Special Days in August

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August is

Children’s Vision and Learning Month. Have fun with some optical illusion and matching games from the Children's Vision Information Network. Also, The American Optometric Association website has links to programs that can help with eye exams.

Get Ready for Kindergarten Month. Check out a book about Kindergarten to get ready!

Word of the month: onomatopoeia: The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. In the sentence The bee buzzed around the room, the word buzzed is an example of onomatopoeia.

August 2 The first Lincoln penny was issued on this day in 1909. Visit spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/penny-games for several penny games.

August 3 National Watermelon Day. Read Watermelon Day by Kathi Appelt or Watermelon Mystery by Paul Hutchens. The Indiana State Fair Starts today in Indianapolis.

August 6 Gertrude Ederle, age 19, became the first woman to swim the English Channel on this day in 1926. Read about her and others in  Ladies first : women athletes who made a difference by Ken Rappoport.

August 8 It’s Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s birthday. It’s a classic: Rawling’s The Yearling, about a boy who adopts an orphaned fawn.

August 9 Smokey Bear has a birthday. Visit the Smokey Bear website to learn about wildfire prevention.

August 11 The Perseid Meteor Shower will best be visible tonight. Plan a stargazing party!

August 15 It’s E. Nesbit’s birthday. If you haven’t read British author Nesbit’s children’s books, check one out this month.

August 18 It’s Bad Poetry Day. Just for fun, try writing a bad poem. Read some books about poetry.

August 21 Hawaii becomes a state on this day in 1959. Read a book about Hawai'i.

August 22 Tooth fairy fun. Read a book about the Tooth Fairy and make tooth fairy boxes. Visit familyfun.go.com/crafts/tooth-fairy-box-670436 for directions.

August 25 It’s Ian Falconer’s birthday. Visit Olivia the Pig’s website.

August 26 Women’s Equality Day Today commemorates the passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave women full voting rights in 1920. Read The taxing case of the cows: a true story about suffrage by Iris VanRynbach.

August 27 Banana Lovers Day. Listen to Bananaphone by Raffi or visit www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/banana.html for some banana “action” songs.

August 28 It’s Allen Say’s birthday. His book, Drawing from Memory, will give readers insight into this wonderful illustrator.

Q: Why is the math book so unhappy?

A: Because it's full of problems!

“One mosquito can keep me ‘awaker’ than a bad conscience.” — Anne of Windy Poplars by L.M. Montgomery

(There are five horses in the optical illusion photo.)