I hope you have already seen the mid-month Roundup posted by Terry Doherty at The Family Bookshelf with support from Jen Robinson’s Book Page and myself. Terry has put together a great potpourri of tools listed; there are directions to accessing various book lists, new sites on apps, a multicultural book guide and more. I was delighted to learn more about www.Scoop.it where Terry is curating the Family Literacy topic and our good Roundup friend Susan of The Book Chook is curating the Supporting Children’s Literacy topic. Check out Scoop.it if you have not already done so!
A few other items to round out this week:
Have you met Kevin Henkes‘ newest mouse, Penny? Cynthia Leitich Smith has some excellent videos at CYNSATIONS showing Henkes at work and introducing Miss Penny. Go over and meet the mouse!
While it was a February post it is still an important one: from ScienceDaily an article “Puzzle Play Helps Boost Learning Math-Related Skills.” Of additional note in this University of Chicago study is a reference to the fact the ability for mentally making the transformation of shapes is a key predictor of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) course-taking in older children. Thanks to Imagination Soup for pointing out this article.
And speaking of puzzles, I always think of Melissa and Doug when I think puzzles. Unfortunately I came upon this post of Teach Mama too late for the special program noted, but I enjoyed seeing a picture of Melissa and learning a bit more about her! I really liked this question regarding Melissa and Doug in the opening of the blog post: Is their pantry full of wooden food and their playroom full of magnetic dolls and puzzles, and do they ride around on Trunkis all day long? To prepare for the event I misssed with Melissa, Teach Mama gave readers some great tips for participating in a twitter party/gathering by whatever name…it’s an experience that can be more than overwhelming at first – fun and informative, yes, but indeed wild the first time or two!