To become strong lifelong readers, kids need to read every day. If kids aren’t reading daily, there are three simple things to fix that: Books. Opportunities. Models. Children need books that touch their hearts, because kids eagerly read books they love, with characters or content they can personally relate to. That might sound simple, but […]
It’s time we stop worrying about yearly achievement scores and start worrying about our children’s futures in fuller ways. Achievement defined by the popular Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is “to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life,…”* …and life? Hmmm. […]
Those who love to make music, who take joy from an instrument, never have to be told to go practice. True musicians will play even when their families don’t want them to. They do it because they love it. I’m not speaking about the child who can play because he was forced to take lessons, […]
In the summertime, after the glow of being endowed with the riches of what at that age seem endless days and weeks of freedom, there comes a time when children are faced with the rare though significant opportunity of facing down their own boredom. Such discomfort is the greatest gift of them all in summertime […]
Memorial Day! Summertime! School’s out. Now what?! The largely quiet local school now echoes the footsteps of maintenance workers and custodial staff. There’s a radio playing somewhere down the long, newly-polished hall. Office folks are relaxed in going about their work. Lots to do, but no worries about interrupting or interfering with teaching or learning. All […]
One of the benefits of wide and frequent reading and the conversation that springs from it is the durable expansion of a strong reading, writing and speaking vocabulary. Children whose writing is simple and inexpressive, or who struggle to verbally share their thoughts, feelings and needs often suffer from a lack of essential language skills. Unaddressed, […]
Given the hate-filled event of this past week, it seems the perfect time to remind ourselves of the natural love in what we do here at Unite for Literacy. Providing books—the artifacts of an author’s existence—releasing them to the world, reaching out to others, even across space and through time, nurtures unity in a community. […]
As we all know, regular libraries are places where you to go borrow books. The books we check out are ours for a couple of weeks and then we take them back so others can have them. Those books are then theirs for a time during which they can benefit from the joy and information […]
As I write this, it’s the first full day of autumn. Schools are now in high gear and kids are starting to trade in their shorts and T-shirts for jeans and hoodies, fending off the early morning chill. Here at Unite for Literacy, kids are showing up in rapidly growing numbers, reading again in our free online […]
17 Great Read-Alouds for Preschoolers! 23 Never-Fail Read-Aloud Choices! Reading Aloud—the Launch-pad for Great Conversation! Parents and teachers see these kinds of headlines all the time. They are a constant reminder of the importance of reading with our kids and of the truly fabulous and fairly steady stream of wonderful book choices available from […]
