When adults share their own stories with children, connections are built between people and literacy learning is nurtured.
Tag Archives: read aloud
Tears and Laughter–How Books Promote Emotional Health
Reading books with children and talking about what you read invites exploration of feelings and offers long-lasting permission to discuss all of life’s topics.
You Don’t Know Literacy Until You Know Jack
Even if a book that a child wants to read over and over is not considered great literature, it can be a powerful influence on that child’s literacy growth and development of loving books.
Slow Reading Invites Thinking, Discovery
I begin most days by reading the news. I read our local paper and a bit of national ones. I like to “keep up,” as us info junkies say. When I’m involved in something that prohibits my ability to read, I’ll listen to the news. I especially enjoy The New York Times online version’s invitation […]
Reading Aloud is Good for the Whole FAMILY
March is National Reading Awareness Month designed to showcase the value of reading. That’s a good thing, but the focus is always about better children’s reading, which belies the vast powers of sharing reading with the whole family. Sharing reading of anything by anybody within a family can be a HUGE asset for creating a culture […]
Robots or Readers?
Have you ever had a computer or phone read something for you on the screen? It’s a trick question. No, you haven’t. Nobody else has either. That’s actually a misuse of the word READ. It sure sounds like someone reading, but IT’S NOT READING. It’s robotic output of language-like noise. This reading-like noise might more accurately […]
Deeply Shared Books Create Community
I’ve mentioned before that I’m involved with a family literacy program called Prime Time* that meets in a lovely elementary school’s library once a week for six weeks. I take the role of discussant and my partner, an accomplished storyteller, initiates each book-inspired discussion with a fully dramatic read-aloud, peppered with sound effects, emotional fluency and […]
Two Simple Ways to Help Struggling Readers
If a family member or a friend of any age is a non-reader or has been diagnosed by an expert as having dyslexia or significant reading problems, odds are most of us won’t have any clear idea of how to help that person. But a good friend or loved one is worthy of our stepping up […]
What’s a Parent to Do…for School Success?
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 […]
The Cost of Free Books
I’m currently working with the Kentucky Humanities Prime Time Project in a school in my home town. The fabulous librarian coordinates this project which has invited 40 of the school’s Hispanic families (parents AND kids) to enjoy a light meal, some picture-book read-aloud time and participate in demonstrations of humanities-based conversations about the books once a week. Humanities conversations focus […]