Last Day of Challenge

Well, I think this is post 35 of my 35 Day Literacy Challenge.  This has been a great challenge for me to fit in time to write these posts. It has also been a great way to start conversations with other moms and dads about literacy for children. I hope my ideas and stories have inspired you to do something new with your children, and I hope I didn't come across too strong. My intention is to continue writing on this blog, but I will not be able to write every weekday once the school year begins. Anyway...onto our final post.

Last night Shannon was reading a Fisher Price Little People in the Zoo book. The book is chock full of lift the flaps, which she is learning to do herself. She is still pointing to every person, and animal she sees in the book, but now she loves the "lift the flap" feature. She laughs as she opens the flap to see what is inside. This is so entertaining and stimulating for her. Do you have any of these books? Try them out with your kids!

Have you seen any 3D books? We have one called "In the Jungle." It is a rather simple board book, but at least 1 animal on every page is in 3D. Our favorite page in this book is the crocodile page. We pretend to put our finger in between the croc's teeth, then SNAP! he bites us. Recently, Patrick has asked me to make the characters in the book talk. So, I become the character and he asks questions to me. He created this game. I just went along with it. His imagination amazes me everyday. This game is worth playing with your child. Become a character and ask questions to your child. See how he/she answers while chatting to the character instead of to you.

Your challenge - Get a 3D book and discover the cool effects together. Or, Get a Lift the flaps book and play with it.

Congrats if you completed all 35 Days!

Panda bear panda bear

We had another library trip today and I seriously thought I was going to get kicked out. I was trying to make it a quick trip so I only brought 1 seat for my stroller and no extra toys for Shannon.  Patrick was running around pretending to be a horse and when I finally corrected him and told him I wanted him to be a good by he screamed,"I don't want to be a good boy." I got out with 10 new books to share.
Our first read of Panda Bear Panda Bear What Do You See? by bill Martin was an instant hit with both children. The rhythm and repetition led to a rhythmic babbling from Shannon and Patrick was repeating the phrase by the third or fourth page. Bill Martin has several books in this series...enjoy them with your family!
Your challenge - get your hands on a Bill Martin book http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson793/booklist.pdf

Barnes & Noble

A few days ago, I took the kids to Barnes & Noble. I figured we could read a couple books together, use the remainder of a gift card, and I could get a coffee. I laugh because I plan my trips around places that are child friendly that offer more than 1 service. Barnes & Noble exceeded all my expectations as an inexpensive way to spend an afternoon.

Our Barnes & Noble is totally redone. I know most BN have a beautiful children's section filled with books, a stage, and comfortable chairs for kids. Our Barnes & Noble also has an educational toys section, and in this section they had several toys set up for kids to try out. There was a train table, lego table, and doll table. Patrick had a great time playing with the trains, and Shannon tested out some overpriced really cool developmental toys.
Then we sauntered over to the books. My intention was to buy Market Day by Lois Ehlert, but I couldn't find it. I have to get this book because Patrick asks for it every night, and its a library book. Sidenote - the library is a great place to try out books before spending money on them! Then we talked about other books Patrick might want. He chose several - a construction truck book with wheels, a Dinosaur train book, and a train book that made sounds. Once he had all these books picked out I explained he had to pick just 1 book. He ended up choosing the Train book. While we were searching for books Patrick pointed out books he already read, and kept giving them to Shannon. Usually saying something like, "Here Shannon read this. I already read this book." Look Shannon it's the Elmo book." Then he came out with, "Drew has that bunny book." I couldn't believe the amount of books Patrick recognized in the book store, and how much fun we could have on a trip to Barnes & Noble.

Your challenge - Take a trip to a bookstore with your child. Plan to stay for about an hour. Let him/her play with the toys, search the shelves, and cuddle on your lap as you read some books together. If you haven't visited the library yet because you aren't a library person this may be a good compromise.

Upstairs book, Down here Book

All the parenting books explain the importance of a good bedtime routine, and if you stick to the routine your child will sleep...blah, blah, blah. I perscribed to this with my son, and, guess what? It doesn't work. Patrick is a bad sleeper. I will take the blame for it because I am not a good sleeper either. Since he is not the greatest at going to bed, our bedtime rituals have changed to meet his needs as he goes to bed.
We try to unwind before bed, and oftentimes that means reading a book downstairs. This is part of our routine now, and is known as the "down here book." In our nightly bedtime negotiations, Patrick tries to get 2 down here books and 2 upstairs books. How can you deny a kid this? Anyway, I thought it was neat that he developed the phrases upstairs book and down here book.

Your challenge - revisit your bedtime routine. Does it need a change? Since I've started this challenge I've made changes to both kids routines...Shannon now gets a book and 2 songs, and, well, Patrick is still a nightly negotiation!

Book Storage

As a teacher, I want summer to go as slow as possible for a number of reasons. One of the biggest is so that I can spend more time with my family, and another reason is so I can work on my summer teaching projects. All teachers have them...a list of ideas, lessons, or books they simply don't have enough time to read during the "busy" season. So, it is no surprise to my husband that I lug home boxes of things year after year in hopes of completing some of my summer teaching projects.
This summer I am trying to familiarize myself with as many picture books as possible, so I brought home a ton of books from my classroom. Of course, I am reading them to my kids as well, but I don't want my children to touch the books the way I let them touch and interact with our own books.

Lakeshore Learning sells magnetic shelves. I bought a set to use in my classroom, but was disappointed in them. I should have taken them back, but I never got around to it. So, I found a use for them in my kitchen. And, many of you might have this space!

The shelves are perfect here because they are partially blocked by the cabinets, which holds the books in better. They don't come out too far. And, they offer a beautiful display for books. As the kids get older you could display favorite books, or themed books. This would be a great place to put the Christmas books too. Imagine coming down first thing in the morning and a book catching your eye.

Your challenge - Find a place in your house to proudly display books. If you like the shelves, I got them at Lakeshore Learning. ($39.95 for 3 magnetic shelves) But, I must say I would not buy these again unless they were a little bit wider.



Reading is Thinking

The way reading is taught in schools has changed drastically in the past 25 years. I remember reading stories in grade school, then taking a test with the book closed. The tests usually focused on basic recall questions, sequencing events, and vocabulary questions. None of these questions really challenged the student to think about the text. Current practice focuses much less on the basic recall questions and pushes the reader to really analyze, and evaluate the text. (Bloom's Taxonomy) Notice how we want to push our students to be evaluators and creators. When students are tested on books now they are allowed to use the book as a reference. And, this idea can start very young!

Evaluating with Kids

Simply offering choice is a way you can teach your child to evaluate. Sometimes I put out 3-4 of Patrick's books. I ask him to choose his favorite (this changes frequently!) When we start to ask questions like asking your child to choose a favorite anything is a common question, but try to stretch it...Why is it your favorite? Now, I will admit, kids are not developmentally ready to give sound reasons as to why they like Jack and the Beanstalk over Hansel and Gretel, but if we provide a model they are more likely to try it out. For example, I like Jack and the Beanstalk better because I like when Jack goes up in the clouds to the big castle. Your child may say I like that part too! This is a small way to start developing the evaluating skills in young children.

Creating with Kids

Kids love to reenact favorite moments in their books. Last week when we were at the shore Patrick found a beanstalk at the playground. He climbed up and said, "Look! I'm just like Jack!" I stretched him and asked, "Where are you going?" He was going to the castle. Yes, he is recreating the scene in the story when Jack climbs the beanstalk up to the Giant's castle. Kids have such amazing imaginations! As you play, use the books you have read to recreate scenes.

Your challenge - Try to evaluate or create with your child today. Let me know how it goes!



Market Day

I thought this was a great follow up to yesterday's post.

We go through phases of favorite books. Right now, one of our favorites is Market Day by Lois Ehlert. Shannon & Patrick both like this book. Shannon points to various things and we tell her what they are. Patrick is obsessed with this book. I'd guess we read it 3-4 times each day. Lately he's been asking for a book 1st thing in the morning, and this is the one he chooses. I guess I better buy a copy since it is a library book!

This book is a story about people getting ready to sell goods at the town Farmer's Market. The pictures are collages made by various materials. We have so much fun reading this story, pointing to the pictures, talking about animals, colors, and where they are going. At the end of the book there are small pictures of all the different pieces Ehlert used in the book to create the pictures. We like to look at a picture, then go back and find it in the story. Ehlert also lists the materials and origin of each item in the book, which could be used to enhance the story as well.
The reason why I think this is such a good follow up to yesterday's post about background knowledge is because we took a trip to our farmer's market yesterday. We haven't been to our "Market Day" since we got this book, and Patrick was so excited to go to "Market Day." He asked if Froggy (his lovey) could go, he asked if his crocodile could go. Then, as I was getting the stroller together and putting Shannon in he appeared at the back door with his bright red cozy coupe car and said, "I'm ready for Market Day!" In the story, the people load up their car for market day, and he was connecting the story to his own world by wanting to take his car. Unfortunately I couldn't let him take the car, which ended in a complete meltdown, but I was fascinated by the connection he made to the book. On our walk to the farmer's market I asked him what he thought we might see - he listed all kinds of fruits and vegetables, and of course he was right! Last night when he went to bed we read "Market Day" he was able to point out fruits and vegetables and say we bought them. He also talked about the dogs we saw at the farmer's market, and tried to say the animals in the story were all dogs.  I share this story because it was exactly what I challenged you to do yesterday...read a book, make it "come to life," read the book again.

Your challenge - Get your hands on a Lois Ehlert book! Here are a few suggested titles - Lois Ehlert Books Enjoy the story, and creative artwork with your child

Building Background Knowledge

Background knowledge is extremely important in producing literate children. Daily experiences, trips, interactions, conversations, television shows, and books are just some of the ways that we build background knowledge. Our brains store away this information, and through multiple experiences with something the brain builds strong paths in order to access the stored information. Our brain is like a computer - every file is in a folder, which is in another broader folder, which is in an even more general folder. For example, if I think about peaches my brain automatically brings up an image for it. That image is stored in the "peach" folder. The peach folder is stored in the "fruit" folder. The fruit folder is stored in the "food" folder. And we get more general from there.
Peach>>Fruit>>Food>>Eating>>Taking Care of Body

When we just learn a new concept or object, our brain doesn't have anywhere to store the item until it defines the more general qualities of the item. After multiple interactions with the new item it moves from the short term memory into the long term memory (the filing system)

Today we went to the zoo with some friends. Going to the zoo with 6 children under 3 years old is not the most intellectual experience, but it is certainly educational. All of the kids want to see their favorite animals (monkey, gorilla, elephant, horse) But none of them have the stamina to stay at an exhibit for more than 3 minutes to just watch and enjoy the animals. This trip, my friends, was a building background knowledge trip! We were able to work on the "zoo" folder today. What is the zoo? What is not the zoo? What will we see there? What will we discover?
Now, when we read about zoo animals we will use our new background knowledge to rediscover the book.
Some things we learned at the zoo today

• horses, monkeys, baby chicks, chickens, tortoises, goats, donkeys, sheep, ponies>>animals in the zoo
• We can't touch baby chicks, but we can look at them>>babies and mommies

Another thing that I find amazing. Kids remember their visits to places. We frequently visit the zoo, and Patrick will ask for the horses. Today when we were approaching them he wanted to get out, and he ran to the exact spot where we watched them before. I noticed my friends' child ask, "Ride the choo choo?" Because he knows there is a choo choo train, from previous trips. One idea that may be fun is to take pictures while on these trips, get the prints, and make them into a learning book. I've never done this because I never take enough pictures, but this would really help build the synapses that strengthen the short term to long term memory.

Your challenge - 2 parts! Plan a background building trip with your friends (those who went to the zoo today can check this part off!) Once you arrive home, find a related book, and read it with your new background knowledge. Notice how the book changes since your background knowledge trip. Want a real experiment? Read the book before your trip, then read it after!