Author: McKenzie Ross

I'm just a mom with a teaching license, raising my kids, and writing for this blog! Someday I hope to be back teaching when they are older, but for now, I'm here and loving it!
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FREE Fall Reading Bingo Printable

This morning the temperature dipped into the low 60s during our walk to school. Of course, I threw on my best fall sweater and some boots! I am a lover of fall, through, and though. By the time I walked home after dropping my daughter off, I was sweating like crazy in my fall clothes. This cooler weather is nice, but it’s not quite the fall season yet. We’re counting down the days to Autumn Equinox though!

While we all wait for arguably the best season of the year, we can prep ourselves by printing a fall reading bingo chart to work on. I’ve attached below a FREE download for you to use in your classrooms, libraries, and homes.

Our Summer Reading Bingo ended up being so popular that I’ve worked a little harder on our fall bingo page to be more… ahem… aesthetically pleasing. The Summer Bingo was fine and worked well, but it was something I made quickly on a platform not necessarily made for complex work. I’ve also made our fall bingo both in color and black and white format for printing.

Enjoy this free printable and let us know how it goes for you!

FallReadingBingoBWDownload
FallReadingBingoColorDownload

Cover Photo by Oleksandr P: https://www.pexels.com/photo/forest-345522/

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Teachers Aren’t Superheroes

While scrolling social media I came across a static photo of school-aged kids holding up a letter board that said, “Teachers aren’t superheroes.” 

Obviously, this is classic clickbait. I didn’t end up reading the caption, but it got me thinking… If I were writing the caption, it would sound something like this, 

Teachers aren’t superheroes. It’s true, they aren’t. They are living, breathing human beings with thoughts, feelings, to-do lists, and worries just like everyone else. 

We as a society are constantly talking about the superhuman abilities of teachers. And truly, they are incredible and giving human beings. But teachers are people that deserve to be respected and treated like.. Human beings. Not like superheroes. 

We shouldn’t expect them to swoop in and save the day every time a small problem arises. We shouldn’t think that they’ll have all of the answers to every single issue. Those are unrealistic expectations for anyone. 

Teachers are going home at the end of their contracted time and grading papers, putting together art projects, planning field trips, and more for our kids. They are working above and beyond what they are expected to do, and it takes a toll on them. 

So instead of treating them like superheroes, let’s treat them with respect. 

Let’s ask how we can support and help. Let’s ask what supplies we can bring in or how we can give time if it’s within our means. 

Let’s encourage and thank our teachers as much as possible. 

Let’s stop calling teachers superheroes. 

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What Do The Different Book Awards Mean?

Have you ever looked at a book title, noticed an award on the front cover, and wondered what exactly it meant? A shiny gold medal on the front is really cool, but if you don’t know the meaning, what merit does it have? 

I’ve fallen victim to this myself! I see library books on the shelves and think, “Oooh this one has an award on the front, it’s probably a great one to read!” and typically, it is! But what does the award even mean? What are the different awards? How do they compare to one another? 

Here’s a list of each of the awards, and each week I’ll be doing a deeper dive into each one. I could fit them all into one post, but I feel like each of them deserve plenty of space and their own designated post so that we don’t have to skip out on details! They’re all unique and remarkable in their own way and don’t deserve to be given any less than the best. 

The awards I will be covering are: 

Pulitzer Prize Award
Caldecott Award
Newberry Medal Award
Booker Prize
Goodreads Choice Awards
National Book Award
Women’s Prize for Fiction
PEN/ Faulkner Prize
Edgar Award

Is there an award missing on this list that you’d like to see highlighted? Let me know and I’ll add it to my list! 

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How Our Summer Reading Bingo Went

Earlier in the summer I posted a free Summer Reading Bingo printable that I made quickly for my daughter and myself to enjoy over the summer months and shared it with all of you. I also printed out a few copies and put them in our local library for our community to enjoy! Many kids used the bingo chart and the library even generously supplied them with stickers and suckers when they got a bingo! 

At our house, the bingo chart was a fun, low-pressure way to promote summer reading. I never offered an incentive, just the idea of getting bingo was incentive enough! 

We spent our summer days reading in trees, pulling out books at meal times, and finding new books to hit all of our new genres to try. My child would go for weeks without even acknowledging the bingo page and then she would go several days trying to accomplish as many as possible. 

It was all child-led and at her speed. It was a beautiful relationship that fostered her own love for reading! 

We’ve had so many friends interested in another reading bingo that we’ll be posting a new fall/back-to-school reading bingo in the coming months! I’ve also started some quick brainstorming for a Christmas reading bingo as well. 

Thanks for coming along on this ride with us, here’s to more independent, self-motivated reading kids!

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Meet Victor Caceres, A 2023 Scholarship Recipient

Meet Victor Caceres, one of our scholarship recipients. Victor is a graduating high school senior in the state of California that worked hard to renovate and build up his community food pantry. He writes, 

“My community is very much a middle to lower-class community. The people are kind and for the most part helpful. At St. Bridget of Sweden Catholic church, the people at Martha’s Pantry needed help to restore their run-down food bank. The issue I observed was that the pantry was not properly equipped to help the community with the distribution of food and other products to families in need of it. A lack of refrigerators and shelving units left the pantry and its volunteers vulnerable to properly helping out the community. My project aimed to provide the equipment and make a better environment for the pantry through the cleaning, painting, and installation of refrigerators and shelving units to it. Apart from this, my project beautified the facility so it and the St. Bridget community can now enjoy and engage more with the community at large.”

Victor is very involved in his community and really enjoyed being able to give back to those that need it the most. 

“Many people face hunger in the world. Los Angeles is no exception to this. The project’s main purpose was to renovate the rooms and install shelves for the pantry. In the big picture, the project will help the community by providing canned goods & non-perishable items for free to many of the less fortunate in the area. I believe my project will not only benefit the church community at St. Bridgets but many of the people who live in the Van Nuys area, especially the elderly who frequent Martha’s Pantry throughout the year for their goods. More than 200 people rely on the pantry per month and this number totals closer to 400 during the holidays.”  

He set his sights high and worked to make the pantry a usable, happy space for everyone. 

“The project is greatly needed as lately, the pantry has been suffering from a lack of donations. Simultaneously, the state of the building is getting worse. The community engagement needs to increase. Martha’s Pantry is a staple in our community. Although the volunteers are there, the current condition of the pantry impedes the amount of reach the pantry has. With my project, Martha’s Pantry is better than new and has helped over 200 people per month who rely on it for their food. My goal was to equip the pantry with all necessary equipment in the short run & in the long run. This along with the beautification of the pantry will have greater engagement and outreach with the community.”

Victor’s project is inspiring to all those that hear it. His dedication to not only Martha’s Pantry but to the community members that rely on the food pantry is incredible and a story worth sharing! 

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Scholarship Update

Our 2023 scholarship season is coming to a close. Our winners from this year blew us away with the impact they made on their communities and even the globe.

You can read an overview of the winners here.

We’ve also done personal interviews with almost all of the recipients. We still have one to come, the timing for an interview hasn’t worked out quite yet, but it’s coming!

Read Jalen’s story here

Read Fiona and Esther’s story here

Read Gitanjali’s story here

Read Austin’s story here

COMING SOON Read Victor’s story here

We’re also well on our way to bringing you the 2024 Build a Better Future scholarship! Once the updated scholarship has been successfully published and is live, we’ll let you know so that you can send the scholarship application to your favorite 2024 graduating high school senior.

Thank you to all of the 2023 scholarship winners for building a better future.

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Five Ways to Help You Pick the Right Book

When it’s time to pick a book, how do you know what’s good for you? Here are a few ideas: 

  1. Ask a trusted friend: It’s tried and true! If you have friends with the same book interests as you, they may have a good title up their sleeve to suggest. 
  2. Look for books with awards: Caldecott, Newberry, etc. If they have an award on their cover, it means it’s a good choice! 
  3. If you’re in a library, look for books that have multiple copies: If a library has multiple copies on hand, it means they have a lot of interest in the book and it’s in high demand. 
  4. Ask a teacher: Teachers are really good at a lot of things, but recommending books is a talent high up on their list. 
  5. Ask a librarian: If there’s anyone more qualified to recommend a book, it’s a librarian. Even if they don’t know you personally.

Bonus: Read many of the book lists that we’ve curated here on our blog! Books are a big part of our lives and sharing them with you brings us joy.