reading tips

Mama’s Corner: What Makes a Book Stick?

Recently I noticed an interesting trend in the books that my children request me to read over and over again: bad.

Yes, my children enjoy bad books.

At first I thought that they had just inherited their father’s taste in literature, but then I realized that it had a little to do with me, too.  Whenever I happen to bring home a bad book from the library, I cringe the first time I read it.  With awkward rhyme, uninspiring illustrations, terrible (or no) story line, each page is worse than the last.  After I get over the initial urge to toss it into the return pile, I try to find something redeeming about it.  It was published after all, so someone must have found something worthwhile in it.

I think: Can I add voices?  Can I add sound effects?  Can I act it out?  Can I sing it?

I’ll try one or the other, occasionally all four, but somewhere along the way, something magical happens and my kids fall in love with the delivery.

The book sticks.

Our most recent example was originally a song by Ziggy Marley (Bob Marley’s son) that was then turned into a picture book: I Love You, Too.  It was pretty terrible at first read, but when I sang it to Luke and Brynn, they loved it.  I made up my own melody, but there’s no reason that one couldn’t listen to the song online or use an existing melody.

There is also something beautiful about singing a song with the refrain of “I love you, too.”  We all tell our children that we love them, but it has been amazing to have those words sung in bits and pieces all day long, week after week.  They became the soundtrack to our December, January, and February.

That “bad book” gave me an excellent excuse to cuddle with my kids and share my love for reading and music with them, and in my book, that’s pretty good.

 

 

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Reading Tip: “Can You Find?” The Most (Annoying) Amazing Reading Game

It’s late.

It’s been a long day.

All I want to do is read a few books with Luke, say goodnight, and put him to bed.

No can-do.  Luke wants to play “Can you find?”

I want to be annoyed that I’m going to have to think when I’m drop-dead tired, but I just can’t bring myself to be.  Because here’s the thing: “Can you find?” is an amazing game.

Essentially, “Can you find?” is our personal version of “I Spy.”  It began as a curiosity when Luke was about 16 months old and he began pointing to letters when we named them.  It quickly morphed into a fantastic way to communicate with Luke before he could speak himself.  We would ask him to find letters, numbers, colors, and shapes.  Despite sounding like we were quizzing him, Luke genuinely loved the game, and our proof is that it has persisted through a year and a half, has changed to meet his needs, and he still loves to play it.

Here are a few of the stages we have gone through with “Can you find?”

“Can you find….”

  • letters
  • numbers
  • shapes
  • colors (straight colors: red, green, yellow, etc. and then shades of color: light blue, turquoise, dark green, etc.)
  • words (started with known words, but quickly moved to unknown words–great for learning phonics and sounding out words)
  • directions (left, right, up, down, top, bottom)
  • other descriptive adjectives (long, short, big, small, skinny, fat, etc.)
  • emotions
  • unusual objects

The biggest benefit we have seen from playing “Can you find?” is the rapid vocabulary growth.  As we have to stretch our descriptive powers, Luke learns tons of new words.  We have progressed from “Can you find a yellow two?” to “Can you find three little tiny pink fish with spikes on their backs?” It also helps him hone his observational skills and provides us with a great game to play while we’re waiting in line out in public.

Here are a few of the books that Luke initiated “Can you find?” with:

For numbers:

  1, 2, 3 to the Zoo by Eric Carle: Inside the hardcover edition, the numbers 1-10 are repeated in different colors.  Luke STILL loves to play “Can you find?” with these numbers.  We’ve had to get very creative with our descriptions to avoid going insane: “Can you find the yellow two that’s farthest to the right?”  “Can you find the blue and purple number 45?”

For letters:

  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (Chicka Chicka Book, A) by John Archambault, Bill Martin, Jr., and Lois Ehlert: For letters, nothing beats Chicka.  Luke loved playing “Can you find?” with the page where the letters all fall out of the tree and are a jumbled mess.

For colors and other descriptive adjectives:

   The Pout-Pout Fish (Pout-Pout Fish Adventure) by Deborah Diesen and Dan Hanna: For colors and other descriptive adjectives, Luke discovered Pout-Pout Fish.  On the first two pages of the book, there are a whole bunch of fish and other sea creatures surrounding Mr. Fish.  Luke LOVES finding the various creatures.  We can’t even read this book all the way through anymore.  We get stuck on the first two pages.  Annoying or amazing?

For objects and colors:

   Yoo-Hoo, Ladybug! by Mem Fox and Laura Ljungkvist: For objects and colors, this book is a new one that we just discovered.  Not only are you trying to find the ladybug (she’s pretty well hidden!), but there are all sorts of other items to identify as well.

And for “Can you find?” with words, Luke really enjoys looking at the inside of the dust jacket flaps.  The flaps are usually written for adults, so the vocabulary is more varied and more difficult than typical picture book fare.  It is here that we have seen his decoding ability and phonics knowledge soar.

Happy reading and finding!

–Erin (blog Mama)

 

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Dear Dada, Read With Me: Why Dads Reading With Boys Is Important

Dear Dada,

Did you know that you’re more important than Mama?  Wait, Mama!  Before you go on strike and refuse to take me to the Mirror Park tonight, let me explain!  When reading with me, you, Dada, are more important than Mama.

Shoot.

There she goes.

Well, Dada, this letter is for you anyway.  I’ll talk Mama down later.  A hug and a kiss and she’s putty in my manipulative toddler hands.

So, Dada, check out these facts and stats:

  • Boys are trailing behind girls in reading, according to a 2010 report by the Center on Education Policy, which called this lag, “the most pressing gender-gap issue facing our schools” (www.greatschools.org).
  • Last year, only 40 percent of college graduates were male.  Many education experts believe this difference is linked to poor reading habits and literacy skills that boys developed in the elementary and middle school (www.greatschools.org).
  • The job market has changed.  Before, there were employment opportunities for boys who didn’t read or write well.  Now, jobs for unskilled workers have been outsourced (www.greatschools.org, Acredolo and Goodwyn 2000).
  • Few boys entering school call themselves nonreaders, but by high school more than half do (www.ala.org).
  • If reading is perceived as feminized, boys will go to great lengths to avoid it (Smith and Wilheim 2002 in http://www.ala.org and http://www.guysread.com).

These are just a few of the alarming facts that I found about boys and reading.  After digesting them, my next question was, “What can be done to encourage boys to read?”  That’s where you come in, Dada.  Here are some ideas that the experts have suggested:

  • Get caught reading.  Obviously, children watch everything their parents do, so to cement a reading culture in a family, it’s important for kids to see both parents reading books.  But for the best, long-term benefits, boys especially need to catch dads and other male role models reading (www.pbs.org, http://www.forbes.com, http://www.greatschools.org).
  • Read aloud.  Reading aloud to children starting in infancy helps them learn to love stories, relish the positive, peaceful interaction with you (thus creating a positive link with books), and build a critical foundation for later reading (www.pbs.org, Acredolo and Goodwyn 2000).
  • Broaden definition of “reading.” Read more than just picture books with young ones and have more than just chapter books around the house for older boys.  Newspapers, websites, magazines (like Highlights and the younger version called High Five), graphic novels, joke books, how-to books, off-color humor books, “gross” books, signs, posters, non-fiction books (Cat in the Hat non-fiction books are a nice alternative to picture books) (www.pbs.org, http://www.ala.org, http://www.greatschools.org).
  • Have books available.  Lots of books.  A huge variety of books.  All over the house.  And not just stuck on shelves but lying around in plain sight against couches, on tables, and on low bookshelves so covers can be seen (www.greatschools.org, http://www.ala.org).  And not just children’s books, but adult books, too.

To be fair, you already do most of these things, Dada.  You really are the best Dada in the world.  Patient.  Kind.  Funny.  Smart.  And almost as handsome as me!  Happy Father’s Day!

Love,

Luke

P.S. Should we go find Mama now or wait until she’s finished her bowl of ice cream?  Wait?  Yeah, that’s probably best….

Sources:

Acredolo, L. and Goodwyn, S. Baby minds: Brain-building games your baby will love. (2000).

Click to access SLMR_WhatWeWant_V10.pdf

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jordanshapiro/2014/05/13/kids-dont-read-books-because-parents-dont-read-books/

http://www.greatschools.org/students/academic-skills/6832-why-so-many-boys-do-not-read.gs

http://www.guysread.com/about/

http://www.pbs.org/parents/best-books-for-boys/6-ways-to-encourage-your-son-to-read.html

 

 

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Reading Tip: Hubba-whaa?!? Engaging Children in Books Using Inflection

In addition to adding sounds to our readings, the best thing about reading with my Mama and Dada is that they REALLY get into my books using their voices.  They emphasize important words by speaking louder, making their voices go up or down in pitch, or drawing out certain syllables.   In other words, they use tons of inflection.  Talk about EN-ter-TAIN-ing!

But reading with inflection isn’t just about entertainment: it also helps me to begin associating written letter combinations with their sounds (e.g. “ph” makes an “f” sound), to pronounce words, and to better understand the story.  I also learn an important strategy for decoding new words: sounding out words by segmenting them into syllables.  When my parents run their fingers under the words as they read, it helps me make all of these associations even more easily.  And now that my Mama and Dada have been reading with inflection for so long, I’ve started reading like that myself (which is totally entertaining for them!).

Using inflection is a part of every book that we read, but some authors go out of their way to make it very easy to do.  These books are always among my favorites, mostly because they are so fun to hear.  Here are a few to get you started.  Books are ordered from least to most complex, but I still enjoy even the simplest of them.

  What Will Fat Cat Sit On? by Jan Thomas: If you’re new to the whole inflection thing, this book is a great one to start with.  The illustrations are simple and expressive, and the text is spare, very big, and deliberately constructed to emphasize certain words.  Oh yeah, the book is also hilarious.  A good book for practicing running your finger under the text, too.  Other Jan Thomas books work equally well (The Doghouse is another of my favorites), but this one was my first Jan Thomas book and remains my favorite.

  The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? (Pigeon) by Mo Willems: Another fantastic book that is perfect for exaggerated readings.  Similar to What Will Fat Cat Sit On, the illustrations are simple, the text spare, and the type helps tell you how to read it with inflection.  It’s also pretty darn funny, as are all of Mo Willems’s books.  If this particular book doesn’t appeal to your child, try any of Willems’s books (Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and the Elephant and Piggie books are other favorites of mine).

  The Monster at the End of This Book (Sesame Street) (Little Golden Book) by Jon Stone and Michael Smollin: Another long-time favorite, Monster shares the same text elements as the first two books in this list: large font with emphasis built into the type to make it very easy to read with inflection.  As an added bonus, Grover talks to the reader, begging and pleading to not turn the page.  I love this book in part because it is interactive.

  Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great by Bob Shea: This book is geared toward a slightly older toddler (3-5).  The language is more advanced and the dialogue between the two characters, Goat and Unicorn, takes a few readings for a toddler to figure out.  (Tip: Mama adds in “Goat says…” and “then Unicorn says” to make the exchanges between characters a little easier to understand)  Once you figure out the dialogue, however, the book is really fun to read.  Emphasis on certain words is built into the text using color and size, and once you are comfortable with the personalities of the characters, this book is also a good one for adding your own inflection.  Ham it up!

  Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss:  Classic!  Definitely for an older toddler as it is fairly long, but so much fun to both read and listen to!  Unlike the other books on this list, there are very few text features to help parents figure out which words to emphasize.  Instead, I included it because it is the easiest non-explicit inflection book that I’ve encountered.  It just begs to be read with more and more frustration as the “guy with the tall hat” refuses to try the green eggs and ham that the persistent Sam offers him.

Some parents are naturally good at using inflection, and if that is you, then hopefully these books will simply give you something entertaining to read.  For other parents, reading with inflection does not come as easily, and if that is you, then I hope that these books will help you learn a little something that will help make reading even more fun for both you and your child.

Happy reading!

–Luke (blog co-star, age 2 and a half)

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On Acting the Fool: Reading Tip About Reading With Sounds

 

My Mama and Dada are fools.  Wait.  Perhaps I should clarify.  My Mama and Dada act like fools when they read with me.  They’ve acted this way since they first began reading to me, and it’s part of the reason why I love reading with them so much.  They add noises wherever they possibly can.  They add noises that don’t even exist in real life, all so I will engage in the books they read.  And the noises work!  I love books with lots of possible sound effects, and now that I’ve begun my own pretend play scenarios, I use the sounds myself.

Here are some of the books that provide plenty of opportunities for both animal sounds and other noises that my Mama and Dada read to me when I was really little:

Here are a few books that I liked when I got a little older:

Here are a few other sounds that my Mama and Dada use throughout the books we read:

  • up and down (brrrrrrp with ascending and descending pitch)
  • walking (doot doot doot with fingers walking)
  • running (huffing and arms swinging)
  • doors opening (creeeeeak)
  • falling down (thump or ka-boom)
  • cars or go (vroom)
  • stop (errrrrrr! Or screeeech!)
  • wind blowing (hooooo)
  • rain (pshhhhh with fingers wiggling up to down to mimic rain)
  • squirrels (sing-song “squirrel, squirrel, shake your bushy tail” and have child wiggle)
  • flowers (sniff flowers and have child sniff, too)

Act the fool!  Add sounds wherever you can.  They draw in little guys and gals like me and help us really enjoy reading with you!

–Luke (blog co-star, age two and a half)

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