Parents' blog
What do Bookstart parents have to say? Find out more and add your comments.
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National Bookstart Day in Tyneside
Posted Tuesday October 13th 2009
by Janis Wilson
National Bookstart Day was celebrated in style in South Tyneside, with a special event at Jarrow Library. The youngest babies to have joined the library in the past six months were invited to a Bookstart Rhymetime. Altogether there were 14 babies and their families with special guests Mr Stephen Hepburn MP and Cllr Tracey Dixon. Babies had joined the library from being 14 days to just 4 hours old! All the babies received a gift of a pack of books and a small Bookstart bear, with the two babies who were the youngest joiners receiving a crate of books and a large Bookstart bear!
Both Cllr Dixon and Mr Hepburn MP joined in the fun using empathy dolls as their babies. Mr Hepburn spoke about the importance of books and reading and told everyone how he loved to read. He said he was currently reading a book called ‘Glue’ and asked if anyone had read it? There was deathly silence. Then he said it was so good he wasn’t able to put it down!
Congratulations to Clare Craig and all the staff for organizing such a memorable event for the families.
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National Bookstart Day in Hartlepool
Posted Tuesday October 13th 2009
by Janis Wilson
There was plenty of fun and laughter at Hartlepool Central Library on National Bookstart Day. Children from local nursery schools were invited along to the library with their families. There were stories, crafts and even a face painter. Storyteller Chris Bostock ran a workshop with the parents/carers and their children around the importance of reading with your child. They were all then read a story. The parents stayed in the workshop, working on making their own treasure box and Chris explained how they could use items in the box to tell a story to their children. The parents got very involved in the activity. The children went off to do read and rhyme activities with Fiona, the Bookstart Support Worker.
All the children received a goodie bag and their Treasure Chests which were presented by Mr Iain Wright MP who joined in the fun of the day by taking part in all the activities.
Hartlepool libraries purchased a board nursery rhyme book funded by Children’s Centres and these were given to the children together with the Bookstart stickers, books & sheets.
It was a really wonderful day. Congratulations to the staff for making it such a success.
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Rosemary Clarke on GMTV today to celebrate National Bookstart Day
Posted Thursday October 8th 2009
by Rosemary Clarke
Our wonderful press team, Katherine Solomon and Alice Ingall have pulled off quite a coup. Katherine called me yesterday, 'Are you sitting down? It’s GMTV, they want you on the sofa tomorrow at 6.50am and 8.30am to talk about our nursery rhymes survey. Can you be there?'
My first reaction is- how wonderful, how terrifying.
But I say, ‘Of course! Book me a taxi for 5 30am, I’ll be there.’
Sixteen hours later, I’m word perfect. I know the survey inside out and can recite the top ten rhymes:
1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
2. Incey Wincey Spider
3. Round and Round the Garden
4. Baa Baa Black Sheep
5. The Grand Old Duke of York
6. If You’re Happy and You Know It
7. Humpty Dumpty
8. This Little Piggy
9. Ring a Ring a Roses
10. I’m a Little Teapot
We have conducted a survey of 2500 people on their attitude to nursery rhymes.
I go through the findings and at first glance it is pretty awful news; it seems that only 36% of parents surveyed use nursery rhymes regularly with their children,and almost a quarter admit that they have never sung a nursery rhyme…
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A Fun Way to Learn the 3R's
Posted Wednesday October 7th 2009
by Simone Castello
I have always been intrigued by nursery rhymes. Many rhymes are ancient and have lost their original meaning (for instance, some experts believe that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon used during the Civil War). So I acquired the excellent Oxford Nursery Rhyme Book by Iona and Peter Opie years before I became a parent.
My enthusiasm for nursery rhymes has rubbed on my daughter who has an amazing repertoire at her tiny fingertips. She was a precocious talker and learnt to sing nursery rhymes early on. I used to bring her to Rhyme Time at my local SureStart centre when she was only a few weeks old!
Thanks to nursery rhymes, Michela has improved her vocabulary quickly and learnt to count up to 10 correctly at barely two years old. Nearly six months later, she is counting up to 20 correctly and beyond (hit and miss). How did she learn: through nursery rhymes containing numbers!
Good numeracy can be achieved through One two three four five, once a caught a fish alive (up to 10) and One, two, buckle my shoe (up to 20 if you know all the verses). Other great rhymes are Ten in the bed, Ten little…
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Rhymes through my life
Posted Monday October 5th 2009
by Nikesh
With National Bookstart Day coming up, I’ve been thinking about my favourite rhyme and the ones that have stayed with me my entire life. We were all sat in a cafe the other day trying to recite them and it’s amazing how many you half-remember. We were trying to remember the whole of Pussycat, Pussycat but couldn’t. The ones that I still cherish are the ones I can remember word for word, they ones I still know inside and out. It’s been great comparing them to the ones that are included in this year’s National Bookstart Day rhyme booklet. Quite a few of them are exactly as I’ve remembered and some I haven’t remembered as well. It’s amazing to think, I’ve known these rhymes for nearly 30 years, and they helped me to develop my speech and my love of rhymes and rhythm and sounds and images in my head created by the words. It’s amazing to think that in 30 years time, I’ll still remember them, that important part of my childhood that will stay with me forever. I hope you’re planning to take your kids to some National Bookstart Day events this year. You can search for…
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Superbebe's Favourite Things
Posted Thursday October 1st 2009
by Natasha BakerA few of Superbebe’s favourite things (at age 16 weeks)
Ok so now that Isabelle Rose is nearly four months old it’s becoming very apparent that she is starting to develop some favourite things of her own– here are her top five (in no particular order ‘cause it depends what mood she’s in– you know how it is with Superbebes):
'Hello my name is Isabelle Rose and my favourite things right now are:'
High energy nursery rhymes like The Galloping Major, Grand Old Duke of York and Down in the Jungle.
Bookstart Bear 'I know him personally ‘cause my Auntie T introduced us - that’s him and me and mummy at a special Bookstart Rhymetime session at Bath Central Library last week.'
Strictly Come Dancing 'I’m rooting for the dude from Hollyoaks and the new lady dancer but their costumes are…
