Put ‘Battle’ books on your summer read list

The Catawba County Library’s Summer Reading program goes hand-in-hand with the Battle of the Books reading list.

The North Carolina Battle of the Books list has been released, and Catawba County Library System has them all available. Any of the titles would be excellent choices for children participating in the Summer Reading program, an incentive to keep young people reading when school is not in session.

Battle of the Books challenges kids to test knowledge of literature and help instill a love of reading. Kids in grades 5-8 prepare for the contest by reading from a pre-selected book list sponsored by the N.C. School Library Media Association. The reading list offers sound choices for kids. The titles are highly regarded children’s literature representing a cross-section of subjects and genres: biography, adventure, fantasy, examples of world cultures and so on.

This year’s list includes:

Grade 5
How Tia Lola Came to Stay by Julia Alvarez
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
The World According to Humphrey by Betty G. Birney
The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Cromer Byars
Dr. Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements
Free Baseball by Sue Corbett
Kenny & the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi
A Strong Right Arm by Michelle Y. Green
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm
Blue by Joyce Hostetter
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912 by Lauren Tarshis
The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright

Grades 6-8:
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
Beneath My Mother’s Feet by Amjed Qamar
Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James. L. Swanson
Cuba 15 by Nancy Osa
Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
Good Night, Mt. Tom by Michelle Magorian
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson
Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery by John Feinstein
Mockingbird by Kathryne Erskine
Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
My Life in Dog Years by Gary Paulsen
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia
Road to Tater Hill by Edith M. Hemingway
Romiette and Julio by Sharon M. Draper
Tangerine by Edward Bloor
The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flame by Michael Scott
The Ghost in the Tokaido Inn by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
The Other half of my Heart by Sundee T. Frazier
The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
The Roar by Emma Clayton
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
Treasure Island (Complete & Unabridged)by Robert Louis Stevenson

Catawba County Library System will have multiple copies available on specially marked shelves. If you cannot find a title, be sure to ask a librarian.

Sign up on-line for Summer Reading

This year families can sign up for the annual Summer Reading program at Catawba County Library without leaving home.

For the first time ever, library system website allows parents to register their children on-line as well as download and/or print a reading record, coloring page, calendar of events and other resources.

To sign up, log on to http://www.catawbacountync.gov/library and click on the large green box at the center of the page.

Families may still sign up in person at any county library location.

Regardless of how one registers, there are a number of new on-line services available to help young readers add to their summer book tally. Among them are TumbleBooks, interactive books in audio/visual format, and e-books which can be downloaded to an e-Reader or personal computer.

Summer Reading is an annual initiative of the library system to encourage ages 0-18 to continue their reading habits while school is not in session. Studies show that keeping kids attuned to books during vacation helps them retain what they’ve learned which makes for a smoother adjustment when school begins in the fall.

This year’s Summer Reading themes are “One World, Many Stories” for children age 11 and younger and “You Are Here: Cultures around the World” for ages 12-18.

Summer Reading 2011

Summer Reading has started for 2011 at the Catawba County Library System.

This year’s Summer Reading themes are “One World, Many Stories” for children age 11 and younger and “You Are Here: Cultures around the World” for ages 12-18.

Summer Reading is an annual initiative of the library system to encourage ages 0-18 to continue their reading habits while school is not in session. Studies show that keeping kids attuned to books during vacation helps them retain what they’ve learned which makes for a smoother adjustment when school begins in the fall

The library has a great selection of children and teen books in print as well as audio and e-book form as well as online services such as Tumblebooks.

Families may sign up in person at any of the seven county library locations. Pick up a reading bag with your reading record and other fun stuff and start reading. Attendance at library programs is encouraged and we hope we will have fun and interesting crafts that reflect different countries.

All programs are free and open to anyone. Children’s programs should be suitable for any age. Please check with your local branch library for dates and times.

Parents can help children read

Parents sometimes ask what they can do to help their children develop a love for reading.

Parents are the greatest influence on their children and are often the most important factor in getting children ready to read. Generally parents know their children best and can interact with them more frequently. Children learn by doing things and they love doing things with their parents. When parents take the time to read, tell stories or sing nursery rhymes with their children, they demonstrate that this is something fun. This is one of the greatest influences in developing a reader.

Early literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Research shows that children get ready to read years before they start school. You can help your child learn important skills now so they can become good readers.

Generally, parents of a child from birth to about two years old should be aware of six pre-reading skills that can help your child. These skills will continue to help children through ages three to four and five to six years old.

1. Print Awareness - Noticing print, knowing how to handle a book and knowing how to follow the words on a page.

2. Vocabulary - Knowing the name of things.

3. Letter Knowledge - Knowing letters are different from each other, knowing their names and sounds and recognizing letters everywhere.

4. Phonological Awareness - Being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words.

5. Print Motivation - Being interested in and enjoying books.

6. Narrative Skills - Being able to describe things and events and tell stories.

We will discuss these skills and provide possible books for their use in future posts.

Between the Lions

PBS has a great show called "Between the Lions" about libraries and reading. Here is a link to the website where there are some terrific resources for family reading activities.

http://pbskids.org/lions

WHKY Library Segment

Hello, I’m glad to be here with you representing the Catawba County Library system. My name is Donna Fox and I am a Library Service Specialist at the St. Stephens Branch library. We are one of the seven library branches located throughout Catawba County. Newton is the main library for our system.
I am here to talk to you about the importance of early childhood literacy. According to research there are six pre reading skills that children must learn in order to learn to read. Every Child Ready to Read @ your library is a project of the Public Library Association and the Association for Library Service to Children. A series of workshops have been developed to train library staff on early literacy. Several of the youth service staff in the Catawba County Library system have taken this workshop and are implementing this training in our preschool story times. We provide this information to parents, care givers, child care facilities and also in a blog that can be accessed through the Catawba County Library website: www.catawbacountync.gov/library. I am glad to be able to share this information with you at this time.
What is early literacy? Early literacy is what children know about reading and writing before they can actually read and write. Research shows that children get ready to read years before they start school. The best teachers for your preschool children are you the parents. You know your child best. They will be the most receptive to learning when they are in a good mood. You know them best when it comes to judging their moods. You can teach them reading skills in ways that are easiest for them. Take every chance you have to read with your child, talk about stories, sing songs, and play word games. Children learn best by doing things.
A quote from “Becoming a Nation of Readers”, states that: “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children. This is especially so during the preschool years.” We offer several preschool and toddler story times on different days and times at our seven libraries and have staff on hand to assist parents with book selections and how to navigate the library.
There are six skills that preschoolers need to learn for early literacy. They are Vocabulary, Print Motivation, Print Awareness, Narrative Skills, Letter Knowledge, and Phonological Awareness. I know that this may start to sound like it is complicated but it is very easy to break down. Most of you are doing this with your child already, but just didn’t know what it was called. I will briefly explain what each of these six skills are.

Narrative Skills are being able to describe things and events and tell a story. You can tell your child stories, ask them to tell you about something that happened today, read books together, help them to understand that a story has order (first-next-last), read books more than one time, and switch rolls – have them tell you the story and you be the listener.

Print Motivation is being interested in and enjoying books. Take your child to the library, make reading together a special time for the two of you, and let your child see you reading.

Vocabulary means knowing the name of things. When you are with your child talk about what is going on around you and about how things work and about feelings and ideas. Read together every day. Research shows the children who have larger vocabularies are better readers. Knowing many words helps a child recognize written words and understand what they read.

The skill of Print Awareness is noticing print, how to handle a book and how to follow the words on a page. Point to words as you say them, read out loud any labels, signs, lists, menus, etc… Let your child hold the book and “read” to you. If you hold a book upside down see if your child can tell you how it is suppose to be held. If a child is comfortable with printed language they will feel comfortable with books and understand that print is useful.

Letter Knowledge is being able to tell that letters are different from each other and knowing the name of each letter and the sounds they make. You can write your child’s name using magnetic letters, clay, sand, pudding, etc… Point out and name letters when reading books, signs, and labels. Knowing the name and sounds of letters helps a child figure out how to say written words.

The last but surely not the least is Phonological Awareness. This skill involves being able to hear and play with the smaller sounds in words. You can ask your child if words rhyme, dog & cat or cat & hat. Say rhymes and make up silly rhymes. Sing songs, songs have different notes for each syllable in a word. Read some poetry and make up some short poems. Most children who have difficulty reading have trouble with Phonological Awareness.

Every parent can have a big role in helping your preschool child develop literacy skills that will help them to become readers. Remember that there are many resources available to you in the community, the public library being one of them. Children need to know how to read by third grade to be able to keep up with the demands of their curriculum. If we can develop a love for reading at an early age, children will become lifelong readers. For your school age child remember that the Catawba County Library system offers a summer reading program to help keep their reading skills fresh during the summer break. This year’s theme is “Be Creative @ Your Library” You can access a listing of upcoming events or read the Every Child Ready to Read blog, through the internet at www.catawbacountync.gov/library. I hope to see you soon at the library. In the words of Dr. Seuss: The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go. Give your child the world with a good early foundation in literacy.
Thank you.

ECRR Concept of the Week (11/8/07)

Phonological Awareness - Singing songs is a good way to help your child hear syllables in words. In most songs, each syllable in a word gets a different note.

Example: During my morning storytime we read Lois Ehlert's "Eating the Alphabet". While reading the book, everyone discussed thier favorite fruits and vegetables. We went through the book and found some fruits and vegetables that were common and then we found some that were not so common. I found a song that emphasized the fruit or vegetable of each child's choice and everyone enjoyed singing about their favorite fruit or vegetable.

Fruits & Vegetables Are Good For Me
Sung to: Oh McDonald Had a Farm

Fruits are very good for me E I E I O

And so I eat them happily E I E I O

With a banana here, a banana there, here a banana, there a banana

everywhere bananas

Fruits are very good for me E I E I O.

*Extra Tip: It is also a good idea to have color pictures of the frutis and vegetables you are singing about.

~April Green -Youth Service Specialist SW Branch of the Catawba County Library System.