Learners Lane Review and Giveaway

Disclosure: Other than the mentioned products, which I received directly from this sponsor for review purposes, I was not compensated for facilitating this review. All opinions expressed are my own. Your experience may differ. Mommy's Block Party and its team members are not responsible for prize fulfillment or shipment- this is the understood responsibility of the giveaway sponsor.

Before my kids were born, I already had accumulated storage bins of ideas, activities, and books from being a Kindergarten teacher. I knew that when the time was right, my kids would benefit from all of the information stored in these bins. I loved being able to pull stuff out and use it with them and still continue to do that to help promote their love of learning and especially with reading. If I hadn't been a teacher, I would not have had these resources at hand and maybe I wouldn't even know what to do with my kids to encourage them. Luckily, I recently was sent an awesome book that shares a plethora of ideas, activities, games, and more right at your fingertips to share that knowledge and love.

Learners Lane is a company, created back in 2000, in a living room, by teachers/parents Michelle Vallene and Suzie Connor. They were searching for the best ways to help their children learn to read. They developed a reading curriculum and started teaching groups of young children right from the home. After expanding to local community centers and summer programs, they also added a math enrichment program, chess, and offered individual tutoring. Within the past three years, they have added in a preschool reading and math classes in their area and also started offering products directly to families to use in the home.

Our Learners Lane package has arrived!

Inside I found a CD and book "What Children Need to Learn to Read" by founder of Learners Lane, Michelle Vallene

This 213 page book was published in 2010 and is an amazing resource for parents, teachers, and other adults to encourage literacy in young children.

-About the Author-

Michelle Vallene lives in Washington state, is married and has three children. She has a teaching degree with endorsements in English and reading. She taught at a few different elementary schools in the Washington area before taking time off to raise her children. During her break from teaching, she started Learners Lane and is now also back teaching part time while continuing to grow her Learners Lane company.

"What Children Need to Learn to Read"

This book is broken down into sixteen helpful and informational chapters, each designed with helping children to read in fun and exciting ways. By breaking down the chapters, you can have easy access to exactly what you need to build solid literacy foundations for your children. It is well written, easy to understand, and does not overwhelm you with so many facts and research that you tune out.

In the early chapters, the book specifically gives parent/teacher tips for babies, toddlers, and preschool/early elementary children with some wonderful ideas that not every parent/teacher will have thought of. My favorite tip is about visiting local library/book store story times. We have always taken advantage of our local library and the kids love it. The book also gives checklists for different age groups and what appropriate skills they should have to become successful readers.

Chapters that follow include age appropriate games, rhymes, music, songs, and activities. One of our favorite things to do, whether we are waiting in the doctor's office, driving in the car, or just sitting downstairs, is I Spy. I loved seeing this game listed as a literacy builder. The middle chapters start giving sight words, phonics, comprehension, listening, writing and activities on how to use them. With B being in Kindergarten, he brings home sight words weekly, which we then hang up around the house to see on a daily basis. We also work on story writing with both kids. I staple 2 or 3 sheets of paper together and let them draw pictures on each page, with B I have him sound out the words to his stories and with S I let her dictate and I write. I know that being a former teacher, I have an advantage to know what is important for my kids to be working on, but not all families do. This book gives great tips and ideas to get you started, keep you motivated, or just trying something new.

Also included with the book is a CD of rhymes and songs that corresponds with a few chapters from the book.

Michelle Vallene and her daughter, Brianna Vallene, compiled this collection of favorite children's songs to accompany her book, "What Children Need to Learn to Read." It features all the songs and rhymes that appear in her book. It is a great collection that kids can easily sing along to. As they are singing along, they are learning skills that will help them learn to read in an easy, fun way. They are learning rhyming, patterns and phonetic skills which have been proven to make children better readers.

By far our favorite song on the CD is "Can't Catch Me". S sings this song at school so she was thrilled to hear it when it came on the radio. She knew the words, and while it was a bit different than what she does at school, she sand right along with excitement. B liked "Peter, Peter" because he is a huge fan of nursery rhymes and up until recently we recited many, many rhymes before bed.

"What Children Need to Learn to Read" is a great resource for anyone who is involved with children from birth to early elementary students. It provides tons of ideas, activities, checklists, and tips to help you guide your children to be lifelong readers.

Want It? Buy It!

Interested in learning more about Learners Lane? Visit their company website and check out all they have to offer. You can order "What Children Need to Learn to Read" on Amazon for $14.95. You can also read the 8 customer reviews-all 4 stars or higher! You can find and "LIKE" Learners Lane on Facebook or follow Learners Lane on Twitter for ideas, information, and photos. Learners Lane also has a YouTube page, so make sure to check that out as well.

Want It? Win It!

One lucky MBP reader will win a copy of Michelle Vallene's "What Children Need to Learn to Read" from Learners Lane. Just use the Rafflecopter entry form below to enter to win. Remember- if the entry field appears in BOLD, it's mandatory.

Thank you to Michelle and Learners Lane for offering us the informational book and CD and also offering one as a giveaway!