We all know that taking our kids to the library is a good thing. However, busy parents can’t always get to the library, much less take advantage of the programs offered.

Enter Bookie Bags: an age-appropriate reading package that comes home to you. Bookie Bags include a book, activity card and props for kids to use in completing activities and engaging in dramatic play.

Bookie Bags are not just any reading program. Bookie Bags multiply the power of reading in preschool minds by promoting critical thinking, problem solving and creativity.

Why Should Preschoolers Focus on Critical Thinking?

Critical thinking and problem solving skills are not just for adults. A preschooler’s natural curiosity is fertile ground for cultivating critical thinking. Research also shows that brain development is on “overdrive” before kindergarten.

Logos intentionally takes advantage of this special time in a child’s development by integrating early enrichment in its approach. Early enrichment at Logos is designed to give children skills and experiences, like Bookie Bags, to help them become creative thinkers and problem solvers. Of course, the teaching and experiences have to be fun too!

Spotlight: Bee Bookie Bags

In March, Logos students began a unit on bees to welcome Spring. They started learning about the amazing work bees do and the fact that we don’t need to fear them if we are careful. In addition to discovering a *secret* about bees, the Logos kids learned some new vocabulary like hive, nectar and pollen. The kids also did pollination experiments, played bee games to better understand the life of bees, “built” hives and did a project to help bees in their neighborhoods.

Bee Bookie Bags went home with the kids in mid-March to reinforce the learning theme. While there were a variety of book titles, each bag included materials or activities designed to increase their knowledge of and interest in bees. Items included a beekeeping dress up costume with accessories like a hat and protective netting, a bee pattern-making kit and a collection of bee poems and chants.

How “Bee Bookies” Boost Brain Power

The kids’ experience with “Bee Bookies” is a living example of the five ways Bookie Bags help our budding thinkers develop critical thinking skills.

Open Ended Discussion

The questions on the activity card create a great opportunity to ask questions about the story and make a connections to what the kids learn in school. In this way, students stretch their thinking by applying skills introduced in class such as evaluating choices, predicting outcomes and interpreting events.

Dramatic and Hands-On Play

Different book titles are provided each month but always include meaningful learning activities such as puzzles, sorting games, creative thinking exercises, building / creating something original or simulating a real event or profession.

For example: the beekeeper costume and story illustration of what beekeepers do enabled the children to play dress up and act out a beekeeper’s role. In one little guy’s case, this meant choosing to stay dressed up while he bounced on the trampoline “in case the bees need me”.

Choices and Creativity

Bookie Bags offer parents the opportunity to connect and engage their child through an act as simple as reading aloud or by also using the follow up activities to explore, create or review learning. In the process, the children often get creative with their actions and descriptions. In the case of the Bee Bookies, one child described bee larvae as “a tiny croissant”.

Knowledge Stretching

Bee Bookies helped the children supplement their knowledge about bees and the real-world problem of decreasing bee populations. Logos kids know that bees pollinate flowers, stay in their hive when it’s cold and that worker bees and queen bees have different attributes. They now know how bees help our world and how we can help theirs! Another knowledge stretcher is the use of bilingual Bookies (when available) to support the students increasing fluency in Spanish. This is done as part of Logos’ dual immersion program.

Problem Solving

The kids discovered how they could help solve the real-world problem they learned about. They learned three things they could do to help increase the bee population: 1) provide a food source, which they did by planting 2) provide a water source and 3) ask Mom and Dad to choose yard care products carefully. Giving preschoolers the opportunity to help solve real problems is empowering!

Logos’ Bookie Bag Program

Bookie Bags are the inspiration of Ms. Stephanie Green, Logos’ Early Enrichment teacher. Ms. Stephanie is passionate about developing the potential of children, locally and globally. She holds a Masters in Gifted Education and has spent more than 25 years working with children, including 10 years in the FCPS Advanced Academic Program. She loves international travel and assisting children in developing countries through sponsorship and advocacy. Ms. Stephanie lives in Chantilly with her husband and three children.

The program started in October 2017. Twice a month, Logos students bring home a Bookie Bag. This mobile reading program is a fun, informative way for families to share literacy and learning experiences at home. The books are theme-related, reinforcing things the kids are learning in class, like bees! The activities help the kids dive deeply into concepts they have learned about and encourage creative thinking. Having Bookie Bags come home with their child makes it easier for parents to follow through and connect home to school.

Students keep Bookie Bags for a week, then pass them on to a classmate. Some of the other Bookie Bag themes used this year include: