Loving Literacy Blog Hop

Welcome to...

Welcome to the Loving Literacy blog hop!  This is my first time joining up with this amazing group of reading specialists, coaches, and teacher bloggers.  I am so excited because there are lots of literacy themed materials coming your way (and mine)!  They all go with my favorite thing of all...children's books!  Each blogger is giving away a product to use with one of their favorite books.  In addition, we are all going to share our stories about how we became passionate about literacy.  I hope you enjoy the hop and all the materials you pick up along the way.

I was the child who LOVED to read.  I devoured the Babysitter's Club books so fast that my mother would be mad at me because I wanted another one just one day later.  (No one needs to read that second chapter introducing all the club members for the millionth time anyway, right?)  I swear I read the name Claudia wrong in my mind for like a year and felt stupid when I realized what it was...

Remember the super specials?  I'm pretty sure somewhere along the way I learned to just skim to get the story and skipped all the parts that were of no interest to me.  I'm still like that today...I can't read books that don't keep me turning the pages!

Anyway, I was one of those kids who always wanted to be a teacher.  I forced my sister (who hated to school) to play school...but she never wanted to do any work.  I majored in elementary education and minored in science (yes, science!).  I had intentions of teaching 3rd or 4th grade.  Somehow, I got a job at an inner city school teaching first grade.  It was then that I realized I had NOT A CLUE how to teach kids to read.  I feel so bad for my first classes...hopefully they turned out alright!  

We all like being good at what we do, so I had to figure out how to teach kids to read.  Over the next few years, I worked with a lot of great teachers and role models.  I also received a lot of professional development that was eye opening to me.  After about five years, I finally felt like I knew what I was doing and I loved it!  I loved taking those first graders from not even knowing the alphabet to reading books.  I loved seeing growth in guided reading levels and all that.  It was a challenge to me that I accepted head on.  I actually miss it teaching second grade now.  Not that I don't have similar challenges, but I really like starting with kids when they are really young, before they have time to ever fall behind.

Around that time, I also started working on my master's degree in literacy with aspirations to become a reading specialist or literacy coach.  We've since relocated, but I finally finished my degree this past winter and hope to make those dreams come true soon.

One of my favorite read alouds this time of year is The Valentine Bears by Eve Bunting.  (Side note - I also LOVE A Turkey for Thanksgiving by the same author!)  It's an old fashioned looking story with just red, gray, and white for colors.  But the kids don't mind and it is so adorable.  Mrs. Bear sets her alarm to wake up early from hibernating so that she can surprise Mr. Bear for Valentine's Day (you know, because normally they sleep through it).  But Mr. Bear has his own surprise as well.  It's really cute.  

The product I am giving away contains several activities appropriate for grades  one through three.   The book has lots of great vocabulary words, so there is a synonyms and antonyms sort.  There are also some comprehension activities, such as comparing and contrasting characters, sequencing events, and making inferences.  Finally, there is holiday themed paper included for writing a poem (like in the story) or for kids to write about their own Valentine's Day surprise.  This product was available for free on my blog until 10 PM EST 2/2/2014 only.  It is now a paid product in my store.

Would you like to win your own copy of The Valentine Bears?  Enter the Rafflecopter below to win.  I promise to get the book to the winner before Valentine's Day thanks to Amazon Prime!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Click the button below to visit Deniece from This Little Piggy Reads.  She's got something on fractured fairy tales for you!

Below you will find links to all the participating bloggers.  Have fun!