I recently had the little room where I teach renovated. And I discovered some little things I have already forgotten I have.

Some are:

• art kits which include lacing materials as well as beads for bead work art (I wish these were Ocean Fossil Jasper beads though and not the plastic ones, lol)
• storybooks I have forgotten about
• school supplies like crayons, pencils, scissors and glue (it hardened already, argh)
• toys that needed a lot of cleaning

Some children will be happy using these art kits for our arts and craft activities for the remaining summer days.

Decluttering takes us back down memory lane. I know because I did that with the home library and though it was hard to get rid of things I haven’t used, I had to do it mercilessly.

It’s April 26 today and we are halfway through our summer vacation. That fast? Yes, but not because it is summer means the children are off the books. Nope. Summer means upping the reading skills by more fun choices.

I’m sure children will get bored if they are not engaged in summer fun activities so reading, and not just clicking on those gadgets, will give them fun and excitement too. Now is the time we parents and teachers and parents lead the way and make them love reading.

I’m sure when they are adults they’d rather read fun stuff than read minute details of work-related literature like contracts, North Carolina health insurance, and manuals.

Here is a list of books for summer reading. Let’s hope the reading continues on till after summer vacation. I know *rolls eyes*, it’s 2009 but it’s still a list

Here is another reading list.

I’m not one who get books with popular animation characters because the children can watch these characters on TV so why bother have them in books? I’d rather children read books that will take them to different places, stir their imagination and make them want to read more. Or maybe be a children’s books author some day.

For us who have children staring school in a few days time, reading does not just mean reading textbooks needed for school-related lessons.

Reading is one habit parents should teach their children. It doesn’t necessarily have to be story books or picture books because there are a lot of alternative reading materials to read. Magazines for kids, newspaper, science books, even labels on food products (to enhance nutrition know-how learned from Science) plus a whole lot more.

Here is a recommended reading list from Reading Rockets.

There is no doubt that among local bloggers there are a few who stand out not because they are “popular enough” to get invited to events because they write prolifically, figuratively, poetically and will move you to tears after which or at the same will make you guffaw. There is one blogger who makes me feel that way Who is she? None other than Annamanila who writes at Ode2Old.

She is among all other things, a creative writer who weaves creative thoughts and reality seamlessly.

On retirement she writes:

“What I am trying to say is one still has to fill one’s days with a balanced fare — enjoyable and dutiful ; fluffy and solid; physical and cerebral. What I call the three Ps: Poetry, Purpose and Play. And, not to forget — Passion!”

She loves Anne Tyler:

When a book hits me hard, as a Tyler almost always does, I virtually go down on my knees at its end, kissing the book, blessing the author, and wishing her “Long Live!” that she may forever write and never stop filling and refilling the treasure trove of her works.

We come across a writer of this caliber once in a while and there is no doubt her works should be in print.

And it is now. The book is entitled “In Another Dress”

Annamanila’s daughter, Alina wrote about the book and the author. Momblogger friends iMom and Ann Khaye also wrote about the book in their blogs.

Here we are during her book launching, with a scanned article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Annamanila with iMom, Wenchie and Rachel and me.

Thanks to Rachel and my bro for uploading this in Fezbuk.

I could not have seen this without this scanned page since I do not have the newspaper itself AND a scanning software.

Last week, parents from my eldest daughter’s school got an email about a book donation drive that will happen this Friday, November 13, 2009.

Part of the email details are:

“As you may all be aware by now, our school went under 8ft of floodwater that easily devastated the whole school.  Our library, in fact, is almost bare with a good 99% of our books washed away in the flood.

Thus, in line with our book month in November, we are urging everyone to HELP IN RESTORING OUR LIBRARY BY DONATING BOOKS ON 13NOVEMBER09, FRIDAY.

For this purpose, our principal, _____________, specifically REQUESTS FOR NOVELS so our kids can start reading their favourite titles again.  As a book donor, you will be provided book stickers where you can put your child’s name and these shall be placed on the books you will donate. For starters we are enclosing 3 book stickers but you can donate more than three books, of course.  There will be more stickers available during the book donation activity on Friday, 13NOV09.”

The school suffered some major damage when Typhoon Ondoy ravaged the country. Classrooms were submerged in flood waters, library books and school supplies left in classrooms were deemed unfit for use.

If there was something positive about this, it was that the deluge happened on a Saturday afternoon morning and not when the children are in school.

No need to order Amazon books, too little time to do that. I plan to scour bargain book stores on Wednesday or Thursday to get books for the drive.

Holler if you have some books you can spare and I will get  these from you

How well do you know your child? I thought I know them well enough but I got surprised when I read some of the answers the kids wrote in their textbooks as part of our academic lessons.

Sample questions are (my guesses are the ones in italics):

What recreational activity do you enjoy most. My answer: watching dvd. Youngest daughter’s answer: playing the piano.

If I were food, what would I be? (ice cream) egg (ok no real surprise because son can have eggs at any given time of the day)

If I were an animal, what would I be? (dog) bettle

If I were a book, what title would I have? (Almanac) Bible

If I were a piece of furniture, what would I be? (bed) sofa

If I were a bird, where would I go? (to the beach) Norway (ok this really surprised me)

Would you ask your children these questions and see if you can guess their answers?