Gimmicks

How do you feel about gimmicks? Gimmicks are often thought of as low quality, fleeting, trendy or even evil. On the other hand, the rules of the natural world and the growth of our bodies and minds are real and lasting. When these two forces collide, it can be incredibly powerful. Case in point:

National Geographic Angry Birds

I can't tell you how long my dear son spent looking at these books in Barnes and Noble yesterday and he didn't even think he learned anything despite the fact that these books are full of information about animal identification, habitat, geography and behavior. Thankfully, our local library has several books from this series in circulation. I will definitely be recommending it to gift givers this holiday season.

I am generally not a fan of gimmicks, but when used well, they can be great tools for helping children build important skills. I recommend that you check out trendy books and see if they meet your standards. You may be pleasantly surprised!

Always time for reading

My kids didn't win any prizes with their summer reading programs. They never turned in enough time sheets. But they certainly spent time reading! I treasure the moments when they are sitting side by side behind the couch with my son encouraging his sister to try new words. It sounds something like, "Do you want to be a teenager and not be able to read this?" I get a good chuckle out of his frustrations and appreciate his overall patience and honest encouragement. I'm often frustrated myself by having to pick up mountains of books for the thousandth time. Or when I need to say, "This really is the last one," my arms loaded with library books. On those busy days, when I need to be working on something or when we can't mess up the house because we just finished cleaning it, we turn to our trusty friends, books. I'm thankful for them. They are always waiting there on the shelf with plenty of time for us, even on the busiest of days.

Still here, reading

I hope you are enjoying the summer that finally arrived in my neck of the woods, where we call it our "neck of the woods." Summer is one of my favorite times for reading, probably stemming from a childhood of school vacations that allow for seemingly endless, uninterrupted hours to get lost in a good book. With all the summer activities available my kids, I have to be careful to guard their uninterrupted reading time. This week, after an especially fruitful trip to the library, during which I stumbled upon a chapter book entitled "Bug Boy," my son spent a solid three hours finishing the book cover to cover! (If you know my son, he plans to be an entomologist when he grows up, so this work of fiction about a boy who can turn into a bug was right up his alley.) If you have a Bug Boy or Bug Girl in your family, they may be interested in these titles by Carol Sonenklar. Or they may like a non-fiction book about bugs, which my son would typically read.

I also like summer for all the summer reading programs available. My kids can earn a free book at Barnes and Noble. They enter to win prizes at the local library. I'm sure there are many other summer reading programs that people could share in the comments. Incentive programs are wonderful, especially when they recognize the value of time spent listening to an adult read as equal to the time spent reading independently. Incentives can be just the ticket to get a reluctant reader motivated to put in the time necessary to discover a love for reading. But parents beware: incentives programs can just as easily squelch a spark of love that is ready to leap into a flame. If we make reading about an external goal and not about the enjoyment of the act of reading, we may be defeating the purpose. Two reading programs is really more than my kids want to do. They read a ton, but need reminders to fill in their time sheets and recording titles. And I'm okay with that. It means they get the point - reading is fun!

Books for taking turns

We just discovered a new series of easy reader books. Bear with me if you've already heard of them because they've obviously been around a while, but they are new to me. And they are fabulous! The series is We Both Read. Check out their website or search "we both read" on your library's search engine. These books have a parent's page on the left and a child's page on the right. They come in a range of levels.

The wonderful part about these books is how well they are written! The parent's page includes rich new vocabulary words for young readers. It helps the story move along for the youngster with a short attention span (the series includes non-fiction titles for your boys non-fiction fans). The child's page uses common sight words. Some new words are introduced on the parent's page, then repeated often on the child's pages. The child's page also includes short passages with larger print. And yet (here is the tricky part), the text is still well written, matching the flow of the story.

We had so much fun with The Frog Prince last night that I absolutely had to share! It really kept my daughter motivated to continue reading even though she was tired and it was hard work. I kept saying, "We can put in a bookmark and finish tomorrow." But she dug deep and continued on. That's the sign of a good book!

I have come across other books that utilize this same concept in the past, but I find they are not usually well-written, enjoyable books to read. We will definitely be trying more books from this series. I noticed some of the books listed on the website (the "Elephant and Piggie" series and "You Read to Me, I'll Read to You") were also books I would recommend as fun for taking turns reading. Please add any additional suggestions in the comments! Happy Reading!

Finding information

Why do you read? Reading has many purposes. We often have opportunities to model for our children reading for pleasure and for information. It is wonderful to see our children start to pick up books for fun. It is all the more exciting when they pick up books to find information.

There are innumerable ways we rely on reading for information. Looking up a new bug or finding a favorite recipe are examples. In our testing this week, there was a section about using resources like an atlas, dictionary, or index to search for desired information. Thankfully our family enjoys hunting for information, so this was a fairly easy section. As a side note, there was sure a lot of reading in the test, even in the math section.

My five-year-old confirmed again today that we start practicing information gathering skills from an early age at our house. She was doing an activity in her princess magazine. It was a list of four true and false questions. She brought it to me completed, proudly telling me she got all the answers right! I was in awe! The sentences were complicated and, while she has been surprising me with her rapidly growing reading proficiency, I couldn't believe she had actually read them! Then she confessed, "I didn't read them. I just circled random answers and then checked in the back. And I got them all right!" Way to use your resources, girl!

Classics

I enjoyed this short article from Reading Rainbow about the value of teaching children classic literature. I would expand on it to include that children also learn patterns in storytelling from classic literature. Many of the old fairy tales have been remixed and new versions appear or appear in other forms from countries around the world. There are Cinderella tales from many cultures. What a rich learning experience for children to compare and contrast these tales. It builds higher order thinking skills when you look for things that are the same and different between these stories. Then go one step further and write or tell your own version of a classic tale.

Books are always being written and new classics are born. I wouldn't be surprised if Horton's Miraculous Mechanisms is one of these. This is my son's favorite book this week. When he reads seven chapters in the middle of the night, I know the book is a winner!

What are your favorite classics? What new books do you predict will become classics? Add your thoughts in the comments!

Pattern and prediction

For those very beginning readers, books with patterns are great! I was reading the Mercer Mayer classic, "Just Go To Bed" with my five-year-old this afternoon. I really pushed her reading skills today. Two things that we relied on heavily during our reading was pattern and prediction. On each new page we first studied the illustrations. Looking to see what was happening in the pictures gave us a great head start to figuring out the words. Another big help was the repetition in the book. We would look back to find where we had read a word before to help us. (She has been known to do this on her own. We've been playing Draw Something, a smartphone app which is like Pictionary, and she went to find her Click magazine to find how to spell "nose" because she remembered she could find it there! How resourceful!) Between these two strategies and  her base knowledge of phonics, she did great and was very proud.

Another fun strategy that I used when she started to get frustrated was using humor and word play. At one point the character dressed as a "bunny." When sounding out "bunny," I suggested funny things. I don't hesitate to use bathroom humor, so "butt" is not off limits :) That lightened the mood and gave her a spurt of energy to try reading a little longer. When we focus on prediction and making sense of what we are reading, we reinforce reading for understanding. Isn't that the ultimate goal?

(Note: I actually have a post from YESTERDAY, too! :) Go me!)

Measuring progress

Testing season is coming! I have a confession to make. I love testing! I love taking tests, giving tests, and getting results. The concrete measurements fulfill something in me. To get a rank and measure of progress can not only be reassuring, but it can be useful! And if a test involves filling in those bubbles, that's an extra special kind of fun.

As a parent and teacher, I've been known to give a sight word vocabulary test using the SORT (which they trained us to use in college) every six months when my child's reading was really exploding. Using that test I would get a grade level year and month for my child's vocabulary (ex. 3.1 equals third grade, first month). I like to be able to look at a book, find out the level, and be able to get a good idea if it will be easy or hard for my child to read. Independent books should be at or slightly below level, instructional books should be slightly above level so as not to be overly frustrating but provide a challenge, and read-aloud books should generally be above level. To find out the reading level of a book, the Accelerated Reader program has leveled many books, but there are other measurement systems out there and many easy readers at your library will have the reading level printed on the back of the book.

Now that my son is a proficient reader, he often amazes me at what he can read. Sometimes I begin reading a book aloud and he can't wait for me to continue so he reads on his own. I will call up a book quiz on Book Adventure.com to find out that he can pass the comprehension test with no problem. There are other sources of book quizzes. The Magic Tree House website has comprehension quizzes available for the books in that series. Please comment if you know of others. Like I said, I love tests! They help me to be able to know for sure if my child understood what he read when he is reading on his own.

My five-year-old also surprises me with the words that she can read as I help her decode an Easter card or preschool morning message. This week at school she had to answer, "Do you want the snow to be gone?" "Yes, no, or maybe." That test question was an easy one. The answer was an emphatic "yes!"

I Got Schooled

Last night in a group of parents of preschoolers we were talking about literacy - a topic that I love, obviously. It so happened that there were several parents in the group who had older children with learning disabilities. So as I'm going along talking about laying a foundation for early reading, they were there to remind me that all this stuff I'm talking about doesn't work for all kids. It was an important reminder and I immediately knew that I needed to share it here. There really are a LOT of things that can interfere with a child's ability to read that are entirely out of a parent's control. They are also beyond the scope of most classroom teachers. They require experts. Psychologists, special education teachers, or learning coaches can help remedy these issues or help children work with the skills they do have so they can be successful. So if you have a young child who has no interest in learning to read and you really think it should be coming by now or an older child who is very frustrated because they can't read as well as they want to, don't hesitate. Get an evaluation done. With a proper diagnosis of the problem, steps can be taken to help your child be successful. Trust your instincts as a parent and if something feels wrong, don't wait. Get it looked into. Push your school district for testing if you need to push, but you shouldn't need to. A parent expressing a concern and asking specifically for testing should produce immediate results. The sooner your child feels successful as a reader, the sooner they will be on the path to independent learning.

Special note to homeschooling parents: Please don't feel intimidated by your school district. They want to help all children learn. They may encourage you to put your child into public school. It may be very difficult to hear. But bring as much support as you need to any meetings and, as always, don't sign anything you haven't read thoroughly and feel comfortable with. As an educator, you understand that information is power. Get the information. There are a whole range of services available to your child. As your child's teacher, you choose which resources to incorporate into their education. Just as all parents do.

Happy Martin Luther King Day

I love Martin Luther King Day. While all the other kids in our area have the day off of school, my homeschooler announces to our pastor in front of church during children's message that homeschoolers never get days off. Good boy! Today is certainly not one that I want to take off. Celebrating an important historical figure and role model as Martin Luther King Jr. is something I want to concentrate on in our schooling. Today we read books about Martin Luther King. We took turns reading and listening. We learned a LOT of new vocabulary. Here are some of the titles I especially enjoy:

Center book title

You can tell Dr. King was an inspiring man by the art work he inspired people to create. The illustrations in these books are incredible. The Story of Ruby Bridges is a powerful one for young children. She was a very brave little first grader during a difficult time in the civil rights struggle. Matthew and Tilly is a great book for young ones. This story is the realization of Dr. King's dream. A little black girl and a little white boy are best friends, but it talks about friendship, anger and forgiveness. These are all very immediate topics for young children when the issue of segregation is thankfully so foreign to them. Martin Luther King day is the perfect opportunity to talk about the many shades of skin color and how we should be kind to everyone and get to know them without worrying about what they look like on the outside. These books are very applicable to our lives today.

My eight-year-old learned a lot of new vocabulary words today when we read the I Have a Dream speech. I'm sure he has heard some of them before, but you need multiple hearings to really cement new words into your vocabulary. Words like emancipation, poverty, prosperity, segregation, negro, manacles, divinity and reverend are difficult words that he will very likely not see again... until next year.

MLK timeline activity from the Mailbox 

Happy Belated New Year

As if things weren't busy enough around here, then come the holidays! It was a great month. Things are settling back into a routine. We got a lot of WONDERFUL new books for gifts. My son loves non-fiction and he got some books with bright, colorful photo illustrations. DK readers, National Geographic and Eyewitness books are all winners with my boy. He can find an illustration that interests him and read about it. He is a very visual learner, so this type of book is right up his alley.

He enjoys chapter books if we read together, but when he reads on his own, he will more often pick up one of these books, a Lego magazine, Ask or Appleseeds magazine. All of which, in my opinion, are great choices. I'm amazed at the things he knows from his reading. He would not learn as much reading novels, even though novels are my idea of fun reading. To each their own!

On a sad note, my daughter turned 5, so she received her last Imagination Library book. This program has delivered a much anticipated book to our mailbox every month for FREE thanks to Dolly Parton, our local United Way, and many more sponsors. It is available for all children in our United Way service area from birth until their fifth birthday. We have loved this program and graduation is bittersweet. I will have to look for a quality magazine subscription to take its place. We have enjoyed the Cricket family of magazines for their high quality publication that is completely free of advertising.

If you are struggling with a young reader in this new year, maybe you need to find materials your reader enjoys. Or maybe one of these tips will help you: 12 Best of 2012. Happy 2013!