Education

Books Make me Happy: My First Reading Log, (Workman Publishing, $9.95) is a perfect present for these young readers. The journal offers a way for children to document the books that they read, and encourages them to think about the books and what they mean.

A few years ago, author Judy Pelikan, spent her summer in a small New Hampshire town with a bookstore that sponsored a bookmark competition. She was so taken with the drawings submitted by local children that she began embroidering their artwork onto white linen. Each section for a book entry in the journal is introduced by one of these images. The images also inspire some of the questions that young readers can answer as they record their book consumption. One cute depiction shows a little girl reading to her dog with the caption, “I like reading to my dog. She likes books about cats.”

The journal contains space for the book title, author, illustrator, along with a set of questions, and a place for children to draw their own pictures inspired by the book. A set of adhesive bookplates highlighting the embroidered images also comes in the journal.

So you want to enroll your child in music lessons — or maybe you’re not quite sure — but, either way, you have a few questions. What age is right to start lessons? What instruments are good for beginners? What if they want to quit? Whether it’s “Twinkle,Twinkle Little Star” or Beethoven’s Fifth that you hope to hear, some basic guidance will get you right in tune.

From environmental science programs to building renovations that use eco-friendly materials, it’s not hard to find local schools carrying out successful green initiatives. Here’s a look at just a few of the many schools that proudly – and deservedly – bear the green moniker.

During the elementary school years most children are in a self-contained classroom — one room where they are taught most of their subjects. They have only one teacher, so she can regulate how much homework and how many tests students have on a given day.