Meet Ellen Richard - Teacher, Mom and Creative Resource

Meet Ellen Richard and her family!  Via the Internet, I recently met this amazing teacher and innovative entrepreneur and she's doing something incredible to encourage young children in writing and spelling.  I was so impressed that I asked her to post a guest blog for me here so you could gain from some of her ideas.  I'm also posting her ideas and comments on my sister blog for educators. The topic is spelling and handwriting.  Take it away, Ellen!

Spelling is tough.  But,as a teacher from down in the trenches, I can tell parents that demanding kids write the same words over and over again is not the most productive use of your (or your child's) time. Educators, as a whole, have shifted away from rote memorization and endless tracing of inconsequential spelling lists and instead are spending their time figuring out ways to engage kids.  It's my experience that kids who truly are excited about the subject matter learn more and learn it faster.

Kids who have issues memorizing (there are many of them out there, not even counting those with identified learning disorders), are in a real pickle.  There is not context for the words, and there is not connection made.  Now, in all fairness, sometimes the words rhyme but more often than not they are just a group of words that the publishers of the textbook happened to think were appropriate for all the kids in a class.  One size doesn't fit all.  There are so many kids whose brains just work a little differently and, for those kids, spelling can be a huge problem.

I know, I know -- we have computers who do all our thinking, right?  Wrong!   Even in the age of SpellCheck and T-9 Alpha, kids need to know how to spell.  Why?  Because we still need to use a standardized, easily understandable common spelling for ease of communication.  That will never change and it applies whether your child is just learning to spell or whether they are an older student.

So what can you do to make spelling easier?
Three words:  authentic learning experiences.

Kids need to be engaged in what they are doing.  They need to see how and why spelling is so important.  Tracing or copying a list of words does not help the kids make essential connections that they need to learn how to spell words, or retain that information.  Whether you are thinking young children with growing small motor abilities or older students who've had some experiences with spelling, engagement is key.

I believe it is just fine to have young kids trace words to help them learn how to spell and/or print but here's the catch:  the words have to be meaningful to them.  A list of random words is not meaningful.  A letter to a friend is.  A story written by the child himself is also meaningful.  An article about the child's favorite sport or musician is too.  It's our jobs as educators (and yes, parents are the most important educators in a child's life) to find out what interests our kids and connect writing to it.

Ask questions; dig a little.  What is it that makes your child tick?  Use that to help her spell (and read and form letters and practice handwriting).  Here's the greatest part -- you can do all of this easily at home.  With your older students, let them do the writing while you write something together (a story, a book review or editorial, a fan letter, whatever).

If you are working with young children, you don't need fancy fonts on the computer to be able to have kids trace the words and become better spellers.  Simply make the dotted font yourself using good old paper and pencil.  Ask your child to tell you about his favorite character in his favorite book and jot down what he says in that dotted format.  Then, while he's still excited about the story, have him trace over what you just wrote and he just dictated to you.  Let him use blue marker if he wants.  He'll probably want to read it over and over and over again.  Why?  Because that story is the most interesting think in the world to him, at that moment in time.

Why Does This Work?

Just by talking to your child and writing down his story in a handmade dotted form, you are:

1.  bonding with your child and learning more about her likes and preferences

2.  giving her the opportunity to trace over her own story (that you jotted down)

3.  allowing her the chance to see the words that are important to her, her story and her vocabulary in the written form, and

4.  providing new reading material that is exciting, yet familiar, and fun for her to read.

Many of these ideas from Ellen can also be adapted with your older kids and the bonding is certainly as important as they grow older as it was when they were very young.

Thanks, Ellen!  What great ideas she has given you.  You're going to have a lot of fun.  I really like the way she balances a child writing over someone else's words and writing over her own.  Both are important.

Ellen has done more for us and young children.  She has taken these simple ideas and made them into a small business.  She started Letter Learning while on maternity leave from teaching this past January.  She missed teaching students, and had a million thank-you cards to write.  Because both of those things were on her mind, the idea for educational greeting cards was born!

She remembered how her own students sturggled often with spelling and handwriting and knew how much they love their family and friends.  She also knew that young kids love to "be like Mom" and since 80% of greeting cards are sent by women, it seems that greeting cards that help kids learn to write and spell are a long overdue instrument. Check out the birthday card above; it's an example of Ellen's cards.

Now It's Your Turn

Take time to sit down with your child and really talk with him.  Every child has at least one thing that really piques his interest.  It is your job to find out what that is.  Once you do that, the rest is easy!  So, now it's your turn.  Tell us what has helped you work with your child on spelling and writing at home.  Send a link to this blog to another mom or dad you know.  Share the complementary teacher blog with an educator you know who is enjoying a bit of R&R this summer.  It's when we take action from the words we read that we make a difference.

As always, I look forward to your comments.

Grandparents and Kids Reading Together

Today's Web-Based Radio Show

Today I was privileged to visit with TalkShoe host, Kaye Fontana, on her Grandcoach Radio show.  The topics certainly relate to grandparents raising their grandchildren but the concepts are applicable for parents as well.  I even found myself saying "parents" instead of "grandparents" a few times in the show.

If you missed us live, you can visit The Grandcoach and hear the podcast.  You'll need to scroll down to episode 14.   If you joined us, listening live, you can skip right to reading this blog.  Otherwise, click on the link, listen in and then come back here to learn more, and add comments and questions (which you can post to this blog and we'll all learn together).  I always welcome questions as a way to start a dialogue in the virtual world.

Grandparents Stepping Into A "Familiar" Role

I am thrilled to be talking with people who have taken on what is perhaps the challenge of their life in raising children, long after their original "duty" was finished.  It can be a time of anxiety or of joy and reading certainly has a place in crafting a positive, nurturing growing up time for grandchildren being raised by their grandparents.

First, let me suggest a few books to read with young children that are perfect for encouraging word play:

Big and Little by Margaret Miller
Max's Dragon by Kate Banks
One Duck Stuck by Phyllis Root
Tanka, Tanka, Skunk by Steve Webb

These are excerpted from my book Anytime Reading Readiness, a perfect guide not only for parents raising 3-6 year olds but grandparents who find themselves in that same role with their grandchildren. You can find recommended books for others ages at a previous blog on this blogspot. 

There's Help Out There For You

If you have a limited budget (and who doesn't these days), revive what might seem like an old fashioned idea: head for the public library.  It will look quite different than it did in "your day".  Now, in addition to books, most libraries have cool teen activities, storytimes for younger children, movies and DVDs for rental, book clubs, game nights and more.   Here are examples from Fairhope Public Library in Fairhope, AL and Witchita Public Library.  Check out what your local library has to offer to support you!

Helping Young Children Get Ready for School (it's bigger than literacy)

If you are one of those grandparents (or parents) that is confused by a lot of the "educationese" used by educators today, all the unfamiliar language can be intimidating.  One of the issues, as we gain more information about the research behind children learning to read, is that the "internal language" educators use can inadvertently turn "lay people"off (grandparents, parents, community helpers, etc.).

To help you understand some of these terms, check out Where The Radio Show Left Off. 

Also, if you are confused by information about DIBELS, a major assessment used in K-3rd grade, you can find a family-friendly pamphlet from my alma mater, Florida State University. 

You can also just be unsure of what is really required for your grandchild upon entering kindergarten and what they need to be ready for that first big step into school.  You can visit Getting Ready, Grandparents Getting Kids Ready for School from the University of Georgia, and a cool checklist from It's A Mom's World that can help you (and the child) stay on track with morning chores and activities in preparation for starting "big school" (I'd recommend you start the morning routine about a month or at least a couple of weeks before the first day of school).  Stacey Kannenberg's book Let's Get Ready for Kindergarten! is a good tool to review, first as an adult (because it's contents show at least 80% of what the typical child will learn  in kindergarten) and then as a play book with the child (to help you explore together what the child already knows, what he or she is interested in learning, and what he or she will learn once they begin attending school).

Final message: 

If you are raising a child OR a grandchild, know that your role in their literacy development is critical. Although you'll be privy to information on the research and best practices behind the science of teaching children the mechanics of reading through your interaction with teachers, know that your role as the nurturer of a reader and the inspiration for choosing to read for a variety of purposes is now more important than ever. 

Educators can teach children the best mechanics but, if we do not light the spark, they are not likely to choose reading as a priority.  And that responsibility, because of heavy skill-based curricula and tight schedules, may fall mainly to you.  Basic reading and writing mechanics won't cut it in the complex world our children will live in just a few years from now.  There will be even more challenges to figure out complex information, and to use that information as a tool to solve problems and to improve the world we live in.  There is likely to even be a need for escape, which reading certainly provides.

By supporting the child in your life, you are building for the future AND solidifying the relationship with someone who is more important to you than anyone else in the world.  My advice, in closing, is to relax.  At the same time, stay vigilant in your promotion of reading as a tool for life.  Call on me if I can be of assistance (free 15 minutes consultations are available or you can contract for a longer consultation tailored to your needs).

COME CELEBRATE WITH ME!

If you live in the Huntsville, AL or North AL area, let me offer you a personal invitation to join my celebration of early childhood through an Educator's Tea and a follow-up book signing and "meet the author" at Barnes and Nobles at Bridge Street in Huntsville, April 10 from noon until 3PM.  There will be door-prizes, a special introduction to Engaged Interactive Read Aloud for teachers of all sorts (and you are a teacher too), and special opportunities to meet and talk with me and other local Alabama authors.  Hope to see you there!

Engaging Older Readers (3rd grade and up) With Personel Connections To What They Read

Personal connections aid in understanding a story, whether your child is the reader or the writer (a composer like these two fellows in the picture to the right).  I encourage families to find great books that connect to your child's a passion so they will show more interest in reading.  I know you've heard that from me before but it is worth repeating.  

When a reader makes personal connections to text, he then becomes part of the story, adding his or her own memories, ideas, experiences to that of the author. He moves from reading on the surface into deeper connection and the understanding (what teachers call "comprehension") goes through the roof.  

So How Do You Get Your Kids to Respond That Way To Reading?

Good authors like Willie Morris (author of My Dog Skip) give us a large hook to connect with.  Nearly everyone has experienced a pet and/or the loss of that friend sometime in our lives like he tells about in his book.  If your young person is more into baseball, skateboarding or jazz, try Under the Baseball Moon by John H. Ritter.  Have a youngster who likes history?  A Wish After Midnight is a combo historical fiction and time travel adventure that will hold them til the very end.   Relationships and self-image important?  Try Nothing But The Truth by Avi.  If you want to share an adult book with your teen, feel free.  The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba is an incredible real life story of inspiration.  Sharing books you are enjoying (as long as you are comfortable with the content) is a terrific way to connect.  The key is that

if we are going to expect our young people to be readers in the midst of all the possible distractions in this modern world, then we must give them an authentic, meaningful-to-them reason to do so.

Carve Out A Little Reading Time

Once you have a good selection for your child to choose from (and have involved him/or her in the selection process, pick one time a week (protected from interruptions and outside distractions) in which the whole family will spend time reading. I've got news for you; it may not be easy at first, especially if this isn't already a habit with your family.  However, it can start with as little as this once a week, 15 minute time slot, but think of ways to expand it into travel time in the car on the way to soccer, or home from school, time just before "lights out".  It may be easier for you to start on the weekends.

Set a goal 

Your goal over the course of the next 6 months is to move from one such time a week to two and then to three.  Don't try to jump in all at once, especially if your family isn't used to this dose of reading.  Find the balance for you but know that consistence is very important.  Also, pay attention to your family schedule, your children's extra-curricular activities and school homework level, etc. when considering that is reasonable for your family.

W\hat you will often find is that your children will actually enjoy themselves, the adults will feel the benefit of a little down "doing something all together" time, and you'll be fostering a habit for reading.  In the meantime, you'll also be giving your child a dose of practice (something we all need to do if we are to improve our skills whether it is in reading, exercising, riding a bike or playing a video game).

Of course, the earlier you begin this in terms of the ages of your children, the more they will value reading as a habit and valuable use of time so my advice to those of you with younger children is to start early.  Don't believe the myth that some children just won't be readers.  Every child needs to read and read strongly for information, pleasure and, yes, even escape.

If your family can only manage 15 minutes to start with, begin at that level.  The goal is for everyone to be reading something during that time.

Give Them Control

As you allow your children to make choices - sometimes assigned materials from school, but other times magazines, ebooks, Wii manuals on the latest interactive games, a novel or a "fact" (nonfiction) book -- anything as long as it is reading, you will all be gaining benefits.  If you and your family have invested in an IPOD Touch, a Kindle or a even laptop, the novelty of reading "online" might appeal to your children more than holding a traditional book.  

Especially if you haven't done this a lot in your household before and regular reading together wasn't a part of your earlier lives together, this can be a challenge to get started.  However, I assure you, with the proper approach, even those who are at first reluctant will come "on board".

Need a little jumpstart?  Maybe some of the reading is tandem (you and your young child read a book together while Dad and Junior are pouring over an article in the lates Sports Illustrated. Your example of being interested and excited is essential here:  any child will see through you if you are just biding time and not invested in the experience.  Yet, on the other hand, if you are involved and getting something out of the reading, your child will feed off that too. 

A few more ideas for this "everyone is reading" time:

1. Give your children cool, colorful post its or sticky arrows (or even colorful strips from junk mail or old funny paper panels with a dab of rubber cement on the edge - did you know that its temporary if you only put it on one paper surface?).  When they run across a word they don't know, can flag it, then skip over it, if they can get the meaning from the rest of the sentence.  Later, you can spend a few minutes exploring the definition and pronunciation of the word together. 

2.  Everyone has one "pass" to interrupt and share about something they are reading (a particularly juicy description that makes pictures in your head, reminds you of something that happened last week, or was just fall out funny.  Print a paper ticket or coupon to hand out at the beginning of the reading time if you like (click here for a template "Polar Express" train ticket).  As an extra incentive for your kids to do this, they can also earn points toward freedom from a chore for a day, a small monetary reward (a quarter or dollar), or a special trip to the ballpark with a parent.  Again, choose those rewards based on what is meaningful and desirable for YOUR kids.

3.  At the end, with five minutes to go, you can also do something teachers call, "turn and talk".  Pairing again two family members together, you "turn and talk", telling each other about the best part of what you read.  If you run over (and you just might), don't announce "time's up".  Let the conversations go on as long as they will.

Don't turn your family reading time into a quiz, drill and skill, where you are pummeling your child with questions, just to see if he or she understands what she read.  What a turn-off and they get enough of those at school.  Instead, pose questions like these in conversation so your children see that talking about books is a natural activity.  Let your child's answers and reactions lead you to the next question:

What is your phrase or word you related to most in the book you read?

Have you ever experienced the feeling those words described?

When and how?

Can you imagine what it would be like to .....

Why do you think he/she reacted that way?  How could he have reacted differently to the situation?  What would have to be different in the relationship between Willie and his dog (or family member or whomever the interaction or emotion is shared with) to change his reaction.'

So what?  What is the significance, the importance, of his reaction, interaction, response?

I am taking this from knowledge (what I call regurgitation of fact) up through Bloom's to analysis, synthesis, etc.

You and your family will be practicing higher level thinking skills without turning your home into a academic "hothouse".

Share, Share, Share

Come back to this blog after you try this experiment and post your results.  Share what you are already doing with your children in this regard and how you squeeze reading into busy lifestyles and schedules.  We'll all benefit when we learn from one another.

 

A last tidbit:  You don't have to do this "encouraging your child to be a reader" alone.  All this week,  my friends at the Reading Tub and many of their friends are blogging about reading and children in their Share A Story: Shape A Future Event.   You will also find fun giveaways. I'm going over there right now to jump in; won't you join me?

Happy Reading!

Hope For Young Adult Readers - But We Adults Have to Be The Models

Since the last few posts on the blog have related to the younger set (and their families), it's time to go back to our more independent readers.  I just saw some terrific news from Publisher's Weekly:

While adult trade sales are expected to fall 4% this year, juvenile and young adult sales are expected to increase 5.1%, according to the PW/IPR Book Sales Index. Although it's impossible to completely break out juvenile from young adult (YA), it is possible to look at expected growth rates for different categories. In the fiction/fantasy/sci-fi segment, where most sales in the YA category fall, we expect nearly 13% growth in 2009, reaching $744 million. By 2013, sales in this segment are anticipated to hit $861 million, a 30.6% increase over 2008.

Wow!  In part, we have the growing popularity of Kindles and Ipods for reading books.  But families also play a particularly important role in whether children continue to read after the "snuggle and cuddle stage".

One of the big questions is:  what do teens and tweens want to read?  The Young Adult Library Association (part of the American Library Association) just this fall published a booklist made by teens.  Paper Towns by John Green tops the list.  It is the story of a bright, quiet kid and how he cares for a neighborhood girl.   Kirkus Reviews calls it, "genuine and genuinely funny".  Alicia Afterimage by Lulu Delacre is another great example of a book teens will want to read, this one dealing with grief.

What is most important for students once they leave the elementary school years is to have steady, open choices as to what they read.  The difference between students who read beyond what is required in the classroom and those who just read to "get by" is staggering.  One of the best ways to prepare your student for college (or life) is to encourage him to be a reader.

The reality is that parents can't control what your teen reads, so read a few books with controversial topics at the same time and discuss it with them.  Parents will find a ready (and surprisingly open) approach to talking about decision making and careful choices if they start by listening with an open mind.  And we all know how important communication and staying in touch with our growingly-independent man-child and woman-child is in these complex times.

Helping students carve out time to read what they are interested in and to grab it online or in print ideally starts with habits when they are young.  However, as children move into reading mostly as an independent person rather than reading together with an adult, often families stop supporting their child's reading.  They aren't sure what to do.  That's where the decline often begins.  It is important to remember that no reader is mature at third grade and that supporting them as a reader no longer means "having them practice for you".  There are many more layers of understanding and depth to be developed and encouraged. Continuing to provide a variety of reading opportunities in the home, thinking "quick reads" for those busy teens (including magazines, internet articles, links sent via email, Facebook, IM, etc.) is essential.

I believe that one reason the types of stories mentioned earlier are so powerful for teens to read is because they connect to what they are experiencing, what they are learning about life at a time when they are learning so much.  And that connection is critical, rather than a "you should read this" approach.

So do something different.  Ask your teen or tween what their latest passion is, what they are interesting in knowing more about.  You are sure to uncover a topic that you can support them reading about (or help them find a fascinating story with which to escape the challenges of the teen years if just for a little while).

Nurture their inner reader.

Helping Independent Readers Think About What They Read

I think this time we are on the "older reader" channel. Those of you with young children, read this too because you'll be here before you know it. I was reading a message from the President of the International Reading Association in Reading Today and was impressed with her comments about comprehension -- understanding what we read in more than just a "can I regurgitate simple facts" approach. She emphasized in her comments that it is most important that our children learn to think logically and deeply about what they read. Elizabeth Drew, an author who has written about Washington personalities in politics, says, "The true test of literature is, I suppose, whether we live more intently for the reading of it."

When was the last time your independent reader was moved by something he or she read? Certainly we don't need to be pressing "heavy-duty classics" on them all the time but reading text that makes us think is important. We need to exercise that "muscle" power in our brains to help our brains reach their potential. That's true for us as adults just as well as children.

How can you help your child learn to think about what he or she reads?

First, be interested. That may mean reading or re-reading the same novel they are in class and talking about it. I remember that when my son was reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, I re-read it myself. In turn, it made me want to read more written related to Harper Lee and Truman Capote (they were neighbors as children), especially since I had just seen a movie about Capote's life. I read his novel, In Cold Blood, for the first time and then Harper Lee's autobiography. All those three books together were a great study for me and I learned a lot about these authors and the period of time in which they wrote.

If you can't take time to read an entire novel, read a little at the first and ask your student to keep you up-to-date on what is going on with the story (a TV guide version, if you will, of each chapter). Don't make this a drill or lesson; just have a conversation about an interesting story.

When your student has trouble understanding assigned reading, there are two things you can do: first, read segments with him, stopping every couple of paragraphs or so to talk about the meaning behind the words (that's helpful sometimes with the antiquated language of Shakespeare). Secondly, find other, easier reading materials that help your student build some background knowledge for understanding the story. Sometimes there are simpler versions of Shakespeare's plays that use modern English. Reading it along with the original text can help. Both of these options mean that you have to make some commitment of time. Believe you me, it will be worth it for your student immediately (and it will be good for your brain too!). Beyond these immediate rewards, it will solidify your relationship with your child, something that is important to every parent. They see you investing time with them and it is meaningful.

Be a poser of questions - why is my favorite. If a simple statement is made, ask "why is that true?" or "why did that happen?" or "why did she do that"? Follow up with "would you have done the same?" Great readers are thinking, active, engaged individuals, experiencing the author's intent and drawing from it ideas that can appeal to, enhance and improve our own lives. Questions help us think about what we read.

And that's the true power behind reading, not what is on the page alone but what we take away from the page.

Wiping Out Illiteracy - One Child At A Time

I've been thinking a lot lately about something author, Mem Fox, said in her book, Reading Magic (If you haven't read it, EVERYONE needs to). She says that, if everyone whose live touches a child read three books a day with them, we would wipe out illiteracy in a generation and a half. There's a lot in those simple words.

Certainly, just the volume of exposure of reading is important. But it goes deeper. Dr. Michael Pressley, a reading researcher, says if we do not give children mostly positive experiences with books, they will not choose to be readers. Not only must be get in the "quota", but the experiences must be rich and rewarding. How do we do that? By making sure that:

1) we turn off distractions and give 100% of ourselves to our children when we read with them. After all, we are the commercial for reading.

2) we read, at least some of the time, things they want to read.

What about those children that don't have someone to read with them at home? Those children are the ones that don't benefit from the literacy-rich environment many of you reading promote. Someone - a tutor, a neighbor, a teacher, a librarian - has to make sure that a team of supporters works with that child to get the minimum of 3 a day in. If you have a lot of players on the team, and you count engaging read alouds, it's possible.

Why all this focus on reading? Without reading in this information-rich society, we fall short. We cannot comprehend the complexities the modern world throws at us and make thoughtful decisions. An inspirational fellow I met several years ago in Walker Co., AL (learning to read at the age of 73) said to me, "When I was coming up, you could get by. I certainly did and ended up running a $100,000 a year trucking company with a lot of help. Kids today can't do that. You let me talk to any of them and I'll tell them how important reading is."

I'd like to challenge those of you following and visiting this post to do two things: first, read regularly with your own child. Make it a priority this year and beyond. Secondly, find a child you can read to, maybe not every single day but frequently and build a team of supporters around that child. It can be done! Feel free to post updates on your "experiment" here.