reading Archives - MomStart

Penguins of America Children’s Book & $100 GC Giveaway

May 26, 2017 by Momstart 20 Comments

Jana at MerlotMommy.com has partnered with Little, Brown & Co. And we are partnering with her to bring you a fun little giveaway……..

Are you a mom of kids in sports? My son loves to play hard and is very active. I have to watch myself and not get involved with the other kids sometimes so I find what Jana has created helpful. She is a sports mom and understand “rules” of being a sports mom.

As a sports mom, we have all have our own list of dos and don’ts of being a sports mom we’ve developed over the years.

Jana at MerlotMommy.com started thinking about all the “rules” of being a sports mom after reading Penguins of America, a new illustrated book from James Patterson and his son Jack.

Be sure to check out her list of sports Dos and Don’ts.

Enter to win a copy of the Penguins of America and $100 Visa Gift Card

Use the Rafflecopter below to enter to win. U.S. entrants only, ages 18+. Ends 6/7/2017 at 11:59 pm PST. We’ve partnered with Little, Brown & Co. and Merlot Mommy to share this giveaway! a Rafflecopter giveaway

About Penguins of America:

Penguins–are lovable, cute, flightless friends who are constantly dressed for a formal occasion–have always fascinated humans. As we shuffle through life one day at a time, it’s easy to take things far too seriously, but when we see penguins taking a walk in our shoes it’s impossible not to recognize how silly we can actually be. Featuring humorous illustrations with captions that show penguins in the day-to-day situations that we’ve all experienced–from a relaxing day at the beach to a stressful morning commute–PENGUINS OF AMERICA is a hilarious and charming send-up of daily life.

My 2015 Goals: Stress Less & #ReadMore

January 14, 2015 by Beeb 5 Comments

Disclosure: I am part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with Kobo and I received Compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

A new year is upon us, which means that most people are thinking about their plans for the year ahead. While “New Year’s resolutions” may be clichéd, I can’t help but feel reinvigorated every January. The start of the new calendar year provides a convenient time to reassess my game plan, and the small lull of quiet that tends to descend after the frantic holiday season leaves me with a window of time to tackle new projects and goals.

This year, I’m taking the Kobo Reading Challenge and making more room in 2015 to sit down and read. One of my big goals for this year is taking better care of myself, and that includes building in more downtime. Having a little more time to sit down and flip through a book has been very enjoyable! With that, I’d like to share some of my other goals for 2015, along with some corresponding books to help inspire and motivate with each goal.

Kobo’s app has a handy “Collections” feature, which allows you to curate books on any theme you like. Since you can browse for free book previews, this is a really handy way to save a book you want to check out later. I can’t be the only one who will hear about an intriguing read, then think later, “What was the name of that book again?!” So with that, let me share a little more about my personal New Year’s resolutions and what you’ll find in my “2015 Goals” Kobo book collection:

Eat Your Veggies: One thing I have always struggled with – even at the best of times – is eating enough veggies. I love vegetables, but I either forget to grab them, don’t have time to prep them, or find myself too full to eat all of recommended servings. So far this month, I’ve hit my goal every single day by getting pre-washed, pre-cut bags of veggies to keep on hand along with V-8 Juice. Vegan Cookbooks: 70 Of The Best Ever Delightful Vegetarian Lunch Recipes….Revealed! by Samantha Michaels looks like a fun resource for creative veggie recipes to try this year!
Out With The Old: Another goal this year is to have a large family garage sale around June or July. 25 Easy Tips for a Profitable Garage Sale offers up advice on prepping for the big day – while having a garage sale is not always a small or easy project, it’s definitely worthwhile.
Born to Run: One exercise I haven’t done since my knee injury is running. I used to love jogging on the beach, but I haven’t had the confidence to do so after my injury, which is understandable. Fortunately, I’m 100% healed and have a goal of jogging again by March of this year. To prepare, I’m doing daily strength training and cardio to ease back in –
so Build Your Running Body: A Total-Body Fitness Plan For All Distance Runners, From Milers to Ultramarathoners — Run Farther, Faster, and Injury-Free looks like it could be an awesome resource to me!
Catch Some Zzzs: In addition to being a longtime insomniac, I’m also an overachieving workaholic who always pushes myself to stay up late finishing projects – then will wake up early the next morning to continue working on them. I can’t run on a sleep deficit forever, so I’m finally drawing a line in the sand and rearranging my schedule to make sleep the top priority that needs to be. Sleep Soundly Every Night, Feel Fantastic Every Day: A Doctor’s Guide to Solving Your Sleep Problems by Robert Rosenberg, DO, FCCP, is all about this topic and I’m sure would be an interesting read. I just won’t read it before bed, because I always stay up late if I start a book before I go to sleep! 😉
Live in The Present: Mindfulness meditation is a practice (Really, state of mind) that I want to continue pursuing this year. From what I’ve gathered, the best way to learn about mindfulness is just to do it – which, really, you could say of so many things. That being said, I find that reading about things I’m working on is a good way to keep my goals on my mind, since day-to-day real life has a way of overshadowing long term needs. Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana is a book I’ve had on my list for some time as it comes highly recommended.

Kobo has books available on virtually every topic, so no matter what your goals are this year, you’re bound to find something inspiring to read! And if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to make time for reading, Kobo invite you to take the Read More Challenge with this awesome giveaway: One winner will snag a $100 Kobo Gift Card to help them stock their virtual library in 2015. To get more details on the giveaway and enter for your chance to win, check out the widget below:

What are your goals for 2015? Which books do you plan to read?

Give The Gift of Reading #ReadMore

December 11, 2014 by Beeb 1 Comment

Disclosure: I am part of the PTPA Brand Ambassador Program with Kobo and I received Compensation as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

When I was growing up, books were always a common gift under the tree. I read voraciously as a child and always wanted to be a writer myself; in fact, I’m pretty sure that I was gifted at least one or two copies of Writer’s Market during my teenage Christmases in the 1990’s. Technology has changed a lot since then, but the joy of reading never disappears, no matter what the method. These days, I’m more likely to carry an electronic device onto a plane with me than a book, because bag space is always at a premium – traveling has changed a lot since the ’90s, too – which is why I’m so happy to have the Kobo App!

Thanks to Kobo, I can read ebooks on both my iPhone and iPad. Reading on my iPhone is great during flights, waiting in the doctor’s office, or wherever life might take me; and when I’m at home, I love to read on my iPad because it’s a format that looks and feels much more akin to a physical book, making for a relaxing experience. It blows my mind to think that from the palm of my hand, almost any book you can think of is accessible – there are 3.5 million titles available in the Kobo Store alone – remember they days when you had to put in an inter-library loan to try and get a specific book? Yes, times have changed, and anything that makes more books more readily available is a phenomenal thing.

Kobo’s free app works on a variety of devices, including Android, Blackberry, and Windows – but if you don’t have one or you’re looking to upgrade, here’s a great gift idea: The brand new Kobo H2O is an e-reader that is actually waterproof, so if you want to lounge in a bubble bath reading, you can do it! This would be an amazing present, especially for traveling bookworms or an avid reader who wants to make the digital plunge but isn’t sure how. A great way to introduce a hesitant friend or family member to ebooks would be to set up the tablet in advance and pre-load some books in their library – and if you need some inspiration, Kobo just announced their list of the top ten bestselling books in 2014:

Did any of your favorites make this list? The Kobo Store is a great place to get recommendations like these and read reviews. I’ve added a few of the books from this list to my Kobo library so I can have some new reads to flip through this month – or should I say, swipe through! Right now, I’m in the middle of reading Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life by my blogger friend, Crystal Paine. I love Crystal and really enjoy hearing from other people who are navigating my same career path and its unique challenges!

How would you like to win a Kobo shopping spree so that you can check out these and other great reads? 20 lucky winners will snag $100 Kobo eStore Credits – check out the widget below to get the full details and enter:

Kobo ‪#‎ReadMore‬ Challenge

What was your favorite book this year?

Our Reading Under the Stars Party #SummerReading

July 1, 2014 by Momstart 13 Comments

This is a partnered post all opinions are my own.

I have two of the best readers around. They both read books every night, they fall asleep with books in their beds, there are books under their beds and a pile under the covers. I often find myself wondering how they can sleep in that disaster. With that in mind, when we were asked to host a “Reading Under the Stars Party”in honor of Summer Reading it was a very easy yes!.

This year’s Summer Reading theme is Reading Under the Stars, and is powered by EVEREADY®, the maker of batteries and flashlights, to encourage families to discover new and fun ways to explore reading outside this summer. (we had to have ours inside because of the rain and lack of outdoor space)

Now in its 8th year, the Summer Reading Challenge program is dedicated to stopping the “Summer Slide” and getting kids to read throughout the summer months when school is out. Throughout the summer, kids will read around the galaxy and unlock star constellations as they log reading minutes. It’s really important to keep kids minds active during the summertime. Studies show that early and sustained summer learning opportunities improve academic outcomes for youth and lead to higher graduation rates and better preparation for college

Kids and their parents can log the reading minutes (online and on smartphones) as they Read for the World Record, enter sweepstakes to win fabulous prizes, and earn digital rewards when they complete weekly reading challenges. Also available on Scholastic’s website are reading resources. Kids can find book lists including the “Reading Under the Stars” themed list about stars, astronomy and camping. Our kids have decided that they really want to go camping in our back yard but it’s just not big enough.

Parents can track their students’ reading progress, access free Summer Reading Challenge Participation Guides for book lists (including Common Core-suggested titles), expert resources, activity sheets, a Star Guide, downloadable bookmarks and more.

In 2013, Scholastic inspired more than 130,000 kids from 4,200 schools in all 50 States and 31 countries to set a new record for summer reading of 176 million-plus minutes!

Be sure to Follow Along socially:

Like Scholastic Parents on Facebook
Follow Scholastic on Twitter and Instagram #SummerReading
Follow the Summer Reading Challenge Pinterest Board
Like the Summer Reading Challenge YouTube Playlist

Getting Kids to Read: Kellogg’s Partners with Scholastic

October 1, 2011 by Momstart 288 Comments

I love reading to Zoe and Miles. I’ve always read to them, Zoe when she was a baby, I read the last two Harry Potter novels to her. It was the only time I had to read to myself so I read them aloud. I slept when she slept, that was a time before I had my blog. Now, I have no time to read to myself and since Zoe and Miles absorb every word they hear I have to read age appropriate books to them. Now we read books like Pinkalicious and Cars 2 books.

The love of reading can start at a very early age, we as parents need to encourage it as much as we can. Providing kids with as many books and reading materials as we can is the first step. Taking your kids to the library often is also a great step. My children adore the library they love to go up to the shelves and pick out books to look at, sometimes they change their mind and it’s just amazing how free they feel to do that. It’s also so interesting to see their different interests in books. Zoe looks for books that are pink and purple and Miles looks for books with cars, trucks and scientific looking things on them. Knowing the importance of reading, this fall as you pick out snacks for school at Wal-Mart, you also have the opportunity to get a free book from Scholastic Book Clubs! Select specially-marked Kellogg’s products, including Raisin Bran®, Mini-Wheats® Little Bites Original, Nutri-Grain®, Eggo®, Pop-Tarts®, Cheez-it®, and Rice Krispies Treats®, which are available now exclusively at Wal-Mart. Whenever you buy two of these products you can redeem the codes found inside for a free $5 coupon for a free book from Scholastic Book Clubs or the Scholastic Store Online.

This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to the winner, Erica Best.

All rules can be found under giveaway rules. We received samples.

How to Connect With Reading …. And Your Little Reader

July 18, 2011 by Momstart 7 Comments

School’s Out… It’s the Middle of Summer… Now What?!?

This is part of a series here at MomStart called Teaching Tips:

If you have kids who are in school, summertime can be great. Day after day spent loving every extra second that you are getting to spend with your little lovelies. Then, you hear those words… “I’m booorrrreed.” Whether you’re lucky enough to be living somewhere that is giving you hot sunny days, or are suffering through dreary cloudy rainy-ness, it seems like all kids (regardless of age)utter those famous words. I even remember doing it when I was a kid.

Well, here’s the teacher to the rescue. No, I’m not about to rock your world, or offer you any miracle solutions. What I can do though, is give you a little more to talk to your kids about. Reading, reading, reading… you all know how important it is. There are TONS of local reading log programs, summer reading clubs, etc. in almost every area. All of those are good, great, and fine… but what can you do to build your child’s comprehension of what they are reading (or if they can’t read on their own yet “listening”)?

Research shows that when children (and even adults) build a greater understanding of what they are reading when they discover and make connections to the material. There are 3 specific types of connections that are important:

– Text to Self – Something in the book or story that the reader can personally relate to.

– Text to Text – Something in the book that reminds the reader of another something they have read.

– Text to World – Something in the material that makes the reader think of something they have seen or that is happening on a community or global level.

So what does all this mean? It means that you now have a few things that you can talk to your reader (no matter the age) about when they are reading! Yes, reading is important. Knowing how to talk about reading is just as important though! Next time you read a bedtime story, choose a page and ask if they’ve ever felt the way a character is feeling. Maybe instead you can ask after the book if it’s similar to any other books they’ve read. You can even ask if the book reminds them of anything they’ve seen happening lately (That question is pretty broad and is a little tricky for very young readers).

Helping your kids learn how to connect to the material they are reading will help them build SERIOUS comprehension skills. It helps them grow from just kids reading books into real READERS… readers who think about what they’re reading… and know how to talk about it! Give it a try. There really are no age limits to this strategy… well it might be a little early for my little guy, but it will work for any kid who can talk! Leave some comments and let everyone know how it goes. You may be surprised at some of the insight kids of any age have.

About Ashley:

Ashley has a background in teaching Kindergarten and working with children K through 8th grade. She is now a SAHM and a very active member of our local MOMS Club chapter. She writes her own blog at Momicles.

Aloha Friday – Do you Read Me?

April 30, 2009 by MomStart 33 Comments

Kailani says “In Hawaii, Aloha Friday is the day that they take it easy and look forward to the weekend. So I thought that on Fridays I would take it easy on posting, too. Therefore, I’ll ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response”. You should go to Kailani’s site and link up with Mr. Linky, but don’t be rude, be sure and answer her question

My Question:

Do you read me? And Thank you for all your answers so far. The Newsletter answers were mind opening. Made me re-think my stance.

Yes this is a very selfish question, but I’m trying to find out if people are just coming by for the giveaway or memes. I haven’t had time this past week to write any real articles because I’m getting ready for family to visit and at the end of every month I have to write the Newsletter for my MOMS club. I’m never on time.

I have been trying really hard to comment on all of you and I’m also trying to visit blogs just to read them and leave comments. What do you guys do?