Melissa Wiley's Blog, page 175
February 1, 2010
Rilla-books
Last week I shared pictures of Wonderboy's favorite book. This week it's Rilla's turn for a books post. I'm going to try to get in the habit of doing this regularly, for our family records as much as anything else. These are the picture books she enjoyed most in the past week:
Big Bad Bunny by Franny Billingsley, illustrated by G. Brian Karas. This was one of the books I received for review as a Cybils panelist in 2008, and it was a hit with my family. Big Bad Bunny is on the loose, and Mama M...
January 30, 2010
Delicious Links for January 30, 2010
A Quick Note On eBook Pricing and Amazon Hijinx « Whatever – Author John Scalzi on Amazon's eBooks: "I personally don't buy ebooks with DRM on them, because I actually like to own the books I own. It's a funny twitchy thing of mine. I'm not sure why other people are so willing to let that slide." Ayup.
Jenny's Wonderland of Books: January 2010 Carnival of Children's Literature – Woohoo! The...
January 29, 2010
Dear iPad, I Just Want to Say
I would totally climb the Empire State Building for you.
January 28, 2010
Dear iPad: Me Again
Don't worry, I'm not stalking you or anything. Well, okay, maybe a little. Maybe I've been scouring the interwebs for hints about you for months now. Maybe I had a little crush on you long before I ever saw your picture.
It's just, you know, I think you and I would really hit it off. We're so compatible.
I mean, your battery lets you run for ten hours without recharging? I have six kids—I can run for ten hours straight too!
And just look how fond I am of your little sister.
I know you're busy...
In Praise of Keyboarding
Monica Edinger has updated a post she wrote five years ago about technology in the classroom. I was particularly struck by this bit (emphasis mine):
Fortunately, as I described in my 1994 article, my students quickly proved the worth of this purchase. Given the choice between writing with a pencil and writing on a portable word processor, most soon preferred the latter. Initial frustrations due to minimal keyboarding skills and technical knowledge gave way to delight as the children...
Delicious Links for January 27, 2010
• iPad @ Publisher's Weekly – "The device was demoed with newspaper content from the New York Times and supports video and audio embedded in the content. Most importantly, the iPad will support the ePub e-book standard and Apple has developed its own e-reader software, iBooks, and will also launch an iBookstore. E-book pricing is reported to be in the $15 range."
January 27, 2010
January 26, 2010
That Would Be the Other Kind
My friend Kristen sent the kids a box full of fun stuff: fairy wands, Slinkies, a board book for Huck to eat.
Says Rilla, about the wands: "They're GORGEOUS. Now I can be a fairy all right." (In a tone that conveyed she's been waiting all her life for the opportunity.)
About the Slinky: "Ohhhh!!! WIRES!"
She inspects everyone else's presents. "This is so great. Mommy, WHO are they from again?"
Me: "Krissy."
Rilla, head tilted, clearly puzzled: "You mean Krissy, my Polly Pocket? Or the other kind o...
January 25, 2010
The Grandpa Gifts
Since my dad's fun family-photo coloring pages have garnered such an enthusiastic response (see especially Lori's comment, which includes a link to a Crayola site that will let you make some of your own), I thought you might enjoy hearing about some of my father's other grandkid-pleasing innovations.
One Christmas he gave us this set of custom-made placemats. Each laminated mat has a collage of family photos on one side. On the back sides, he made gorgeously colorful collages of other kinds...
January 23, 2010
Saturday Snapshots
1. My beloved string-of-beads plant surprised me with blossoms.
2. After a week of storms, a delicious glimpse of blue.
3. The days of downpour left everything flattened.
4. And sodden.
5. And washed clean.
6. My excellent father converted a bunch of family photos to coloring pages and emailed them to us for printing out. Rilla and Wonderboy were over the moon. A brilliant way to combat cabin fever. Well done, Grandpa!
