Giveaway open to Canadians.
Fact: kids love nonfiction.
When we go to buy or borrow reading material for our children, we adults seem to be the most drawn to to make-believe. Maybe this is because our lives expose us to an abundance of non-fiction – newspapers, reports for work – and we crave a break, and assume the same of our kids. Research, however, as well as personal experience, has taught me that kids love to read nonfiction books, and motivating them to love reading is one of the most important steps in reading instruction.
Recently there’s been a big push towards providing nonfiction titles for boys in particular, which is well-founded, but at the beginning of this school year at least half of my girls would steer away from the fiction bins at self-selected reading time as well. Instead they would choose to read animal facts, jokes, arts and crafts instructions, or biographies. Chances are, there is a child in your life whose reading could be enhanced by more exposure to this genre.
The goal of this post is introduce you to a few non-fiction titles your child(ren) might enjoy, and even give you the opportunity to win them! In honour of Canada Day, I reviewed a few different Scholastic books about our beautiful country:
What kid wouldn’t get a kick out of jokes like these:
What has antlers and sucks blood? A moose-quito!
How do you keep a grizzly bear from charging? Take away its credit cards!
Leave a comment telling me one thing you love about Canada. That’s it!
For additional entries, leave a separate comment letting me know that:
- you subscribe to This Mom Loves through email
- you follow This Mom Loves publicly through Google Friend Connect
- you follow @thismomloves on Twitter, and tweet about this giveaway
The contest will end on Wednesday, July 14th at midnight Eastern time, after which a winner will be chosen through random number generation.
If you don’t win, consider picking up one of these titles, or at least peruse the non-fiction shelves the next time you’re in the bookstore or library. Every kid should be encouraged to read for pleasure; it just may take some trial-and-error to find out what type of book pleases them!
P.S. I didn’t even need a sad book to start the waterworks yesterday when I said goodbye to my beautiful Grade 3 class — before the last bell rang I had tears streaming down my face. Sure, I’m more than thrilled to begin my wonderful long holiday, but I have grown to love the children and will truly miss them!
Disclaimer: These titles were provided to me by Scholastic Canada for review purposes. Opinions, as always, are my own.
Thanks for the great suggestions. I do find it more challenging to get boys interested in reading as opposed to the girls. I will take any tips I can get to help facilitate that "love for reading!" You sound like an amazing teacher!
I love everything about Canada…our extreme weather, friendly neighbours, vast landscape and every single person that calls this great nation HOME
My kids love to read and they love to learn about their wonderful country.
I was born and raised in Beautiful British Columbia, where you could ski and golf in the same day. The gorgeous mountains and the views of the Pacific Ocean are next to none in my opinion.
Now I live in Ontario where we get to experience the change of seasons – Fall brings with it the fire reds, burnt orange and vibrant yellows. It's my favourite time of the year here!!
I try to write about my travels through this amazing country, it's a hit and a miss but if you're interested… check it out. Canada Travel
I now follow you on Google Friend Connect – my avatar is the same as this pic. I'm Shash from Shasher's Life
I'm now following you on Twitter, as @shasherslife
I love that where I live, both the mountains and the ocean are in easy driving distance. And, then, there's the whole free health care thing too . . .
Great books!!
There are many things I love about Canada but I must say it is that we are humble in our winnings. Canadian Olympics this winter. When we won we were happy. When we didn't we were happy for the winners. We do not need to always feel we are the best and to boast about being the best. We love who we are. We are Canadians.
Diane
I love just about everything about Canada except ice storms…..
The people, food, the landscape and our freedom
I subscribe to your email
I follow with GFC
Deanna at moneysavingmomcanada dot com
http://twitter.com/MoneySavingMomD
Tweet!
I follow on GFC!
What do I love about Canada? The wilderness!! From the mountains to the seashore, we really do have it all!
I subscribe to This Mom Loves through email!!
What I love about Canada is:
-The toque. For inventing hat hair, Canuck-style
-Tim Hortons. For brewing coffee that tastes as good as it smells. And for chocolate sour cream Timbits
-McIntosh apple. That sweet crunch was brought to you by Ontario's Johnny (Appleseed) McIntosh, in 1796
-Wayne Gretzky. You don't have to be a hockey fan to call the pride of Brantford a great athlete, and one classy guy.
-The Maple Leaf. Our flag, bold and graphically spare, makes the heart swell.
-Canadian bacon. Make fun if you will, as long as you serve it crisp
-Beer. There are just some things we do better
-Maple syrup. Without which pancakes would just be a stack of fried flour.
-Robert Munsch. We love him, and his children's books, forever
-Terry Fox. For still giving cancer a run for the money, 25 years on.
and so many more but I will stop now so I don't take up too much space.
I subscribe through GFC
What I love about Canada is that anything is possible here. You can literally do anything you want to!
jenandjoey at gmail dot com
I follow.
I'm a subscriber.
I love that Canadians are courteous and kind (for the most part). I love our diverse landscape and love our freedoms that we often take for granted. Thanks for the great giveaway.
I follow on twitter and tweeted http://twitter.com/Yeslech/status/17703109544
I love Amanda O'Neill's post. I think Canada is great. We are very fortunate to live here.
Colleen
I love Canada and I am an email subscriber.
I came to Canada as a child, after my family was thrown out of our East African country because of politics, economics and our ethnicity… After being a refugee and running from country to country for years, Canada accepted my family and we built our lives here, grow and persevered. I love Canada. Truly LOVE Canada and all the opportunity I have been gifted here; I love the universality of healthcare, education, and melding of cultures… I love and appreciate the diversity, the people who stand for quiet respect and upholding the concept of human dignity. I love this land and it's water, it's resources and the awe-inspiring beauty which is incomparable to any other place on earth and reflects the diversity of the people…
I love this land, my home, my heart. I love the true north, strong and free!
Aliya D.
aliyadaya(at)shaw(dot)ca
I love Canada because its beautiful:)
It has a little bit of everything!
I love Canada because its full of different cultures!
googy.777 at hotmail dot com
The weather! We get all 4 seasons! Even though we always complain it's nice to see them all!
vivaglampink@yahoo.ca
I love the diversity in Canada.
billiondollarprincesss@hotmail.com
I love that Canadians are very laid back and friendly.
spazsss@yahoo.ca
I subscribed via email
callista83 AT cogeco DOT ca
I love Canada! (and books, especially nonfiction)
I especially love:
– multiculturalism
– universal health care
– we're generally more polite
– we don't carry guns (so we don't have daily shootings)
callista83 AT cogeco DOT ca
I follow on GFC (as Callista)
callista83 AT cogeco DOT ca
I follow on twitter and tweeted:
http://twitter.com/callista83/status/17738664381
callista83 AT cogeco DOT ca
I love Canada, for its wonderful young authors
bspry35@hotmail.com
I love that when traveling when people hear that you are from Canada they are very kind to you and express great love for Canadian travellers. I love that canadians are kind to others all over the world:)
I'm a follower on GFC as MarionG.
polo-puppy-fluffy[at]hotmail[dot]com
I love our blue skies. I also love our lakes, parks, and cities. I love the RCMP and beavers and the maple leaf.
polo-puppy-fluffy[at]hotmail[dot]com
What I love about Canada is the freedom we have.
love anything about Canada,especially our cosmotolitain population
Too many things to list .
yes, by email
1 thing I love about Canada? I love the people. No other place in the world has people as great as in Canada.
Bobson W
p_dogg707@yahoo.com
I love that Canada has real smarties… a Canadian resident for the summer 🙂
heather at actingbalanced dot com
following on GFC
heather at actingbalanced dot com
I'm following your blog.
cwilliams127 at gmail dot com
One of the many things I love about Canada is the health care system. It's not perfect but it's better than some other places.
cwilliams127 at gmail dot com
I'm following you on twitter and I tweeted:
http://twitter.com/cityslicker127/status/18398640255
cwilliams127 at gmail dot com
I really appreciate the health care. Especially with relatives that are aging, it's nice to be able to see a doctor and not fight with HMOs.
I also like our weather, as nutty as it is.
I love living in Canada – we are so blessed to live in a country where we are free – our right and freedoms are respected. God Bless Canada! abrennan09@hotmail.com
Canada is an amazing country to live in. We have clean water, a roof over our heads and laws in place to respect you as a person. I am constantly reminding my children how wonderful it is to live where we live. Truly amazing! A beautiful land. coreybrennan26@hotmail.com
I love so many things about Canada and our family loves to celebrate Canada Day with a party! One of the best things about Canada is that we get all 4 seasons and very rarely get major natural disasters! Love your blog Kate keep up the great work!
Krista S.
I love the 4 separate seasons!
momvstheboys at gmail dot com
I follow with GFC
dftrew(at)gmail(dot)com
I love that there is so much opportunity in Canada
dftrew(at)gmail(dot)com
I love the healthcare, lovely libraries, things like that!
princessnadine@yahoo.com
My daughter would love these books as she learned about the provinces and their capitals this year in school. These books would be GREAT!
I love the books and I am sure that my daughter would love them also. She loved learning about Canada in school so she would love them. cheriesc@hotmail.com
There is so much about Canada that I love…but I would say mostly the friendliness wherever you go in this country. My girls love reading, we spend alot of time at the library and searching yard sales for books.
I love that as Canadians we do not need – or want to travel abroad to discover different cultures and ethnicity. We are truly blessed in this country to have the diversity that we do both in our population and our physical landscape. We are the envy of the world for a reason!
I love the beautiful scenery in canada.
axelrulz@hotmail dot com
Hey I just became an email subscriber!
Krista S.
Canada is just the best place to live. We had the
beauty of all 4 seasons and have some of the most breathtaking scenery in the world– I have travelled it from coast to coast. As for us as a Nation — just tell me who doesn't like Canadians
keep up the good work