This summer has been a summer full of planning, preparation, and reading. I am leading a small, literacy focused book club for kids ages 6-8 in my area this fall and it is designed with reluctant and struggling early readers in mind. We will be addressing phonological and phonemic awareness skills with weekly warm ups, while also embedding lexicon building and reading comprehension skills into a group read aloud and activities time. It will run for 6 weeks, and we'll finish a chapter book by the last session. I'm not revealing which book we'll be reading yet, but I plan to share the book, the club format, and how it goes in upcoming newsletters so stay tuned for that.

In the spring I also mapped out a plan for a very small (my sister and I are currently the only members), monthly Christian Women's book club. We held our first meeting in July, and discussed Kristin Lavransdatter Book 1 by Sigrid Undset over some delicious affogatos.

Think finer things club meets a mom's group from your church. You can find the full schedule for the rest of the year, and discussion questions for starting your own group here. You'll find book reviews and next year's list on the blog and in the newsletter later this year. Now, on to the resources!

Reading

Back to School Picture Books Here is a list of my favorite books to read during the first few weeks of school. Read article

Seaside stories Or, if you aren't ready to be back yet and want to hold onto summer just a little bit longer, I have a list for that too. Read article

Starting a Christian women's book club I am plugging the women's book club list again here in case you missed it above. Stay tuned for reviews! Read article

Writing

Writing prompts This is a growing list of prompts for you and your kids. Check back for inspiration and I'll be sure to include new prompts with each newsletter! Read article

How to teach letter formation This is a great resource from the team at Reading Universe for explaining the skill of letter formation, and then how to teach it effectively to kids. Read article

To my fellow writers and educators, what other topics in writing do you want to know more about? I go back and forth between providing more resources for aspiring writers, or providing more for those teaching writing to children. Let me know your thoughts and preferences.

Literacy

Reading universe resources Another shout out to Reading Universe! This website might be one of my favorite literacy resources (UFLI is a close second). Read article

On the Reading Universe website you can find lesson plans, activity ideas, a full taxonomy, and explanations for various stages and steps in learning to read. Over the next few months we'll also take a look at pre-reading and early literacy skills, and the other resources available to us in teaching them to our kids.

Reading as healing I count this as literacy adjacent. This article is all about using reading as a catalyst for conversations and healing. Read article

Do yourself a favor and memorize a poem By Christian Leithart at Intellectual Takeout, this article provides a reasonable defense of the benefits of reading and memorizing poetry. Read article

If you want more on the benefits of poetry, check out Andrew Pudewa from the Institute for Excellence in Writing talking about Nurturing Competent Communicators, especially from about the 45 minute mark on.

I hope you are all having a good start to September, and look forward to a fall of learning more about reading, writing, literacy with you.

Do you have requests or ideas for a future newsletter? Feedback on this newsletter? Reply to this email and let me know!

Best,

Hailey