Monday, August 22, 2016

Mommy Memory Book

I found a way to organize my sweet notes, drawings and cards from the kids. I bound them into a Mommy Memory Book....



If you're wondering where I got that fabulous cover art, a friend of mine drew it for me!! :D

Inside the book I made card stock dividers for each year and taped on a pocket to each one to hold loose little notes and cards... 

Behind the year dividers I have the drawings or notes that were more bindable (most of which I laminated)...


I also have some yearly kid surveys and all the funny "kids quotes" I wrote down. Since the pro-click binder spines zip and unzip, it's no big deal to add to the book each year. 

I love it! What do you do with your keepsake notes and pictures? 

Monday, August 8, 2016

Here's Help Finding Some Good Books!!

Living books are the way to go, whether you're reading for pleasure, for school, or both.  

Here's my list of favorite book lists... :)
  • CM Book finder- I love this one! It's an easy way to search for living books on a certain topic within a defined age/grade level. Or, I search by book title to see if a book I found elsewhere happens to be recommended. If it is, I know it's considered a living book, and not inappropriate, which saves me the time of proofing it. 
  • Beautiful Feet Books History Through Literature, books by reading level 
  • Sonlight Readaloud booklist- This is one of quite a few book lists on this site. Realize that it's a curriculum company, so they'd like to sell you an entire year's curriculum at once. But many people simply use them for their book lists, checking the books out from the library. To do this... 
    • Find books by grade level - search by grade, click complete package, then click learn more, and you'll see them all listed. 
    • Find books by subject - go to one of the various book packages they offer and click to see what's included, and it lists all the books. We check these out from the library. 
    • They also have summer reading lists for boys and girls each year too!
  • Jim Trelease's Brochure Booklists- Download the brochure for each age to see his top picks. These are also found in his book, The Read Aloud Handbook, which I highly recommend owning! 
  • See my family's personal favorite books by age (at the bottom of the page)
  • The Ultimate Booklist- This is a list of living historical books arranged chronologically, by grade.  

For more great reading resources, check out this page! You'll find resources for raising your children to be great readers, teaching your children how to read, and assessing their reading comprehension and level.

Happy Reading! :)