Tag Archives: distance learning

Jan19

Book Review: “The Ballerina” by Catherine Follestad

Posted on by
Standard

Greetings and Happy New Year! I’m excited to start out 2025 with a fabulous chapter book for all those dancers out there. Whether you enjoy ballet, dance history or have a little one that is taking dance classes, this will be a great chapter book for a beginning third grader up through sixth grade. The book, “The Ballerina” is a great inspirational read for young readers that need that push to believe in themselves.

Alina, a young girl that is into dancing herself, finds a beautiful ballet costume along with other items that connect her to a prima ballerina. She begins a journey to discover more about the art of ballet. As she finds out more, it feeds her passion for ballet while giving her the confidence to reach inside and believe in herself.

I enjoyed this magical journey of a girl in search of inspiration from the greatness of the past. I love how it teaches youngsters to believe in what you love, follow your dream, and work hard to achieve what you feel passionate about. Alina is a relatable character for any young reader, especially if they are currently enrolled in a dance class. There is a lot of information in relation to the ballerina, Anna Pavlova, and how she helped better the art of ballet. This book is an excellent read for any child that enjoys a good book on dance, history and following your dream.

Book review written by: Tiffany Turner, a retired elementary teacher with over two decades of teaching experience and is currently retired. She is also a children’s fantasy author and has written the Crystal Keeper Chronicles.

This book is available at: Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.

Oct10

Book Recommendation: Charming ABC Picture Book Series

Posted on by
Standard

Sometimes I come across a helpful selection of books that I can see would add to any classroom’s curriculum. Then there are times I find a series of books that would be helpful for specific needs in the classroom. I like to point these out to help out teachers and parents that home-school. It can be hard going through all the different websites and library catalogs trying to find what you need. Let me help you from time to time. When I come across books I know that are going to help, I always present them to you as a book recommendation.

For this book recommendation, I’ve found a set of ABC picture books with a unique connection to the curriculum that will help you tie your teaching with alphabet letter recognition, science and health science, physical education, and imagination.

They are a set of ABC books written by Catherine Anderson-Barnes. She has written two books that introduce the alphabet by means of animals and by fruits and vegetables. Each book can be used for a daily letter introduction, or even, at certain times during the week, in a lesson or as a read-aloud introduction to the letter.

Catherine Anderson-Barnes says about her books:

“The books are filled with a great variety of learning opportunities: Learning colors, letters (upper and lower case), parts of our body, how foods play a role in our overall health, the importance of being physically active, fruit and vegetable recognition, animal recognition, and how animals are similar and different from us.”

“Moving Through the Alphabet an Animal’s Way A to Z” introduces an animal from around the world with each letter. The colorful and fantastic illustrations dazzle the eye as facts about the animal are listed on the page to read-aloud. At the end of the facts, a fun physical activity can be done that mimics the animal’s natural movement. It’s wonderful to help associate the letter with the movement and build connection with literature.

“Be Your Best…Eating Fruits and Vegetables A to Z” introduces each letter with a tasty fruit or vegetable. Diagrams point out which areas of the body the food supports with a rhyming connection to the letter. Colorful illustrations showing kids in positive activities support the need for a healthy, eating lifestyle.

I love the fact that these books can be combined to help build letter recognition, theme for a food and animal of the week, and even help review later in the year. These can be a staple for any preschool or kindergarten classroom, and a great way to review the alphabet at the beginning of first grade. I highly recommend these books for the classroom and home library. They are a fun and interactive way to learn letters for any child.

Link to ABC Book Series on Amazon.com

Both books are available on Amazon.com as hardback, paperback or Kindle editions.

The books are also read by the author on YouTube as well. Here are the links below! These are great for modeling text and reading aloud skills.

Link for “Moving Through the Alphabet an Animal’s Way”.

Link for “Be Your Best…Eating Fruits and Vegetables”.

Oct4

Interview with Catherine Anderson-Barnes

Posted on by
Standard

For those teachers and home school parents looking for a wonderful way to tie several subjects together into a thematic teaching unit for your young students or child, here is a unique alphabet book for you. “Moving Through the Alphabet an Animal’s Way” combines fun facts for each letter, coordinated animal exercises and care of the body for a healthy inclusion in the curriculum. Best of all, it has beautiful and engaging illustrations.

I was honored to talk to the author of the book, Catherine Anderson-Barnes. A former educator, Mrs. Anderson-Barnes created a fantastic new perspective for learning the alphabet that is engaging and crosses several curriculum subjects. I got the chance to talk with her about her inspiration and several important aspects of her book.

1) From where did you get the ideas/inspiration for your books?

Catherine Anderson-Barnes: I have taught nutrition and health education for over 25 years, specializing in educating young children. Although I cherished being an educator, I found it important to resign my position to care for my late husband who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. During this time I remained passionate about working with children and was inspired to write a series of children’s books that would focus on health and wellness and incorporate the A, B, C’s. I took many of the learning experiences that had worked so well for me in the classroom, over those many years, and successfully transferred the lessons to paper.  

2) How can parents and teachers best use these books?

Catherine Anderson-Barnes: The books are filled with a great variety of learning opportunities: Learning colors, letters (upper and lower case), parts of our body, how foods play a role in our overall health, the importance of being physically active, fruit and vegetable recognition, animal recognition, and how animals are similar and different from us.

3) What do you think kids will like most about your books?

Catherine Anderson-Barnes: Children are sure to enjoy the vibrant colors, the whimsical fruit, vegetable and animal characters, be amazed by how fruits and vegetables assist different parts of our bodies, and act out each animal’s unique characteristics.

“Moving Through the Alphabet an Animal’s Way A to Z” is a picture book designed to focus on the role physical activity plays in our body’s health. Children are introduced to the ABC’s by animals from around the world. Each letter has a set of fun facts and physical activity associated with that animal’s movement. Role-play for physical activity while learning your ABC’s in an inspirational environment in this unique ABC book.

Buy @ Amazon

“Moving Through the Alphabet an Animal’s Way A to Z” is available on Amazon in hardcover and paperback editions. It is available as a Kindle Unlimited digital title.

Mar5

Free Children’s Ebook During “Read An Ebook Week!”

Posted on by
Standard

I hope you’re having a wonderful start to March. If you’re like me, you’re having crazy winter weather. Between the snow and rain, I’m finding a lot of time to read and get some writing in. If you have children or home school, I’m sure you’re looking for activities during this indoor times.

Fear not! To help celebrate “Read an Ebook Week”, I’ve put on sale my first children’s fantasy adventure on Smashwords for this week. It’s been a tradition now for over 10 years that Smashwords helps to promote ebooks and reading during the first full week of March. So, I’m offering “The Lost Secret of Fairies” free for this week only during the promotion. Also, I have provided online, since during the lockdowns for the pandemic, a FREE novel study that goes along with the book. So, for all you parents and home schoolers looking for a great reading activity during the indoor hours, here’s your chance to grab it. For teachers, I taught and developed it while I was teaching in the classroom. It’s a novel study that I used during reading time and will fulfill a lot of Common Core Reading and Language Arts standards.

Here are the links for you to get started:

Button for Smashwords Free Ebook Download

(This is a safe download. Not a pirated copy. Please be careful and only download books from official retailers supported by the author.)

Free Ebook

Here is the link to the blog post that lists all the parts of the novel study.

Novel Study Link

There’s also a lot of free books to choose from for parents and teachers. Here’s the link to the general promo page for you to look over. Hopefully you’ll find a good read.

Smashwords Free Ebooks

I hope you enjoy your raining, snowy weather with a good book, a nice roaring fire and/or cup of tea or soda.

-Tiffany Turner

Editor and Head Writer for

The Indie Children’s Authors Connection

Feb6

Children’s Book Authors: Why It’s a Good Idea to Write Lesson Plans for Your Books

Posted on by
Standard

I’ve been thinking of writing about this subject for awhile, because I learned a lot during the lockdowns for the pandemic. As a retired teacher and children’s author, I have a unique perspective on this subject, and I thought it would be a good idea to finally share it with you.

Lesson plans are a great way to turn your book into an educational tool. I found as a teacher, most books have themes that can be used instructionally. It’s a matter of matching up what your teaching with the message/ theme of a book. Believe me, teachers are looking for them. So, make it easy for them. Set-up a way for teachers to find the educational points of your book by creating a lesson plan for it or a helpful study guide for teachers. It’s something that book clubs can use as well.

But how do you get the lesson plans? Study Guide? The quickest way is to write it yourself. And I’ve supplied a template for you. You just plug in your themes, messages, ideas, subjects covered from your book into the template study guide below. Any good teacher can use the study guide to make up their own lesson plan and include your book in a lesson or unit they may be teaching.

So, ready to get started? Just click the button to download below to get to the free template in PDF format. Print it out and fill it in or use the digital copy to start your own study guide. Adapt as you need to your book.

study-guide-templateDownload

Another thing you can do is hire a teacher/retired teacher to write lesson plans or a study guide for your book. They are a little more complicated than just a simple study guide. All you’ll need to do is give them the grade levels that you think your book will be educational for. If you want to see what most teachers use, they are called a “5 Step Lesson Plan”. You could try to write it yourself if you’ve had teaching experience. You’d be surprised by how much a picture book can be used for or how a middle grade book can be read-aloud to younger children or read by older children as a reading assignment.

The last thing that can be done is to create a teachable unit to go along with your book. When I was teaching, I actually developed a unit for my first book in my Crystal Keeper Series, “The Lost Secret of Fairies”. I had used the writing of the manuscript and the other books to help teach writing during writing workshop. Then, when I finished my book, I used the book during reading time as an assigned novel study. Any book can have a novel study unit assigned to it. I do have the whole unit now available for free and my ebook edition priced really low to make it easy to get copies. I have had many home-school students/parents take advantage of this opportunity, especially when I first posted it during the Spring Lockdown of 2020. I really felt a pull to support the many students and struggling parents at home. Now, it is a testimony of how a unit for your book can help get it into readers’ hands.

So, I hope this helps in bringing more sales of your book into your life, and gets it into the hands of more children. It always feels satisfying to me to hear stories about children enjoying my books. A study guide, lesson plan, or novel study unit will make your book more appealing to educators and parents. Please let me know in the comments if you’ve found this has helped and/or any experiences you might have had with lesson plans or study guides for your book.

-Tiffany Turner

Children’s Fantasy Author

Editor/Head Writer of

Indie Children’s Authors Connection Blog

Oct6

Get Into the Halloween Spirit: Books, Online Course, and More!

Posted on by
Standard

Happy October everyone! Are you ready to have some fun this fall? This was always my favorite time of year as a teacher. I tried to channel all of that creative excitement with Halloween into writing and language arts projects for my students. Through this, I developed a “How to Write a Spooky Story” unit that I have now made available in many different forms through the years. I’ve even written a pumpkin story that originated from one of my own spooky stories as a child. So, if you’re ready to explore the fantastic learning opportunities for your child, here is a list of all that is available that I’ve put together.

Full Online Free Spooky Story Writing Unit: This is a free online unit that I posted over five years ago. I made it a simplified version of what I used to do in my classroom, and it takes about a week. Children can follow along with each post daily, and create their own shareable story by the end. I relist the posts each year. I’ve seen visitors from around the world engage in story writing, and I’m proud to again share the links and posts to keep generations of children writing. This is great for parents or basics for teachers to assign online.

Day 1: Write Your Own Spooky Story, Create Your Main Character

Day 2: Creating a Spooky Setting Or Plot

Day 3: Starting the Rough Draft

Day 4: Continuing Rough Draft with Dialogue

Day 5: Revising and Proofreading Your Story

Day 6: Writing the Final Draft

Spooky Story Online Writing School Course: If you just want to get your child set up and running with a course that will do all the teaching for you, guess what? I’ve started my own online writing school, and have put together the above unit into a self-teaching course. It goes more in-depth than the free online one, and I’m there to support too. Check out the link below to get more information. It’s just $19.99.

Spooky Story Online Course

For Teachers: Teachers Pay Teachers Spooky Story Unit: If you’d like to teach the unit to your own classroom, I’ve got the full writing workshop format unit I developed at Teacher Pay Teachers. I also have a unit on writing mysteries and other helpful writing lesson plans that are available. It’s just $2.95.

Spooky Story Unit @ Teachers Pay Teachers

My own Halloween picture book story, Pumper the Pumpkin, is available online at Amazon.com. I wrote this originally when I was ten in 5th grade, and discovered the magic of writing. The main story stuck with me, and I rewrote it as an adult. This is the latest form of the story illustrated by myself. It was my first attempt at a picture book, and I learned a lot from creating it. It’s just $0.99.

Pumper the Pumpkin on Amazon.com

So, get ready for Halloween and focus all that creative energy into creative writing for your child. All of the writing techniques work for adults too. So, if you’d like to take a stab at spooky or horror story writing along with your child, you could share the stories between you.

Happy Halloween 2021! Stay safe!

-Mrs. Turner

Jul31

Interview with Marie Urquidi

Posted on by
Standard
Marie Urquidi reading with her child from her “Speaking Together” workbook series.

The summer is an excellent opportunity for children to learn new skills and start a lifelong learning journey. Why not help them start learning language skills?

I’ve found a book series that has been written by a parent that wanted to teach her children their lost heritage of language. Marie Urquidi is Filipino but wasn’t encouraged to learn Tagalog, the Filipino language, as a child. Her husband has Mexican heritage and wasn’t motivated to learn Spanish. She decided to help her child to learn Spanish in school and enrolled her in a Spanish Dual Language Program. It turned out to be a Spanish course for herself as well.

She developed learning worksheets to help herself review the language as well as to support her child. Through this teaching opportunity, she has developed a unique set of workbooks to help children learn Spanish with their parents. Her “Speaking Together” workbook series covers how to teach your child Spanish, Tagalog, and English. I had the chance to ask Marie Urquidi about her influences growing up, writing projects, and what writing means to her.

  1. Who is your favorite author and how did they influence you?


Marie Urquidi: Jane Yolen has written over 400 books, and I absolutely fell in love with “How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?” I read that to my son one night, and we enjoyed it. It was a great way to bond over the pictures and the questions in her story. The engagement with my son as I read her books is what I want to emulate. She inspires me to write engagingly because I want to replicate that same experience for readers.

2) What subjects would you like to write about in future projects?


Marie Urquidi: My bilingual books aim to encourage parents and children to practice language learning in a fun and easy way. I currently have Language Workbooks for parents and children learning Spanish, Tagalog, and English. The books focus on conversations about school, recess, and playtime. I’m currently developing picture books that focus on other areas of language learning, for example, tenses and vocabulary. You can find my books on Amazon or my website: DLIParentBooks.com.

3) What is writing to you in one sentence?


Marie Urquidi: Writing is an opportunity to share a piece of you that’ll last beyond our own time here on earth.

“Speaking Together in Spanish” is a wonderful workbook to help reinforce your child’s Spanish lessons as well as learning the language yourself. With phonetic translations, easy phrases to start conversations, and extensive practice and review, you’ll have a tool to have you practice Spanish right along with your child. This workbook will give your child more opportunities to speak Spanish out of school, with private tutoring or even with Spanish-speaking playdates. You’ll gain intermediate-level grounding in four key skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. This specially designed workbook is equipped to help monolingual parents facilitate supportive learning at home while learning the language. Great for private tutoring support or supplemental homework for the classroom, this series is a beautiful support for parents and home schooling programs.

For information on all the workbooks, here are the links:

Speaking Together in Spanish
Speaking Together in Tagalog
Speaking Together in English (For Spanish Speakers)

For more information on Marie Urquidi, visit her Amazon author page and/or her website at: DLIParentBooks.com.

Jun22

Interview with Harvey L. Frierson Jr. Part 1

Posted on by
Standard

You might be looking for books to read this summer that reinforce family values. I’ve found a great author that has a collection of picture books that touches on this subject.

Harvey L. Frierson. Jr. has been a hit songwriter for musical icons such as Mary J. Blige and New Edition. Now, he finds his most current audience could be his most rewarding yet, his three-month-old niece and the next generation. With books like “My Big Sister is the Best” and “I Love to Wave”, Harvey L. Frierson Jr. is using his talent to bring social skills and values to children. I had the chance to ask him about his childhood reading memories, writing routine, and what writing means to him.

  • What is your favorite memory from reading as a child?

Harvey L. Frierson Jr: When I was a child, I had a collection of Batman stories that you read along with a 45” inch “action” recording. LOL

  • Do you have a writing routine?  Share what works for you.

Harvey L. Frierson Jr:  My writing routine is talking to my brother about what my niece JJ is doing, and then writing a story hoping she will be impressed.

  • What is writing to you in one sentence?

Harvey L. Frierson Jr:  Writings are messages for my children, nieces and nephews to appeal to their family values.

“I Love to Wave” is a story about a girl coping with the new pandemic social norms. Hunter loves to wave, but finds it difficult in this new world of mask wearing, social distancing and virtual school. Through the help of her parents and school teachers, they model how Hunter can stay safe and continue to be kind to people.

“I Love to Wave” is available at Barnes and Noble.com.

Audiobook Spanish edition link here.

Audiobook English edition will be available on July 4th.

For more information on Harvey L. Frierson Jr., please visit his website here.

Part 2 in this interview series is available on June 27th.

Part 3 in this interview series is available on July 14th.

Apr2

“I Don’t Want to Wear a Mask!” has won the Silver Medal in the Reader Views Reviewer’s Choice Awards 2021!

Posted on by
Standard
“I Don’t Want to Wear a Mask!” has won the Silver Award in the Children’s Books Ages 0-5 category in the 2021 Reader Views Reviewer’s Choice Awards.

I am proud to announce that my most recent picture book, “I Don’t Want to Wear a Mask!”, has won the Silver Medal award in the Children’s Books 0-5 age category. I am awfully pleased to accept this award and want to thank my illustrator, Natalia Cano, for her fantastic illustrations that capture perfectly the message and theme of the book.

Also, to my father, who supported me in all of my writing and always encouraged me. I lost him in 2018, and dedicated the book to him. I’d also like to thank my husband, family and friends for their continued support in my writing endeavors. Without all of you, it would be hard to keep going.

Most of all, I’d like to thank all the readers of my books through the years. I started writing back in 2005 with the self-publishing of my first children’s book in 2007. It’s been a long path, but I want to continue bringing you unique voices and perspectives in my books. You’ve made it all possible. Thank you.

“I Don’t Want to Wear a Mask!” is available as an ebook or as a paperback edition at Amazon.com.

-Tiffany Turner

Mar13

Guest Blog Post: “Tips to Encourage Children to Read” by Chris Lewis

Posted on by
Standard

Tips to Encourage Children to Read

Guest Post by author, Chris Lewis

It is certainly handy when a book’s character or series matches the values you want to encourage. An association to a series could also support children in finding a common connection with other children.

We all learn in different ways. Sometimes you can learn at the same time you do something you enjoy. The following are a few tips to encourage children to read.

1. Look for relatable characters.

Connection with characters in a story may make it easier for children to learn from their experiences and perhaps appreciate a topic from a different view. Sometimes a situation can be better understood by a child when they see themselves represented in a group or activity.

2. Try something a little bit silly or unorthodox.

Animals are often used in picture books for their relatable factor. There are lots of examples in books where animals talk and live like humans. Sometimes, characters are a mix of both human and animal characteristics. Some stories have objects which are living, for example, a talking teapot. 

3. Think about the format. 

There are lots of book formats to choose from, but in summary, the choice is a physical version or an electronic copy. New books typically attract a new cost, but you can get access to free books from the library, or you can browse the Internet for a variety of free ones. 

Sometimes there are extra elements in an eBook compared to a print version. Animation is a good example. Traditional books take up more space than eBooks. Still, there is a print version preference because of the look and feel, and no batteries are required.

4. Support the reading journey.

A child could use the same book from early childhood to a point where they can potentially read it by themselves. The knowledge gained from familiarity can serve as a morale boost when children get to the stage they can read independently.

5. Find a book for the right development stage.

The need of every child differs in the course of their development. Whether a child will enjoy a book or find it boring depends on the length, grammar, and level of content the child is prepared for, emotionally.

About The Author

Chris Lewis is the author of the eBook picture book Jax and Sheba get Messy for ages three to five. A print version will be available to order on March 16th, 2021. For more information about their books, please visit his website here.

***Connect with this author, Chris Lewis, through the interview featured on this blog.

Link here to the interview with Chris Lewis.