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Greetings, Kirby’s Mill Community!
As I thought about what to write
about in my February Newsletter, I was thinking about Reading
and my 19-month old daughter, Sara. Lately, she has found great
enjoyment in grabbing a book and bringing it over to either my
wife or me and sitting in our laps, flipping through the pages.
We must have 200 books in our home that were gifts given to us
upon her birth, or books we accumulated through hand-me-downs,
yard sales or the once-in-a-while Barnes & Noble purchase. With
all those books though, she is able to find the same 4-5 books
every time she wants to read. We can hide those books behind
countless other choices in the hopes that she will pick
something other than, “Barnyard Animals – A Touch & Feel Book,”
or “I Love You Through and Through” for the 40th time. However,
she is always able to muddle through the other distracters to
find her favorite books.
Is this a bad thing? Is the lack
of exposure to other texts going to hurt her in her reading
development in the long run? I remember the Little Golden Books
I insisted read to me each night when I went to bed and always
asking my dad to read “The Boy With a Drum,” over and over
again. I turned out to be a fairly decent reader. But, is
allowing a child to read and re-read the same books a good idea?
I am pleased that my daughter
can recognize and point to a cow, pig, sheep and dog. I am happy
that she can point to her fingers, toes, hair, teeth and eyes
and know that her mom and dad love here “Through and Through.” I
think these particular books have helped significantly with her
language development. More importantly, though, through my
readings and training, I have learned that the best way to raise
a reader is to raise a reader who enjoys reading. None of us
want to do things we don’t like, aren’t interested in, or feel
incapable of doing because we are frustrated by the level of
difficulty.
In her book, A Teacher’s Guide
to Standardized Reading Tests, Lucy Calkins (1998) writes,
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“… a number of
recent studies have demonstrated clearly that when students
have time to read ‘comprehensible text’ (that is, books they
can make sense of, books that match their own reading
levels), they do as well and usually better on reading tests
that assess comprehension. Furthermore, studies have shown
that when children read a lot, their grammar, spelling,
writing, vocabulary and general knowledge as well as their
reading all become stronger.
When choosing books for our
children, it is important that it is on their level. “If a
child sits holding onto a Gary Paulsen book, her eyes
skimming over the words of the book, and if the child comes
away from the book with no plot line, no
movies-in-the-mind’s-eye, then the reading is destructive to
the child. The child can come to expect that books don’t
make sense.
There are two indicators to
look for in choosing a book for our children. The first is a
student’s level of engagement in a book. If the student is
always looking up from a book, if his head is like a
revolving fan during reading, then worry. Or, on the other
hand, when I say, “Let’s gather on the carpet,” the student
walks to the carpet with her eyes still glued to the text,
if she doesn’t look up until she’s read to the end of that
section of text, then I don’t worry. If I see a student
choosing to continue reading during free time, then I tend
not to worry.
The second thing I look for
in order to determine whether the book is at the right level
for the student is if she can talk about the book she is
reading. I want to be able to say, “I don’t know this book.
What’s happening in it?” and to have a child be able to fill
me in on the gist of a story. I want to be able to read with
the child, whatever the portion of text she is reading, and
for her to be able to answer me when I interrupt to ask,
puzzled, “Who’s Harry? Why’s he kicking that rock?”
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Our hope as educators is that
you are able to find out what it is your child is interested in
and stock your home library with books about that topic – that
are on the appropriate reading level.
- Is your child an aspiring
actor? Get books about acting or biographies about
actors/actresses your child shows interested.
- Does your child love football
or another sport? Get a book of historical facts, or a
rule-book, trivia book or book written by a famous football
player (e.g., “My Brother’s Side” by Tiki Barber)
- Does your child like
realistic fiction? Fantasy? Biographies? How-to books?
Simply put… we at school are
working on stocking our classroom libraries with books that meet
a wide range of interests and levels to make sure we teach
children who love to read and not just see it as another school
requirement. In my own house, it seems my daughter is most
interested in books that have texture and lots of color. Below, I have put 12 tips from the Reading is
Fundamental website about nurturing growing readers. I hope you
find them helpful, and that you can experience the enjoyment of
having your child read to you a story they love as much as I
have enjoyed sharing books with my daughter.
Twelve Tips for Nurturing
Growing Readers
- Read with your children at
least once every day.
- Make sure they have plenty to
read. Take them to the library regularly, and keep books and
other reading materials in their reach.
- Notice what interests your
child, then help find books about those things.
- Respect your child's choices.
There's nothing wrong with series fiction if that's what keeps
a young reader turning the pages.
- Praise your children's
efforts and newly acquired skills.
- Help your child build a
personal library. Children's books, new or used, make great
gifts and appropriate rewards for reading. Designate a
bookcase, shelf or box where your children can keep their
books.
- Check up on your children's
progress. Listen to them read aloud, read what they write and
ask teachers how they're doing in school.
- Go places and do things with
your children to build their background knowledge and
vocabulary, and to give them a basis for understanding what
they read.
- Tell stories. It's a fun way
to teach values, pass on family history and build your
children's listening and thinking skills.
- Be a reading role model. Let
your children see you read, and share some interesting things
with them that you have read about in books, newspapers or
magazines.
- Continue reading aloud to
older children even after they have learned to read by
themselves.
- Encourage writing along with
reading. Ask children to sign their artwork, add to your
shopping list, take messages and make their own books and
cards as gifts.
Mark E. Damon,
Principal
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