Oprah’s famous book club has added a section for kids! Check it out at this link.
It looks pretty great - there are separate sections for different age
levels, and also a section for books that are Classics. This is
definitely worth a look-see! The best way to get kids reading is to get the right books into their hands!
Tags: Oprah, kids, reading, teach kids to read
By now, surely you have heard how incredibly important it is to read to your child as much as possible. I mean, it’s critical. According to Literacy and Reading News, “”Reading aloud to children helps them develop oral language…It teaches them how to listen and how narrative is structured. They also learn vocabulary and how print works and that it is read from left to right.”
Reading to children also helps them develop a love of great stories. But reading isn’t everything. Another key to teaching preschoolers to read is telling them great stories. It’s important for kids to see you use your imagination - to dream up a story from your mind. Better yet, ask them what the story should be about (that also makes it easier), and come up with a fun story based on that. If you don’t like telling stories, or just aren’t very good at it, play “Round Robin”. You start the story with a couple of sentences like “Once upon a time, there was a sweet little girl who lived in a…” - and then let your child continue from there. After a few sentences you say “Round Robin” and then the story passes to the next person (or back to you). You create a story together that can take lots of fun twists and turns, and your child can see how powerful your imagination is for story-telling.
One thing I’ve observed is that kids who have one or two stories read to them each night become accustomed to the immediate gratification of a story that starts and ends in 10 minutes or less. You can help prepare your children for longer books by telling them stories from your imagination that are continued from one night to the next. The first time I did this with my children - started a really exciting story about Bobby, the Intergalactic Dentist - and then stopped abruptly at a very exciting point to say “…and you’ll find out what happens next tomorrow!), my kids nearly fell off the bed with excitement. The next night, they took their baths and brushed their teeth at a record pace to hear the next installment of the story. The story continued for about 3 weeks, and each night they were thrilled and excited. And shortly after, I was able to read them “The Mysterious Benedict Society,” a terrific book with 512 pages that I enjoyed just as much as they did. Even my 4 year old was consumed with the story.
So give it a try - tell a story once in awhile! It’s a great way to get your kids reading.
I spend lots and lots of time thinking about teaching preschool children. Teaching kids reading is not only essential to ensure a strong academic start, it really helps with confidence and self-esteem at a young age.
Nevertheless, I’ll never forget the single most important piece of advice given to me by a teacher when my first child was nearly finished with preschool. As hard as this is to do, put behavioral and socio-emotional development ahead of academic development in those early years.
This doesn’t mean not to teach kids how to read. It means it should be fun - it should be one of the activities your child looks forward to. It should never be a chore!
Kendeyl Johansen offers some great advice on this in her article “Tools for School: Getting Your Child Ready for Kindergarten.” Here’s a great excerpt from her article:
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Pre-Kindergarten Skills to Target
Dr. Laurie Ford, a child psychologist from the University of South Carolina specializing in preschool development, recommends several areas to work on for kindergarten preparation.
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Check out the rest of this article at this link.
When teaching preschool children, it’s important to be aware of the attitudes and behaviors of their teachers and caregivers. The more positive and supportive the teacher, the happier and more confident your child will be in preschool. The reverse is also true: Children tend to internalize negative attitudes and behaviors. If you suspect that your child’s teacher is not behaving in your child’s best interests, it’s your parental responsibility to assess the situation and, if necessary, correct it.
That said, you’ll need to do so with with tact, diplomacy and restraint. Your goal is to enlist the teacher as an ally, not to create an angry and resentful enemy. I’ve had a few tough experiences with preschool teachers myself. As a result, I’ve learned some valuable lessons and strategies that might be useful if you’re ever faced with a similar situation:
1. Take time to scope out the situation. If you think your child’s preschool teacher is doing something wrong, try not to rush to judgement. Talk to your child. Talk to other parents. If possible, stop in to visit and observe the classroom. As you gather evidence, try to be as objective about it as possible. It may be that your initial impressions were based on your child’s fertile imagination or on exaggerations of a one-time occurrence.
2. Try to deal directly with the teacher. Resist the urge to discuss your concerns with the school director until after you’ve tried to discuss and resolve your issues with the teacher, one-on-one. The less adversarial the environment, the more likely that the two of can reach a quick and painless resolution and the better your odds of strengthening the parent-teacher relationship.
3. Keep things in perspective. When you’re deciding how to proceed, try to assess the true impact of the situation. Is your preschool teacher really that bad or is it possible that she’s just using a different style than yours? Remember, odds are that what your child’s teacher really cares about is that your child is getting ready for kindergarten.
Ultimately, it’s also helpful to try to remember that one year or several months with a difficult teacher will rarely have a permanent negative effect on your little one. Before you know it, your child has graduated to the next level, and that teacher will seem like a distant memory.
But here’s my true wish for you: May all your teachers be excellent and may you never need any of this advice!
Preschool Mama has some really great suggestions on her web site for how to teach a child to read. Here are some of the highlights:
And I couldn’t agree with her more! If you are wondering when is a good time to teach your child to read, look out for cues from your child. If he or she is sending cues, like sitting around with books, pretending to read, asking you what words say, or trying to write words, the time may be ripe!
Even before your child is ready to learn to read, you can start very early introducing books into your home and demonstrating that books are important to you. Be aware of how much time your child sees you watching TV versus reading. If your child sees you loving books, she or he will pick up on those cues.
Beyond that, look for every opportunity you can to incorporate books, reading, and words into your life, especially in fun ways. In our family, we play lots of rhyming games, spelling games, and other word games when driving places, waiting in lines, any sitting on the front porch in the evening. The more the better!
Check out www.preschoolmama.com for more tips and tricks!
Susan Price offers some really super suggestions for picking a day care setting for your child. This is one of the most important preschool lessons you can learn. I have had my kids in a total of five different day care centers over the years, and there are definitely things to look for when picking a home day care or child care setting.
Some of her best suggestions:
I would add that it is very important to check the qualifications of the teacher (educational degree, etc.) and the center director. The director sets the tone for the entire center, if you are not comfortable with her (or him), it can be difficult when things go wrong.
You might want to check out Susan’s book:
I consider movies and TV to be an important part of my kids’ preschool education. So I try to make sure the movies they watch show positive images, offer limited violence, and take them to exotic worlds.
With the winter months in full force, there are many weekends where the best activity we can come up with at home is a good ole’ fashioned family movie night. We like to get some yummy popcorn, grab a cozy comforter, and pile onto our couch for some fun. It’s a great way to get a break while keeping our preschool son entertained.
If you’re tired of watching Cars or Finding Nemo for the zillionth time, you might feel tempted to pick a movie that you’ve never seen. But sometimes even rated G movies have shocking scenes that you wish you could have skipped. To be honest, I was a little uncomfortable the first time my son watched Nemo’s mom and all his siblings perish at the beginning of one of the best Disney movies ever.
Now there’s a great, free, web site to take out the guesswork when you’re choosing family films. www.kids-in-mind.com rates movies on three scales: sexual content, violence, and profanity. The site also gives shot-by-shot descriptions of every questionable image in the movie.
It’s been an indispensable tool to help us share lots of laughs and avoid nightmares on these special nights. And by the way, check out The Sandlot – it’s a super movie!!
As a mom of three, one of whom is still a preschooler, sometimes I feel like I’ve seen it all. There were countless times when I wished I had a manual of preschool lessons - that is, a guide on how to manage the crazy preschool years. So I thought I would start a resource for those of you out there who have some of the same questions I had. Hope it helps!!
