Posts Tagged ‘reading’
Grace Geller on June 3rd, 2010
The final part in our series by our guest author Sharon Alm
Let’s talk about the part television and computers are playing in your young child’s life. Both can be wonderful resources! Both can also be mindless noise-boxes. Hopefully, you are guiding the Technology Department in your household.
Ideally, you will coordinate the language and vocabulary with what you present via technology. The best part is that you, the parent, can and should always be with your child when either TV or the computer is “in charge” of your child’s attention. Delayed recordings of children’s shows provide you with the ability to show selected parts of a show that your child would especially enjoy. Attention spans are short, and viewing should be, as well. There’s always another day and another time. More is not better.
Sesame Street has been a favorite for many years. The big, purple Barney seems to be especially loved by pre-toddlers, simply for its simple songs and rhymes and colorful
activities. You’ll have to decide what is best in your home for your child.
Books you read with your child can guide your selection of television or computer experiences. A book about the ocean might suggest a technology experience to share a specific “critter” or to expand something else in the book. The same might apply to an Arthur book, followed by and Arthur cartoon story.
Computer software can also provide continuation of book subjects. I taught at a private school in Florida where three-year-olds were quite adept at inserting the disc needed for their pre-reading software. Technology is everywhere…..please, use it wisely.
Continue talking, talking, talking (and singing) to your child in every situation. Don’t forget to stick in those rhyming words as you go through your day (bread /head; sock /rock; chair /hair; cup /pup; bug /rug). Things will be “connecting” inside of your little one‘s brain, and you will begin to see the results of your consistency.
Peace & Light,
Grace
Technorati Tags: Early Childhood Education, Early Reading, preschool, reading
Grace Geller on May 13th, 2010
This week we return to our series on helping your child learn to read by our guest author Sharon Alm.
I hope you and your child have settled into the bedtime reading routine. Isn’t it fun to watch the excitement….the settling-in for a good story time? You will remember these reading times of closeness for a long time, even though the age and size of your child changes quickly. The books will change, as well.
About 15-20 minutes each evening is enough time to get your child relaxed and ready for sleeping. Perhaps a special blanket or “lovey” is comforting while listening to you read, too. Daddy or Grandma might be the reader after bedtime reading is part of your child’s routine. Great! Perhaps some nights must have a shortened reading time, for whatever reasons. That’s ok, tool
I hope you’ve found that “board books” are great for the grabbing, throwing, and carrying phases of your child’s growth. Cloth books are softer for hugging, and “gumming” or chewing. Books are very adaptable to your child’s growth phases.
As your child begins to learn the word “no” (or your choice of a restraining or objecting
word), trade the word-of-choice to “gentle or gently” with regard to books. Reading books should not be associated with “no.”
Caring for books is also something to be taught and regarded as important before getting to the paper-paged books. A special shelf, table, or basket for books will show your child that you respect books and that you are careful in putting them away after each reading time.
Remember, your modeling is important in all areas of presenting the world to your child. Whatever your choices for discipline, manners, expectations at home and away from home, be consistent. Use the same vocabulary words and actions modeled by you and taught to your child, each time. Remember, your child is secure with the same things happening in his/her life. This is the time to do the groundwork. Teaching flexibility with rules and routines will come later—after the routines are clearly established and are his/her normal life.
As your reading expands, share your local library with your child. What fun it is to see all the colorful books—-and be able to take them home for a few days! Library books should be regarded as special books. You might designate a higher shelf for those books (and any other fragile pop-up books or gift books) that adults can reach for the child. This simple location instills that these books need to be treated with tender loving care by adults and children.
Take your child to a story time at the library. This is another experience he/she will enjoy when it’s not bedtime! This new person with a new reading voice will be another great way to share books. It’s also a socialization experience that will be fun, too!
Your child’s world is full of exciting experiences, things to see, places to visit, new faces to meet……and that special warm and cozy home to return to every night.
Peace & Light,
Grace
Technorati Tags: family life, preschoolers, reading
Grace Geller on April 28th, 2010
Early Reading Continued:
Your child is probably showing signs of knowing your routines, by now. Routines translate as security to your little one. You are providing a safe and loving world, which will expand as your child grows. You are the model and the teacher…always.
Use each part of your day as a teaching moment. I don’t mean “lessons,” of course. I mean natural talking about what you are doing and what your child is seeing. See and feel through your child’s eyes:
Naming Things: bottle, bed, car, blanket, dog, refrigerator, window, book …..
Describing Feelings: soft, cold, wet, dry, bright, dark…..
Meaningful Phrasing: open the door; sit on the chair; open the book; go to sleep; get a bath; washing, washing, washing your hair…..
As you begin to focus on repeating familiar words, I suggest that you investigate sign language for babies. Babies learn quickly to associate repeated words and signs, which ease the tension often encountered between infancy and “talking.” The baby knows what he/she wants, but parents are guessing—-and are often wrong.
There are books available at the libraries and bookstores, of course. There is also a basic resource center I found online, along with others if you do a more detailed search.
http://www.babies-and-sign-language.com/glossary-photos.html
I didn’t personally use signing with my babies, but I have heard of many successful cases of better communication during the infancy/toddler stages. In infancy, of course, the cry is the first communication. However, crying also might mean wet pants or a tummy ache. Parents learn quickly, too.
The words “eat, more, and done” seem to pop up as definite signing words! We cannot control the eating habits of our children—the what, when, where of their hunger. Those three words would solve a lot of guessing and tension. So begin signing some of the words that fit your routines, as soon as your child is sitting in the infant seat or high chair, when your hands are free and you can follow them with your actions. I hope you’ll include the sign for “book,” as well. What a wonderful way for your child to begin telling you that it’s time to read!
Through signing and all the talking you are doing, you are providing the groundwork for reading. Presenting language and vocabulary to your child’s ears and eyes (no flashcards, please, just showing and signing), will amaze you when your child reaches the talking ages and can draw on early events and words to surprise and amaze you!
As I said, you won’t know what and how much your child’s infant brain can absorb, until he/she grows and matures a bit. So opt for giving him/her as much as you can, making it meaningful to your daily family routines. Opening your child’s world should be on the top of your list as you go through each day.
Submitted By Sharon Alm
Peace & Light,
Grace
Technorati Tags: Early Childhood Education, parenting, preschoolers, reading
Grace Geller on April 8th, 2010
This post is the first in a three part series by guest author Sharon Alm:
You are overwhelmed from the moment your little bundle is put into your arms. You feel great love and great responsibilities —the two greatest realizations a baby brings to your life. Both realizations are wonderful! Both realizations are acted upon the moment you kiss that little head and utter, “I love you.” You’ve begun the most wonderful and rewarding job: PARENTING. Your words have taken you to the first educating step toward reading.
Talk…..talk….talk…..talk to your child, no matter what you are doing. The tone and rhythm of your words have been there during the pregnancy. Now make it real. Language is your way of opening the world to your child. Don’t worry that your child won’t understand all that you say, because you actually don’t know just how much is absorbed into that little brain.
Sing a few words over and over: “I love you….Yes, I do!” With your big smile and a clean diaper, that task has been fun, too!
Nursery rhymes bring the magic of words that are almost alike. They are fun! Learn a few simple nursery rhymes. Saying them slowly brings the rhyming and the rhythm to life! They can be sung to a creative melody. They can be said as a chant. They can be said in funny voices! They can be said with a nod of your head to the left and to the right. The verses will bring a smile to your face, and a smile to your child’s face. The rhyming words can be isolated and said or sung slowly to emphasize their likeness. Rhyming words are fun! You have taken another small step toward reading.
Parents are the first and most important teachers in a child’s life. Never forget it. You are models. You are security. You answer the crying and make things right. You are there for them. Your eyes and your smiles paint a picture of the world to them….make it a beautiful and a positive picture.
Books and reading aloud should definitely be a part of that positive and beautiful picture. As your child grows into a regular bedtime, please make reading aloud part of that nightly routine. It’s a time of closeness and relaxation, and a great introduction to books! You’ll find lots of books along the bedtime theme. Try a “board” book (heavy cardboard) as your child learns to reach for things. Don’t rush….read calmly and pleasantly. A bedtime without a book is lonely.
Peace & Light,
Grace
Technorati Tags: Early Childhood Education, infants, preschool, reading, toddlers
Grace Geller on September 10th, 2009
At a family gathering in N.Y. last week, I was talking with some cousins I hadn’t seen in some time and the subject of reading came up. Predictably, the educated males preferred a non fiction genre, while the females preferred fiction. A discussion ensued about the pros and cons of each genre. The males found value in the clear, concise information being delivered and the females found most (not all) non fiction to be dry but valuable however not something they preferred. Their preference was for a story line that examines the information presented in light of the human experience.
Early Childhood Education is like fiction. We take the basic facts and put them together to build something greater then its parts (Gestalt). When we take pieces of tissue paper and glue them onto a piece of wax paper, we can predict that they will stick, because a property of glue is to make things stick. What we can’t predict is the way we will feel when we place that piece of wax paper up to the sunlight and a rainbow of colors fills our vision. That’s fiction.
If I haven’t lost you yet, try this. Fiction is applied non fiction and Early Childhood Education is applied learning. Ergo, Early Childhood Education is like fiction.
In the Early Childhood classroom, we are all about the nuance. Children must be able to read each others body language, facial expression, and physical space (non fiction skills) and apply that information to similar situations in order to engage in effective play. The assimilation, interpretation, and the application of this information to creative play is the stuff fiction is made of. In a good fiction story, the characters share common experiences with the reader and present them with a different twist; perhaps even an “aha moment”. In Early Childhood settings we too are searching for the “aha moment” when the children realize something they have never understood before.
Though this is not a scientific study, I am comfortable in assuming that our reading preferences (male & female) may also be a good indicator of our career choices. Our reading preferences might be the reason females dominate the early grades of education (Pre-K-6), where the education is applied, and the males tend to dominate the latter (H.S. and beyond), where education tends to be more theory.
Have you read any good books lately?
Peace & Light,
Grace
Technorati Tags: Early Childhood Education, reading
