In the past week, I have had so many families talk with me about "making sure their child" reads before the son or daughter goes to kindergarten. When I ask them "why", the response is usually "I want them to be ahead of everyone else". Again, I ask "why"?
Research from early childhood, pediatrics, psychology all agree that pushing children too soon can backfire. I strongly believe that if you are enjoying and exploring read alouds with your child, playing with the language (banana fana fo fana kind of stuff), and talking (not just at your child but with them), using lots of varied language, you child WILL read when he/she is physiologically and emotionally and mentally ready. My son who read early never had one phonics lesson, never did I flash card him, never did he have anything but the most delicious experiences with books being read to him. He simply started reading when he was ready.
PLEASE consider that with your child. If you press your child to read too soon, he/she is likely to lose any temporary benefit gained by the time 3rd grade is reached. If, instead, the child is given the opportunity to start reading at his or her "optimal time", it is likely that child will excel.
Dr. Michael Pressley once said, "If we give do not give children mostly positive experiences with reading, they will not choose to be readers." That is so true. Jim Trelease echoes that idea when he says, "What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we teach them to do."
Have fun, relax, enjoy your child and his/her interaction with you and the book. Make it fun. Be silly, act out voices, compete with the TV and computer for your child's reading soul!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
How Does Today's Busy Scheduling Affect Reading with Children?
It's so hard today to find time to do anything but run from one activity to another. The days of snuggling together for long, slow, dreamy moments together is long gone. And yet the literacy demands of our children today are even greater than they were just a few years ago. What's a parent to do?
Make it a priority. Carve out time as part of your "get ready for bed" routine. If your children are too old for "read together time" (you'd be surprised how long they will cling to it if your choice of books is engaging enough), make sure they have at least 15-20 minutes of down time before they go to sleep. Don't forget that reading on the Internet is still reading for those who like to "surf" late at night. Texting with friends is OK but doesn't really add to the academic vocabulary environment we want them to spend some time in.
Know your child's passion. I say this all the time but it is so true. Match the perfect book to your child's interests (soccer, airplanes, female role models, rock and roll, whatever). Help your child find reading materials that feed that passion. I remember that my son was fascinated with gorillas when he was young. I think we read every book about those creatures we could find.
When you can't read for 15-20 minutes, think about reading your environment (road signs, maps, menus, billboards). You'll be amazed at the conversations that come out of those readings. Ask them to read aloud to you an engaging book while you are driving to the baseball field, the doctor's office or on errands.
Don't forget to include at least one book (carefully selected to match your child) as a gift for holidays and birthdays.
It takes thousands of hours of practice for us to get good at anything. We must give our children a chance to get good at reading because, as Dr. Marilyn Adams says, "in our society, their life depends upon it." There is no better gift you can give your child than the time you spend reading together.
Make it a priority. Carve out time as part of your "get ready for bed" routine. If your children are too old for "read together time" (you'd be surprised how long they will cling to it if your choice of books is engaging enough), make sure they have at least 15-20 minutes of down time before they go to sleep. Don't forget that reading on the Internet is still reading for those who like to "surf" late at night. Texting with friends is OK but doesn't really add to the academic vocabulary environment we want them to spend some time in.
Know your child's passion. I say this all the time but it is so true. Match the perfect book to your child's interests (soccer, airplanes, female role models, rock and roll, whatever). Help your child find reading materials that feed that passion. I remember that my son was fascinated with gorillas when he was young. I think we read every book about those creatures we could find.
When you can't read for 15-20 minutes, think about reading your environment (road signs, maps, menus, billboards). You'll be amazed at the conversations that come out of those readings. Ask them to read aloud to you an engaging book while you are driving to the baseball field, the doctor's office or on errands.
Don't forget to include at least one book (carefully selected to match your child) as a gift for holidays and birthdays.
It takes thousands of hours of practice for us to get good at anything. We must give our children a chance to get good at reading because, as Dr. Marilyn Adams says, "in our society, their life depends upon it." There is no better gift you can give your child than the time you spend reading together.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
What's Up with the Literacy Ambassador®
I'm starting this blog just as my new website is nearing completion. Today has been a wonderful day, talking with volunteers and early childhood experts about an initiative I'm working on for United Way. You never know where the Literacy Ambassador® will be going next but you can be sure she will be lighting the spark and fanning the flame of literacy at every turn.
Who is the Literacy Ambassador®? Visit my website at www.readingisforeveryone.org to find out! You can also get to know me by reading my tidbits, posted each week:
We've said "read with your child" so much that it has almost lost meaning. Those parents who already do so will continue to respond positively. What about those who don't know how to (but are embarrassed to admit it) or those who have never been read to in their lives?
Instead talk with those families about relationships with their children - that's meaningful to them.
Sitting down with a book and talking together about it (children birth through around age 8 or so) is a great way to start. Once a child is an "independent reader" or too old for the "snuggle and cuddle thing", it has to be about reading something meaningful to that child and that may be instructions on the latest video game, a soccer manual, IM from their friends.
Becoming a competent reader takes time and practice, an over and over again thing so the more we can get kids motivated to read ANYTHING, the better reader they are going to be. I love what Marilyn J. Adams, a reading expert says, "... in our society, their life will depend upon it [meaning reading].
A generation or so ago, reading at a lower level wasn't a big deal. Now, the literacy challenges are more complex, greater than even the adult population today experienced. Kids will be lost without those skills. We've got to make reading a tool for life!
Who is the Literacy Ambassador®? Visit my website at www.readingisforeveryone.org to find out! You can also get to know me by reading my tidbits, posted each week:
We've said "read with your child" so much that it has almost lost meaning. Those parents who already do so will continue to respond positively. What about those who don't know how to (but are embarrassed to admit it) or those who have never been read to in their lives?
Instead talk with those families about relationships with their children - that's meaningful to them.
Sitting down with a book and talking together about it (children birth through around age 8 or so) is a great way to start. Once a child is an "independent reader" or too old for the "snuggle and cuddle thing", it has to be about reading something meaningful to that child and that may be instructions on the latest video game, a soccer manual, IM from their friends.
Becoming a competent reader takes time and practice, an over and over again thing so the more we can get kids motivated to read ANYTHING, the better reader they are going to be. I love what Marilyn J. Adams, a reading expert says, "... in our society, their life will depend upon it [meaning reading].
A generation or so ago, reading at a lower level wasn't a big deal. Now, the literacy challenges are more complex, greater than even the adult population today experienced. Kids will be lost without those skills. We've got to make reading a tool for life!
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
READING WITH CHILDREN: IT'S NOT JUST BOOKS
Sometimes parents get deadened to that prompt we hear so often, "READ WITH YOUR CHILD". In our busy lives, it's a bit difficult to do that and what difference does it make anyway? The answer is, especially in today's educational hothouses, an incredible difference. More than ever, children need to understand that reading isn't about test taking or how fast they can say the words. It's not just something you have to practice at school and forget about otherwise. The amount of interaction each person needs with text in order to become a competent reader varies but it definitely takes practice. Think about playing the piano or learning to ride a bike or playing soccer. All of that takes practice and daily practice routines lead to mastery. In today's word, our children don't just need to "kinda know how to read"; they need to be masters at it.
Whether you grew up yourself with someone reading to you or you don't have a clue about what to do, it's actually the perfect venue for connecting with your child. Sometimes, try it this way:
Start by finding out what your child's passion is (what does he or she LOVE, how does that person focus his/her time, if you ask, "if you could do anything, what would it be?", a passion is the answer).
Next, think about finding not only books but magazines, internet sites and blogs, letters from "experts" that address that passion. You're doing two things: first you are acknowledging that your child's interests are important to you. Secondly, you are tapping into his/her intrinsic motivation, the personal drive to know about a subject or a person or a place. Find those resources and SHARE. Read a little, talk about it, read a little more. Whether your child is 6 or 16, that works!
Sprinkle reading into everyday life and share with your child how you use reading. Think about it: we read in the grocery store, when we drive on errands, in our homes when we make decisions or figure out how to fix or hook up a new appliance or toy. One of the strongest messages we can send is that reading is a tool for life. It's not some artificial thing we do in school to see how many words we can say fast or whether we know how to decode with no errors. Reading is about squeezing the juice of meaning from whatever text we are exploring. Show your child how to do that!
THINKING, WONDERING AND PONDERING over every piece you read helps whether it's a newspaper article or editorial or a picture book. Leave plenty of time for interruptions and conversations. As you and your child interact, you'll both learn about each other and the topic at hand. You'll be surprised, you might even disagree but you are interacting and using oral language to connect to the written word.
The bottom line is that reading can happen anywhere. You don't have to set aside a long time to be quiet with a book with your child. That's certainly a great thing to do and we'll talk more about that later but you can also show your child everyday that reading is an everyday event, not just an academic exercise. And these everyday interactions with words will help pack in the number of practices your child needs at seeing and figuring out words and meaning in order to build competency. No matter what you are reading with your child, remember that main idea is meaning. Squeeze that juice!
Whether you grew up yourself with someone reading to you or you don't have a clue about what to do, it's actually the perfect venue for connecting with your child. Sometimes, try it this way:
Start by finding out what your child's passion is (what does he or she LOVE, how does that person focus his/her time, if you ask, "if you could do anything, what would it be?", a passion is the answer).
Next, think about finding not only books but magazines, internet sites and blogs, letters from "experts" that address that passion. You're doing two things: first you are acknowledging that your child's interests are important to you. Secondly, you are tapping into his/her intrinsic motivation, the personal drive to know about a subject or a person or a place. Find those resources and SHARE. Read a little, talk about it, read a little more. Whether your child is 6 or 16, that works!
Sprinkle reading into everyday life and share with your child how you use reading. Think about it: we read in the grocery store, when we drive on errands, in our homes when we make decisions or figure out how to fix or hook up a new appliance or toy. One of the strongest messages we can send is that reading is a tool for life. It's not some artificial thing we do in school to see how many words we can say fast or whether we know how to decode with no errors. Reading is about squeezing the juice of meaning from whatever text we are exploring. Show your child how to do that!
THINKING, WONDERING AND PONDERING over every piece you read helps whether it's a newspaper article or editorial or a picture book. Leave plenty of time for interruptions and conversations. As you and your child interact, you'll both learn about each other and the topic at hand. You'll be surprised, you might even disagree but you are interacting and using oral language to connect to the written word.
The bottom line is that reading can happen anywhere. You don't have to set aside a long time to be quiet with a book with your child. That's certainly a great thing to do and we'll talk more about that later but you can also show your child everyday that reading is an everyday event, not just an academic exercise. And these everyday interactions with words will help pack in the number of practices your child needs at seeing and figuring out words and meaning in order to build competency. No matter what you are reading with your child, remember that main idea is meaning. Squeeze that juice!
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