As a parent whose youngest (and only 6-years-old!) is already attempting to spend every waking hour in front of a screen, I thought I’d suggest some ideas for getting reluctant readers excited about reading in the vein of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Or a corollary: “Let’s be sneaky and use electronics as a Trojan horse to present reading in a different light.” I’ve been blogging about these ideas that I’ve discovered over the past year and I’m pretty excited about them. Let me know what you think and if they work for you.
Month: April 2011
Learn Chinese Words with Bingo Game
The nice people at Kingka gave me their game to try out. I have a lovely Chinese tutor who my kids like a lot. She keeps them motivated by sticker charts that earn small prizes plus stickers for each lesson well done. She also gives them homework. I don’t speak Chinese (1 year Chinese school flunk out), so I had my tutor play Kingka with the kids. She really likes this game.
Preparing for Kindergarten: Activities to Do with Your Child
I found this great article from a mom on Twitter. I am getting my 5-year-old ready for kindergarten and I thought this is a great list of fun activities to work into the summer plans. The activities cover: fine motor, scissors, sensory, mid-line crossing, and developing handwriting skills. This article is by Loubina Buxamusa, an Occupational Therapist and Ann Mahoney, an Early Childhood Specialist.
Celebrating Earth Day with Picture Books
Picture books do make a difference! As for Me…Jane, I am listening more closely in order to help support the career choices that my children are expressing at their young age, even when my youngest tells me he wants to be a video game developer when he grows up!! Sigh!
SAT Vocabulary Words from Picture Book The Scarecrow’s Hat
The words for Week 8 are from the picture book, The Scarecrow’s Hat by Ken Brown. Lest you be alarmed that it’s freaky to be teaching SAT vocabulary words to Kindergarteners, I wanted to REITERATE that all the words in this series are from a picture book; however, I failed to notice which picture book on earlier posts. This brings me to another point: picture books often have richer language than easy chapter books, not to mention gorgeous art work. I am a HUGE fan of picture books for all ages. How else can one be transported to a different time and place and/or walk in the shoes of another in the short space of 24ish pages? I digress, onward for the words.
Appealing Non Fiction Book: 100 Most Disgusting Things on Planet (ages 4-12)
100 Most Disgusting Things on the Planet: Prepare for the Worst by Anna Claybourne is a book that delights those with a fascination for grossness that occurs in nature. But this book is also a clever guise to get reluctant readers reading and readers of all ages engaged in life science non-fiction.
Top 10: Best African-American Picture Books (ages 4-12)
This Top 10 list of African American Picture Books is different for me, because rather than list the books from favorite to most favorite as I usually do, I chose instead to list the books in historical chronology such that each book touches on a significant period or event of African American history in the United States. If you read all 10 (and please use your library for this!), you and your child will get a sense of history through picture books. Because each picture books tells its own powerful story, I am hoping you and your child will get images and vignettes that will linger in your mind.