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The Reading House is a NEW Learn-To-Read Program for Children Ages 4–8

THE READING HOUSE (Random House Children’s Books) is a new learn-to-read program for children ages 4-8, developed by reading and literacy specialist Marla Conn. Marla joined Gino on the Magic Morning Show today and told us all about the series and program.

Designed with a clear, step-by-step method and recurring characters and stories, the books teach essential reading concepts to children in a fun, appealing, and engaging format. Perfect for at-home or in-classroom learning, this series proves that learning to read can be fun.

The included instruction guide means any parent or teacher can ensure success wherever they are! Consisting of 12 boxed sets all releasing in 2021, The Reading House program guides children from letter recognition to phonemic awareness all the way to independent reading.

Each boxed set contains 12 leveled storybooks, an activity sheet, a teaching guide, and a progress sticker sheet. The storybooks use recurring characters and stories, helping kids recognize words and understand meaning through context clues and familiarity.

Click below to listen to the interview with Marla Conn and to get more information – click the book!

 
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Taylor Swift Has The Top Album Of 2020

Taylor Swift landed the No. 1 spot on Rolling Stone’s Year-End Top 200 Albums Chart.  Her eighth studio album, folklore, pulled in close to 2.3 million album-equivalent units in 2020. 

Overall, Swift has five albums on the year-end RS 200, with Lover coming in at No. 28, Evermore at No. 63, 1989 at 116 and Reputation at 165.  The only artist with more albums on the year-end chart is Drake, with six albums.  

Lil Baby’s sophomore album My Turn took the No. 2 spot with 2.1 million album-equivalent units. Pop Smoke’s Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon, The Weeknd’s After Hours and Juice World’s Legends Never Die round out the top five. 

Check out the full Rolling Stone’s Year-End Top 200 Albums Chart here.

Watch Taylor’s video for the lead single off of folklore, cardigan.

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Have You Noticed A Color Change In The River?

America’s rivers aren’t all running blue anymore. A new study analyzed satellite images of the nation’s rivers, and found that about one in three have changed colors over the last three decades. Specifically, they’ve gone from blue to shades of yellow or green since 1984. This isn’t necessarily terrible news as so many variables are involved, but the experts note this fairly simple metric can be one more tool they can use in gauging the health of waterways. The report looked at more than 235,000 images from between 1984 and 2018, and more than half of US rivers were yellow, about a third were green, and eight percent were blue. Usually, rivers turn yellow due to excess sediment and green due to excess algae—the former is more likely in man-made bodies of water, while the latter could be due to climate change as warmer waters are more likely to breed algae. The experts say they “do not believe there are any immediate threats to human health” indicated by the colors.

Read more about it here.

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Feel Good Story of the Week: Man Wins Jackpot After Playing Numbers from Movie

A Kentucky man who scored a $2 million jackpot from a Powerball drawing told state lottery officials he took his numbers from an unusual source — a movie. The Caldwell County man, who requested anonymity, has been playing the same numbers for years: 10-24-27-35-53. The winner started playing the numbers after taking them from a movie in which the main character used them to win a lottery jackpot…but the man said he couldn’t remember the name of the movie. He plans to use his winnings to retire and spend more time with his family.

Click here for more.

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Justin Bieber Releases New Single Produced By Andrew Watt

Justin Bieber just released his new single “Anyone,” produced by Grammy-winning producer, musician, and recording artist Andrew Watt. Also featured on the song is Charlie Puth playing piano.

Watt contributed to Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding, both up for Grammy Album of the Year. He also oversaw Miley Cyrus’ newly released Plastic Hearts. Bieber’s new track follows his recent 2021 Grammy nomination for Producer of the Year.

“Anyone” is a power ballad about eternal love and was co-written by Bieber, Watt and four others.

Check out the music video below!

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Box Office Recap – 01/04/2021

The first weekend of 2021 brought in just $13 million, compared to the record-making $219.5 million of 2016. Wonder Woman 1984 topped the box office with $5.5 million, down 67% over its opening weekend, for a total domestic haul of $28.5 million. Many are blaming the low turnout on the fact that Warner Bros. opted to release the Gal Gadot-toplined Patty Jenkins production on HBO Max. 

No word yet on how the release helped boost subscribers to the nascent streamers. Croods: A New Age came in second with $2.18 million. 

Looking back at 2020, there’s bad news and good news. The bad news is the pandemic devastated many businesses, and the film industry was hit hard. The 2020 domestic box office fell 80% to $2.3 billion, behind China’s haul of $2.7 billion. This is the first time China beat North America’s totals. In another first, a Chinese film, The Eight Hundred, topped the box office with $440 million. Hollywood’s biggest earner was Sony’s Bad Boys for Life, which opened in mid-January and brought in $413 million. Next up was Sam Mendes’ 1917, which took in $385 million after opening on January 10th. 

The first tentpole released post-pandemic, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, starring Robert Pattinson, brought in $362 million worldwide. 

2019 brought in $11.4 billion; this year’s receipts were the lowest in 40 years as many cinemas faced shutdowns for nine+ months in the U.S. Globally, movie ticket sales are expected to bring in $11.5-$12 billion, down from 2019’s $42.5 billion.

Now, for the good news. Women directed a record number of films last year, according to a study from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University. Women comprised 16% of directors who helmed the 100 highest-grossing films in 2020, up from 12% in 2019 and 4% in 2018. 

High-budget efforts include Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey and Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984. Others, including Zhao’s The Eternals and Cate Shortland’s Black Widow were pushed to 2021 due to the pandemic. 

CHECK IT OUT:

Read the Full Story: http://bit.ly/3hHsufA

Read more here: http://bit.ly/2LiLd4H

 Top 10:

  1. Wonder Woman 1984, $5.5M
  2. Croods: A New Age, $2.18M
  3. News of the World, $1.69M
  4. Monster Hunter, $1.25M
  5. Fatale, $700K
  6. Promising Young Woman, $660K
  7. Pinocchio, $284K
  8. The War With Grandpa, $114K
  9. Alien, $75K
  10. Come Play, $55K

 

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Feel Good Story of the Week – Virginia Man Finds Stolen 1969 Camaro After 17 Years

A Virgina man was finally reunited with his 1969 Camaro—17 years after it was stolen. Tommy Cook said that his beloved vintage car was stolen from his auto repair lot in Woodbridge, VA in 2003. At the time, the vehicle was painted Hugger Orange and did not have an engine. Cook reported the Camaro stolen and continued to renew its missing status in the years that followed. He says that he never gave up hope that they would be reunited one day. Finally, 17 years later, a friend of Cook’s asked him to come to an auto shop to look at a 1968 Camaro he was considering purchasing. When he arrived, it was a 1969 Camaro in the corner of the garage that caught Cook’s eye. Despite the fact that it was hoodless, painted green, had an engine installed, and bore a fraudulent VIN on the dashboard, Cook had a feeling about it and dug deeper. He quickly learned that the car had, in fact, originally been painted Hugger Orange. He checked the VIN in a different location on the vehicle (under the hood) and it matched his missing car. The 1969 Camaro had apparently changed hands four times since being stolen in 2003, during which time many expensive improvements had been made, including the installation of an engine.

For the full story and pictures click here.