A fun program that incorporates learning about the Chinese New Year is available from Panda Express.

This would be great for your co-op or support group and is geared specifically to kids in second through fourth grades.

Here’s the link: http://www.pandaexpress.com/px/2011/cnysignup2012.aspx

Sign up by January 8th!

Once again it is time to prepare for Ozzie’s Reading Club. We have enjoyed this program for many years now. I like that it is not a preset reading goal, but you and the child determine what is best for them. It excites them about reading, and rewards them with a great outing in the spring.

If you would like to participate in 2012,  please contact Amy.

Amy Mason

Kane County Cougars § 1 Cougar Trail § Geneva, IL 60134

Phone: 630.232.8811 § FAX 630.232.8815

E-mail: ozziereadingclub@kanecountycougars.com
2012 OZZIE’S READING CLUB

Found out about these events from the Six Flags’ website:

HOMESCHOOL DAY — AUGUST 18th

Six Flags hosts the 16th annual Home School Day event on August 18. Enjoy a fun filled day at the park with your family and friends. A special all-you-can-eat Home School Day picnic is also available in our private picnic grove. Contact SFGAMspecialevents@sixflags.com for additional information.

CATHOLIC FAMILY DAY — August 14th

Six Flags Great America is excited to announce Catholic Family Day on Sunday, August 14th. Enjoy a fun filled day with your family and friends at Six Great America and Six Flags Hurricane Harbor. In the evening join us for Mass in our Southwest Amphitheatre sponsored by the Young Adult Ministry Office – Archdiocese of Chicago. Please contact SFGAMspecialevents@sixflags.com for more information.

AUTISM AWARENESS DAY — July 30th

Six Flags Great America and the Autism Society of Illinois are proud to announce the Second Annual Autism Awareness Day.

Including the Chicago Children’s Theaters Red Kite Project. Join us in our Wilderness Theater for interactive, multi-sensory
performances courtesy of the Chicago Children’s Theaters Red Kite Project. There will also be a designated Quiet Area near the Wilderness
Theater that will provide sensory exercises for guests throughout the day from 10:00AM–5:00PM

More details on this event and special discounted tickets on the AutismIllinois site.

And, for more educational benefit from Six Flags:

Make Six Flags Great America your outdoor learning lab

Six Flags Great America is not only the entertainment capital of the world but also a unique outdoor learning lab.  We have designed specific learning materials for both students and teachers that gives experiential learning a new meaning.  Let Six Flags be your outdoor learning lab and use the free materials below to plan lessons and make learning fun.  Whether it’s calculating (or experiencing) the velocity of the America Eagle or learning how an entertainment giant like Six Flags markets themselves.

Educational Resources:

Illinois Curriculum Standards correlations to Six Flags Rides
Wisconsin Curriculum Standards correlations to Six Flags Rides

Physics Day Teacher Manual
Physics Day Student Manual

Math and Science Day Teacher Manual
Math and Science Day Student Manual

Marketing Day Commercial Guidelines

Six Flags Great America recommended amusement park physics websites for further learning:

The Physics Classroom

Amusement Park Physics

Funderstanding

Thinkquest

The Physics of Amusement Parks

Physics Education

CPS Webinar Presented by Nathan Unterman for Preparation for Physics Day Field Trips
Office of Science / Physics Day Webinar – April 14, 2011

Physics Day Vest Data

Don’t forget to use your Reading Reward free tickets before they expire.

We just enjoyed the day there yesterday and it was once again a great incentive for my kids. They look forward to it every year.

Reading is an integral part of learning, and more so it is an irremovable part of our family life. Because of this, I am constantly on the lookout for good books. You know the ones. The ones that have withstood the test of time. The ones that both boys and girls can’t wait to hear more of. The ones during which you would never fall asleep. The ones that spark meaningful conversation even after you have closed the cover for the last time.

Sarah Clarkson wrote Read for the Heart to do more than just recommend some good books. She wrote it to help cast a vision for giving reading a place of prominence in your home. By the time you get to the book list you can’t help but be fingering your library card debating which book to put on hold or check out first. I know reading is important, but this book helped reignite my desire to pass my love of reading on to my kids.

Product: Read for the Heart

Details: A 384 page book with encouragement to make family reading and individual reading time a priority. Over 300 of the pages are lists of books that include summaries and background information to help you choose the best reads for your family and your kids.

Price: $17

What I loved . . .

• Inspiring. I can find oodles of book lists all over the internet. While I appreciate getting a good book recommendation now and then, I really appreciated Sarah’s casting of a vision for reading. I love to read, and yet it is one of the first things I drop from my schedule when time gets tight. She reminded me with a passion how important time spent reading is in our home and school.
• Personally and statistically supported. Creating beautiful word pictures, the author shares what crafted this love for reading in her heart. And, she shares statistics, quotes, and other encouragement as to the importance of reading. We owe it to the development of our kids’ minds to read early and read often, and this book can be a great catalyst to encourage you in the endeavor and give you the tools (great books!) to enjoy doing so.
• Lists and more lists. Not just an alphabetical listing of books (although the index does provide that), this book breaks down the lists by popular genres (historical literature, fairy tales, picture books, etc.) Beyond that, each entry includes the author, other books by the author, illustrator, copyright date, and a brief summary of the book. A few quick lists also reference Caldecott winners, Newberry winners, and books especially for boys, girls, and families reading together.
• Reading tips. Aside from rich motivation and abundant lists, she also gives some tips to making reading time special. From locations to treats she will stir your own imagination in this area.
• A must have book. This book offers an incredible resource when doing your book shopping. I am always looking at books at a used book sale and trying to figure out by reading a sentence here and there if I or my kids will like the particular book. I will definitely bring this guide along with me now to see what it has to say when purchasing unfamiliar books. Obviously it won’t have all the good books listed either, but it does have many, and many that I am not familiar with as well. I look forward to bringing Sarah with me to all the book sales now and ask her advice before  I buy.

Some considerations . . .

• One person’s opinion. You might feel differently. Her glowing opinion will not guarantee that you will like it. For example, she loved Across Five Aprils (which I have also heard many other people rave about), and I had to force myself to trudge through this book with my kids a few years ago. I was not impressed. But, we are all entitled to our own opinions and will love what others didn’t and vice versa.  You will still need to determine what books are a good fit for your family’s interests, values, attention span, academic subject, and personalities.

This book stirred up an incredible amount of enthusiasm within me. I cannot wait to finalize plans for the coming school year and include some of the great books recommended in this resource. I would strongly recommend this book to any homeschooling mom needing encouragement and ideas for making reading come to life in your home. You can check out the table of contents as well as a sample chapter if you would like to see a bit of the book for yourself and accept Sarah Clarkson’s invitation to more than just a “reading list, but to a reading life.”

For more TOS Crew reviews on this product, check out the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This product was provided to me free of charge through Apologia as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.

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This is your last chance for this year, the eleventh hour and then some. Great America’s Read to Succeed program is about to wrap up for another season.

Now, if your child has not been reading they will have a difficult time meeting the requirements for this today, unless they REALLY like to read a lot at once.

The basic program: read for 6 hours and earn a free Great America ticket.

Read books, magazines, newspapers, comics, anything, just read! After they log a total of 360 minutes they earn the ticket.

They have revamped this program and made it really easy to sign up for, which is great for procrastinators like me who just got around to signing up yesterday. We’ve been reading all along. We read tons as a matter of habit, but we had not actually filled out the information on their site.

So, don’t wait another minute, get over there and reward your kids for all that time they have spent reading. And, if they haven’t read those 6 hours, you’ve got the whole day Friday to make that right.

The Kane County Cougars are again offering a reading program to encourage students to read. Contact the Cougars directly about joining this great program:

For more information about the program please mail, fax or e-mail your request to the address, fax number or e-mail address below.

Kane County Cougars § 34W002 Cherry Lane § Geneva, IL 60134

Phone: 630.232.8811 § FAX 630.232.8815

E-mail: ozziereadingclub@kanecountycougars.com

Often during the summer months we spend some extra time in books. With a lighter school schedule, more daylight hours, and more enjoyable weather, we love to stretch out with a book, inside or outside.

Why not reward your kids for time spent between those covers?

Of course, first check out your local library. Many of them have summer reading programs beginning this month or next with fun incentives to keep your kids reading.

But, that’s only the beginning:

- Scholastic won’t actually give you something (other than virtual trophies), but you can log minutes to help move toward a world record.

- Barnes & Noble will give your child a free book if they read 8 others and fill out the forms from their website.  (Hat tip to Debra for that link!)

- Borders will also give your under 12 year old a free book in exchange for reading 10 other titles.

- If you haven’t already checked out Book Adventure, that can always help motivate your reader. My kids have not used this much recently, but in the past did win some of their prizes for reading the books and correctly answering questions on a quiz after the reading.

- Feel free to make up your own. Grab some little trinkets at a garage sale, on clearance, use outings as a reward, or just plain old cash. Set goals, and watch your kids dig into those books.

Reading in itself is an amazing reward, but some kids do need that little extra nudge to keep at it. Any other creative ideas or programs for encourage reading in your child?

It’s Time Again to Reserve Your 2010-11 BOOK IT! Materials. This year you must enroll your individual family, they are not accepting submissions from groups. It’s a very simple process though, so jump online and get signed up. You should receive the materials around the beginning of September and you can begin setting and rewarding reading goals with your child(ren) in October.

Easy to use and a simple motivator for kids that need an extra nudge to get their nose in a book, or a great reward for those that are already reading up a storm.

Enroll your homeschool family online at the BOOK IT! website

The enrollment period is from March 1 through June 30, 2010. Orders beyond these dates will be filled as supplies allow on a first-come first-served basis.

The program then runs starting on October 1, 2010, and concluding on March 31, 2011

Here is information on a great reading incentive program that is open to homeschoolers as well. Students Kindergarten through eighth grade may participate and earn a free ticket to the Cougar’s game in the spring.

In summary their program works like this:
Ozzie’s Reading Club is an eight-week reading incentive program sponsored by the Kane County Cougars along with Provena Mercy Medical Center. The program is open to children in grades K-8; however, to participate, a student’s school must be a member of the Ozzie’s Reading Club program.

Ozzie’s Reading Club tracks the progress of a student’s reading around the bases of a baseball diamond with the three bases and home plate representing two weeks worth of reading. Each teacher may determine his or her own reading requirements for each base. Students completing the program’s requirements “hit a home run” and earn a free ticket to an April or May Cougars game designated by their school. Other rewards may include a bookmark, a voucher for a hot dog and soda as well as an official Ozzie Reading Club t-shirt.

For more information you need to contact their office:
Kane County Cougars  34W002 Cherry Lane § Geneva, IL 60134

Phone: 630.232.8811  FAX 630.232.8815

E-mail: ozziereadingclub@kanecountycougars.com

Even Chuck E. Cheese is getting in on the action when it comes to encouraging kids to read.

Simply print out these reading reward calendars, have your child read every day for two weeks, and bring it in for 10 free tokens per child with a food purchase. You can get one for each child without needing seperate food purchases for each one (we have 5 children, buy 1 pizza and redeem 5 calendars, plus report cards if it is the end of a grading period).

These are great calendars, and they have a number of other ones on their site as well. If you want some extra encouragement while instilling good habits in your child, check out their other reward calendars (clean room, getting dressed, sleeping all night, manners, etc.) You can only redeem one calendar per child each time you go to Chuck E Cheese, and you must make a food purchase at that time as well, but these are great boredom busters and motivators all year round!

Don’t forget to bring your child’s report card with as well.

They earn tokens for good grades. Need some help putting together your end of the year grades? Check out Donna Young’s site for report cards that you can use for this important record keeping step.