Today, it seems, everyone is too busy to do much of what we know is important or needed. Just because a parent feels they don't have 15 or 20 minutes to read to their child for whatever the reason, there are still ways to find the time for what has been called "the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for success in reading is reading aloud to children". With the help of the Reading is Fundamental Organization's website (www.rif.org) I've compiled a list of ideas to enable parents to find opportunities to read to their children and help them succeed.
- Mealtime is a perfect time to get the family together and read an imaginative story. Before dinner is served or as everyone is finishing, take an extra few minutes to read.
- Most children love bath time. While they are soaking in the warm tub and confined to one place, use this time to read.
- Is it a beautiful day? Take the kids to the park, but take a book along. Times like these create memories!
- Many families go out to dinner fairly regularly. Take a book with you and read while you are waiting for the food.
- Having kids means frequent visits to the doctor's office. Take a book to share for the long wait.
- Encourage interest-based reading. If a particular topic interests a child, visit the library and ask the librarian to help you find some books on that subject. This will promote reading!
- Keep a book in the car just in case you have some spare time in the car.
- Make a tent with a sheet and some chairs to create a "reading hideaway"
- Telling stories can still help stimulate a young child's development. Make up a silly story or tell a true story from the past. Singing songs could also encourage language improvement.
Getting Books into Children's Homes
A key to having the opportunity to read aloud to children is having the books available to read. Many parents can't afford to purchase books and have no means to get to the library. As a result, programs nationwide have emerged with one goal - getting books to the children who need them. Researchers at the University of Southern California started a book loan program and literacy workshops at Para Los Ninos, a nonprofit social services agency in Los Angeles serving mostly single mothers and their children. The workshops teach parents simple ways to promote emergent reading, such as tracking the words with their finger. The book loan program contains about 800 books readily available at the Para Los Ninos agency and does not have any fees for late or damaged books. By providing parents a short, informative workshop and an easier, less-intimidating way to obtain books, test results are showing the Para Los Ninos preschoolers are entering elementary school reading at or above grade level compared with other children of immigrant families who typically enter kindergarten behind their peers. (Tawa, 2000)
Another example aimed at all children and families not based on need is Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (www.imaginationlibrary.com). This program offers children a free book every month mailed directly to their home from birth to age 5. The only stipulation is that it is not available in all areas yet. Dolly Parton and organizations nationwide are recognizing the importance of reading to young children and how that directly affects a child's success in school. Any child would be extremely excited to receive a book in the mail - such a great motivator for encouraging a love of reading!
Reading is such an important part of our lives and of our success as students, working professionals, parents, etc. If every parent knew that a few minutes of reading with their child each day could help ensure their child becomes a successful reader and lifelong learner, most would follow through and do it. Teachers and librarians need to expose these facts to parents to prevent more students from falling behind in reading and all areas of school. As Trelease states, "The more you read, the better you get at it; the better you get at it, the more you like it; and the more you like it, the more you do it. And the more you read, the more you know; and the more you know, the smarter you grow" (2001).
Submitted by Melinda Franklin
Written by Constance Anderson, Teacher, University of South Florida Grad Student, MomCo-owners of http://www.tinytotboutique.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melinda_Franklin
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Parenting - Forget About That Super Nanny! Be Your Own Child's Hero!
The thought leaders who strike at our hearts with themes such as "Wife Swap" and "Desperate Housewives" predictably manipulate what their own media will portray. But why are we also glorifying their boob tube bully who demeans us as parents and barks out orders at our children?
MORE THAN 5000 CHILDREN ARE
EXPELLED FROM PRE-SCHOOL EACH YEAR
Pre-school children are three times as likely to be expelled as all those in kindergarten through grade 12 combined!
On average, pre-school boys are expelled at 4.5 times the rate of girls
African-American pre-schoolers are expelled at twice the rate of Latinos and Caucasians
4 year olds are expelled at 1.5 times the rate of 3 year olds
Expulsions are about twice as common in classrooms where teachers have no access to expertise outside the scope of their proscribed training.
I talk to one family after the other who admits to being ill-at-ease with their chosen contractors. No noticeable abuse is involved, but they know their child is neither being loved nor nurtured. Under the care of a fully qualified childcare provider their most vulnerable is simply not flourishing. While parents are clamoring to get their loved ones into the "right" learning environment and more than one half of all U.S. states now have a form of universal pre-school firmly in place, children are being expelled from their very first classroom experience in droves. In light of this unprecedented young child experiment, are we more willing to embrace a socialist dictatorship or Fearless Parenting in America?
Consider A Mastermind Approach
Rather than taking in hordes of unsolicited academic and medical advice, products, and directives warning you about what you are doing wrong as a parent, may I challenge you to invite team players who will support your strategic family plan instead of their own agenda?
What are the greatest strengths your parents gave you? What would you like to improve now that it is finally your turn? How is your family asking to be supported? Follow their clues to find fulfillment in this brief season in your lives.
When you need help reaching your goal line, consider a gentle alliance to support you in mastering the art of compassionate child rearing.
Do Your Due Diligence
What stage (not age) of development is your child in? In what kind of environment is he or she most likely to thrive: large group, private tutoring, or another combination? Be honest in your assessment. This should guide your choice in curriculum and settings.
Read all that is available about the programs that fit your criteria. Take the tours, but then also stop by unannounced to get a real feel for the place. Watch children as they enter school at the beginning of the day and see how those children seem to feel at the end of the day. The attitude of the children and parents as they go to and from school, and the interactions that take place on the playground, may speak volumes about the tenor of the faculty and administration.
Make Friends with the Noisy Parent Group (NPG)
Speak with the most active and vocal parents whose children attend the schools you are considering as well as others who have moved on. They will give you information no one else will. Ask about pros and cons - and in what way the school is best serving their children, and what they would like to see changed or augmented.
If you are moving to a new school, see if your child can try it out for a week or two. While it often takes longer than that for a child to assimilate, you and your child will have a strong sense of the school from a two-week trial. Some also prefer having their child shadow a friend.
Attend a parent's meeting at the school. See what matters to the parents, and what their involvement with the school looks like first hand.
You might well have your lifestyle down to a science. You know what it takes to sign the big contracts, support a worthy cause, get to the cleaners, the massage therapist, keep the nanny happy, and then jump in bed before starting the whole process all over again the next day. But planning your calendar to include family building can also inspire Olympic level interactions also giving you the home team advantage.
Adelaide Zindler is a Pre-school and Family Life Coach with a Bachelor's degree in Child Development, who found herself pregnant with a second child after 23 years. Trained in nutrition and life coaching, Adelaide is also an award winning author who has been widely quoted in major publications around the country and has contributed to both ABC and Fox affiliates. She invites you to read her story, her client stories and to share yours at:
http://FearlessParenting.com/. What would make your journey as a parent even more rewarding than it already is? Sign up for her free tips and receive a series of complimentary gifts including an audio from her 7-week training series for parents. http://FearlessParenting.com/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adelaide_Zindler
MORE THAN 5000 CHILDREN ARE
EXPELLED FROM PRE-SCHOOL EACH YEAR
Pre-school children are three times as likely to be expelled as all those in kindergarten through grade 12 combined!
On average, pre-school boys are expelled at 4.5 times the rate of girls
African-American pre-schoolers are expelled at twice the rate of Latinos and Caucasians
4 year olds are expelled at 1.5 times the rate of 3 year olds
Expulsions are about twice as common in classrooms where teachers have no access to expertise outside the scope of their proscribed training.
I talk to one family after the other who admits to being ill-at-ease with their chosen contractors. No noticeable abuse is involved, but they know their child is neither being loved nor nurtured. Under the care of a fully qualified childcare provider their most vulnerable is simply not flourishing. While parents are clamoring to get their loved ones into the "right" learning environment and more than one half of all U.S. states now have a form of universal pre-school firmly in place, children are being expelled from their very first classroom experience in droves. In light of this unprecedented young child experiment, are we more willing to embrace a socialist dictatorship or Fearless Parenting in America?
Consider A Mastermind Approach
Rather than taking in hordes of unsolicited academic and medical advice, products, and directives warning you about what you are doing wrong as a parent, may I challenge you to invite team players who will support your strategic family plan instead of their own agenda?
What are the greatest strengths your parents gave you? What would you like to improve now that it is finally your turn? How is your family asking to be supported? Follow their clues to find fulfillment in this brief season in your lives.
When you need help reaching your goal line, consider a gentle alliance to support you in mastering the art of compassionate child rearing.
Do Your Due Diligence
What stage (not age) of development is your child in? In what kind of environment is he or she most likely to thrive: large group, private tutoring, or another combination? Be honest in your assessment. This should guide your choice in curriculum and settings.
Read all that is available about the programs that fit your criteria. Take the tours, but then also stop by unannounced to get a real feel for the place. Watch children as they enter school at the beginning of the day and see how those children seem to feel at the end of the day. The attitude of the children and parents as they go to and from school, and the interactions that take place on the playground, may speak volumes about the tenor of the faculty and administration.
Make Friends with the Noisy Parent Group (NPG)
Speak with the most active and vocal parents whose children attend the schools you are considering as well as others who have moved on. They will give you information no one else will. Ask about pros and cons - and in what way the school is best serving their children, and what they would like to see changed or augmented.
If you are moving to a new school, see if your child can try it out for a week or two. While it often takes longer than that for a child to assimilate, you and your child will have a strong sense of the school from a two-week trial. Some also prefer having their child shadow a friend.
Attend a parent's meeting at the school. See what matters to the parents, and what their involvement with the school looks like first hand.
You might well have your lifestyle down to a science. You know what it takes to sign the big contracts, support a worthy cause, get to the cleaners, the massage therapist, keep the nanny happy, and then jump in bed before starting the whole process all over again the next day. But planning your calendar to include family building can also inspire Olympic level interactions also giving you the home team advantage.
Adelaide Zindler is a Pre-school and Family Life Coach with a Bachelor's degree in Child Development, who found herself pregnant with a second child after 23 years. Trained in nutrition and life coaching, Adelaide is also an award winning author who has been widely quoted in major publications around the country and has contributed to both ABC and Fox affiliates. She invites you to read her story, her client stories and to share yours at:
http://FearlessParenting.com/. What would make your journey as a parent even more rewarding than it already is? Sign up for her free tips and receive a series of complimentary gifts including an audio from her 7-week training series for parents. http://FearlessParenting.com/.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adelaide_Zindler
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