Kate Glinsmann (she/her) was an owner-partner of BabyNames.com, a lifelong educator with a masters degree in Education. For over 30 years, she worked with preschoolers with special needs, kindergartners, and English language learners.
In her spare time, Kate was a stained glass artist, who built her own studio and gave classes to her local community. Kate was a tireless advocate of those in need, particularly children, mothers and refugees. Kate passed away in December of 2019.
I was introduced to Julia Cook through a social media page for kindergarten teachers and two particlar books caught my eye. The thing that impressed me the most was how both of them reinforced positivity over negativity. → full article
The two books that I’m going to review today are from the group of books recommended by our local children’s librarian, Jo. These two really don’t have much in common other than they both have animals as a theme. → full article
I’m excited to introduce you to our guest blogger, Jo, the local librarian that recommended the books I’ve been reviewing the past few months. Jo is a lifelong resident of our small town in rural Iowa. → full article
In this day and age you hear a lot about how so many young adults don’t know how to solve problems because their parents never allowed them to encounter situations where they needed to figure things out on their own. → full article
One of the most important things that I learned during my 36-year career as an early childhood educator was the importance of phonological awareness activities. Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language. → full article
For those of you who are not familiar with Todd Parr, he is an amazing author/illustrator of more than 40 children’s books. Parr’s books encompass social issues that are prevalent in the lives of today’s children, but in simplistic terms. → full article
Since I retired from the field of education last year I decided to look into all of the new(ish) children’s books from the last few years. Who better to give me input about these books then our local librarian at our public library here in town. → full article
THE ROUGH-FACE GIRL by Rafe Martin, illustrated by David Shannon
There are over 1,500 versions of the Cinderella story, but this one, The Rough-Face Girl, is truly my favorite. This one is an Algonquin Indian Cinderella, and actually a part of a longer traditional story. → full article
Autumn is upon us, and with Halloween just around the corner I thought it would be fun to review my favorite books for this time of year. It was very hard for me to choose just two because there are so many wonderful books! → full article
Since September signifies the beginning of a new school year in many areas, I thought it would be nice to review one of my very favorite children’s books that I would read during the first few days of kindergarten. → full article
Telephone by Mac Barnett
One of my favorite games to play as a child was the “pass it on” game of Telephone. You whisper a simple statement to the person sitting next to you, they whisper what they heard to the person sitting next to them, and so on. → full article
Here is the second installment of my favorite farm books. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I have so many favorite farm books that I needed to make this a two-part blog. → full article
Since summer is now upon us and here in Iowa I am reminded daily of the work happening on the nearby farms in my community, I thought it would be fun to spotlight some of my favorite farm books for children. → full article
I have been an elementary teacher for the last 36 years, and over those years I have read thousands of children’s books. Some of these books have been great, some have been good, and some have been real stinkers. → full article
Potterwookiee
by Obert Skye
Obert Skye’s The Creature from my Closet series features mashups of popular fictional creatures/characters. There’s Wonkenstein (Willy Wonka/Frankenstein), Pinocula (Pinocchio/Dracula), and Katfish (Katniss/Ariel, the Little Mermaid). The second book in the series is the Potterwookiee, which is a miniature Chewbacca with Harry Potter’s lightning bolt scar and accessories. → full article
