Fresh Start, New Books

Over at Choice Literacy last week, they featured an article by LiteracyHead about books that could be used  to kick off the new school year called "Books with Overlooked Potential for Launching the School Year (And Ideas for Using Them with Students)."  As with so much of what LP Reads comes across, what can happen in the classroom around reading can also very easily happen in our homes.  Be sure to check out the article for the full description of each title, but here's a quick glimpse at a few of our favorites:


Giant Steps to Change the World by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee


The Three Questions by John Muth


and I Know Here by Laurel Croza


As noted in the article, this triumvirate is a rich grouping for talking with your kids about what they love about their life now and what they want to be doing in the future.  Muth's book (a retelling of a Tolstoy short story) asks how do we make sure that we are being a good person and that the life we are leading is a good one?  How do we know we are making the right decisions?  Couple these question with some amazing illustrations (art really) and you've got a a powerhouse way to start the new year ala children's literature.   I never cease to be amazed at how children's authors and illustrators so gracefully tackle some of life's great questions in a simple 32 pages.

Be sure to head over to Choice Literacy to see their additional recommendations and if you aren't able to find these titles in our local libraries (I know Here and Giant Steps to Change the World are not there), I am certain that The Storyteller in Lafayette has or can get them for you.

Welcome to the new school year -- enjoy this fresh start!

Eureka! Trelease's Read Aloud Treasury

Summer has me in the perpetual hunt for book recommendations and I was very excited to learn about Jim Trelease's book, "The Read Aloud Handbook."*  Originally published in 1979 and in its sixth edition as of 2006, "The Read Aloud Handbook" has chapters dedicated to:

• Why reading aloud is important
• When to begin reading aloud
• The stages of reading aloud
• The do's and don'ts of reading aloud
• Sustained silent reading
• Libraries
• Television, and 
• What Oprah, Harry, and the Internet have gotten right

As you might imagine, Trelease is a passionate advocate for reading to your children early, often, and forever!

Following his informational chapters about the importance of reading aloud, he includes a "Read Aloud Treasury," which lists 113 pages of book recommendations (with short reviews) broken down by genre and age group.  This list of more than 1,000 books is complemented by his website, which showcases his more current recommendations for books that have been published since the handbook's 2006 printing.  Eureka!

In addition to his own treasury, Trelease also recommends these resources (among others) for finding out about quality new children's books:

• "Worth a Thousand Words: An Annotated Guide to Picture Books for Older Readers" by Bette D. Ammon
• The American Library Association parent resource pages as well as their book lists for award winning books like the Caldecott, Newbery, and many others
• Children's Choices and Teacher's Choices from the International Reading Association

This book is a tremendous resource and serves as a perfect starting place for anyone trying to find that next great read.

*I read the 5th edition, so there is likely new material in the 6th edition that isn't covered in this post.

Light the Fire! Books on CD

If you want to build a ship, don't recruit the men to gather the wood, divide the work and give orders.  Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.

I read the above quote today by Antoine de Saint-Exupery and all I could think was, "BINGO!!!!!!!"  Yes, yes, and yes!

His thoughts echo something I recently read by Richard Lavoie in his book  The Motivation Breakthrough: 6 Secrets to Turning on the Tuned-Out Child.  Lavoie talks about the distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.  He argues that the former (systems/policies that encourage a child to earn rewards) doesn't lead to the latter (a child who is motivated from within).  He isn't opposed to "well-planned and implemented reward programs;" however, he stresses that we should be "mindful that intrinsic motivation is our long-term goal" (12).  As Saint-Exupery suggests, teach them to yearn and the rest will follow and be its own reward.

While Saint-Exupery was talking about building ships and the sea, I think his metaphor is easily applied to children and reading.  Feed their enthusiasm about the world of stories and the semantics of reading will come together, and most importantly, be fueled by their own internally generated motivation to crack the reading code.  Leave them without exposure to the wonderful world of stories and what will be left to motivate them when the going gets (or perhaps stays tough) with reading?

Let's face it, learning to read can be a painstaking process, particularly now days when our kids are doing in kindergarten what many of us were still trying to master in second grade. I remember the phonics cards ... but they certainly were not in my kindergarten class, which I think was all graham crackers, naps, songs, and the occasional fluoride treatment.

So what can we do as parents to foster a love of reading?  I hope you'll leave your ideas and best practices in the comments!

Here's one thing that seems to have worked for my kids: Books on CD.   We rarely get in the car now without someone asking, "Can we listen to the story?,"  and often times they ask before the car is even running.  We have listened to books on CD for longer car trips, but now, we listen to them pretty much everywhere we go ... baseball practice, grandma's house, the grocery store, etc.  There are a zillion reasons why reading aloud to our kids is important and worth doing (which I hope to cover in another post) but perhaps one of the most important reasons is that it shows them how entertaining and enjoyable books can be!  The hope is that this affinity will keep them in the struggle of learning to read when they are young and it will continue to inspire them to be lifelong readers once the basic skills have been mastered.

Books on CD are available at the local libraries and if you find the Moraga library selection lacking, you can always put a title on hold online at www.ccclib.org and have it delivered to the Moraga library for pick up.

For the younger kids, I can't help but recommend The BFG by Roald Dahl (as long as your kids can get through the kinda scary first part, which our 4-year old did). Natasha Richardson's rendition of the novel is hands-down-completely-laugh-out-loud-funny.  My kids are still quoting that big, friendly giant and we listened to the story months and months ago.  For the older set, I'd recommend The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart.

We are currently listening to The Wayside School Collection by Louis Sachar, which was recommended by Jim Trelease in his Read Aloud Handbook (get it and be inspired!), and we've got Chocolate Fever by Robert Kimmel Smith on the docket when that finishes up.  




How about you?  What books on CD have been hits in your family?

Reading at the Dinner Table?

Over the past few months, I've been dabbling at reading a book by Laurie David called "The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids One Meal at a Time."  Of late, with the confluence of some sports ending (or never ending) and others starting in our house, the family dinner has gone by the way side -- and I mean way to the way way side -- on too many nights.  Nevertheless, I'm still aspiring to keep everyone fed both physically and mentally/emotionally.

I love the premise of the book and the value it places on being sure we remain connected as a family.  On the lighter side, David offers good recipes that my kids have actually eaten, fun ideas for making dinner special or unique, and some creative activities for ensuring that the dinner hour is actually enjoyable.  My favorite activity so far is having everyone at the table do an impression of another family member's laugh.  We were all in hysterics almost immediately.

On the more serious side, David echoes what I've heard elsewhere.  She notes,

The research is in! Children who do well on school achievement tests are the ones who eat meals and snacks with their families.  Those who eat dinner with their families four or more times a week are more likely to score better than those who have dinner three or fewer times a week. (169)

One of David's chapters focuses on reading as a way to liven up the dinner conversation.  She doesn't suggest that everyone bring their favorite book and bury their noses in it -- instead she offers the idea that a few minutes of snippets from speeches by influential people, newspapers, the Internet, poetry books, and the like can lead to some lively dinner conversations that go well beyond, "how was your day dear?"  I'm quite taken with her idea because how better to learn about each other and continue to learn together than to talk about the goings on in the world often and a lot -- and what better time than during dinner?  Practically speaking, it is just a lot more interesting than begging a four year old to try something, anything you've cooked, and idealistically speaking, it is just the kind of family I'd hope to be a part of ... one that explores ideas together and naturally gravitates toward the pursuit of learning.

One idea that David offers highlights a series that she started in collaboration with The Huffington Post called Family Dinner Downloads.  You can click here, or go to www.huffingtonpost.com and search for "Family Dinner Dowloads" to check it out.  Essentially, she suggests gathering "around the laptop or smartphone -- or pass around a printout -- and check the Family Dinner Download of the week, which will end with a question or two that will get everyone thinking and sharing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions" (177) about a relevant, age-appropriate current event. 

Right off the bat, I can hear the objections ... 1) Dinner time should not include any electronic devices and 2) The Huffington Post has a political bias that not everyone may agree with and thus their topics and questions may not jive with every family's perspectives and opinions.  Totally valid, and if you can suspend your objections for a moment, I think you will find that the idea of spending a few minutes at the table with your children reading about a current event and then exploring each person's thoughts on the matter is pretty compelling.  What is not to like about a little reading practice in an unexpected place AND the opportunity to expose our kids to the world beyond Moraga?  David's partnership with The Huffington Post happens to be a prepackaged, easy-to-access way of doing just that, but it can also be modified to suit your family's interests, perspectives about current affairs, and the age of your children.

You could, for example, scan the day's news, select a topic, write up a brief synopsis of the event/issue, and throw in some questions, and you've got yourself your very own Family Dinner Download... and while you are at it, you could crown yourself Super Mom or Super Dad for your heroic parenting efforts (right after you apologize that there is no dinner to eat because you were busy preparing the Family Dinner Download instead).  All facetiousness aside, you might easily use what The Huffington Post has to offer, and if you heartily disagree with the way the topic is presented, use that as a teaching moment!

However you decide to start off the dinner conversation, I could also see, for the more ambitious, how each dinner's topic could be easily complemented by coordinating bedtime reading selections.  For example, the Family Dinner Download about Egypt, Leadership, and Freedom might be paired up with a post-dinner reading of  "Ten Amazing People and How They Changed the World." I could also see, for a family with children in the lower grades, how picking up a set of The Ungame cards or Table Topics for Families would accomplish the same ends -- a little reading and an engaging conversation.
 
No matter which way you do it -- Turbo Topics or Topics Light --  I can't help but think that David is on to something so right.  I am inspired by and in complete concurrence with her idea that through reading together, we all have greater opportunities to connect and enjoy our time together.

I might just have to get started tonight.  It is almost dinner time.