A Game for the Road

Research has shown that students whose parents play word games with them out perform in reading achievement and reading skill development. One word game that can be played while traveling to Grandma's house is "Change That Word." The first person says a word like "cat" and then spells it out loud. The next person has to change some part of that word to make another word. For example, they can change the beginning sound to make "sat." They might choose to change the ending sound to make "can." Maybe they change the vowel to make "cot." The previous word keeps getting changed by the next player. Each new word is spelled out loud. As the players get older, the words can get more complicated. For example, the players might add prefixes or suffixes to the first word to change them. The baseword, the prefix or the suffix can be the start of the next word. For example, the play may go something like this: "decide," "decided," "undecided," "unusual," "usual," "usually," "helpfully," "helpful," "helpless." If you want to keep points you could have each person receive a point who could not think of a word or who did not spell the word correctly. The person with the least points wins.

Board Games

Each Christmas I make sure at least one person in my family receives a new board game. Even though our hectic lives keep us from playing them much during the year, we always find time to play them during the winter holiday break. I like to purchase games that have won educational awards - I feel like playing these types of games is a win-win situation. Not only do they provide a fun time of family bonding - but learning is a natural byproduct. I hope each of our Prairieview families will have a very happy holiday and a wonderful New Year.

Books Children Enjoy

The following are books picked by children as new ones that they enjoy. This list came from The Reading Teacher, Volume 62, Number 2, October 2003, pp.162-167.

Grades 3-4

Animals in the House: A History of Pets and People by Sheila Keenan

Babymouse:Camp Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Babymouse: Heartbreaker by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Big Cats: Hunters of the Night by Elaine Landau

The Book Club Kit by Patti Kelley Criswell

Could You? Would You? by Trudy White

Crazy Cars by Matt Doeden

Dare to Dream! by Carl Sommer, Jorge Martinez, Greg Budwine and Kennon James

Dinosaurium: 10 Books in One by Laura Buller and Carey Scott

Dinosaurs Across America by Phil Yeh

Do Not Open: An Encyclopedia of the World's Best-Kept Secrets by John Farndon

Dog Diaries: Secret Writings of the Woof Society by Betsy Byars, Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers

Dogs by Meish Goldish

Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case by Donald J. Sobol

Every Minute on Earth: Fun Facts That Happen Every 60 Seconds by Steve Murrie and Matthew Murrie

Explorer: A Daring Guide for Young Adventurers by Dugald A. Steer

Extreme Dinosaurs by Robert Mash

Extreme Pets! by Jane Harrington

Goosebumps Graphix 3: Terror Trips by R. L. Stine, Jill Thompson, Jamie Tolagson and Amy Kim Ganter

A Horse in the House and Other Strange but True Animal Stories by Gail Ablow

How Big Is It? A BIG Book All about BIGNESS by Ben Hillman

Medical Detective Dogs with Frances E. Ruffin

Military Dogs by Frances E. Ruffin

Monday With a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne

Mythology by Dugald A. Steer

Old Penn Station by William Low

The Painted Circus by Wallace Edwards

Race Horses by Michael Sandler

Real-Life Sea Monsters by Judith Jango-Cohen

The Richest Poor Kid by Carl Sommer

Scholastic Book of World Records 2008 by Jenifer Corr Morse

See What You Can Be: Explore Careers That Could Be For You! by Diane Heiman and Liz Suneby

Spike the Rebel by Carl Sommer

Turtle Summer: A Journal for My Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe

Wolves by Duncan Searl

The Worst Name in Third Grade by Debbie Dadey