Along with reading three pumpkin books — The Pumpkin Man by Judith Moffatt, Ten Orange Pumpkins by Stephen Savage, It's Pumpkin Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff & Felicia Bond — to my preschool buddies,
Well, I immediately went to the library and checked it out. Whew! It is such a beautiful book with magnificent illustrations and charming story. When I read it to a preschool class, the children were fascinated and enjoyed the story and illustrations.
Here is a link to a new book review of Forward backwards - THE SAME as posted in the spring issue of Tomorrow's Child, a magazine from the Montessori Foundation. Launa Schweitzer, a long time educator and head of a school wrote the excellent review and did a wonderful job capturing the essence of the book.
In his last few pages, Duffy captures humor nicely. "My understanding of the core goal of humor is simple: It's to make people laugh and have a good time. All the other benefits that I've explored over the course of this book flow from there. So if you're doing things right, humor is going to bring people in, welcome them, and make them have a good time." (pg. 216)
If you are not familiar with author Eric Carle, this is a perfect book for getting to know him. I am reading it to the preschool children I read to each week. This book has 11 one-page Aesop fable stories retold and illustrated by Carle that children love. His illustrations are of the best in the business of children books.
Along the way, I discovered this YouTube video that is a reading of many of his books. It is amazing! Oh, and by the way, here is a link to his museum, The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts.
The book mentions that AI and technology goals are pitching social media apps no matter what the human damage results are, so long as financial profits are high priority. The book and this video below have Jonathan's two simple student rules for going forward with today's technology: "Use technology as a tool. Don't let it use you. And, second, fill your life with real freedom, friends, and fun."
Take five minutes to view this YouTube interview with Jonathan Haidt.
I—also known as DD—love to read books to children. I have been reading to them since 1980 — first to my children, then to children ages preschool through middle school.
The characters come to life with the different voices I use, which I do now every Tuesday and Thursday at two different schools. Boffo - The Great Motorcycle Race by Frank Dickens is a classic and a favorite for 3- to 8-year old children. This — and many others — YouTube below was made so I could share with children because of COVID restrictions. If I get lots of views, I will periodically share other readings.
Here is a very special video from 2025 America's Got Talent. The singer presents himself in a very humble way and changes all expectations once he begins singing a song. See what you think . . .
I bumped into this book on kindness as I was gathering books to read to my two preschool classes that I read to each week. Like my previous blog post, I love this book because of how it reaches out to parents, educators, AND children on being kind. So much of what we do as educators and parents is setting the best examples in our own lives to help children move forward with kindness in their lives.
I have always enjoyed reading to children. Here is an article — "The Joy of Reading to Children" — I wrote for "Montessori Life" magazine with the American Montessori Society back in 2017. It can give you some important information and thoughts.
Also, High Marks - Stories That Make Good Reading compiled by Annette Sloan & Albert Capaccio is a book I have used over the years to read to middle school students. Here is a sample of the stories students enjoy:
It is so good to have libraries all around. Our local Greenland, NH library has such beautiful and well stocked books for children and teens. AND it's all FREE!
As I have mentioned earlier, I read to preschoolers at two different schools, and many of my books-to-read come from their school and town libraries AND my own books that have accumulated over the years. Here is a children's favorite, Boffo The Great Motorcycle Race.
What a joy it is to be with them watching their faces as I read stories, especially when I change voices of characters in the readings. Here is a Boffo read I implemented during COVID when I could not be with the children . . .
Here is a book I just wrote and is now published with Amazon: Forward backwards THE SAME. The book is available through Amazon. Here is the Amazon link.
The illustrations that Karina Taylor provided are thoughtfully beautiful.
Forty years ago as a 5th grade math teacher, I was fascinated by palindromes and as expected and when presented, so were my students.
Feel free to pass on a comment after you read the book. Many thanks!
Speaking of author Kinney, check out this great PBS interview where he talks about his Wimpy Kid and the 250 million copies out worldwide that have come in for his work.
Check out this video that takes you through 11 different optical illusions. Teachers and parents sitting with young people can have lots of fun learning more about optical illusions AND personality traits.
Fifty-five year old Richard Goodall has been serving as a janitor at a local school for 23 years. He loves to sing and make people happy. He had the opportunity to be on stage at America's Got Talent TV show on May 28. As of June 14, his YouTube performance below has over 13.4M views! His story, wrapped around a popular song, moves everyone when he sings.
Here are two quotes from the January 26, 2024 JAM – "Laugh at Yourself":
"It is so important to not take yourself too seriously. Laughing at yourself shows humility and brings us closer together."
"When you can laugh at yourself it displays a softened ego. It shows that you do not think you are better than others. Learn to laugh at yourself."
Of course they can. Here are some fabulous resources.
Benjamin Zander helps us appreciate classical music, AND what makes his talk so inviting is how he weaves in classical music and children.
