GREAT NEW GAME TO PRACTICE MULTIPLICATION FACTS!

If your child likes games or likes the computer, he/she will love to practice their multiplication facts with this new game. A cute robot mouse takes you into different worlds and over hazards to get to the right multiplication answer.


CLICK ON THIS LINK TO TRY A FREE DEMO!
www.arithmemouse.com?xyz=12

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

Sign up for Donna McDine's FREE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER: WRITE WHAT INSPIRES YOU!

Come along for fascinating and intriguing interviews from writers, illustrators, and editors of the children’s publishing industry. It is imperative for your writing career to grow on a daily basis by learning from others in the field. Donna McDine’s monthly FREE newsletter, Write What Inspires You! will certainly help you do so. Additional features include a Proclaim Your Successes column, submission based Reflections or Dreams column, book review, and support ads. Each month you will walk away with new inspiration for your writing career. Go ahead opt-in today at www.donnamcdine.com.

Kathy Stemke's websites:
Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

Understanding Early Childhood and Preschool Education by Navendu Sharma

We tend to think that very young kids have only physical needs just because they cry when they are hungry or need to have their diapers changed. We feel that as adults we are much smarter than toddlers. But this is entirely false. Children, especially kids below the age of three are exceptionally intelligent. If anyone has doubts about the abilities of children he needs to be reminded that according to the LIFE Magazine, "from birth to four months, babies are 'universal linguists' capable of distinguishing each of the 150 sounds that make up all the languages in the world!"

Why are Toddlers Smarter?

Very small children are smarter than average adults because their brains are at the formative stage. When a child is born, its brain development receives a fillip from the sudden increase in stimuli. This triggers off electrical impulses that lead to the creation of more and more dendrites in the brain. Dendrites are parts of the neurons that receive information. If adequate stimuli are not provided, the dendrites atrophy, or they die out.

How To Make Kids Smarter

To ensure that children grow up to become good learners when they enter school, parents must prepare children in the zero to three year stage. This can be done by teaching children skills like reading with the help of appropriate preschool books. If this aspect of a child’s education is neglected, then the child may become a slow learner. It must be borne in mind that after the age of three years a child’s brain does not make dendrites at the same rate. There is a double advantage of stimulating the brain by imparting skills like reading. Apart from making the child a quick learner, it also enables the child to pick up advanced skills when her classmates are stuck in the rudimentary stages of learning.

One has to be very careful while choosing implements for teaching very young kids. If inappropriate tools are used at this stage then the damage caused may be irreparable because children are extremely impressionable at this age.


How Interactive books can help in Early childhood education & Preschool Education:

·Interactive books give readers the opportunity to take part in the story line by changing the plot as per his/her decision. Thus interactive reading can hone the decision-making skills in children.

·Interactive books come with multimedia facilities of animated sound, actions, and special effects. This makes reading a richer and more captivating experience.

·More than just reading, listening to stories helps children learn new words and also perfect their pronunciations.

·When kids read books online or through CDs and DVDs, they automatically become well acquainted with the basic functioning of a computer.

What are Preschool Activities:

·Taking children out of the confines of the classroom is always a great way to teach basic knowledge. A visit to the zoo or local bird sanctuary can help them learn a lot about the world of birds and animals. These visits help children realize that learning can also be a fun experience.

·Educational computer games and interactive activities are excellent ways to enhance a child’s hand and eye coordination. It also helps the child to get acquainted with alphabets and numbers.

·Playing is a good way of developing a child’s concentration. Traditional preschool activities include playing with blocks, shapes, and colors. When children play with a particular object, their concentration levels are automatically enhanced.

·Kids enjoy activities like drawing and scribbling. It gives them the scope to express their creativity. Preschool education can use this activity to develop the inherent creativity and sense of aesthetics in children.

·Nursery rhymes and dancing continue to be the perennial area of interest for toddlers. Preschool curriculum encourages children to recite poems and nursery rhymes with physical gestures. This makes learning a more enjoyable and entertaining experience. Recitation also enhances the memorizing ability in preschool toddlers.

·Physical development constitutes a major part of preschool education. Outdoor games and simple exercises help children develop a sense of physical fitness.

(source:- www.educationaltechnologies.com)


Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

"Trouble on Earth Day" Soon to be Released!

Here's a page from my soon to be released book, Trouble on Earth Day. This is a fun and educationtional story about a Squirrel who helps a new friend while saving the earth. This book is a one stop shopping value for parents and teachers because it is full of great recycling ideas, craft projects, and worksheet pages. The talented illustrator is Kurt Wilcken. He's a joy to work with and I can't wait to see each illustration he finishes. Check out his blog: http://coldsteelindiaink.blogspot.com/
Art samples: http://www.comicspace.com/kurtoons/


Kathy Stemke's websites:
Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

MOVEMENT LESSONS P-Z!

The letter P. Playing with the parachute with our partners in PE. Learning about percussion for our musicians-to-be.

The letter Q. Who is queen for the day? That’s the question. And when we are really quiet we can answer using gestures. Introduce the art of mime. Mime out stories about queens.

The letter R. After the races are run, and we’ve rock ‘n’ rolled like the best, we deserve to relax and to rest. Have an oldies rock n' roll party. Dress up like the fifties, watch the movie, "Grease," and learn the old dances. (twist, stroll, jerk, monkey, mashed potatoes)

The letter S. How about throwing snowballs? Or take your chance to dance with spiders and scarves. Dance like spiders on all fours. Investigate all the ways to dance with a scarf.

The letter T. The T is toe-tapping, tap dancing, tail-tagging, target-throwing, tennis-ball-tossing fun.

The letter U. The letter U goes up and under, and up and under all over the U.S.A. Create a USA shape on the floor with masking tape. Travel across the country going up on a raised platform, jumping down, and crawling under a mop handle.

The letter V. Who would not like to see themselves on video while wearing vests, and playing volleyball at their best? Make paper vests in two colors, one for each team. Set up a rope as a net, and hit balloons over it.

The letter W. Which way does the wind blow? North, south, east, or west? Winter wonderland is where you might go. Create a winter wonderland obstacle course with fake snow, inclines, and snowball throw through the hoop.

The letter X. Design pathways and crossroads, play a game of tic-tac-toe, and accompany the movements on a xylophone.

The letter Y. The letter Y is part of the sign for "I love you." We measure and jump a yard and learn to yo-yo, too.

The letter Z. What a way to end: with a zoo. We have a zebra, and the elephant is back, too. We zigzag from side to side.

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

MOVEMENT LESSONS: F-O

The letter F. Fast and faster we go, and far and farther we throw. Roll out a large measuring tape. Take turns throwing as far as you can. Read the measureing tape too.

The letter G. "I see, I see something green." It is also for girls, gym, go, gallop, and glide. Leap frog is a great green game. A fun movement game is ring a bell for gallop and blow a whistle for glide. Mix it up.

The letter H. Let’s hop, do the Hokey-Pokey, and a whole lot more.

The letter I. We can form the letter with our bodies. And ice cream and ice skating are a must. Tape paper plates to your shoes and slip and slide on your ice skates.

The letter J. Jogging and jumping up and down keep us fit. Jingle bells on your shoes are a great hit! Jog in place. On the sound of the whistle, drop down to your stomach and get up again, continue to jog. Tuck jump, jump half turn, jump full turn, split jump, jumping jacks.

The letter K. You are invited to go outside to fly a kite. Or stay indoors for a kicking course. Practice karate kicks, and kick clap under.

The letter L. Let’s learn left from right as we go. Tapping the lummi sticks or doing the limbo. For fun do animal limbo, or bug limbo.

The letter M. The letter M moves to the marching band music and tumbles on the mats. Make instruments like shakers, kazoos, tambourines, and drums. March around the room or around the school.

The letter N. Can we be nosy and noisy, and check out the news? Play the yes, no game. Ask safety or environmental questions that have yes, no answers. If the answer is yes, jump up and down and make noise. If the answer is no, squat down quietly.

The letter O. The invitation to the Olympics is yours. Try moving on, out, off, and over the obstacle course. For an outside obstacle course, use logs for balance walking, flat rocks for jumping on, garbage cans and a blanket to make a tunnel, and a hanging tire or hula hoop to crawl through.

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#<a href="http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html">http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

MOVEMENT LESSONS! A-E

The letter A. A is for ankle, arm, aerobics, and maybe even your name. Have the kids hold their ankles and move around the room or do an arobics routine.

The letter B. B is for balls, balance, and balloons galore. Use a large peach basket and remove the bottom for a goal. Get the balloon in the basket and get 2 points. practice counting by 2's. Balance on one foot and try to make a basket.

The letter C. C is for clowning around, learning to clap, crawl, catch, and other movements that matter, while learning your letters. Create a circus with clowns, scarf juggling, and an obstacle course.

The letter D. Dancing the day away, what an idea, and learning our ABCs along the way. Play different types of music to explore many types of movements. Dribble, duck, and drop—it’s hard to stop. Dribble a ball around a series of cones.

The letter E. We see with our eyes and hear with our ears. Exercise stations and Elephant Swing are lots of fun, and the egg relay lets us run. Use plastic easter eggs for relay races. (carry the egg in a plastic spoon, hold the egg under your chin or between your knees, or blow the egg along the floor as you walk on all fours)

COME BACK FOR THE REST OF THE ALPHABET!!

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

Boys are Active Learners: They Need to Move as They Learn

Recently I came across a great website, which focuses on ways to help boys enjoy reading. The site by owner Mike McQween is full of great articles and tips for helping readers. The following excerpts come from an article which focuses on active learning or movement as a tool to use to help boys enjoy reading.

"Did you know that boys produce less serotonin than girls do? This can cause them to be more antsy and fidgety when forced to sit still for long periods of time.... "

"Boys are active learners. In order to get boys to love books, parents and educators need to change the way THEY think about books....I have learned that while reading to my boys, I need to allow them to ask as many questions as they want so that they feel like active participants in the reading process. Sometimes Caleb will jump off the couch and physically demonstrate something he was thinking about while I read to him."

To read the rest of this article and many more just like it on Getting Boys to Read.com click on this link:
http://www.gettingboystoread.com/content/boys-need-move-it-how-use-movement-help-boys-become-better-readers

Kathy Stemke's websites:
Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

REVIEWS FOR MY BOOK!

Kathy Stemke’s Moving through All Seven Days offers a multifaceted approach to movement in the classroom that also offers a healthy dose of the language arts!

Rae Pica
Education Consultant
Early Childhood Physical Activity
www.movingandlearning.com


Moving Through All Seven Days is a wonderful way to teach young children the days of the week. The days move forward with playful activities, "Slipping, sliding, spin and play, Fun on Sunday, that's the way."

Reading and exercise – what a combination! With bold and colorful illustrations it is sure to hold any child’s attention.

As an added feature, Moving Through All Seven Days includes an activity and learning section with: in class activities, spelling the days of the week, rhyming words, coloring pages and more. This is sure to be a hit in any preschool or lower grade classroom.
Moving Through All Seven Days is also a great way to teach the days of the week to your own little ones before they start school. I’ll be reading it to my 3-year-old grandson!

Karen Cioffi
Co-Author of Day’s End Lullaby
http://www.dkvwriting4u.com

This fun book is full of lively rhymes, clever illustrations, and engaging activities sure to be fun for all the kids in your class -- or out of it. I knew I was hooked when I found myself filling in the missing letters on the Complete Each Word activity.

Kathy Stemke, can I be in your class? Pretty please?

Margaret Fieland
Author/Educator
http://www.margaretfieland.com

Move and groove along with the whimsical characters of Moving Through All Seven Days as they slip, twirl, and glide you through the days of the week. An activities resource to help reinforce the learning process of spelling the days of the week is a welcome bonus. It provides an ingenious way of getting the children up from behind their desks to experience learning through movement.

Children’s author, Kathy Ann Stemke brilliantly blends lyrical rhyme and the learning process in a fun and educational twist. Along with the vibrant illustrations created by Tony Glisson, Moving Through All Seven Days is a must have for preschool and kindergarten classrooms and no home library would be complete without it.

Reviewed by author, Donna M. McDine, for the National Writing for Children Center.
Marketing Manager at Stories for Children Magazine
http://www.donnamcdine.com

Each rhyme is short, easy to learn, and fun. I teach Pre-k for the local school district. Our "teaching time" is so limited in Pre-k for scheduling reasons.
What caught my attention is that a teacher could quickly do a daily "story board" and the kids would GET it. At higher grade levels this material could be easily used in center stations for independent work that students would be interested in doing. WAY TO GO!

Versana Polidore
Thomas Gibbs Elementary School
Classroom teacher

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

In Christ, My Hiding Place by Kathy Stemke

You are my living space,

My breathing air.

You are in me, I am in You

In Christ, my hiding place.


You are my safe harbor

I rest in your mercy

I float in your embrace

Safe in Christ, my hiding place.


You are my hope, my vision

My destiny is in your hands

Your mysteries unfold to me

Inspired in Christ, my hiding place.


You are my anointing

The life giving oil that flows,

And heals broken hearts

Empowered in Christ, my hiding place.


You are my joy,

I live to praise You.

I surrender to you in dance.

Complete in Christ, my hiding place.

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

Poetry: Words by Kathy Stemke

Every word has a certain destiny.
Some, dark and cancerous, destroy you.
Others, thieves, rob your serenity.

Carefully calculated, deceptive words
do harm, righteous on the outside,
inside they have a heart of fear.

Filter words of separation and elitism,
words that divide nations and people.
prejudice always brings death.

God's eternal words have a destiny.
they soften the dry, stony places.
They heal your innermost hurts and fears.

Peaceful words bring tranquility.
Encouraging words bring confidence.
Merciful words bring forgiveness.

Stop each word before it leaves your lips,
inspect it, replace it if necessary,
then release it to its certain destiny!

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

"Teenagers Can Write Novels" by Heather Paye

Self discipline takes on a major role in writing. As a writer you have no boss, no one to tell you when or where to write, or even how to do it. This is why you have to do that yourself, you must be the boss and the worker. You have to look at things this way – You don’t work, you don’t get paid. But, then again, I wouldn’t really call writing “working” so to speak.

Writing is an art, and art is a way of expressing yourself, which is why in art you need only write what you know, express yourself, and only aim to please yourself. That’s right, take a breath out; there isn’t so much pressure to do well, or to write the right thing. Anyone can write if they push themselves enough, when I started odds were against me, my grammar was something like that of a 2nd grader, and my punctuation was non-existent. I went from not using punctuation at all, to looking down on writers twice my age saying to myself: “How could they get something like that wrong? It’s simple grammar.” As I wrote I learned more and more about writing in general, you could say that it all came naturally as I wrote. And that was 5 years ago. I’ve hidden the first stories that I ever created from sight, they’re very scary, and almost completely illegible. But, they are good reminders of how far I’ve come.

The easiest part of writing is not always the beginning, but if you split the book up into four pieces, it would be the 2/4ths part, the beginning/middle part that is the easiest, after you get your book going in the direction that it’s going. The hard part is finishing it. You really have to push yourself. Sometimes I take a few weeks off of writing that particular piece so that my mind is fresh and I can finish the story easily.

Writing takes a little bit getting used to, but once you get in the groove it all becomes second nature. Writing has been used for billions of years and anyone can do it if they put their minds to it, no matter what the age. If you can spell words, you can write; everything else will come naturally. A great resource for aspiring writers is http://www.writing.com a community of every kind of writer there is, new, old, young, and experienced. Another is http://www.nanowrimo.org a contest that happens every November where you attempt to write a novel in one month. I highly recommend it to those who have a hard time finishing novels.

Buy HC Paye's book, A Gift From Above
CreateSpace - https://www.createspace.com/Customer/EStore.do?id=3375222

Portfolio: http://www.writing.com/authors/kittynadem
Fansite: http://www.agiftfromabove.webs.com
Email: the_jewelonsolot@msn.com

Kathy Stemke's websites:
Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com

Come Meet 15 Year Old, Student Author, Heather Paye

Today I'd like to introduce you to the Student, Author, Dreamer, Heather Paye. She's a student, who took her dream and made it a reality. H.C.Paye, author of the YA novel A Gift from Above, grew up in a small town in Arizona. She has been writing since 2001 and taking up every challenge that comes her way.

What do you like about growing up in Arizona ?

I love how open the land is, the animals, and the creativity that it all has to offer. It’s a very inspiring place to live. The sunsets are absolutely stunning, and the mornings are so golden. I’ve never had writer’s block and I believe that my environment has a lot to do with that.

What kind of books did you read as a kid?

I used to read the more “girly” books, I remember reading The Saddle Club, The Baby Sitter’s Club, and other books of that type, I read a great number of the classic books, Jane Eyre, Black Beauty, etc. Then I moved on to the Goosebumps series by R.L.Stine I loved those books, there were hundreds of them and I think I still have about 40 of them. So it was really a great many of them, and you can see I was really just trying out a lot of the genres that the world had to offer.


Who is your favorite author?

I’m going to say it would have to be J.K.Rowling, with Nora Roberts coming closely behind.

Who has encouraged you to keep writing?

My mom, definitely my mom.. I remember times when I just wanted to quit writing because in the process of publishing my books things were getting really hard for me and I could hardly keep up, and my relatives were saying bad things about authors and writing and my family really just kept me going, they really supported me and stood behind me, and made sure that I kept going. Especially my mom, she is my savior.

What inspired you to write this story?

My brother was a huge inspiration. After he was born things really didn’t turn out how I planned, he was loud and noisy, and things just changed a lot around the house.. And he was my main inspiration. It was funny, because originally the story was supposed to be this horror like story, and the children in the story were supposed to be possessed and stuff, and it was absolutely amazing how different the story turned out.

How did you come up with the main character, Celia Meyers?

In a way she was a reflection of me, but she also had some characteristics from my mom and my baby sister, so it was really just a compilation of people surrounding me in my life. I’m not exactly sure where I came up with the name, I usually just make up character names on spot and roll my eyes around looking for inspiration, so I assume I did the same with Celia.

Do you have any siblings? Have you ever had trouble with your siblings?

Yes, I have three siblings, one older and two younger. I have had trouble with my siblings; we don’t always get along, we’re great friends, don’t get me wrong, but we don’t have our little arguments, and there is something that I could pick at for each one of them. We have each others backs, even if we do have a few “disagreements” from time to time.

What events changed Celia from a spoiled child to a responsible teenager?

There was this one event the Celia went through where she saved another little boy from a car accident, it reminded her so much of her own little brother and it made her realize that that little boy could have been her brother and she could have lost him, and it also makes her realize how much she actually cares about her sibling.


How did you feel when you finally finished your book?

It wasn’t exactly very much excitement since I was in such a great rush, there was this contest that I was in where I had to write 50,000 words in one month, and I managed to do that, so that was the real excitement, but after that I rushed to actually finish the story, and after that I went straight to editing and then fixing up the layouts and getting the cover ready, and so on. So, it wasn’t exactly very much excitement at the time that I really finished the book. Not as much as when I finished my other novel.


What’s next for you?

Actually there’s quite a bit in the works for me. In the next few years I’m expecting my first novel The Jewel of Onsolot to be published and in stores, but I don’t have any details yet. Since The Jewel of Onsolot is the beginning of a series of nine, of course I’m working on the next book in the series. Also I’m working on a book about a girl who turns into a werewolf. So, there’s quite a bit, I’m not going away any time soon!

Do you participate in writing competitions?

From time to time, not quite so often. There are a few competitions that I do every year, in April I either participate in Script Frenzy, where I try to write 100 page script in one month. And in November, since it is National Novel Writing Month I participate in http://www.nanowrimo.org where you attempt to write 50,000 words in one month. Last year they did some sort of promotion where you can self-publish your novel and get a copy of it free, for a limited time. And that’s what I did, hence my publication.


Where can we purchase your book?

Currently it is available on Amazon.com, Amazon Kindle, Target.com, and of course, CreateSpace.com

Can you explain the Wednesday character feature on your blog?

That is where I tell about a character from my book, like a short little bio of their lives. And it gives the reader a more in-depth look at the other characters besides Celia.. Plus if the reader can’t get enough of the story they can go to the blog and see the extra details and stuff.

Thank you for sharing your book with our readers, Heather.

Don't miss my September 3rd post, which features an article Heather wrote for other aspiring students encouraging them to write their own novel. WAY TO GO, HEATHER.


Heather's websites:
Portfolio: http://www.writing.com/authors/kittynadem
Fansite: http://www.agiftfromabove.webs.com
Email: the_jewelonsolot@msn.com

Kathy Stemke's websites:

Moving Through all Seven Days link:http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#http://www.helium.com/users/406242.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/237923/Kathy_stemke_dancekam.html
http://kathystemke.weebly.com