Sunday, May 24, 2009
Raise them on reading
Parents a key part of bringing books, kids together
As a pediatrician, I love to talk to families about the importance of reading in a child's life. Reading experiences do not begin in school. They begin in the home and are important from the time your child is an infant.
Reading has always been an important part of my life. My parents read to me often when I was young. From the time I was a preschooler and asked my parents to read the same book to me for months on end, my memories are filled with the pleasures of books. I learned to read during a family camping trip to the Adirondack Mountains the summer I turned 6.
When I was able to progress to more complex books, I discovered the huge world that reading made available to me. Now I could read fantastic stories and find out all kinds of interesting things to stimulate my thoughts and imagination. Even though I could read, I still loved it when my parents read to me. I fondly remember sitting under a tree with my Mom as she read "The Wind In The Willows" to me when I was in third grade.
As a pediatrician, I see the value of reading to children every day in my practice. Children who are read to regularly as babies and young children have a much better vocabulary when they reach school, allowing them to do better than their peers who lack this in their background. Reading to young children helps them to learn to focus their attention and understand rhyming. This helps children with kindergarten readiness skills and helps them to learn to read more easily. Reading helps a child bond with her family, develop new skills, soothe when cranky and cure boredom on a rainy day.
Often as parents we stop reading to our children when they are old enough to read to themselves. Most young elementary school students are capable of enjoying much more complicated books than they are able to read to themselves. This helps the child appreciate more complex stories, and also gives them an incentive to keep working at reading better.
We are lucky to have Reach Out and Read, a community-sponsored program to give books to children at medical appointments, available at our office. A child receives a new age-appropriate book at each well-child visit from six months until 5 years old, along with information about the benefits of reading and tips for families about reading with each age level. This gets books into the hands of all children, not just those who are raised in a literature-rich environment. I also remind families of the wonderful resources available for families at our local libraries.
Reading to a child from a young age does not cure all ills, but it certainly helps reduce a number of common problems in children and families. It also builds a bond that lasts the lifetime of your child. My husband and I are reading "The Fellowship of the Ring" to our children, ages 11 and 9, right now. What are you reading to your child?
Dr. Amy White is a physician at Southern Tier Pediatrics and a member of the Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley.
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Sunday, April 26, 2009
My mother's book reading style echoes still
When parents read aloud, children learn
I remember my mother's voice. Encircled in her arms as she held "A Child's Garden of Verses" or a Dr. Seuss book, I could listen to her soothing voice any time ? before breakfast, after a nap, before bedtime or any place ? on the green striped davenport, the front stoop, my very own double bed.
Inspired and encouraged by her warm, expressive voice, I was reciting "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me" and "How do you like to go up in a swing, up in the air so blue?" by the time I was 4. Oh, the patience and enthusiasm she had to read the same stories and poems over and over. She read to me and my brother and sister for years, not just when we were toddlers. My favorite Dr. Seuss, "Horton Hears a Who," was published in 1954 when I was 8, and, even though I could read it myself by then, it's her voice that I hear when I read it today.
My mom had not gone to college, but she knew the best way to prepare us for school: read aloud, read aloud, read aloud. She read nursery rhymes that developed our "phonemic awareness," the ability to hear, distinguish and play with the sounds of our language. Dr. Seuss helped, too, as he tickled us with silly rhymes and nonsense words: "in the Jungle of Nool ... in the cool of the pool" and "When they got to the top ... and he shouted out, 'Yopp!'" Imitating Dr. S in the back-back of our Ford station wagon ? "Donna, wanna, lonna, zonna" and "Mark, park, bark, wark," we were blissfully unaware of our increasing phonemic awareness.
Mom's reading voice was so exceptional that I suggested that she volunteer at local schools when she retired. She never took me up on that. In writing this piece, I've realized that my mother may not have had an exceptional voice. The act of reading aloud made her voice beautiful to me.
Please read aloud to a child in your life. Your voice will be beautiful, remembered and loved for longer than you'd imagine.
Donna Homuth, retired English and Instructional Support Teacher, is a member of the Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley.
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Sunday, March 29, 2009
Folk literature entertaining for all ages
When I am invited to a baby shower, I invariably give a beautifully illustrated book of nursery rhymes as a gift. These little ditties, although admittedly dated and often somewhat inane, can form the basis for a lifetime of literacy. They are short enough to hold a young child's interest. They are easy to memorize (a skill that will become useful in school for learning multiplication tables, for example), and they expose children to vocabulary at an early age (which studies have proved to be an important indicator of the potential for academic success).
Nursery rhymes are a subcategory of folk literature. Other subcategories include myths, folk tales, fairy tales, tall tales, fables, hero sagas and epics, ghost stories, and urban legends. These stories originate from the oral traditions of various cultures and have been passed down through generations. They have stood the test of time because they are universal and because of their very nature, they often change with the times.
There is something for everyone and every age level included in this genre, and many versions of the same stories are available from many cultures. Readers often find that comparing the same story as told by different ethnic groups can be entertaining as well as educational. Many assume that the Grimm Brothers wrote fairy tales, for example. They, however, were merely collectors (as were many others) who wrote down the stories that had been told for centuries.
Other versions of Ashenputtle (Cinderella) come from the Native American tradition, the African tradition and the Chinese tradition as well as the traditions of other countries and cultures. What intrigues children as well as adults is the differences between early versions of the stories and the "sanitized" adaptations we know today. Some early tellings were, indeed, grim.
One particular facet of this type of literature that is extremely popular with students has come to be called "Fractured Fairy Tales." Remember those segments on the old "Rocky and Bullwinkle Show?" Weren't they fun? Now children of all ages can enjoy stories in that same tradition. Jon Scieszka's "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" is a favorite, and Jane Yolen has written several books in this genre as well. See a list of fractured fairy tale books from the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee at www.uwm.edu/Libraries/curriculum/Library/fracturedfairytales.pdf.
Best of all, many of these stories are available from your local libraries or can be downloaded for free from Internet sources. Enjoy!
Pat Crane is a teacher/librarian at Ernie Davis Middle School and a member of the Family Reading Partnership of Chemung Valley. Her comments are part of a monthly series of articles about literacy.
Here are some suggested sources for stories that will interest children:
* National Geographic Presents Grimmís Fairy Tales: From Folklore to Forever: Twelve tales from the 1914 translation. www.nationalgeographic.com/grimm/
* The Big Myth: Creation stories from many countries (with video animation and audio).
www.mythicjourneys.org/bigmyth/2_eng_myths.htm
* American Folklore: Stories collected by S. E. Schlosser, including ghost stories, tongue twisters, urban legends, and tall tales. www.americanfolklore.net
* Folklore and Mythology: Electronic Texts, from D. L. Ashliman at the University of Pittsburgh. This site includes variations of Cinderella. www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
* Project Gutenberg: A source for downloading books in the public domain. www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
* EZ Takes: Watch videos for free online including "Shelley Duvallís Tall Tales and Legends: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," "Shelley Duvallís Tall Tales and Legends: Johnny Appleseed," "Shelley Duvallís Tall Tales and Legends: John Henry," "Shelley Duvallís Tall Tales and Legends: Pecos Bill," "Shelley Duvallís Tall Tales and Legends: Darliní Clementine," "Shelley Duvallís Tall Tales and Legends: Casey at the Bat," and "Shelley Duvallís Tall Tales and Legends: Davey Crockett." www.eztakes.com/store/categories/Free-Streaming-Movies.jsp
* Dover Publications: Dover offers a large variety of very inexpensive ($1.50 to $3) folk tale and fairy tale books in easy-to-read childrenís editions. store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-children-children-s-thrift-classics.html
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Sunday, January 18, 2009
Winter time to read aloud
The winter months are upon us. Children whose parents put limits on television, computer and video games may not know how to fill their time.
Winter is a wonderful time to engage in reading higher-level books with your children. There are lazy evening hours that promote family time and what better way to stay connected to our children than to share a story.
In choosing novels at elementary and secondary levels, avoid falling into the old book report trap of "thicker is better." Many children believe that if a book is less than 125 pages, it is not worthy of reading. And that's how you kill a reader. There is no connection between thickness and goodness. Remember the Gettysburg Address was only 272 words.
Read-aloud selections do not have to be long-winded renditions. You can choose short stories, newspaper and magazine articles, even some interesting stories from "Uncle John's Great Big Bathroom Reader." (Don't let the title of the book sway you. We own six or seven of these books at our house, and they are true conversation starters.)
Remember that no one is ever too old to enjoy a read-aloud story. On long drives during family vacations and trips to see relatives, my whole family (including my husband) loves to hear a story and believe me it passes the time in the car in a way that portable DVD players can never match. My family remembers these trips where a book was shared aloud.
By reading aloud with our families, we are not only sharing stories, we are creating memories.
Looking for some great titles (voted by teachers from around the country) to share with your family? Try one (or two or three) of these:
"Charlotte's Web," "James and the Giant Peach," "Where the Red Fern Grows," "Polar Express," "Shiloh," "Sideways Stories from Wayside School," "Stone Fox," "Summer of the Monkeys," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Indian in the Cupboard."
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