard copy to read. As a former classroom teacher I can see the benefits of each of these methods as students read, re-read, and practice retelling to display their comprehension. I especially love the MP3 options as I used to find myself reading story after story onto cassette tapes for classroom use.

The site also gives older children the opportunity to post a review of each book that they interact with.  This is an authentic way to practice important writing skills, as well as story recall.

After reviewing the product and site, it is exciting to imagine all the possibilities My Storytime Friends offer for children for both academic and entertainment purposes.  If you'd like to hear more about the product you may enjoy reading Katie's, Katie's Nesting Spot, review as well.

WIN

One reader of ABC & 123 will win a My Storytime Friends kit (retail $39.99).

We would love for you to win.  If you'd like to enter please leave a comment on this post.  It would also be great if you'd take a minute to check out the My Storytime Friends site for yourself.

Entry in this giveaway will close on Wednesday, January 13th at midnight EST.

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Santa Speaking & A Giveaway

This giveaway is now closed. The winner, according to Random.org, is comment #13!
 Melinda said...That is SO cool. Please enter me.



Welcome! New to ABC and 123?

Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

Today's Saturday Spotlight features a service to add Christmas spirit to your holiday celebration!

My children are not fans of any characters in costume, which makes mall shopping in December even more frightening. "It's okay if we see Santa's boots from far away mom, but I don't want to go near his line."

I also read an article during the HINI hysteria about the danger of flu spread during the traditional Santa visits.

Yet, our children (5 & 3) are at a fun age for enjoying the magic of Christmas. So, I was very excited to learn about Santa Speaking. Santa Speaking offers live phone calls from Santa to your child.

And tonight Santa called Anne Hope.

When I set up the call I was given a list of specific questions to help Santa sound authentic in his conversation. The questions included things such as: what has your child worked hard at this year, what are some of his/her favorites, what important events have happened in his/her life in the past year, what is on his/her Christmas list for this year. The person who places the order is able to update and edit any of the information provided up until the day of the call.

When Santa called, Anne Hope completely freaked out (as I should probably have predicted). She handed the phone to daddy and screamed in panic when we handed it back. Santa patiently waited out the storm as we explained that she may prefer to talk on speaker phone. She settled down and listened carefully as Santa told her he understood that she might be shy since they had never talked before. As she warmed up they chatted about what she is learning in her preschool play dates, how she is treating her brothers, and what she is hoping to find under the tree on Christmas morning. Santa also asked Anne Hope what type of treats he might be able to expect when he visits on Christmas Eve. He ended the call by encouraging her to head to bed early since we were sure to be toward the beginning of his Christmas route.

By the time the call ended she was giddy with excitement and insisted on calling all of her grands to report all of her news. Way to go Santa!

Even though we ended up hearing the entire conversation because we resorted to speakerphone, I am still excited to receive the MP3 recording of the call that Santa Speaking sends as a memento of the event. The kindness in his voice and the sweet words he said reminded me of the way I remember Santa from my childhood. This service is a hit with our family. I will be sure to add this address to my files and save our family the stress of the mall Santa visits for years to come!

You'll want to schedule your call soon as Santa's schedule fills up quickly for the week before Christmas.

However, Santa wants to give the child of one reader of ABC & 123 a surprise call! The winner will be chosen and announced in time to still place your call for this year.

To be entered to WIN please leave a comment on this post. If you are a subscriber or follower please leave separate comments letting us know. If you've linked to ANY of our holiday blog hops that will earn you an additional entry. You may also earn 1 entry by tweeting about this giveaway. There you go, 4 chances to win and 48 hours to enter!

This giveaway will close at midnight EST on Monday, December 14th.

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Teaching Responsibility & Independence

Welcome! New to ABC and 123?
Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

This Sunday we will continue to look at the life skill of RESPONSIBILITY! As parents we have the responsibility for teaching our children our family values, developing their self-discipline, and helping them to understand that life is a series of rewards and consequences of their choosing.

We'd like to introduce you to a program developed to address those specific parenting goals and more. Champ Ladder is a personalized and powerful reward system that provides the tools for turning family chaos into order.

As they explain on their website,
"Children move up and down the Champ Ladder according to their behavior, and in so doing choose their own consequences. Champ Ladder™ becomes an unbelievable simple way for everyone to know at a glance what privileges they are entitled to.Through the feedback of hundreds of families and years of experience Champ Ladder™ has worked out the kinks to provide you with a simple yet powerful system that taps into the competitive nature of siblings to propel them to the top allows your children to "self-discipline" and see a direct relationship between their behavior and the privileges they are entitled to promotes a environment where discipline is consistent and fair..."

The Champ Ladder system comes with a complete Companion Guide. The guide is full of helpful suggestions for establishing and implementing the ladder. The guide also suggests defining a list of your own family principles to teach your children during nightly or weekly family meetings. Our family has put together a list of our own Family Principles that are now displayed in our kitchen. We use specific statements from the principle list anytime we are correcting or guiding our children's behavior. We also spend time each week focusing on 1 or 2 of these principles and what they mean in our daily life.

On the same board we have displayed for the kids exactly what their expectations are for being able to move up the ladder. In addition we have a score card that lays out exactly what the consequences will be for negative behavior, ex. Lying - move down 1 step.

It is working! Even for our young children. The other day in the car Gavin was arguing under his breath with his sister. I asked him if he was arguing. I heard him mutter to himself, "Hmmm...arguing is down 1 on my ladder and lying is down 2." He then answered, "Mom, I was arguing and I'm sorry. I will move down 1 when we get home." End of argument.


The rewards and consequences on our ladder include things such as: chores, books, puzzles, board games, computer time, t.v. time, extra 1/2 hour before bed, riding bikes, playing Legos, and more. Each of these privileges are attached to a different step on the ladder.



What I love about Champ Ladder is that it is adaptable for children of all ages. This same system will be effective for our children when they are teens, as long as we adjust the consequences and rewards to be age appropriate.

We have also found a way to tie the kid's weekly allowance into this system. They receive a quarter for each number they have on the chart during Friday's Family Fun night. Ex. If Anne Hope is on level 8 she gets 8 quarters ($2.00). When they are older I think it would be appropriate to give them $1 per level.

I have been working on establishing solid family traditions for our family that correspond to each month of the year, and the life skills we are working on at the time. I love that the Champ Ladder fits in perfectly with the plans we already had in place. In fact, the Companion Guide even suggests monthly family projects, tied to the family principles, that easily tie into the things we are already trying to do as a family.

Are you ready to check it out? Does this sounds like a solutions for your family? It sure has been exciting for us so far. Using the easy form on the Champ Ladder website, you can personalize your family's ladder based on the rewards and consequences of your choosing.

The website also has a lot more detailed information about the program if you'd like to take a closer look.

Here's some fun news for you...
Champ Ladder would like to give away personalized champ charts to 2 of our readers!!
To enter to WIN, please leave a comment telling us one of the benefits you see in the Champ Ladder. Use their site as a reference for ideas!

Additional Entries:
Tell us one of the privileges that you might include on your child's Champ Ladder.
Follow ABC & 123 publicly
Become a fan of ABC & 123 on Facebook

This giveaway is open to everyone and we will be accepting entries until October 13th!

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Saturday Spotlight: Stories for Children Magazine

Welcome! New to ABC and 123?
Please check out our FAQ in the left sidebar.

For this Saturday Spotlight we want to introduce you to a wonderful free Ezine Stories for Children Magazine!

From their About Us Page, reprinted with permission:

Come take an adventure in the World of Ink with Stories for Children Magazine, a monthly Ezine for children ages 3 to 12 years old.

Did you know that the love of reading is often times triggered by an adult reading good children’s stories to very young children? Some expectant parents read to their babies while they're still in the womb and continue every day after they're born. Stories for Children Magazine was designed to unlock your children’s imagination and take them on an exciting adventure into the World of Ink with Stanley Bookman from Storyville as their guide on the magical monthly trips.

Each monthly issue is loaded with fun stories and articles based on age-appropriate reading levels. There are also puzzles, games, children’s book reviews, crafts, and poems to inspire the imagination. Children's authors or illustrators are also known to stop by, hoping to make new friends along their journey into the World of Ink.

Stories for Children Magazine is not just for adult writers. One thing that sets Stories for Children Magazine apart is that we also publish stories written and illustrated by children and teens. While submitting stories to children’s magazines, editor VS Grenier was shocked to discover that few magazines allowed underage writers. She vowed to change this and has done so with Stories for Children Magazine. SFC magazine encourages readers who are our future writers and illustrators to submit to all areas of the magazine so that our readers can become a real part of the adventure that’s found in the World of Ink.

There has always been an enchantment about reading a good children’s story. Children take pleasure in having a story read to them anytime or anywhere – whether it be around a campfire, under a starry night, in their beds wrapped up tight in snugly blankets, beneath a shady tree on a hot summer’s day, or in front of a roaring fireplace on a cold winter’s day. Children love to listen to a story being read and this can go as far as adolescence. So sit back and let the authors and illustrators at Stories for Children Magazine take you and your child along with Stanley on a magical journey into the World of Ink!

New issues of Stories for Children are available for free the first Monday of each month. They are free online for the entire month! We especially like how the stories are divided up by age, making it very easy for parents to quickly find content suitable for their child.

PDF versions of the eZine can be purchased for only 99 cents during that month and for $2.99 afterward should you want a hard copy to refer back to or so you can read a favorite story over and over. Both prices are very inexpensive and compared to many other children's magazine subscriptions, downright inexpensive! What a great way to find new content each month for your child and students.

We also like how they provide a downloadable educator's page for each issue as well as a monthly downloadable color page. Another fun feature on their site is the section with stories written by young authors, find one featuring a writer the same age as your child! Maybe it'll even encourage them to work on their own writing skills and submit their own story to Stories for Children Magazine!

Here is sneak peek of the October Edition, available this Monday! New issues released the first Monday of the month, bookmark it and check back often!

We are also pleased to announce that next week one of our founder's Katie from Katie's Nesting Spot will be featuring a review of first picture book Babysitting SugarPaw written by founder, owner, and editor of Stories for Children Magazine VS Grenier! There will also be a giveaway for a copy of the book! Be watching for the link to it at the top of our posting column for when it's posted!

Get an early bird entry to the giveaway by visiting Grenier's website and leaving us a comment with something you learned there on this post. It can be to tell us the names of the two main characters, which organization gets a donation for each book purchased, etc. Good Luck!

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Time Savers for Teachers

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In this week's edition of Saturday Spot Light we'd like to take a moment to tell you about Timesavers for Teachers.

TIMESAVERS for TEACHERS offers printable classroom forms, report card comments, spelling activities, practical teacher tools, worksheets and teaching materials to improve classroom management and save teachers valuable time.

Time Savers for Teachers has ideas divided into 11 different books as listed below:
The Teacher’s Binder
Report Card Comments
1000 Writing Ideas
Just Teach It!
Just Multiply It!
Classroom Awards
Math Timesavers
Substitute Kit
Spelling Activities
Quick Lesson Ideas
The Essay Writing Kit

The materials are availabe in Adobe Acrobat PDF file format. This makes it easy for you to download, view, and print instantly.

Although there is a fee for some of the materials available at Timesavers for Teachers, they also offer many FREE printables!

Enjoy a lemonade at the pool, instead of making a new personal home reading log or parent communication document for the 2009-2010 school year. Check out Timesavers for Teachers & save yourself some valuable summer time.

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Jumpstart 3D Virtual World Reviews and Giveaways!

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Both Katies from ABC & 123 would like to introduce you to Jumpstart's new online venture! Known for a long time as developers of award winning quality educational software Jumpstart recently launched a new delivery model.

Check out JumpStart's new online educational product Jumpstart.com for kids ages 3-10. It delivers high interest 3D virtual world gaming that is exciting to children. Within the JumpStart world they can engage in adventure based learning as their very own customized avatar, called Jumpeez. Through the exciting exploration of magical worlds they discover and unlock games, videos, and storybooks as they practice essential math and reading skills. Your child can interact, explore, and learn in a safe and secure online gaming environment. Plus with a membership, and unlike games you purchase at the store, they'll never run out of game to play, as over the next year Jumpstart.com will expand to add more features, portals, and learning games.

This is a great resource for parents! Children are inevitably attracted to and want to play video games. Why not make it fun and educational! Many great key concepts are taught through the guise of online adventures. They won't even notice they are learning. Even the most reluctant learner will find practicing skills fun when delivered through Jumpstart!

You have two chances to win a free 3 month membership to Jumpstart! Enter the giveaway at A List Maker's Life and at Katie's Nesting Spot, but hurry up both giveaways end June 29.

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Read Kiddo Read: Get Help Making Summer Reading Lists

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Through the advancements of technology, I found out about this great resource via Twitter user Moomettesgram aka Cindy at Moomettesgram's Musings. She did such a great write up about it, that I had to click right on over to Read Kiddo Read.

It's a great resource from author James Patterson with detailed descriptions of books broken up into age ranges:

Great Illustrated Books, 0-8 years
Great Transitional Books, Ages 6 & Up
Great Page Turners, Ages 8 & Up
Great Advanced Reads, Ages 10 & Up

In the Great Illustrated Books section the books are further broken down into Books for Babies, Storybooks, Easy Kid Reads, and Just the Facts for non fiction books. I really liked how a detailed description of each featured book is provided along with themes covered in it and the extensive lists of suggested books that cover similar topics given for each featured book.

While you're there don't miss clicking on the Community tab at the top. Where you'll get access to more great resources like the Almost Can't-Miss Sure Shot Books for Boys and an Almost Can't-Miss Sure Shot for Girls lists.

It's also where I learned about BookRix. You can find free ebooks there, including many children's books. If you've always dreamed of being an author you can also make, upload, and share your own books. I was able to browse the collections by clicking on the Books tab at the top and then doing a search for Children's books.

I also found out about 30 Poets 30 Days at Gotta Book through the community postings. What fun, I can't wait to check out the 30 previously unpublished children's poems by well known authors such as Jack Prelutsky.

I was thinking this would be a good way for parents to put together summer reading lists. I hope you enjoy perusing it!

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Monkey Around Monday

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The following article is reprinted with permission from ebeanstalk.com. This expert advice gives the WHY? behind Monkeying Around!

Learning Through Movement
by Barbara Greenspan, OT

In the last newsletter Shari Harpaz, eBeanstalk’s resident Speech Pathologist, introduced the concept of how children learn by using their senses.

Everyone is familiar with the 5 senses including:
Touch (Tactile)
Sight (Visual)
Smell (Olfactory)
Taste (Oral)
Hearing (Auditory).

But there are actually two more senses (or systems) that we don’t hear much about and they are crucial for movement and learning; they are the vestibular and proprioceptive systems (sound complicated? It’s not). These two movement systems give us information about our bodies and how we move relative to the world around us.

Where’s my head? The vestibular system sits in the inner ear and tells us where our head is in relation to the ground.

Where’s my body? The proprioceptive receptors are located in our muscles, joints and ligaments and this system tells us where our body is in space.

For example, if your arms are up straight in the air and your eyes are closed, the proprioceptive system tells us where our body parts are located without using our eyes. This system also tells us how much strength is needed to do a task such as how hard to throw a ball or how much pressure to apply to a pencil to write on paper. Think about that the next time you walk in the dark feeling for the light-switch.

So, as parents, how do we give input to these important systems that help our children learn about their bodies in relation to the world around them? Keep reading and we will give you some great ideas that you can do at home and at the playground to stimulate these “movement” systems!

1. It’s time to move
In our first eBeanTALK newsletter, our Physical Therapist, Deanie Barth, wrote about the importance of having infants spend time on their tummies. However it is also critical for them to spend time putting their bodies and especially their heads in different positions (other than just straight upright). One good way to accomplish this is to lay on your back and lift your baby up in the air in front of your body and tilt them from side-to-side. Play games and sing songs while you bring their face close to yours and then back up in the air again. This is a great bonding activity (and your arms will get a workout as well!) and an excellent way to teach your baby about movement.

2. Get creative
When your baby starts to crawl, use tunnels and forts to encourage movement on all fours and again put their head in different positions as they use these objects.

3. Keep it simple
Another great tool for children this age are exercise balls. Place your child on his or her stomach on a large exercise ball then carefully tip them forward until they touch the floor in front of them with their hands, then roll the ball back until they touch the ground with their feet. Sing songs while you do this and they will giggle as they go down and back up while learning how the rolling ball makes their body move.

4. Gravity is fun
After they have learned how to walk, help your toddler feel how gravity effects their movement by helping them try to walk up a slide and then hold them as they slide back down headfirst. Another fun playground activity it to carefully push them on a swing while they are seated and then on their stomachs. Or, take them on a wheelbarrow walk -- let your child walk on his or her hands while you hold them up by their feet. Not only are all of these playtime activities helpful in developing a child’s vestibular system they will also help to build strong muscles at the same time!

5. The bottom line
By being creative you can play an almost limitless number games that place your child’s body and head in a variety of positions that stimulate their vestibular and proprioceptive systems. All these ideas are building blocks that prepare a child to direct their bodies in the way they want them to move, and prepare them for carrying out their important jobs as preschoolers and future students.

So remember, provide your children with many sensory rich experiences throughout their day because learning doesn’t only happen in your brain!

Learning is a two-way street

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