Tag Archives: Books

Getting Ready for School with PBS and DK Publishing

Ready for School

Andrew will be starting school soon. While we have our full days together I try and work with him on different school preparations. We did an assessment at his play group a few weeks back and it was a ready to read assessment. He did really well. Out of 20 questions he got 17 right. Some were complicated, too. He’s smarter than we give him credit for and I think that is because sometimes he doesn’t listen no matter how many times you tell him not to do something. Obviously that is not a good sign of intelligence. What I’ve seen lately is that he is making connections and figuring out a lot of things.

When we go to the supermarket he says hello to everyone and his newest thing is telling people the can count to 100. He misses some numbers but he gets there in the end. I was offered a copy of three new products from DK Publishing and PBS Kids because I am a PBS Kids VIP (Very Involved Parent). Opinions are 100% my own. The New products include:

Get Ready For School Games: Color Match” is designed for kids to practice key skills of recognizing colors, matching colors, and more.

Get Ready For School Games: Number Memory” includes number cards that provide kids with an easy-to-understand visual approach on real-life problem-solving activities, such as going shopping and playing sports.

Get Ready for School: I’m Ready for School” is designed to support childhood development through the early years as it focuses on key concepts such as morning routines, eating breakfast, and matching shoes.

Andrew and I read the book and did the activities together. We had a nice time doing that and he was very engaged. I think he’s a bit beyond the things in the book. We also played with the Color match game and he did excellent with that. I had him match colors across the different cards. These were bright and colorful, good quality and had objects that were easy to identify. I had Andrew say each object and the color before he matched them.

Sparkup – Read Your Kids Any Book Even When You Are Not There

Sparkup Magical Book Reader

I was asked to try out Sparkup – The Magical Book Reader and review it. One was sent to me to set up and use.

I love reading to the kids. Each night I read approximately 6 books to Andrew to get him down to sleep. Eva is down to one or two or chapters from a book. Eva goes to bed listening to the Barefoot Books Podcast and so she listens to stories all night. Reading to them at bedtime is one of my very favorite activities.

The thing is, I can’t do it all week. Working weekend nights has been good for being there all week long day and night but it stinks for not being there on the weekend nights.

While I can’t be there physically with the kids, my voice can be there and read them their favorite stories. With Sparkup I can record any one of my kids’ favorite books and they can play it whenever they want. Continue reading Sparkup – Read Your Kids Any Book Even When You Are Not There