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Archive for the ‘Life lessons for children, Reading with children’ Category

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12 Ways to Develop your Child’s Writing Skills


GREAT TIPS from Nicholas Rossis for teachers, parents and adults everywhere! WE CAN ALL CONTRIBUTE to childhood literacy: Developing a child’s writing skills… ~ Bette A. Stevens, https://www.4writersandreaders.com

Nicholas C. Rossis

Getting people — and kids, in particular — to read and write has long been a passion of mine. You may remember my post, Reading Tricks for Kids of Any Age, originally written for Mom’s Favorite Reads.

Well, I recently came across an article by Abigail Elijah of Knowledge Isle with 20 tips for developing your kid’s writing skills which inspired me to write up a new post, this one on the subject of getting your child to write. I hope you find these tips useful!

12 Ways to Develop your Kid’s Writing Skills

helping your child write better - girl writing | From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books

Seven out of ten children find writing particularly challenging. What can we do to support them and help develop their writing skills?

1. Read

One of the most important things you can do for your kids’ writing skills, is to encourage and develop their passion for reading.

Writing is different than speaking. Abigail…

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Written

on 12/05/2019

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Beautiful Borestone—A Maine Haiku & a View from the Mountain too!


“A nature-filled land that enlivens the senses and soothes the soul—to me, Maine is poetry.”
Bette A. Stevens

Seven-year-old Sophie loves to read and listen to poetry! I discovered that about her when I met Sophie and her mom Janet the evening of my book signing, “Celebrating  Maine through Poetry” presentation in October.  Now Sophie loves to write poetry too! 

In fact, Sophie enjoys poetry so much that Janet told me how grateful she was that they had come that night to learn about  the benefits that poetry provides for readers and writers of all ages. The audience even had a chance to practice finding some of the poetic devices I used when writing My Maine, Haiku through the Seasons that evening.

When we talked about the beauty and bounty that Maine has to offer, Janet shared that she had recently taken her children on a day trip to Borestone Mountain. Borestone is a popular hiking spot near the center of the state, with a trailhead located on Mountain Road near Willimantic. Sophie and Janet have captured Borestone beautifully in their haiku! 

Beautiful Borestone

Climbing made it fun
Brilliant trees and pretty lakes
Beautiful Borestone

Haiku by Sophie & Janet

Janet and I have kept in touch by email since the event and I was delighted when she sent me photos she’d taken at Borestone and a haiku that she and Sophie had written together.  Sophie wants to write more poetry! That makes my author/teacher heart sing…

 

Educators, librarians, community groups and organizations:

Maine author and retired teacher Bette A. Stevens shares her love of Maine, of poetry, of nature and of reading and writing with children and adults of all ages. Stevens is currently booking presentations for Spring 2020 in the central Maine area as “The Pine Tree State” launches its Bicentennial celebrations. Stevens’s presentations are tailored to your classroom/group needs. Poetry is powerful and its benefits are invaluable. For more information contact the author at bettestevens@tds.net SUBJECT: POETRY—Group Presentation.

Find out more about Maine author Bette A. Stevens

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Written

on 12/04/2019

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AMAZING MATILDA, A Monarch Butterfly Tale by Bette A. Stevens (Children’s Picture Book)



“If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, Are You My Mother, about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book. If Charlotte’s Web is one of your childhood favorites, I say, Move over Charlotte. Matilda is now here!” ~Jacqui Murray

 

AMAZING MATILDA—Read the Reviews

  • Bette Stevens’s Amazing Matilda: The Tale of a Monarch Butterfly is the story of tiny Matilda, a round white creature born from an egg in Nature’s garden with a burning desire to fly.  Without wings, though, she knows that can’t happen. Matilda has no idea that in her life, she will morph from the crawly leaf-bound creature to a gorgeous monarch butterfly. She tells her animal friends about her passion to fly and they offer their stories of growing up as well as sage advice any parent would be envious of. For example, her friend Sparrow suggests:“Just have patience and follow your instincts, my dear…”Another friend suggests:”I could do anything that I wanted to if I only tried long enough and hard enough.”She is frustrated by this good-natured advice because she has no idea how to do what they suggest:“Sparrow said that I must have patience and that I must follow my instincts. Now, you say I must have wings. Where can I find all of those things?”As Matilda grows, she changes from a larva to pupa to a gorgeous winged adult. Each stage in Matilda’s amazing journey is accompanied with wonderful drawings that show her progress, who she meets, and how she changes.As a result, readers are not just entertained by the story but happily learn about the development of a butterfly. There are lots of cute lines, such as:”Matilda crunched and munched and lunched, leaf after leaf, day after day.”If you loved P.D. Eastman’s incomparable book, Are You My Mother, about a baby bird’s search for its mother, you must read this book. If Charlotte’s Web is one of your childhood favorites, I say, Move over Charlotte. Matilda is now here!This is a short book. In fact. This review is almost longer than the story!
  • The story is really exciting, appealing, adventurous, lovable, and yet, sufficiently wise and deep for both kids and adults.In case you do not trust my word, I urge you to find out for yourselves. Otherwise, I might be reviewing this wonderful book for hours. It is my pleasure indeed!
  • A beautiful message of love, patience, perseverance, and belief. The story is told with a frog, bird, rabbit, and the butterfly as the main characters. A perfect book for children mainly to teach them about the cycles of life and the importance of patience, perseverance, and keeping faith in a dream.

Read all 87 reviews on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AU9ZISA/

 

Bette in her garden with one of the monarch butterflies that emerged from its chrysalis at the farmstead in central Maine.

Order your copies of AMAZING MATILDA today:

FREE from Bette

AMAZING MATILDA (Review & Author Interview) 

 

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Written

on 05/20/2019

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Celebrate National Puzzle Day Any Day with “The Tangram Zoo & Word Puzzles Too!” by Bette A. Stevens


Get Puzzling with the kid! Although this official celebration is held every year on January 29th, puzzling is educational and fun anytime. It’s an opportunity to reflect on those puzzles, games and even challenges in life that we embrace every day but sometimes take for granted. Puzzles also offer us a great way to spend quality time interacting with family. Puzzles are an awesome way to make challenges and learning fun any day! ~Bette A. Stevens

REVIEW

The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too! by Bette A. Stevens
Very Clever! 
“I bought this book to give as a gift to my grandchildren. Reading through the book before giving it to them, I found it taught me a few things, too. First, I had no idea a tangram is a seven-piece puzzle with specific shapes. A pattern is provided to cut out and get started along with the history of it. There are many ways to put the pieces together, but the book supplies shapes to make—with clues or riddles as to what they are. Although, this is a very clever and educational book for children, I appreciated the added bonus that an adult can sit down and enjoy it with the kids!” ~D.L. Finn, author

Ready to give Tangrams and Word Puzzles a try?

Here’s the handout the author uses with students.
Click the TZ HANDOUT link below.
Download, print and you’re ready to go…

TZ Handout 

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Written

on 04/09/2019

A Bunch of Resources for Read Across America Day


Happy “Read Across America Day!” ~Bette A. Stevens https://www.4writersandreaders.com

WordDreams...

As writers, we know the importance reading has made in our lives. That is why holidays that support reading for kids are a big deal with me–well, that and the fact I’m also a teacher! In the United States, we celebrate Read Across America Day annually on March 2. This coincides with the birthday of Dr. Seuss, one of the most beloved and iconic children’s writers and perfect for any read-aloud.

Here are some great reading websites for students K-5:

  1. Aesop Fables—no ads
  2. Aesop’s Fables
  3. Audio stories
  4. Childhood Stories
  5. Classic Fairy Tales
  6. Fairy Tales and Fables
  7. Scholastic: Listen/read–Free non-fic audio books
  8. Starfall
  9. Storyline: Stories read by actors
  10. Stories to read for youngsters
  11. Eduplace: Stories to read

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Book Picks, Books, Children's Activities, Children's Literature, Education, Families, Guest Post, Homeschooling, Life lessons for children, Reading with children, Literacy, Parenting, Reading, Reading with Children

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Have an Amazing New Year! (Poem + Monarch Butterfly Resources from author Bette A. Stevens)


Have an Amazing New Year!

 

May your days be blessed and beautiful

May your nights, sweet dreams supply

May your New Year be amazing

As a monarch butterfly

© Bette A. Stevens

Learn about Monarch Butterflies

Bette in her garden with one of the monarch butterflies that emerged from its chrysalis at the farmstead in central Maine.

Monarch butterflies offer an amazing view into the intricate nature of the wild. Their scientific name—Danaus Plexippus— Greek for “Sleepy Transformation,” gets part of the story right, but not the epic whole. Monarch butterflies embark on an amazing migratory phenomenon as they have the ability to hibernate and metamorphose.  International conservation efforts to protect and restore monarch habitat are ongoing. These efforts may help improve the near-endangered/endangered status of the species; but we, as ordinary citizens, can easily help the monarch butterfly recovery right in our own backyards and gardens.

Wishing all of you and our amazing monarch butterflies…
“An Amazing New Year!”

~Bette A. Stevens, Maine author

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Written

on 12/31/2018

#FREE Limited Time Offer—PURE TRASH (Historical Fiction/Ages 10-adult) by Bette A. Stevens


PURE TRASH

“A single day. A lifetime of lessons.”

“A great book for adolescents, young adults,
parents, mentors, and educators.”

PURE TRASH (Historical Fiction) by Bette A. Stevens
#FREE eBook through November 23, 2018
Grab a copy of this #must-read story today at Your Amazon http://amzn.to/1T5tMAZ today!

Recommended reading ages 10-adult.

5gold-star3

“This is a glimpse into the characters of Shawn and Willie Daniels who take front and center in the author’s full-length novel, DOG BONE SOUP. A nostalgic vignette, PURE TRASH will whisk you into an era and place where many struggled to survive the grip of poverty. This short novella is filled with adventure, and the fun of boys being boys–riding bikes, collecting bottles for penny candy, and running into trouble…and prejudice.

“Enjoy this short read but when you are finished, I highly recommend purchasing DOG BONE SOUP. It’s a gem of a book that will leave a lasting impression with its memorable characters, heart and story line. Don’t miss it!” ~ Mae Clair, author

Book Blurb

PURE TRASH (Historical Fiction/Ages 10-adult) In this short story adventure set in New England in the 1950s, two young boys set out on a Saturday adventure you won’t want to miss! Experience the joy of a carefree Saturday and the blistering pain of feeling not quite good enough as you hop on a bike and ride into town with two delightful young boys who find adventure at every turn. Shawn and Willie Daniels live in the woods with no indoor water or plumbing. Dad spends most of his hard-earned money on beer. Prejudice, class division, alcoholism, poverty, injustice, and bullying are cleverly woven into this 1950s adventure short.

About the Author

Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of monarch butterflies (milkweed is the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).

Stevens’s children’s activity book, THE TANGRAM ZOO and WORD PUZZLES TOO! was first published in 1997 by Windswept House Publishing, Mt. Desert, ME; a second edition was self-published by the author in 2012.  AMAZING MATILDA , Stevens’s second children’s book, self-published in 2012 won a 2013 Purple Dragonfly Book Award (Honorable Mention for Excellence in Children’s Literature – Ages 6 and older category) and also placed #9 on The 2013 Gittle List for Self-published Children’s Picture Books. Stevens has written articles for ECHOES, The Northern Maine Journal of Rural Culture based in Caribou, Maine. In 2013, the author published her first book for the YA/Adult audience: PURE TRASH, a short story of a boy growing up in rural New England in a family whose poverty and alcoholism mark him as a target for bullying by young and old alike. This short story is a prequel to Stevens’s début novel DOG BONE SOUP (KCT International Literary Award Top Finalist 2017). Stevens is currently working on her first poetry collection—MY MAINE, Haiku through the seasons.

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#IndieBooksBeSeen, Book Picks, Book Promo, Books, DOG BONE SOUP by Bette A. Stevens, Fiction, Historical Fiction, History, Life lessons for children, Reading with children, Literature, Maine Author, My Books, PURE TRASH by Bette A. Stevens, Rave Reviews Book Club, Reading, Reading with Children, Recommended Reads, RWISA Author, Short Stories

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