This week's post is brought to us by Katie M. As you may know, she has taken over coordinating the daytime book group for Shallowford Ward, so she has a valuable opinion on this subject! Read on for her fun thoughts and ideas! And consider coming to one of the book clubs if you aren't already! Thanks, Katie!
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If you asked my husband if I like to read, he would probably roll his eyes and tell you about the time that I stayed up all night to finish one of those "vampire books" (Twilight series). I wouldn't wish to excite you (or disappoint you, depending on your feelings toward Twilight) by commenting on whether or not that particular account is true. What I would like you to know is that I LOVE to read.
Like many of us, I read independently regardless of what the Shallowford Ward Book Club is doing. However, I happen to feel strongly that meeting together often to discuss fine works of literature is edifying to our intellect and, just as importantly, to ours souls. Some of us get caught up in the "fine literature" phrase and might argue that most of the books we read in Book Club do not qualify as great writing. But here is what is really significant about Book Club: regardless of the book, this amazing group of sisters can find a way to make any book club discussion interesting and instructive. There may be differences in opinions, and most certainly we will have someone who really liked the book and someone who hated it, but that is why it is so fun! I love hearing from our reviewers to know more about the author and to find out more about the historical background. I love hearing others' thoughts and ideas about why a character acted in such a way or what their favorites parts were. We all interpret the books differently, and that just adds to the excitement of the discussion. I find it fascinating to know that someone else would actually have chosen Jacob for Bella over Edward!
The point is, many of us love to read, but we are afraid or skeptical of the Book Club experience. What I have discovered at Book Club is something akin to what Diane Lovey describes in her fun guide "The Book Club Companion":
"Our clubs may not always be the stuff of dreams, but the characters we meet seem to become the ones we cherish the most. Maybe it's because we are all in this together and it's a busy, portentous road we're all on. Being in a club makes the experience of reading deeper, more magical, and when you really stop to think about it - positively inspirational."
Give Book Club a chance. We'd love to have you join us. November 9th is the next meeting of the daytime book club. Suzie Connell is reviewing a fabulous book - one you DON"T want to miss! The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Hope to see you there!
P.S. Susannah mentioned that I could also dedicate some blog space to book recommendations, but if you want to know what many of the sisters in the ward are reading (me included) - join Goodreads. It is the best place to get a recommendation on what to read; I always check out my sister-in-laws' suggestions as well as friends from around the country.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Loving reading ... and favorite picks for upper elementary!
This week's post is brought to us by Amy K. She shares some great ideas and resources for helping our kids love reading. Plus some recommendations for the upper elementary crowd! Check them out! Thanks, Amy!
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I was never a big reader when I was young but I always knew that I wanted my children to learn to love reading. I knew that their love for reading would benefit them in so many ways. Not only is reading the basis for every academic subject, but it also improves one’s creativity, comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills.
So how did my children grow to love reading? As I thought about this question it took me back to the late toddler years. Early on we set a structured bedtime routine that included reading to our children every night before they went to bed. We enjoyed reading some of the popular children books but also found a couple of newly found favorites. Shortly after Natalie began to read, her kindergarten teacher reiterated how important it was to continue to read to your children. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, children whose parents read to them tend to become better readers and perform better in school.
Shortly before Kyle and Natalie began kindergarten a good friend told me about a book called “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”. We worked on this book every few days and gradually increased their reading ability during the summer leading up to school. I believe the lessons they learned from this book and their consistent effort contributed to an increased understanding of how words are pronounced and laid the foundation for future reading.
Each summer between school years, we try and make reading fun and challenging. We usually set a goal to read so many books each summer to help them retain and build on their reading skills from the prior year. If they achieve their goal, Kyle and Natalie are able to pick a small prize. Another fun way to introduce reading is to read books that have a related movie. We will read the books first and then watch the movie. It is fun to compare and contrast the difference between the two. For one of Kyle’s school projects last year, he did a video book review of his favorite book and movie counterpart.
Below I have included some of our children’s favorite books. Their favorite series to date is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. A friend of Kyle’s recommend these books to him and my children have read these over and over.
Favorite Series
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Favorite Authors
Kate Dicamillo
Roald Dahl
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I was never a big reader when I was young but I always knew that I wanted my children to learn to love reading. I knew that their love for reading would benefit them in so many ways. Not only is reading the basis for every academic subject, but it also improves one’s creativity, comprehension, vocabulary, and writing skills.
So how did my children grow to love reading? As I thought about this question it took me back to the late toddler years. Early on we set a structured bedtime routine that included reading to our children every night before they went to bed. We enjoyed reading some of the popular children books but also found a couple of newly found favorites. Shortly after Natalie began to read, her kindergarten teacher reiterated how important it was to continue to read to your children. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, children whose parents read to them tend to become better readers and perform better in school.
Shortly before Kyle and Natalie began kindergarten a good friend told me about a book called “Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons”. We worked on this book every few days and gradually increased their reading ability during the summer leading up to school. I believe the lessons they learned from this book and their consistent effort contributed to an increased understanding of how words are pronounced and laid the foundation for future reading.
Each summer between school years, we try and make reading fun and challenging. We usually set a goal to read so many books each summer to help them retain and build on their reading skills from the prior year. If they achieve their goal, Kyle and Natalie are able to pick a small prize. Another fun way to introduce reading is to read books that have a related movie. We will read the books first and then watch the movie. It is fun to compare and contrast the difference between the two. For one of Kyle’s school projects last year, he did a video book review of his favorite book and movie counterpart.
Below I have included some of our children’s favorite books. Their favorite series to date is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. A friend of Kyle’s recommend these books to him and my children have read these over and over.
Favorite Series
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson
How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell
Favorite Authors
Kate Dicamillo
Roald Dahl
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Cultural Literacy
This week's post is brought to us by Susan P. We have recently been looking at how sharing the literacy experience enriches our lives... and this post points to the very core of the shared experience! Read on for some great ideas and a fantastic link at the end. Enjoy! Thanks, Susan!
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Last week, my daughter Jaclyn was writing an essay like you might write for a college application. She wanted to include a phrase from Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road not Taken.” She wondered how much of the line she needed to use to communicate her point, whether the reader would understand the idea behind the words “…and that has made all the difference.” What followed was a discussion of the idea that some things are known by just about everyone, that they are such a part of our culture that we need no explanation of the background or meaning.
The concept of “Cultural Literacy” was first presented to the public in 1987 in the book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. When I heard the book discussed, the idea made sense. There are things that tie us together as a culture, as Americans, that make it easier for us to communicate with each other. There is some basic cultural knowledge, from literature and art to science, math, history, and geography, which promotes clear communication.
And this knowledge is constantly evolving. When the book first came out in 1987, there was a list of about 4,700 points of data that a literate American should understand. In the 1988 paperback edition, they dropped about 25 items from the list, but added close to 300! But don’t despair. Over 80% of that list of 5,000 has been in use for over 100 years. That constancy in our culture makes it easy to communicate across generations, geographic boundaries, and racial differences.
As an example of how this cultural literacy helps us, let’s imagine I’m giving directions to my husband’s office. If the new patient has lived in the area for a while, I can tell them the office is one mile east of the Big Chicken on Roswell Road. In fact, I said this once to a resident of Roswell. His expression was priceless. His eyebrows reached almost to his hairline as he said “The WHAT?” Even though he lived less that 20 miles away, I needed to introduce him to that local landmark that is a part of Marietta’s culture and gives us an understandable shorthand, but is totally unknown to an relative outsider.
So we share a common literacy as Americans. But we are each part of multiple smaller groups that have their own literacy. The language spoken at my office is different that Principal Griffeth would speak in her workplace or Sister Mason might use in her work, but we each understand others in our workplace or our field. We have cultural literacy in our families: stories, sayings, or gestures that mean something only to the closely related. These inside jokes and shared history help us feel a sense of belonging, a part of a larger whole that loves us.
We also have the shared culture in the church and in our ward. Members of the church speak the same language no matter where you go. Relief Society and Fireside are the same here or in Canada or in England. We sing many of the same songs throughout the world, and while you may not understand the words in another language, you can still sing along in your own. But a newcomer to our midst, someone who hasn’t been exposed to the lingo and weaned on the culture, may have a hard time breaking the language barrier. We need to be aware at church, just as we do in our other associations, of terms and ideas that may exclude the new member, and make them feel that they don’t belong.
It’s a fun thing to do, to pay attention to our communications and see what cultural references we use without even knowing about it. Hirsh stated that this cultural literacy helps us to promote the general welfare and insure domestic tranquility. Can you name that source?
And if you want to see the whole list of 5,000 things YOU should know, go here. Scroll down to page 152. The list starts there.
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Last week, my daughter Jaclyn was writing an essay like you might write for a college application. She wanted to include a phrase from Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road not Taken.” She wondered how much of the line she needed to use to communicate her point, whether the reader would understand the idea behind the words “…and that has made all the difference.” What followed was a discussion of the idea that some things are known by just about everyone, that they are such a part of our culture that we need no explanation of the background or meaning.
The concept of “Cultural Literacy” was first presented to the public in 1987 in the book Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know by E. D. Hirsch, Jr. When I heard the book discussed, the idea made sense. There are things that tie us together as a culture, as Americans, that make it easier for us to communicate with each other. There is some basic cultural knowledge, from literature and art to science, math, history, and geography, which promotes clear communication.
And this knowledge is constantly evolving. When the book first came out in 1987, there was a list of about 4,700 points of data that a literate American should understand. In the 1988 paperback edition, they dropped about 25 items from the list, but added close to 300! But don’t despair. Over 80% of that list of 5,000 has been in use for over 100 years. That constancy in our culture makes it easy to communicate across generations, geographic boundaries, and racial differences.
As an example of how this cultural literacy helps us, let’s imagine I’m giving directions to my husband’s office. If the new patient has lived in the area for a while, I can tell them the office is one mile east of the Big Chicken on Roswell Road. In fact, I said this once to a resident of Roswell. His expression was priceless. His eyebrows reached almost to his hairline as he said “The WHAT?” Even though he lived less that 20 miles away, I needed to introduce him to that local landmark that is a part of Marietta’s culture and gives us an understandable shorthand, but is totally unknown to an relative outsider.
So we share a common literacy as Americans. But we are each part of multiple smaller groups that have their own literacy. The language spoken at my office is different that Principal Griffeth would speak in her workplace or Sister Mason might use in her work, but we each understand others in our workplace or our field. We have cultural literacy in our families: stories, sayings, or gestures that mean something only to the closely related. These inside jokes and shared history help us feel a sense of belonging, a part of a larger whole that loves us.
We also have the shared culture in the church and in our ward. Members of the church speak the same language no matter where you go. Relief Society and Fireside are the same here or in Canada or in England. We sing many of the same songs throughout the world, and while you may not understand the words in another language, you can still sing along in your own. But a newcomer to our midst, someone who hasn’t been exposed to the lingo and weaned on the culture, may have a hard time breaking the language barrier. We need to be aware at church, just as we do in our other associations, of terms and ideas that may exclude the new member, and make them feel that they don’t belong.
It’s a fun thing to do, to pay attention to our communications and see what cultural references we use without even knowing about it. Hirsh stated that this cultural literacy helps us to promote the general welfare and insure domestic tranquility. Can you name that source?
And if you want to see the whole list of 5,000 things YOU should know, go here. Scroll down to page 152. The list starts there.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Simple Strategies for Helping Emerging Readers
This week's post is brought to us by Jana H. Not only is she a trained teacher, but she's also a mother of young children herself! Whether you have young children, grandchildren, or no children, the strategies she provides below are excellent for improving reading. Check them out! Thanks, Jana!
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Last night, Evan, my Kindergartner, brought me the book Little Gorilla, by Ruth Bornstein. It is the latest book he has brought home from the school library. He was excited and said, “Let me read it to you mom!” Okay. I had read it to him the night before. I knew he was familiar with the story, but I also knew it was above his reading level. How was this going to go? We sat down together, and he proceeded to read. How wonderful it was to watch him. He struggled with some words, but others he knew and could read without hesitation. I was so proud, and he was just beaming. Evan sees himself as a reader! He has taken a huge step forward on his literary journey.
His journey started as a preschooler learning his ABCs. Like most moms, I spent a lot of time teaching letters to him. What do they look like? What do they sound like? These lessons taught him that the sounds we make when we speak can be represented by a letter. Soon we were talking about how letters can be grouped to make different words. E-V-A-N spells Evan. How exciting!
In the next few years Evan will shift from focusing primarily on phonics to developing reading comprehension strategies. It certainly won’t be enough to know what words say; he will need to know what they mean. How can I best help him to do this? By teaching him how to think while he reads.
Here are a few strategies that are effective in helping readers be active thinkers while they read:
1. Previewing
2. Schema – using background knowledge to find meaning
3. Asking Questions
4. Summarizing
Previewing
Take time before you begin reading to look over the book with your child. Look at the front and back cover. Flip through some of the pages. Ask your child what they think the story will be about. This provides a purpose for their reading. They begin the story already thinking about the predictions they have made. Are they right?
Schema
Schema plays a fascinating roll in our ability to understand what we are reading. It is a framework in our mind that organizes information from experiences we have had. We then apply that information to help us understand new things that we encounter. Help your child relate what they are reading to their own past experiences. For example, you may be reading a book about a regatta. If they don’t know what a regatta is, then use the child’s knowledge of car races to explain these boat races.
Asking Questions
Asking questions helps the reader to think actively while they read. Stop periodically during the story and ask them what they think will happen next. Ask them questions about the story structure. Who are the main characters? Where does the story take place? What is the problem? These questions give purpose to their reading and teach them to review the content they have read.
Summarizing
Summarizing challenges the reader to remember what they have read. It gives them the opportunity to retell the story in their own words. Through this experience they learn the difference between the main ideas and details of a story.
Remember to always model comprehension strategies with your children. You must “think out loud” so your child can hear how to properly think about their reading.
------------------------------------------------
Last night, Evan, my Kindergartner, brought me the book Little Gorilla, by Ruth Bornstein. It is the latest book he has brought home from the school library. He was excited and said, “Let me read it to you mom!” Okay. I had read it to him the night before. I knew he was familiar with the story, but I also knew it was above his reading level. How was this going to go? We sat down together, and he proceeded to read. How wonderful it was to watch him. He struggled with some words, but others he knew and could read without hesitation. I was so proud, and he was just beaming. Evan sees himself as a reader! He has taken a huge step forward on his literary journey.
His journey started as a preschooler learning his ABCs. Like most moms, I spent a lot of time teaching letters to him. What do they look like? What do they sound like? These lessons taught him that the sounds we make when we speak can be represented by a letter. Soon we were talking about how letters can be grouped to make different words. E-V-A-N spells Evan. How exciting!
In the next few years Evan will shift from focusing primarily on phonics to developing reading comprehension strategies. It certainly won’t be enough to know what words say; he will need to know what they mean. How can I best help him to do this? By teaching him how to think while he reads.
Here are a few strategies that are effective in helping readers be active thinkers while they read:
1. Previewing
2. Schema – using background knowledge to find meaning
3. Asking Questions
4. Summarizing
Previewing
Take time before you begin reading to look over the book with your child. Look at the front and back cover. Flip through some of the pages. Ask your child what they think the story will be about. This provides a purpose for their reading. They begin the story already thinking about the predictions they have made. Are they right?
Schema
Schema plays a fascinating roll in our ability to understand what we are reading. It is a framework in our mind that organizes information from experiences we have had. We then apply that information to help us understand new things that we encounter. Help your child relate what they are reading to their own past experiences. For example, you may be reading a book about a regatta. If they don’t know what a regatta is, then use the child’s knowledge of car races to explain these boat races.
Asking Questions
Asking questions helps the reader to think actively while they read. Stop periodically during the story and ask them what they think will happen next. Ask them questions about the story structure. Who are the main characters? Where does the story take place? What is the problem? These questions give purpose to their reading and teach them to review the content they have read.
Summarizing
Summarizing challenges the reader to remember what they have read. It gives them the opportunity to retell the story in their own words. Through this experience they learn the difference between the main ideas and details of a story.
Remember to always model comprehension strategies with your children. You must “think out loud” so your child can hear how to properly think about their reading.
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