Tag Archives: home schooling

Oct4

Interview with Catherine Anderson-Barnes

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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.

Sep1

Day 5 of the 2023 Back to School Blog Tour: Recap of the Week/Resources

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On the final day of the blog tour this year, I’d like to thank all of the participating authors for taking the time to submit their books and/or participate in the interviews. These authors take the time to write incredible books and then allow me to bring them to you. So, a big thank you to all of them.

And I’d also like to thank all of my readers that follow this blog. Over the years, I’ve tried to provide resources to help in the classroom and support parents at home in educating and helping their child to appreciate new voices in literature. So, thank you for returning again and again to see what new books and authors I have found for you.

Meanwhile, let’s recap the authors that have been participating this week.

If you missed any of the posts, these are short cuts to get you connected with each author and book that has been featured. Plus, there are a lot of different resources for the classroom and for home schooling on my blog. I’ve listed some of the free lesson plans and units you can find on my blog below.

Free Online Novel Study for my book, “The Lost Secret of Fairies”.

Parent Support for Homeschool: Free Ebook & Online Novel Study

Free Spooky Story Online Activity: Write Your Own Spooky Story

Write Your Own Spooky Story For Halloween

Link to Online Writing & Reading Lesson Plans

(With Selected Free Lesson Plans)

TPT Making Writing Fun Store

Thank you for a fantastic Back to School week of ideas, books, authors and organizational fun. I do hope that I’ve helped you plan more towards your 2023 curriculum, and that you have a fabulous start to your school year.

Until next time, keep safe and keep writing,

-Tiffany Turner

Retired Elementary Teacher

Head writer/editor for the Indie Children’s Authors Connection Blog

Jul31

Interview with Marie Urquidi

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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.

Apr2

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

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“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

Jan15

Martin Luther King Jr. Day Activity: Close Reading Activity for Distance Learning and Home School

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Photo by LeeAnn Cline on Unsplash

With the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday fast approaching, I thought I’d let all my readers know about the FREE close reading lesson available to download. I’ve had it on my teacher store on Teacherspayteachers for a couple years now, but would like to make it available for families and people teaching at home for this weekend. I know people like to do activities on MLKjr. Day, and it may be hard to go out and do community service this year due to the pandemic. But you can still participate by doing an activity at home to help your child understand why this holiday is important.

I developed this lesson in my classroom to specifically be taught around this time. I had noticed children were coming up from the grade before, 2nd or 3rd grade, without clearly understanding what his dream was. When asked about Martin Luther King Jr, they would respond that “He had a dream.” It was mostly due to the fact they were concrete thinkers and didn’t understand the abstract notion of what MLKjr’s Dream symbolized. I also would have a week of reading material on the civil rights movement using my district’s available reading books. So, this is a great lead into civil rights studies.

I would read the speech as a guided reading/read-aloud in my classroom. I’ve included a link to one book that is available like this. There are others, or you may already have one in your class or home library. Reading it before this downloadable lesson is recommended. It’s to show where the context is for the “I Have a Dream” references. Plus, focus on why he repeats the phrase, “I Have A Dream”, and discuss why he may have done that.

“I Have A Dream (Book & CD)” Link to purchase. There are other books like this available, but this is one that can be used with the downloadable lesson or another similar book with the speech text illustrated.

So, that is how I used this lesson in my classroom. I offer it now for use for other classrooms, online studies and of course, at home for families to discuss what Martin Luther King’s Dream actually was. And of course, talking or reading material about the civil right movements will help with this. I’ve included some links below.

All this will help children understand what is currently going on in our own country right now, with the current protests and BLM protests. Please let me know if you found this useful or general feedback in the comments below.

Download FREE Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Speech PDF Below!

22i-have-a-dream22-speech-close-reading-acitivtyDownload

Other Reading Material links for Children on the Civil Rights Movement:

“If You Were A Kid During the Civil Rights Movement”

“The Civil Rights Movement for Kids”

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend! Stay safe out there, and please, wear a mask!

-Tiffany Turner

Tiffany Turner is a children’s fantasy writer of the Crystal Keeper Chronicle series. She is the head writer and editor of the Indie Children’s Authors Connection blog.

Mar30

Day 8: The Lost Secret of Fairies Online Novel Study with Summary & Character Handouts

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Chapter 13 and End of Book Questions today!

Greetings everyone! It has been a challenging couple of weeks, but I hope you and your child have enjoyed reading my book, The Lost Secret of Fairies. Today, on Day 8, I’ll be helping to wrap up the story and novel study. I’ll be including some downloadable worksheets to be used in response to finishing the book, and tomorrow, will include an essay test that your child should be able to complete on their own from doing the activities. The activities can be done over the next few days with the essay test given at the end of the week.

Let’s start today with the final journal response questions:

Chapter 13 & End of the Book Questions:summer1

  1. Summarize in a paragraph the book The Lost Secret of Fairies. Use a topic sentence, list the events, and use a closing sentence.
  2. How did you like the Lost Secret of Fairies? What was your opinion of the book? Describe your opinion with supporting details and examples from the book.
  3. What is the theme or message from the author of The Lost Secret of Fairies? Name examples from the text that are clues.

Bonus: Do you want to read the next book? Why or why not?

Now, for the end of book activities. These can be done over the next few days, with one a day, as a lead up to the final essay test. I’d suggest the summary first, followed by the Character trait essay answer, and then going through the journal response questions to get an idea of what the book was about in their minds. Then, in a few days, have them do the essay test. I will post the test tomorrow. They will be able to use their journal response pages to take the essay test. Of course, they should use the book to find examples and details.

Downloads for End of Book Activities:

Summary Fill In Handout for The Lost Secret of Fairies

Character Change Writing Response WS

The Lost Secret of Fairies- Webbing Graphic Organizer

Paragraph Writing Lesson Support

(Through my online store on TeachersPayTeachers)

Free Book Review Handout: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Real-World-Book-Report-Book-Review-971473

Writing Opinion Packet: (Only $0.99)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Paragraph-Individual-Packet-3029120

Paragraph Parts Review Packet (Only $0.99)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Paragraph-Parts-Individual-Packet-3028939

Diorama Book Report/Home Project Extension (Only $0.99)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Diorama-Book-Report-3074161

 

I hope that helps set the rest of the week for reading response and writing for your child. I’ll post the final test tomorrow that can be the wrap up for this novel study. The other activities included above are great follow ups for the book and extension activities.

Thank you for following along with this novel study. I hope it has helped bring reading and learning to your little ones during these strange times. I’ll be posting the last day of the novel study tomorrow, and I welcome all of your feedback and comments below. It will help me plan for future instruction to help out during the pandemic.

Until then, keep reading and writing,

-Mrs. Turner

***Tiffany Turner is the author of the children’s fantasy series, the Crystal Keeper Chronicles. She has had 18 years experience teaching in California as a public elementary teacher. She is currently tutoring in the private sector and continuing to write full time. 

UPDATED March 31, 2020:

The essay test will be posted on Wednesday, April 1 now. I’ve added a lesson on theme and message, and posted it today. It is on the essay test, so I wanted to make sure I included a lesson on themes. Thanks for following along with the novel study. Please let me know how I’m doing in the comments below.

March 31, 2020 Post on Theme/Messages

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mar27

Day 7: The Lost Secret of Fairies Online Novel Study with Distance Learning & Homeschooling Support

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Study Guide Questions for Chapters 11 & 12 for Online Novel Study

Welcome to Day 7 of the online novel study for my novel The Lost Secret of Fairies. We’re nearing the end of the story now, and I hope you have been enjoying the journey with Wanda into the World of Fairy. I also hope you are being safe, locking down with your family, and washing your hands often. It can be hard when something like this pandemic is going on and being inside is the safest thing, but it’s important to stay inside. I know spring is happening outside, but you can go on a daily walk for exercise with your family for many of the lockdowns going on around the United States.

springbee

Spring bee pollinating cherry blossom on my daily walk for exercise today.

Hopefully, your family is able to take exercise walks from time to time. Like PE, it’s important to get some fresh air and exercise daily which is allowed for most of the lockdowns, as long as you keep 6 feet distance from those you don’t live with.

zeta&teddy

Zeta & Teddy look out my front window for kids to spot during a bear hunt neighborhood walk.

 

 

I had a chance to take some pictures of cherry blossoms along my daily exercise walk today. I have leash trained my cat, CATherine Zeta Jones, and she enjoys walks around my condo complex too. We always keep 6 ft. from my neighbors, especially the dog walkers. But we smile and wave at each other. That is still allowed too. Kindness and friendship is important still, but at a distance.

Plus, maybe people have started putting teddy bears in the windows so you can go on a bear hunt with your family. I’ve placed my childhood teddy bear in my window. He’s over 50 years old, and my cat has a new buddy to sit next to while she watches the world through the window. Remember, just like in PE, it’s important to stretch your legs, walk and keep your body in shape. There are even online free dance classes or video games that can get you moving. Here are some links to some free online homeschooling PE activities:

https://freedomhomeschooling.com/health-pe/

Note: Star Jumps are called Jumping Jacks in the US.

 

And now for today’s:

Study Questions for Chapters 11 & 12

  1. summer1Who do you think is the mysterious voice? Use evidence from the text to support your answer.
  2. What kind of magic powers do you think you would have as a Keeper?
  3. Name some obstacles that Wanda had to overcome in the book so far. How do you think they have changed her?
  4. How do you predict the story is going to end?

Bonus: What would you do if you were a Keeper like Wanda?

We’re nearing the end of the novel study, but I’ll continue to post parent distance learning and home schooling support to the blog. Plus, if there are any areas you are interested in seeing, please let me know.

I also am considering posting my Young Author’s Fair Writing Unit that I developed over the years. I was also the coordinator at my school for several years, and would love to support a Young Authors Fair online if people were interested. Kids can write stories through the online unit, and as part of the fair, they can read their stories on YouTube, and I’ll link them on the site. At the end, I can post a downloadable certificate of completion.

What do people think? Would your child like to participate? Would they like to write a story and then read it in a YouTube video to share with others? Of course, the reading would be voluntary just like it was in my classroom, and of course, only with parent permission.

Just a thought I wanted to put out there to see what you think.

Until next time, keep reading and writing!

-Mrs. Turner

**Tiffany Turner is the author of the children’s fantasy series, The Crystal Keeper Chronicles. She is a credentialed teacher in California and has had 18 years of public classroom experience. She currently is semi-retired from teaching and spends her day writing. Of course, her cat still gets lots of attention and the daily walks on her leash.

 

 

 

 

Mar26

Day 6: The Lost Secret of Fairies Free Online Novel Study & Distance Learning Support

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Day 6 of the Lost Secret of Fairies Free Online Novel Study

Welcome to Day 6 of my online novel study for my first book in my children’s fantasy series, The Lost Secret of Fairies. Today, I’ll be including a blog post activity to go along with the next set of study questions.

Here is a link to a blog post written by me on legends and myths in children’s literature. It is part of the standards to study myth and legends in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. Novel studies and using real nonfiction blog posts is part of the standards approach to reading. To note, fifth grade does study Tale Tales and US folktales for its fairy/folktales. It is called: “Using Legends and Fairy Tales in Books”. I originally wrote this post to be used in this novel study and to support other teachers to have online nonfiction reading material.

Here are the activity directions. It can be used in conjunction with the novel study or as a separate children’s reading activity.

  1. Read the blog post “Using Legends and Fairy Tales in Books” by Tiffany Turner
  2. Print out the blog post if possible. Circle or highlight evidence or details you think are important.
  3. Now, answer the question about the blog post below. Write as many details as you can to support your answer using examples from the blog post.
  • How does an author use legends and fairy tales in their book?
  • Use evidence and examples from the blog post to support your answer.

For ELD and/or Special Learning Needs, I would often write out a framed language fill in answer sheet. Below is a handout that can be used for the above question to help create a full paragraph answer using supporting details from the nonfiction article. But this paragraph response sheet below will help all children in language structure and for building academic language.

Once your child or student as filled in their answers, they can recopy the paragraph in their best writing to learn the structure for academic language.

Paragraph Response to Using Fairy Tales

summer1Chapter 9-10: Study Guide Questions for The Lost Secret of Fairies

  1. What was decided at the Crystal Council?
  2. Who is Balkazaar? Why do you think he is behind the Queen’s disappearance?
  3. What are germites?
  4. What would you do if you were in Wanda’s place?

Bonus: Predict how you think Wanda will save the Queen.

Tomorrow, will be more study guide questions and more activities to go along with the novel study. Please comment below to let me know how you and your child, class or other distance learning students are enjoying the novel study and activities.

Until then, keep reading and learning!

Mrs. Turner

(Tiffany Turner)

 

Mar15

Day 1: Online Novel Study for The Lost Secret of Fairies

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Free novel study to go along with The Lost Secret of Fairies.

Greetings and welcome to Day 1 of the Online Novel Study for my book, The Lost Secret of Fairies. I am posting an online novel study to help and support the parents that are looking for activities for their children at home for the next few weeks because of the pandemic break due to the corona virus. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting activities, questions and online resources that will be offered for FREE to go along with my first book in my children’s fantasy adventure series, The Lost Secret of Fairies. 

I have been an elementary teacher for over 20 years. I’ve taught in the US school system in the state of California for 18 years, and I’m a credentialed teacher. Due to health issues, I had to retire from the classroom, but do work part time now in a local tutoring center, which all has shut down due to my county being a hot spot for corona virus.

So, in the spirit of trying to help with this crisis, I’m putting up some of the novel study unit I developed in the classroom for my book. I taught the unit twice before I became ill, and am happy to offer it now to teachers, parents and others that would like to teach my book, The Lost Secret of Fairies, at home, as a home school project, or in the classroom later when, hopefully, we return to normal.

Here’s the book trailer so your child can get excited about the story. I made it myself, and wrote and play the harp music in the trailer.

To begin with, here are the links to the ebook, The Lost Secret of Fairies. Paperback covers can also be purchased and used for the novel study. I have made the ebook available at a deep discount of only $0.99. Most of my books are available at $1.99 or $2.99 later in the series. So, if your child or students wish to continue in the series, copies for all the books are available online. I always kept additional copies of later books in the series in my classroom library and in the school library so any child could continue if they wish. I self published these books myself over the course of twelve years. So, they are part of my life’s work. So, please understand that I still need to keep them at a reasonable price to recoop some of my costs in editing and publishing them.

**Note: These lessons can also be used if you already have a copy of the book.

Fairycvrkindle

The Lost Secret of Fairies is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Links to The Lost Secret of Fairies:

Reading Level is AR 4.6. Children that are high readers in third and up can read this themselves. Children younger will need it read to them. Recommended for 3rd grade and up.

Ebook Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1425146716

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lost-secret-of-fairies-tiffany-turner/1019317884

Apple/iBooks: https://books.apple.com/us/book/id1503006160

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-lost-secret-of-fairies-1

-Paperback edition also available at above Amazon listing.

Paperback Links:

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lost-secret-of-fairies-tiffany-turner/1019317884

***Note: I am currently publishing an updated edition with new formatting for the ebook editions. When they become available, I will post them in this section.

When you have the book available, you are ready to begin the study. Just download the official journal entry master page to begin. You can print or make copies of this original master to create a journal to keep while your child/student reads the book. The pages can be put in a three ring binder or stapled together to form a journal. You can attach a blank page to create a journal cover, and your child can decorate it.

PDF link to copy of master below:

Journal Entry Form

After the journal is put together and a copy of the book has been achieved, begin the novel study by reading a chapter a day or in sections of 2-3 chapters a day. This will depend on their reading and grade level. I would start with one chapter a day and see how they do with that. If they can handle 1 or 2 a day, change to that.

I will be posting discussion and response question worksheets for 3 chapters at a time. I will also have additional activities to go along with the novel study which will include reading from other blog posts on my blog.

It will be a fun and engaging couple of weeks for any child or student that finds themselves at home due to the corona virus. Or in the future, any child being schooled at home or later for teachers in the classroom to use.

I will also be including links along the way to past activities I have posted, such as my Spooky Story online unit, and to other children’s authors that are making activities and lessons to go along with their books.

Please feel free to post comments and questions below on how the novel study is going for you.

***Please follow my blog to make sure you receive all the info about activities and lesson plan links. Look for the next post with study and response questions with additional activities in the next few days.

UPDATE April 4, 2020:

So folks, to help you out even further, I have managed to find a way to get the ebook for my book, FREE, for a limited time. From now until the end of the month, The Lost Secret of Fairies ebook is FREE. Yes, you heard that right. I’m giving it to you as a gift, along with the entire free online novel study, to help promote reading and learning during these hard times for the world. It is my gift to the world to hopefully help us all get through together. I’m sure fairies are something we all need now, helpful keepers of the Earth.

Link to Smashwords Free Ebook

Offer lasts until May 31, 2020!

Just remember, wash your hands, stay safe, and be kind to everyone because the world needs that right now. Oh, and fairies. We need the fey. So, enjoy, read and write!

Until next time,

Tiffany Turner