Carmela Dutra's Blog - Posts Tagged "tips"

Family Reading Night is an annual statewide event held the third Thursday in November to encourage families to spend quality time reading together. It is sponsored by the Illinois Secretary of State and State Librarian, Jesse White and Illinois Center for the Book. The next Family Reading Night will be November 20, 2014. read-family
The point behind this is to encourage families to read at home with their children. When I heard about this I thought it was a wonderful idea! A yearly event to remind and encourage families to read. Filled with helpful hints, and suggestions, are given to parents so they can keep this going at home.

When I was a child my one of my parents read to/with every night before I went to bed. Unfortunately today many parents do not have the opportunity to read with their kids every night. If that is the case could you manage to set aside one night every week to read with your kids?

What would this take? Some planning, and effort. As is true with everything in life, you must put forth effort. If you want to accomplish something you need to put forth the effort to do so, it won’t just happen on its own.

What if you feel overwhelmed, and can’t think of anything? There are wonderful suggestions you can find online, or at your local library. For example: you could follow along to books on tape, read comic books, or even make up your own story!

Get your kids involved! Have them help chose the day your family will read together. Encourage them to pick out books they like, and book that will be good for the whole family to enjoy. Make a party out of it! Pick up pizza, go to a park and then play after you’re done reading.

As parents, get excited about reading. When your children see you’re getting excited about family reading night, they will too! This is something that is not only economical (free if you go to the library and borrow books) but this is a way to draw your family closer to each other. Build memories, improve literacy, and maintain family unity.

We live in a time where everything is on the go, we can hardly keep up! Often times, children are the ones who get left behind. By setting aside time for family reading, it will help your children to see how much you value your time with them. It will help them to see reading as something fun they do with their family, and not a chore.

It doesn't cost much, just a little time, and little planning. We always say, ‘We want to give our children the best!’ This is a small thing you can give them that will make a huge impact, and yield great rewards.

Happy Family Reading!

Carmela Dutra
Author of the Adventures of Lorenzo the Bear

www.lorenzothebear.com

Facebook.com/lorenzothebear (like me!)

Twitter.com/lorenzothebear @lorenzothebear

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Tests, test, and more tests!! It seems to be as quickly as students complete one set of testing another round begins. I’m sure everyone who is reading this will agree with me when I say ‘we didn’t have this many tests when I was in school.’

Sadly things have changed over the years. Things we never thought would be cut from schools have long since passes. Funding has been cut, and more quizzes have sprung up in their place. There seems to be a test for everything now a days. Why just the other day I was talking with my nephew and was telling me about his report card. I was floored when he said he was given a written test for PE. A written test in PE? Really? That surprised me!

We could spend all day arguing the politics of tests, the pros and cons, and our personal beliefs on such subjects. However, that is not what this blog is about. This is not to state my personal opinion on tests and whether or not schools should have the amount they do in one school year. In fact, it will be years before my son even takes his first test in school. By that point, I’m sure I will have an abundant supply of opinions on the matter (haha).

This is actually a two part blog series that will be focusing on ways to help students taking tests specifically in writing. The first part of this blog will be from my experience in working with students in this area. The second part of this blog will be next week, where we will hear from other authors on this topic.

Over the past several weeks during my classroom visits, all of the teachers wanted to focus on the same activities in class. Writing a narrative story incorporating the use of dialogue. Then a close friend asked me to help her son with a writing assignment he had in class (homeschool). His was also on the same topic, writing a narrative story focusing on the use of dialogue.



This was no coincidence. All of classes I visited and my friend’s son would have an important test to take this year that will focus on the use of dialogue in writing. The grades I had been visiting, and my friend’s son were between the grades of 2-4. The common core standardized testing focuses in on writing, ensuring the children are adequately prepared in this area, and to move ahead. The question then becomes how can we prepare for this?

The classrooms I visited had amazing teachers! They spent a portion each day helping their students to prepare for this test, and others like it. So when I came to visit their classrooms this became another area they could use to help their students prepare for this upcoming test. How did we accomplish this?


First we read one of my stories together, and as we read we kept in mind a few things. 1. What is the setting? 2. What were the elements of the story? 3. How many characters were there in the story, and how were we able to identify who each one was? Then after we finished reading we discussed: Why is use of dialogue important when we write? What are the elements that go into writing a story? After we covered everything, then we put it into action by writing our own stories!

Each student received a printout I created with the needs of the classroom in mind. It was a story prompt to help them get started on writing their own narrative. I worked closely with each student helping them to focus in on what they will be tested on later. Use of imagination was strongly encouraged, since each child is an individual, I wanted each of the stories to hold true to their own uniqueness.

The same way I worked with the classrooms was the same approach I took with my friend’s son. Only difference was, since we had more time together we were able to work on everything from start to finish. We worked on the rough draft, the editing, and then completed story. Even though it was not required, he decided that he wanted to add illustrations to enhance the story.



Often times we can become overwhelmed and fearful of what we do not understand. Taking tests, or even preparing for them can be especially challenging for young ones, parents even educators. Once we understand what it is involved then we remove that fear, and can tackle it head on.

Everyone has different approaches to writing. Some for example may need to draw the illustration first, before they are able to write the accompanying story. While others need to write everything from start to finish, then focus on the illustrations. Same is true for authors. Each author has their own unique approach to what they do, and how they do it. What are some of their tips and suggestions for student writing? Well check out next week’s blog and hear from a few fellow kid lit authors yourself!

For more information about Common Core Testing in your state you can visit the website Common Core Standards you can also visit my website Lorenzothebear.com where you can download free writing activities that can be used at home, or in the classroom.

Up next week in the conclusion of this two part blog series hear from fellow authors

AJ Cosmo author of such stories as: Monsters A to Z and My Pet Raptor

Cat Michaels author of Sweet T and the North Wind and Finding Fuzzy

Rosie Russell author of such books as: Beasley’s Journey, Avi and Jackson Best Friends, and Maggie, Millie, and Merries Magical Aventure

Lise Chase author of the Wally and Warren Series

Rhonda Paglia author of such stories as The Three Little Gnomes and a Boy named Orion and the Meeda and Me Series.