A Word About Wordless Books

As you know the other night I was fortunate to facilitate a parent’s literacy night.  I love these because parents and educators have so many great ideas to share.  I walked away with lots of new perspectives on the work I do as a teacher and also the role I play as a parent in promoting thinking and learning.  One concern that came up was a parent that was having difficulty engaging her child in talking about the books that they read together.  She felt like her son didn’t have much to say.  This is a typical dilemma I see as I work with a variety of children.  The tricky part is promoting rich discussion without overanalyzing a story to the point that the story gets weighed down and is boring! I shared one possible way to promote talking “through” a story- using a wordless book. 

I love wordless books because there are so many useful ways they can bring value to any reader.  In this parent’s case, I think it would be nice for her child to let the images drive her story telling but a wordless book also lends an opportunity for the adults to model using rich language to describe what is happening.  I shared the book Chalk by Bill Thomson because I think it appeals to readers of all ages and in particular is a magical story that inherently connects to one’s imagination.  I suggested to this parent that the first time she reads the book with her child they do so “quietly” meaning just let her child enjoy and drive the talk.  Her child will probably initiate the discussion because most readers can’t help but call out as they “discover” this magical tale.  Then maybe the second or third “read” she could try modeling spending time on some pages describing the “important action” but also noticing the rich details in the character’s expressions, setting, and tone.  I reminded her not to force her child into the talk but to nurture it by acknowledging her child’s thinking throughout the story.  

Our conversation of using the book Chalk  to promote rich talk actually prompted a larger discussion on the many exciting ways that wordless books can be used to nurture a love of books.  There were so many I compiled just some into a list that I thought you might find interesting.  Click on this linkhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/182410018/Wordless-Books-docx and feel free to explore the ideas as well as some of my favorite wordless books.  Do you have your own ideas or wordless favorites? I’d love you to please share!

                                                                     

Raise the FLF: Wordless books are great to use across age groups because it doesn’t hold one down to a particular level of text.  Therefore I think these provide a particular opportunity for families to learn together.  Wordless books can be great fun to bring a family together and story tell as a group.  Adults and kids alike can take turns telling the next pages and building on each others imagination to weave their own fantastical story.  Try it with a few wordless books; then take those new family skills and put them to the test.  Can you build your own story together?  One person can pick a character or characters, another a setting, and yet another a problem.  Then while having dinner or driving around running errands (or while waiting on reeeaaally long lines this holiday season) try taking turns telling a story.  Not only will this promote lots of great skills for your children (speaking and listening!) but it will also provide lots of great family fun. 

THANK YOU

This past Tuesday I was fortunate to facilitate a parent literacy night at my local book store.  I would like to thank Well Read (http://www.thewellreadbookstore.com/)  for their graciousness in hosting our group.  Our local bookstore consistently provides our community with dynamic events for the whole family so I felt lucky to be part of their lineup!  I would also like to thank the parents and educators that came out on a busy night to share ideas to benefit our children's love of reading and life long learning.  

We had a great discussion about the kinds of things families could do at a variety of age levels to inspire a love of reading.  At a deeper level we discussed the difference of learning for the classroom and learning for the pure joy of discovery.  Our discussion brought up what is sure to be many future posts.  In fact there were so many books that were shared that I am updating my list of favorites to highlight as great family reads- stay tuned!!

On this beautiful Sunday afternoon, I want to touch upon just one of the points that was brought up.  Reading aloud and what literacy means in general can come in many shapes and sizes.  At the core, we all agreed that our children benefit most when reading and learning is authentic and appropriate.  This means not forcing fake "assignments" on our kids but at the same time using their natural curiosity to drive "teachable moments."  This weekend we all agreed that we would be on the lookout for those joyous moments where literacy might mean silly songs as we take a Sunday afternoon drive, talking about our day over hot chocolate, or cuddling up to a good book at bedtime.  

RAISE THE FLF:  At FLF the goal is to take a moment and stretch it to really learn as a family- learning about each other and learning about the world THROUGH each other.  When running errands or trying one of the many fall activities in the area don't forget to debrief as a family at some point.  TALK to one another about your opinions.  Agree- or better yet disagree on your experiences.  Through this talking your child will get a chance to see how we all can look at the same experiences differently.  They will be enriched by the language of expression and best of all you will learn something about each other.  Now don't get me wrong I'm a teacher and I know Sunday night often feels like "last chance Sally" to get our stuff together before a busy week.  I am in the midst of that myself.  However, when possible it is so important to model for our children the rich conversational skills that take our random moments and turn them into deeper family moments of learning.  Yes even picking out your produce at the supermarket can lead to a relevant conversation with our kids- how DID we decide which fruit and veggies to get for the week? Or what exactly can we DO with the hundreds of apples we picked since baking would be cruel and unjust punishment for this yummy fruit at mommy's hands?! There should seriously be an apple exchange program where we pick apples and then turn them into local bakers for seriously delicious pies! Sure these ideas seem obvious but it is so easy to forget to TALK about our day with one another.  Happy weekend. :D

REPOST: WELL READ EVENT

As many of you know I am a mommy, auntie, and teacher trying to balance my best ideas with a busy reality.  As such, I love to share and collect ideas to help our kids become life long learners.  Therefore, I'm super excited to host a family literacy night at my hometown bookstore- Well Read in Hawthorne,  NJ.  I am so proud to be part of their line up as this book store has really enhanced our town with all kinds of local events.  I hope that anyone of you that are in the area can come out and join me.  My goal with this workshop is to share ideas with parents about how to nurture our children's interest in reading and writing.  There are lots of fun activities I'd like to share about things we can do at home to support their literacy development.  To keep our night focused we will concentrate on kids birth to age 11.  However, you can stretch some of these ideas beyond!  I want this night to be fun and interactive so bring your questions, concerns, or best ideas.  We will meet at Well Read (425 Lafayette Ave. Hawthorne, NJ) at 7:30pm. Let me know in the comment section (or email me at familylearningfactor@gmail.com) if you can come.  Really hope to see you there!!!

Getting Real - Tech Time

So when I first got pregnant I envisioned all kinds of parenting "rules" I would follow.  Then I had a baby and realized the only rule was try your best - and survive! One of the rules I thought I would follow was no TV until Gabriel was 3.  I don't judge anyone who chooses to let their child watch TV but I envisioned this serene world of imagination being nurtured without interruption from the effects of TV.  Yeah well below is a picture of Gabriel at month 8 when he started to refuse to "eat" (remind me to tell you of my rocky relationship with breast feeding one day).  

Yup, our rule went right out the window when we discovered that 10 mins 14 secs of Baby Einstein would equal peace of mind that Gabriel was getting his nutrition and well frankly we were getting a little quiet time!  Since then I've been justifying Gabriel's viewing choices by trying to balance the reality of survival with my desire to limit his TV time.  Everyone's line and balance is different and I truly think there is not 1 right answer or way.  For me, I prefer apps and Internet clips because I think it is easier to be mobile and to control the length of time.  Though trust me Gabriel has been introduced already to the wonder of TV- sometimes mommy needs a minute! Anyhow I thought it might be nice to share some of the tech that we find helpful. 

For me, I have a few go-to apps that I think are purposeful, easy, and can mold to a variety of ages.  Although You Tube is not an "educational" app, I love searching for short clips that fit the child I'm with at the moment.  For my son, I feel good showing him some of the Baby Einstein clips that support his language development.  In particular, I like playing some of the clips in Spanish since I am trying to raise him bilingual. It helps to support the things we are doing at home, plus calms him at particularly cranky times.  Often 10 mins is all he needs.  I also enjoy an app called "DoodleBuddy."  This is a free draw and paint app that can be used for a variety of purposes.  Kids love to free doodle, use the stamps, and change the backgrounds.  It can be a loose free play for them or we can practice more specific skills like letter formation, drawing shapes, or following directions.  Another app I have been enjoying recently is called "MeeGenius."  You can download the app for free.  The site will send you the link to a free book after you sign up for an account.  Later you can purchase other books if you'd like.  This is a great apps that reads books aloud to your children but also tracks the words in yellow as it reads them the words, helping to develop your child's understanding of print concepts.  As always, technology should always be closely monitored and all things should be done in moderation.  But, as I have been learning, there are times we just need help in keeping our kids entertained! Why not find things we feel good about?! What apps/web sites do you enjoy using with your family?

Raise the FLF:  You know what my son loves in particular? My camera! He loves looking through the pictures on my phone and rewatching the videos that always seem to linger there.  Maybe it is because the pictures and videos are often of the people he recognizes in his world (our closest family and friends).  Looking through these pictures and watching these videos hold his attention better than most other things and allow us to support his vocabulary growth with people and objects that he instantly recognizes.  His smile is gigantic when he sees himself dancing in our living room holding his beloved ball with grandma and grandpa shouting "goal, goal, goal!"  It also gives another use to the hundreds of pictures and videos we take- they become an instant tutor of language and a way to relive our favorite memories.  You can use this with older children as well.  They love looking through these special times and can even be in charge of labeling the occasion or retelling how they felt at that moment thus accessing important retelling and communication skills that will be really helpful to their academic growth.  Older children can even take it further by using these pictures and videos to export into an iMovie or garage band app and really develop special memories in an imaginative way.  My oldest nephew loves to do this.  To him he is having silly fun but he is also developing important higher order thinking skills.  Let's put all those pictures we take to work for us in a variety of ways.  Then we don't have to feel bad that we never print them or put them into that fantasy scrap book we plan on making one day!

Well Read Parent Workshop

As many of you know I am a mommy, auntie, and teacher trying to balance my best ideas with a busy reality.  As such, I love to share and collect ideas to help our kids become life long learners.  Therefore, I'm super excited to host a family literacy night at my hometown bookstore- Well Read in Hawthorne,  NJ.  I am so proud to be part of their line up as this book store has really enhanced our town with all kinds of local events.  I hope that anyone of you that are in the area can come out and join me.  My goal with this workshop is to share ideas with parents about how to nurture our children's interest in reading and writing.  There are lots of fun activities I'd like to share about things we can do at home to support their literacy development.  To keep our night focused we will concentrate on kids birth to age 11.  However, you can stretch some of these ideas beyond!  I want this night to be fun and interactive so bring your questions, concerns, or best ideas.  We will meet at Well Read (425 Lafayette Ave. Hawthorne, NJ) at 7:30pm. Let me know in the comment section (or email me at familylearningfactor@gmail.com) if you can come.  Really hope to see you there!!!

The Magic of Three

I was recently getting some tips from a Speech and Language Pathologist that I admire.  I was looking for ways to support my son's oral development.  I had some concerns that my son's speech was not progressing as it should.  While there are no outstanding red flags I am a huge believer is collecting ideas and trying them.  Why not support things where I can?!  Anyhow, Antonella Scofield (www.words4all.com) provided loads of helpful low-stress tips.  One of them was to work on sounds with my son.  She reminded me that sounds are just as much progress in speech as are actual words.  I immediately connected to Old McDonald's Farm, I couldn't believe that I had forgotten to teach this song to my child! HOW COULD I???!!!!! After a few seconds of beating myself up I took a breath and extracted myself from that hook that we parents often put ourselves on by ourselves.  After all, I am *trying* to raise my son bilingual and it means that sometimes I trade some English classics for Spanish ones.  Instead of focusing on what I hadn't done I decided to think about what I could do.  Now teaching your child animal sounds is by no means an Earth shattering new idea.  It is practically its own chapter in the mommy handbook right? Right after you must make choo choo sounds with the spoon while feeding...oh you forgot that one too? Right there with you! All excited about my new adventure I started thinking about how we teach our kids new things and I remembered the magic of three.  You know all the sayings right- "third time's the charm", "three cheers for", "three strikes you're..." oh wait that last one is a bad example.  But you get it.  

Antonella's suggestion that I nurture sounds reminded me that animal sounds were a great way to bridge some language skills for my child's bilingual world.  After all, my cow and "vaca" both say moo no matter what Google translation may think.  I decided to attack this new learning in at least 3 ways.  Not only did I (finally) remember to teach Old McDonald to my son which support his learning through song, I also found a book (The Very Busy Spider's Favorite Words) that supported the visual of the animal when we made the sound.  Thirdly, we would be sure to make the sound as we played with his animal puzzle where he got to hold the various animals.  I couldn't believe how quickly this helped my son feel comfortable making these sounds.  He feels so proud- as do we.  This, along with Antonella's other suggestions are already helping my son's speech grow each day.  

The power of 3 though is a thread that can be applied in many ways as we look to nurture our children's development.  As a teacher I am always looking to approach learning from a multi-sensory lens.  Having this fresh reminder of three is so useful at the beginning of the year.  As I am working with my Kinders on letters and sounds I shared the idea of learning something new in 3 ways with them.  They were so excited to practice our alphabet poster with a song (accessing sound), a motion (physical), and words in a book (visual).  Now having this type of multi-sensory approach is a foundational skill in teaching.  Many teachers apply it in their work, however, it is a great reminder to carry for any new learning.  I like the idea of 3 because if you try to hit every lesson using every type of sensory approach you will probably feel frustrated and overwhelmed but 3 approaches is manageable.  This is something we can do for our kids and ourselves.  When we want to lose weight for example aren't nutrition, exercise, and sleep the magic formula? Yeah you're right another bad example!

Raise the FLF: I used this approach to teach a concrete skill like animal sounds but you could do this with any learning as a family.  For example, if you have a child that is struggling with perfectionism (I have had several students with this issue even in the youngest grades) you can help you child by supporting them in three ways: let them tell you about their experience (verbally express themselves), share a book from the library or guidance counselor (hear the stories of others), and explicitly show them examples AS you make your own mistakes (modeling).  "See how I tried to have everything ready for breakfast today but I forgot half the things on my shopping list? I feel so frustrated by that but I'm going to have to figure out how to make it work because we have to get going on our day."  Any new learning or concepts you want to bring in the family can be better supported by attacking it from three angles.  Can you imagine any ways this might work for you?

Making Books

As a teacher I love the beginning of a new school year.  I always feel like I could get lost for hours shopping for new school supplies.  Deciding on just the right new pen that will be the key to a great new year.  As a new mom I am just learning how to balance my natural instinct to bury myself in work while also being present for my son.  I'll let you know if I ever figure out that mystery! In the meantime I am just doing the best I can.  

I was reminded of this balance recently when a parent of one of my kinders asked what she could do to encourage her reluctant reader to read.  We went through several suggestions but there was one in particular that I wanted to share because I think it represents some of the kinds of family learning activities I truly believe instill life long learning while also strengthening family bonds.  I talked to this parent about making very short books together.  I told her that one way to turn her young child into an enthusiastic reader is to make her an author.  One way to do this was to create simple books.  There are many ways to do this.  For example, if you are not sure where to begin you can go shopping for a simple inexpensive sticker sheet that has one of your child's favorite character's... Disney Princesses, Thomas the Train, Mickey Mouse, even something generic.  Stick one sticker per page and let them dictate a simple sentence.... "Thomas is on the track.", "Thomas is with Percy.", "Thomas says choo-choo."  After a few simple pages your child can add a color background to each.  Staple the pages and you have a new treasured book for your child to read! Depending on their age level you can make this simple or complex.  The point is that your child will have a book with predictable text that they will love reading.  They may even want to go to the library to look for other train books for inspiration.  Hopefully their appetite for reading will begin to grow!

Raise the FLF: You can really turn the notch up for this activity by involving the whole family.  This summer I tried this with the kids I was watching plus my own son.  I was trying to develop literacy activities for children that ranged from 15 months to 9 years old.  Towards the end of the summer I knew it was time to turn up the interest dial.  I printed out some pictures from some of our park outings and we decided to make a book together.  They had so much fun sorting through the pictures (about 10 of them) and choosing which should go on their page.  To keep this realistic I only let each child do 3 pages, any more and it would stop being fun (mainly for me)!

  

Once each child chose 1 picture I asked them to add text that made sense for their age.  For the 4 year old, he dictated a simple sentence and I had him trace the one word I wanted him to focus on.  I also made a word box where he copied this word.  The 5 year old, dictated a sentence.  I wrote what she said but I left a blank for the 2 words I thought she could handle writing herself (for Katie it was her name and the word can), for the 9 year old, I asked him to write a paragraph.  I explained that his page would be the introduction to the book so we talked about main idea.  This sounds complicated but it took me about 5 minutes to set up and about 15 minutes of quiet working for each page...ahh quiet working an Auntie and Teacher's dream! I posted the pictures below:

           

Yes, even my son got in on the action... he loved "working" while his older cousins worked.  He practiced scribbling with his washable crayons and holding the leftover pictures in his hands. We practiced naming our favorite places in the pictures.   If interested, I can scan and upload our finished product.  We just slipped them into a dollar store presentation book.  Try this with your family after a family trip to the zoo or even with a regular's day worth of pictures.  You'll get your kid(s) reading AND have a great family memory book!