Dominican Republic

Tomorrow I will be leaving for an eight day mission trip to the Dominican Republic. I will be accompanied by 18 Taylor students, 2 teenage girls (one is my daughter) , and my co-leader. During our trip we hope to serve and help out any way we can. All of us will stay at Students International's base in Jarabacoa. Each day we will separate to various sites (education, sports, medical, social works, special education, art, dental, & social work). I will be housed at the sport's site where I will play baseball, lead a running clinic, and share my faith to 110 8-20 year olds. The last day I will put on a 2k race and distribute shirts the 110 Dominican boys. As a team we will also do two evenings of outreach (singing, drama, & testimony) in local villages.

One day I hope to take 10 of our elementary education majors to two of the Christian schools in Jarabacoa. We will take tours and see two recent TU grads (Natalie & Brooke). I am hoping for an opportunity to read out loud to both of their classes. TU also has two recent grads teaching in Santiago (Christie & Dave). Sorry you two, we will not have time to tour your school, but feel free to see us at the base.

When I return I hope to get to work on the NBLA list, and keep my blog updated better.

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw

I have just finished Jeff Kinney's last installment of the Wimpy Kid series. It was entertaining and like his previous diarys, I laughed out loud at times. However, I felt like I had been there and done that. The novelty of the format and the storyline seemed to wear off a little. Although, I do think Kinney writes about topics in which many readers will connect or at least be entertained.

Rating:

Happy Reading,

Dr. Quinn

Two Fun Read Alouds

Today I had the privilege to read to a first grade class and two third grade classes. Those of you that have had me as a professor know how much I love to read stories out loud. So you can imagine how happy I was to be in multiple elementary classrooms today.

Since I had been in these classrooms before, I asked them what they wanted me to read. Interestingly, both grade levels chose Dinosaur Versus Bedtime and I'm Bad. Personally, I love both books as read alouds because I can add a lot of energy to them, but I was a little surprised that the third graders wanted these as repeats. I would have thought they would want something a little more mature. After a quick informal survey with a few students, they said, "It's all about the voices." I tried to persuade them to let me read some new books to them, but they wanted the comfort of those books they enjoy. This was true in the first grade as well, because they chose the two dinosuar mentioned books above and two Pigeon books by Mo Willems.

Here is the bottom line: I love to read out loud; students love read alouds with dynamic voices; & if you haven't read either of the dinosaur books, you need to do so.

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn

The Little Word Catcher

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and the word you are about to say seems to have completely left your mind? Imagine that this begins to happen more and more frequently. How might it impact those around you? In The Little Word Catcher by Danielle Simard (Author) Genevieve Cote(Illustrator) young Elisa is worried because her grandmother is forgetting words more and more often.

This recently translated book is written and illustrated wonderfully. I love the connection between the grandmother and the granddaughter, and I especially appreciate the manner in which the two "share" words.

A gentle look at some early stages of Alzheimer’s

Happy Reading,
Dr. Quinn