To lead children into reading proficiency, we must first activate the emotional needs that the artful language and the compelling illustrations touch in them.

To lead children into reading proficiency, we must first activate the emotional needs that the artful language and the compelling illustrations touch in them.
Set the stage for lifelong learning by teaching kids to breathe in wonderful information through reading and to breathe out their experiences and thoughts through writing.
Children signal a preparedness to learn to read and write by carefully observing what older kids and adults do and then asking questions. They carefully observe mature models of literate behavior who make themselves available during daily reading times and in the sharing of letters and birthday cards. Writing interest is reflected in children’s curiosity […]
I just read a marvelous short article by Paul Tough, author of Helping Children Succeed: What Works and Why, who shares that, “…there is overwhelming evidence that early childhood—the years before a child’s sixth birthday, and especially before her third—is a remarkable time of both opportunity and potential peril in a child’s development.”* The article […]
I’ve been reading other blogs. Almost all of them are cleverly written and insightful and offer ideas and experiences that are just a little beyond my pitiful reach. I’m enjoying being more fully educated…about anything! This morning, I encountered two blogs that were particularly poignant for me, offering a new place for me to stand in […]
We have to stop kidding ourselves and call out the elephant in the room. Early literacy does NOT equate to early preschool education. News story after editorial after article after ivory-tower speech nearly all continue to equate early childhood education with preschool. Preschool of course IS early, but take a small step back from the current […]