5 Things Tweens and Teens Will Love about the Children's Creativity Museum

Today I took the kids to the Children's Creativity Museum for a blog event. It has been a couple of years since we last visited, so I wasn't sure whether they would be bored. They did want to go to the Animation Studio exhibit, so I figured we could stay for a couple of hours, have lunch, then leave.

We ended up staying at the museum for SIX HOURS.  I guess playing with cool technology never gets old!  It's true that a large portion of the museum appeals to younger kids (the puppet theatre, the soft play area, the art center, the reading nook), but there's still so much that kids of all ages will enjoy. Here are our top 5 choices for exhibits at the Children's Creativity Center for older kids:

Five Educational Experiences at the Disneyland Resort

The Pea and I just got back from a trip to the Disneyland Resort!  Her middle school band participated in Disney's Performing Arts Program, and I went along as a chaperone.  She and her bandmates had the experience of a lifetime. They went backstage to record soundtracks to some of Disney's most beloved movies, and they went onstage to perform at Disney's California Adventure.  In between, they went around the parks with their friends. It was the best of education and entertainment combined!

Going to the Disneyland with the Middle School Band

This is a picture from The Pea's first 6th grade concert.  She's been playing the flute since 5th grade, and she liked it so much she decided to stick with band throughout middle school.  Band is a big commitment; it takes up 2 precious electives every year, and it requires time for practice as well as concerts.  Band isn't the most glamorous choice of middle school electives either; the stereotype of the band nerd is alive and well even today.

I'm really proud of The Pea's commitment to band. She's getting all the benefits of a musical education, and she has made a really great group of friends, who are secure enough and self-confident enough to ignore the stereotypes and proudly call  themselves band nerds.

Coloma Outdoor Discovery School, Day 3

We had some surprise visitors on the morning of Day 3!  Click to read about what happened on Day 1 and Day 2.

I couldn't believe it when Joanna and I woke up on Day 3 of our Coloma adventure:  it was almost 7:00 a.m.!  The girls were so tired that they had actually slept in! We spent the early morning packing up our sleeping bags and things, and cleaning up our dorm. The girls were determined to win the Golden Dustpan Award (a glittery gold bead for their pouch), so they made sure all their trash was thrown away, and swept the floors till they gleamed.  Once everyone was packed up and ready to leave, we had breakfast (bacon, eggs, and biscuits -- The Pea was right when she told me three years ago that I should definitely volunteer to chaperone the boys to Coloma because the food was so good!).

Coloma Outdoor Discovery School, Day 2

Day 2 was Hiking Day for the students of the Coloma Discovery School (see what we did on Day 1 here!).  We woke up bright and early at 7:00 a.m.  (actually, the girls in our dorm woke up at 6:00 am because they were so excited, much to the dismay of my dorm parent partner Joanna and I) and fueled up with a delicious breakfast of eggs, sausage, and french toast.  We filled our backpacks with water, sunscreen, snacks, and lunch, met up with the members of our town, and set off to explore the Marshall Gold Discovery State Park and the Monroe Ridge.  The whole camp spent the day outdoors, with each town starting at a different landmark so we wouldn't all crowd into the same location.

Coloma Outdoor Discovery School, Day 1

Fourth Grade seems to be the time when the schoolwork starts getting serious:  the colorful carpets are gone, the cute room decorations are kept to a minimum, the books and binders come out more frequently than the crayons and glue.  Fortunately, the big kids still get to play: Fourth Graders at our school get to take a 3-day field trip to Gold Rush country as part of their California history unit.  The Coloma field trip is something every kid looks forward to (those with older siblings wait for this trip for years!). The Pea went to Coloma 3 years ago; this year, it was 3Po's and Jammy's turn -- and mine as well.  I was chosen as a parent chaperone, so I got to experience the whole thing!

How to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers

This is a sponsored post

I grew up thinking I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up.  After all, my dad was a doctor, and I was a good student like he was, so of course I wanted to follow in his footsteps!  I was in my senior year of high school before I realized I actually didn't want to be a doctor.  In my junior and senior year of high school, I realized the subject I loved the most was math. I loved how all those quadratic equations and trigonometric expressions lined up so neatly, and I was good at getting them to line up!  I decided to pursue an Industrial Engineering degree, and before my first year was over, I knew I had made the right decision.  Engineering engaged and challenged me, and I loved knowing that I could be helping make the world a better place by solving problems and applying the equations and principles I was learning.

Throughout my decision making process and throughout my college years, my gender was never a factor. Maybe it's because I went to an all-girls' high school.  Maybe it's because I was a good student.  Maybe it's because the females in my family have always been somewhat dominant. Maybe it's because the Philippines is a matriarchal society.  Maybe it's all of those reasons.  Whatever the reason, it never occurred to me that I couldn't be an engineer, or that I wouldn't do as well as the guys.  The females at the college of engineering were definitely in the minority, but we were always the best students.  So when I came to the US, the gender gap in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) careers was not so surprising -- but the attitude towards girls pursuing STEM careers was.

Hello, healthy school lunches!

Is this a photo of a buffet lunch?  Is it party food?  Are these nibbles from a recent blogging event?  My latest efforts to cook healthy, yummy food for the kids?  Believe it or not, this is the kind of food that my kids' schools are going to serve to students!

Why don't our public schools have uniforms?

Today was the first day of school, and it's one of those milestone First Days of School, because The Pea is now a 6th grader. I feel like we've entered a whole new world, and in a sense, we have.  Now that she's in middle school, The Pea bikes to school on her own, she'll be moving from class to class, she has her own school locker, and she has to follow a dress code.  

Having to deal with The Pea's dress code has brought about a fresh wave of longing for school uniforms.  I wore uniforms as a schoolgirl, and all schoolchildren in the UK (where we spent 5 weeks of our summer vacation) wear uniforms as well.  Schoolwear in the UK can cost as little as £2 for a top, £3 for a pair of trousers, £4 for a cardigan, and £5 for a pinafore.  I honestly don't understand why US public schools haven't adopted the practice.  I dug out a post I wrote a few years back for the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, and I found that my post is just as relevant today as it was then.  

To celebrate the First Day of Middle School, I'm reprinting my post:

Pioneers, not snobs

To Rick Santorum, who suspended his Presidential campaign earlier today, I have only this to say: Don't let the door hit you on the way out. He was certainly an amusing diversion, but his views on women, on the separation of church and state, on foreign policy and on so many other areas are just so far removed from mine that I'm not sorry he's gone.

Many Hands Make Light Work

I think I've figured out a way to cure childhood obesity. All you have to do is build all elementary schools on steep hills, put all the classrooms at the top of the hill, and put the parking lot, playground and cafeteria at the bottom of the hill. At least that's what it felt like a couple of weeks ago, as I was trudging up the slopes of Roosevelt Elementary School with a huge box of Leapfrog Tag readers and books. I was delivering the Tag Reader classroom kit that Leapfrog gave me to donate to a kindergarten classroom as part of their Tag. Give. Read. program. My friend's sister-in-law teaches fourth grade at this school, and she introduced me to a lovely kindergarten teacher named Jennifer, who was delighted to receive the donation for her students.

How to make a Peanut BETTER Sandwich

I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I don't care much for the taste of them myself, but I love them because my kids love them. Thanks to PBJ's, I have a Go To school lunch that my kids will eat any day of the year.

When school mornings get extra crazy, it's practically a given that the kids will be getting PBJ's for lunch. Because what could be easier to prepare than PBJ? Umm.... how about a pre-made PBJ? For extra lazy busy parents (like me), here's a tip: you can make the sandwiches the night before and freeze them! In the morning, you can throw them in the kids' lunchboxes and cut down on your morning rush. The sandwiches thaw just in time for recess or lunch.



If you're super super super super lazy busy, you can buy Smuckers Uncrustables, which are pre-made, frozen PBJ's with the crusts cut off. My kids love these, but the guilt of buying these became too much, and I decided to make my own frozen PBJs. Now I make a whole bunch of these in advance (about 2 loaves of sandwich bread's worth), use Press N Seal wrap to keep them airtight, and just pull them out of the freezer whenever I need them!

As I mentioned, the kids would eat PBJ's every day -- but I haven't dared test that theory, because they might get sick of PBJ's, and where would I be? So I try to limit PBJ's to once (okay, maybe twice) a week. And I try to vary the sandwich itself to make things more novel and appealing:

* I use medium-sized tortillas to make peanut butter and jelly burritos.
* I spread peanut butter and jelly on lavash bread, roll it up and cut into pinwheels.
* I use cookie cutters (Williams-Sonoma sandwich cutters rock) to cut the sandwiches into cute shapes.

Finally, I do realize that while peanut butter is a great source of protein, the jelly and white bread aren't exactly nutritious foods. So I make healthier substitutions:

* I use whole-wheat bread (or whole-wheat tortillas or bagels or lavash) instead of white.
* I use low-sugar versions of strawberry or grape jelly.
* I sometimes use fruit instead of strawberry or grape jelly. I've used raisins, sliced bananas and smashed-up blueberries, and the kids love all three.
* I sometimes cut out the bread entirely and make Ants On A Log (i.e. spread the peanut butter on celery sticks instead of bread, and put raisins on top instead of jam).


Now and then I do buy a box of white-bread, full sugar Uncrustables, and sometimes I'll even pair the peanut butter with Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread), which pretty much turns a PBJ into dessert. But those occasions are getting rarer and rarer, and I always make sure I pack carrots or tomatoes or pepper strips or fresh fruit along with it, so the overall lunch is a healthy one. I feel good about packing better peanut butter lunches -- they work for my kids and they work for me!



This post was inspired by the Yahoo Motherboard's Topic of the Month for September: Teaching Kids Healthy Eating Habits. I am not compensated for my participation in this group but I get to belong to a group of smart, savvy moms -- which is compensation enough!

Bloggy Bootcamp -- What I learned

I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. ~Eartha Kitt

I've been blogging for 4 years now, and when I meet bloggers who've been at it for a year, six months, three months, they take it as a sign that I know it all. "Wow, you must be an expert at this!". "You must know everyone in this room". "

Um, no. I'm still the blogger who hides in a corner and pretends to be occupied with her phone, peering out occasionally in the hope that she'll see a familiar face. And I still feel like I have so much to learn! I started my blog with no deliberate intention of growing traffic, making money or pursuing world domination. I just blogged.

But even though I still feel like my main priority is putting up posts and saying what I have to say, it hasn't escaped my attention that there are tons of simple tricks and tips you can follow to get more people to pay attention to what I have to say. I'm starting to wake up to things like SEO, hits, and Google Analytics. And I've been receiving all kinds of IRS forms from people I've worked with on my blog, which means I have to start considering tax implications. So in many ways, I'm still just a newbie who needs to listen to the wisdom of the bloggy gods and goddesses out there.

That's why I signed up for Bloggy Bootcamp, a one-day blog and social media conference held in several cities around the US (I attended the San Francisco event). From the name, it seems to suggest that it's a crash course for new bloggers, but I thought it was a great experience for bloggers of any level.

For one thing, the conference is kept small -- just about 100 bloggers -- which makes it much easier to socialize and network. Participants are assigned to different tables for each session so everyone gets to meet everyone and actually hear each other speak. I met some great bloggers, including a woman who's won one of my giveaways, the wonderfully talented Ciaran Blumenfeld (and I've actually won one of her giveaways), and a woman who's about to host her own cooking show on television. When I heard that, I immediately posed for a photo with her -- I wanted to make sure I got caught on camera with Miri Leigh, the next foodie tv celebrity!


TMZ, People, Entertainment Weekly, feel free to contact me about purchasing the rights to this one-of-a-kind "before they were stars" photo.


For another thing, the venue was awesome:

I felt like a princess in this gilded room, up on the 32nd floor of the Westin St. Francis. Who wouldn't be inspired by the sweeping views?

But really, the main reason that Bloggy Bootcamp worked for me was the speakers. Each one of them gave me something to think about. Here were my favorites:

* The hilarious Jessica Bern got serious -- sort of -- and gave some great tips for producing vlogs that people other than my family might actually click on and watch. Jessica rocked the house during her humor session at BlogHer, and even an elevator ride with her is entertaining, but it turns out she puts in quite a bit of effort into her vlogs -- sometimes one clip will take her up to 30 tries to get it right! My main takeaways from her session were Keep it Short, Watch the Lighting/Hair/Camera Angles, and Be Yourself.

* Ciaran Blumenfeld talked about ways to review products without selling your soul to the marketing demons. I'm well aware of the schism between "content" bloggers and "review" bloggers, and I happen to maintain separate personal and review blogs so I can comfortably do both, but writing a product review that people want to read is a tricky business, and I'm always looking for any tips I can get. Some great insights from Ciaran (pronounced Sharon): Get over the concept that review bloggers are swag whores (okay, I'll readily admit that I am a swag whore, but even whores have ethics, right?), Weave a story around your review, Don't be afraid to return a product if it's not what you thought it would be, and Don't review products that don't fit who you are. In other words, Be Yourself.

* Jennifer James is living proof that you don't need to be a bitch to build an empire. She's as sweet and warm as can be, yet her Mom Bloggers Club (of which I'm a member) is a force to be reckoned with. She spoke about the various social networks bloggers should explore in order to build their online presence, advising new bloggers not too get too overwhelmed and be active on the social channels that work for you (another form of Be Yourself). She kind of threw a bucket of water in my face when she reminded me that you get what you give, and if you want to build a community of followers, you need to participate accordingly -- respond to tweets, follow people who follow you, comment on other people's blogs, etc... So simple and yet so true. Jennifer, you've given me a great mid-year resolution!


* My friend Linsey Krolik, that kickass twin mom, runner, blogger and lawyer, gets my award for "Coolest Dressed Speaker", with her city shorts and flirty peeptoe heels, but it's the content of her session that really stood out. Linsey led us through some of the legal ramifications of starting a blog and taking it up to the next level -- copyrights, trademarks, business plans, Cease and Desist letters, incorporation, etc... -- so you can imagine how many hands shot up during Q&A time. No, she didn't say Be Yourself, but I'm sure she meant it.


Swag was kept to a minimum, and honestly, the speakers were so good that even a swag whore like me didn't miss the giant bags at all. Not that it was bad swag -- the Goldfish crackers came in handy at the end of the day when I was starving, and my kids have taken to the Mastermind game so well that they are all creaming me at it -- but it was sessions, not swag, that made the event memorable. So there's another lesson I learned: You don't need lots of swag to have a good time at a conference. Oh, and Be Yourself.

Learning with Leapfrog

Several weeks ago I made like Oprah and set to work distributing the Summer Reading Kits that I had received at the beginning of the summer for Leapfrog's Ambassadors of Summer Reading program. Last weekend we went to the East Palo Alto Library (we donated one of the reading kits to them) and interviewed Darwin Eustaquio, Director of the library's Quest Learning Center. I was delighted to hear that they've been able to integrate the Leapfrog Tag into their program in just a couple of short weeks! Here's a snippet of our conversation:



The Pea did a pretty good job of being my cameraman, don't you agree? Unfortunately the audio was a wee bit low (we were in a library, after all, and we didn't exactly want to shout) so I've attempted to transcribe the key points on the video:

Bonggamom: What does the Quest Learning Center do?

Darwin: We are a free program with the East Palo Alto Library for kids in grades 3-5, from nearby Ravenswood School District. For the summer, to prepare for the upcoming schoolyear, we're working on decoding skills, sight word skills, and fluency skills, and we've been doing this through repeated reading. The Leapfrog Tag fits right in with the literacy program.

Bonggamom: How are the students enjoying the Tag? Do they like it?

Darwin: They definitely do! We have tutors on-site that can help kids with reading and practicing their fluency skills, but when they go home, oftentimes, especially with English Language Learners, they don't have someone at home who can help them with pronounciation.

Bonggamom: So they can check these books out?

Darwin: Yes, they can take these home*.

Bonggamom: So which books have been popular?

Darwin: Fancy Nancy and Dr. Seuss have been very popular. The other thing I love about these books is, since we are working on sight words, we actually went through and circled how many words in the books are sight words. For example, Miss Spider's Tea Party has 31% of actual sight words**, and some are even higher. The Little Engine that Could has 54% of the sight words included in it. We have volunteers actually go through the books and circle all the words that are sight words, and we're going to be putting a nice little card on the back so that when we have a student who has certain sight words that he still needs to memorize, we know what book to give him to take home.

* The Leapfrog Summer Reading kits came with carrying cases, so a child in the Quest program can easily check out a Tag and a couple of Tag books, pack them into the Tag carrycase and take it all home. Talk about nice and neat! Apparently the included headphones are also a nice touch; kids can listen to the books at home (or in the library) without disturbing anyone else.

** Darwin is referring to the percentage of words in Miss Spider's Tea Party that appear on Edward Dolch's list of 220 frequently-used words, commonly known as the Dolch Word List. Many of the words on the Dolch Word List cannot be "sounded out" using basic phonics skills and must be learned by sight, so mastering (or sight-reading) the words on the Dolch Word List is an important component of learning how to read.

It looks like the Quest Learning Center and the Leapfrog Kits are a perfect fit! Initially I was worried that the age range for the Tag (4 thru 8) didn't exactly match the age range for the Quest Learning Center (grades 3 thru 5). But Darwin told me that many of the kids in the program are still reading at the first grade level, and there are over 30 kids in the program, so I know those 5 Tag readers are being put to good use. In fact, I wish I could give them more. Now I know where our own Tags are going after 3Po and Jammy have outgrown them.

I can't even begin to describe the satisfaction I'm feeling about this experience, which is weird considering I didn't really do anything. I mean, Leapfrog did all the donating, and Darwin and his crew are the ones who'll be helping those kids. But being able to play matchmaker for these two organizations really makes me happy, knowing that I've helped in a small way. This is a great example of how bloggers and brands can work together in a positive way, and if there's any other company out there looking to involve bloggers in their community services efforts, you know where to find me. Gawd, I love this "job"!


I did not receive product samples or financial compensation for this post. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.

The joys of reading on your own

The boys are really making great strides towards reading on their own, thanks to Alfie's dedicated bedtime BOB-book reading and their love for Bakugan (all the more to bribe them with). They're not quite at the stage where they can read whole books on their own (except the very simple BOB books), but they can certainly read their Leapfrog Tag storybooks:



But what's really important is that they're realizing that if they can read by themselves, they don't need to wait for mama or daddy to read to them. No more having to agree on a single book with two other kids. And no more having to wait patiently beside the computer desk as mama feverishly types and mutters, "Yes, honey, I'm juuuust finishing up this blog post, then we'll go and read...." -- for ten minutes.

Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp -- Day 5

Day 5 activities consisted of revisiting the Pre Assessment activities that we did on Day 1. As before, 3Po and Jammy were able to do all the activities -- but this time, they didn't have to sound out some of the -ALL words. This may be wishful thinking on my part, but I think it's getting easier and easier for them each time they read. Maybe I'll ask them to do the same activities again in a couple of weeks, once their short-term memory of it fizzles out, and see what happens.

And so ends our little experiment. My babies have graduated from Super Why Camp! It has been well worth the 30 minutes or so we've spent on it every day this week. The boys got their little afternoon summer at-home camp, they got to spend some quality time with their mama, and I got the satisfaction of knowing they're getting good practice with their literacy skills. When I asked them, both boys said they'd like to do more Super Why worksheets.... so this is a Shout-Out to Angela Santomero and all the creative minds behind Super Why -- we want to do another Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp -- so we need more worksheets, based on more episodes! See, the reward for doing such a great job with extending the learning activities beyond the TV show is getting asked to even more of it.

Staying in this summer? Start your own 5-day Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp! Go to http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/learningwithmedia/superwhy.html to download the 3 Little Pigs episode and all the activities for each day.

Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp -- Day 4

Day 4 of our Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp featured the show's namesake, Super Why -- so I thought 3Po and Jammy would be all over it. But they didn't really get into the activities today, which were patterned after Super Why's role in changing the 3 Little Pigs story, as seen on the Super Why 3 Little Pigs episode. The Day 4 coloring pages I gave them were too detailed for them to color properly; at the risk of sounding gender-biased, maybe it's because they're boys? Maybe a girl would easily have colored in the drawing? Or maybe our crayons are too blunt. At least that's what The Pea tells me (I think it's all a plot to get me to buy them new markers).

Whatever the case, Day 4 turned out to be more about Alpha Pig than Super Why. During the Add-on Activity, Jammy had fun drawing the 3 Little Pigs and changing his story to turn them into a quartet. And they really got into Alpha Pig's Alphabet Song when they watched today's Super Why episode (Rapunzel).



I guess Super Why's not their favorite character after all.

Staying in this summer? Start your own 5-day Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp! Go to http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/learningwithmedia/superwhy.html to download the 3 Little Pigs episode and all the activities for each day.

Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp -- Day 3

It's Day 3, Princess Presto Day! Unlike yesterday, the boys weren't too interested in donning a girl's mask (I guess getting in touch with their feminine side doesn't extend to Princess Presto's sparkly pink-ness), but they still tackled the day's worksheets with enthusiasm. Today's activities didn't seem to be too related to the 3 Little Pigs episode, and the kids were getting a bit too intimate with that episode anyway, so I let 3Po and Jammy watch another episode of SUPER WHY (Goldilocks and the Three Bears: The Mystery ) instead.

The activities for Princess Presto Day were centered around phonics: matching letters with their corresponding sounds. It was interesting to see that 3Po and Jammy had no problem at all with the first worksheet (looking at pictures, identifying the beginning sound and circling the beginning letter), but found the second activity (and the related follow-up activity, the Letter Scavenger Hunt) quite challenging. It was kind of the opposite: they were given a letter and had to come up with a word beginning with that sound. They needed a bit of help from The Pea and me, but eventually Jammy really got into it. Our house is now full of letters taped to various objects, including me (I was the lucky recipient of 4 letters: M for Mama, F for Friend, G for Glasses, and A for Ana). My favorite one is the "I" taped to the light switch:

Me: Jammy, why is there an "I" on that switch?
Jammy: Because "L" is for light switch.
Me: But that's an "I', not an "L".
Jammy: But I couldn't think of anything that starts with "I", so I pretended that it was a lowercase "L".

Methinks Princess Presto would be proud.

Staying in this summer? Start your own 5-day Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp! Go to http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/learningwithmedia/superwhy.html to download the 3 Little Pigs episode and all the activities for each day.

Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp -- Day 2

Today was Day 2 of the SSS (Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp), and it was Wonder Red day. 3Po and Jammy cut out their Wonder Red masks (surprisingly, no gender issues there, I'm happy that my boys are in touch with their feminine side) and happily settled down to watch the SUPER WHY 3 Little Pigs episode once again. Here's a video of them interacting with Wonder Red as she sounds out the words TALL and BALL:



The kids are supposed to watch this episode every day for the 5-day period (because all the activities are based on this episode), but I can tell that with my kids (and most older preschoolers), this might get a bit old. They clearly remembered all the words from yesterday and were starting to act a bit know-it-all-ish ("Oh, I know that already, that's so easy!") . Tomorrow I might have to mix it up a bit and show them another epidose, then see if they can still do activities based on the first episode.



The activity sheets for Day 2 were great! 3Po and Jammy really had to use their reading skills by adding the beginning letter to the ALL-family word that matched the picture. Some of the pictures were actually quite confusing -- SMALL was a tiny bug, CALL was a girl on a phone, and don't even get me started on the pictures for HALL and MALL. But I gave 3Po and Jammy less credit than I should have, because they worked it out.

Stay tuned for Day 3....

Staying in this summer? Start your own 5-day Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp! Go to http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/learningwithmedia/superwhy.html to download the 3 Little Pigs episode and all the activities for each day.

Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp -- Day 1

Hooray, it's summer! And this is the summer that 3Po and Jammy are going to learn how to read. Thanks to Alfie's dedicated bedtime reading program (and a few choice bribes), they're actually doing quite well; they've gotten the 3-letter words down pat, and are coming along nicely with consonant blends and words with a silent e at the end. What they need now is practice, practice, practice. Right now they see words all around them, words they are perfectly capable of reading -- on street signs, on buildings, on TV -- but they never actually read them because they only read when they're sitting beside their dad and sounding them out. I want them to be able to recognize the words they see in books outside in real life, and hopefully be able to sight-read the simpler words quickly, without having to sound them out.

Inspired by the success stories I heard at last week's PBS Kids presentation to mom bloggers, I've decided to help the boys get some reading practice in a structured, but fun way by running my own little summer camp this week: Our Superwhy Superreading Summercamp (SSS). The activities are based on the PBS Kids SUPER WHY Learning Activities, a 5-day curriculum of activities that build upon the skills that kids are learning when they watch SUPER WHY's 3 Little Pigs episode.

To get things started, yesterday we did the Pre Assessment activities to see where 3Po and Jammy stand with preliteracy skills. The Pre Assessment activitise consist of simple letter recognition, spelling, rhyming and comprehension activities. After glancing at the activities, I fully expected 3Po and Jammy (age 5) to be able to all of them, and they did. Since they can easily sound out 3-letter words, my main goal this week will be to increase their sight-reading vocabulary (i.e. without sounding out), especially words in rhyming families like ALL, BALL, TALL or PIG, DIG, RIG.

Moving on.... today, Day 1, was Alpha Pig day. The boys donned an Alpha Pig mask and watched the SUPER WHY 3 Little Pigs episode for the first time (In the episode, Alpha Pig's friend Jill is knocking down his block towers, so the 4 Super Readers enter the 3 Little Pigs storybook to figure out how Alpha Pig can get his friend to stop). They really enjoyed it, and I was surprised at how much participation the show enlicited from Jammy. I think he was really surprised and proud that he could read the words he saw on the screen. After the episode ended, they did some letter recognition activities. I wasn't too impressed with the Day 1 worksheets -- the coloring page is so detailed that no kid under age 8 will be able to color it in properly -- but the boys seemed to enjoy doing them. I think the biggest source of excitement for them was the notion of a 5-day SUPER WHY camp, with tv, activities and crafts.

Stay tuned for Day 2.....

Staying in this summer? Start your own 5-day Super Why Super Reader Summer Camp! Go to http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/learningwithmedia/superwhy.html to download the 3 Little Pigs episode and all the activities for each day.