Last week, I commented upon the power of relaxed, humanities-focused* conversation around good books and the impact of that conversation on children’s developing literacy. In this case, literacy includes all modes of engagement throughout life in clear and joyful mastery of print communication. The result of coming of age in families and schools with cultures […]
Instead of using “reading” books, the recommendation is to fill classrooms with books rich in age-appropriate subject matter (e.g., science, mathematics, the social studies and humanities, the arts, etc.). The argument is that using books of random content designed for merely improving students’ reading test levels until 3rd grade haven’t worked for schools or children. The […]
I spend a lot of time suggesting ways to support preschool children to guarantee that they will have joyful school lives and do well when they enter formal schooling. I offer below what families do that help assure children will enjoy school success from the time they enter kindergarten. If one wanted to make sure children are […]
It’s always nice to receive good news, isn’t it? A Twitter account calling itself “The Library Haunter” last month supplied some great news (shown here) for those of us who are appreciative of and dedicated to literacy, but especially book literacy. Now, what I call book literacy isn’t just any old kind of literacy. It’s […]
Regularly, I read journals and other publications written for literacy professionals like me. I subscribe to several, and with the blossoming of online publishing archives, along with my university’s library, I have access to the world. Because part of my work is to collect translations and narrations of books for beginning readers in the Unite […]
I spend a lot of time suggesting ways to support preschool children to guarantee that they will have joyful and successful time in school. But what about when they’re not in school? Even for short periods of time, like Holiday or summer breaks? Well, I invite you to glean ideas from the following list of what […]
Good readers don’t necessarily think about wanting to read better, they typically just want more time to read. Struggling readers certainly don’t want to spend any more time reading, they just want to read better–or not at all. Hmmm….but what if struggling readers DID want to spend more time reading? Researchers uniformly predict their reading […]
How do adults decide when a child has read enough? How much is enough as part of homework, or a read-a-thon of Harry Potter or other popular books, or interesting websites? There are lots of folks waving red flag figures targeting what is too little time for children reading on their own. One common recommendation is for primary and […]
“Read to your kids!” That directive echoes down the halls of every maternity ward, is heard in the waiting rooms of every good pediatrician’s office and is certainly in every school classroom, regardless of the age of a student. But that statement packs so much more meaning, and too often the larger message is lost, turning what […]
Last week, the New York Times reported that a federal judge “dismissed a class-action lawsuit brought by students at troubled schools in Detroit and found that ‘access to literacy’ is not a constitutional right…” My organization and I easily qualify as pro-universal literacy. So, should we be happy or distressed by this legal determination that […]
