Embedded Files
Does your home library offer…?
Does your home library offer…?
A variety of books? Kids love to read all sorts of materials, including books, magazines, newspapers, and poems. Consider including travel brochures, street maps, and programs from school plays.
Books written at a variety of reading levels? It's important to have some books that are easy for your child to read, but it's also good to have some that can be read most successfully with an adult. This balance enables your child to feel confident with some books, and grow as a reader with others.
Some method of organization? Sometimes grouping books by topic or series helps your child find other books they might like to read. Grouping books using book baskets also help kids find a book more easily than a crowded shelf.
Lots of nonfiction material? Even the youngest readers love to read about real places and things. These materials often include photographs, maps and charts full of interesting information.
Lots of choice? Find creative ways to add books to your library. Playgroup book swaps, yard sales, and used book stores all offer affordable ways to add to your collection.
(Courtesy of Reading Rockets)
Finding ¨just right¨ books for your child!
Children's authors and illustrators: supporting struggling readers
Children's authors and illustrators: supporting struggling readers
Listen in to children's authors and illustrators talk about books that appeal to struggling readers (including graphic novels), how to find the right books, the joy of audio books, why every library should have an "awesome shelf" — and more.
You'll hear from Megan McDonald (Judy Moody series), Jerry Pinkney (The Lion and the Mouse), Emma Watson Hamilton (Raising Bookworms), Jarrett Krosoczka (Lunch Lady series), Lin Oliver (Here's Hank and Hank Zipzer series), Cece Bell (El Deafo), Tom Angleberger (Origami Yoda series), Matt Holm (Babymouse and Squish series), and others! Just click on the link below, and scroll down:
(This excerpt is reprinted)
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/hooking-struggling-readers-using-books-they-can-and-want-read
Supporting Children with Autism:
Supporting Children with Autism:
In this guide for parents and educators of children with autism, you'll find resources to help support literacy and social and emotional issues at home. You'll also find information for special services providers and online courses for families and educators.
Watching news coverage of the violence erupting in Gaza is enough to fill anyone with stress and fear. Parents and educators are faced with an intimidating task: talking to kids about the Hamas-Israel war. With so many factors to consider, broaching the subject can feel overwhelming.
Though it may be challenging, research suggests talking about war and conflict with children is beneficial for them. For one thing, older children are likely already seeing news from a variety of sources. And younger students may struggle to understand where their home is in relation the violence they’re seeing. As educators, we share the responsibility of addressing these concerns to support students emotionally and academically. After all, a student who feels unsafe won’t be able to fully engage in your lessons.
Here are some general guidelines to consider in talking to kids about war:
Social Skills Activities for Kids with Autism
Are you wondering why your child is struggling?
Figuring out what’s going on can feel overwhelming. Introducing a simple step-by-step tool to help you figure out if the struggles you’re seeing might be signs of a learning and thinking difference...
https://www.understood.org/take-note/en
Reading Aloud with Your Child
Reading Aloud with Your Child
Reading aloud with your child for only 15-20 minutes a day can have a lasting effect on their oral language, comprehension, vocabulary and visual imagery. It is never too early to begin reading with your child.
The American Academy of Pediatrics said that when parents talk, read and sing with their babies and toddlers, connections are formed in their young brains. These connections build language, literacy and social and emotional learning (SEL) skills at an important time in a young child’s development.
Reading out loud has an exponential impact on language development, comprehension and vocabulary. Click to watch the video or download the PowerPoint.
Jim Trelease, the author of the much respected Read-Aloud Handbook, says that not only is it important to read to young children, but research has shown that reading aloud to children through their early teens is important too. Why? Because a child’s reading level doesn’t catch up to their listening level until Grade 8.
When reading aloud on subjects or in genres kids love such as sci-fi, fantasy, mysteries, thrillers, graphic novels, Norse mythology and even Minecraft, they will get excited about the plot, and this will be a motivation to keep reading.
Jim Trelease said it best: “The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”
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Especially for Parents! (Just click on each title for the link to the article...)
Especially for Parents! (Just click on each title for the link to the article...)
7 Things to Know About the 1 in 5 with Learning and Attention Issues
Having Your Child Tested for Learning Disabilities Outside of School
Dyslexia Resource Hub
https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/resources/dyslexia/organizations/
The University of Florida Literacy Institute has developed several resource hubs to assist teachers and parents find the information they need about reading instruction and intervention, disability legislation as it relates to dyslexia, and tools for working with struggling readers at home and in the classroom.
https://ufli.education.ufl.edu/resources/
Help your child with math and reading at home this summer.
Help your child with math and reading at home this summer.
Have your child answer these 3-5 questions as a quick review. It isn’t a test—they can relax and solve the problems—like a game! At the end, you’ll get fun, free activities to help set your child up for success in their new grade.
https://bealearninghero.org/readiness-check/
Conflict Ladder
Conflict Ladder
The US Department of Health and Human Services offers some building blocks that children can be taught to help them learn to deal with the inevitable conflicts they'll experience throughout life. The skills include staying calm, listening to the other person and getting ideas to solve the problem. Not only will you want to discuss these, but also you'll want to model them in your behavior.
If you need help downloading the printable, check out these helpful tips.
Materials
Materials
https://cf.ltkcdn.net/kids/files/1727-ladderprintable.pdf
Crayons or markers
Instructions
Instructions
In this activity, you're going to use the concept of a ladder to teach children how to solve conflicts with others. Provide each child with a drawing of a ladder that has six rungs. As you go through each rung, the children will color it in with the color you state and this will help them remember the concept to resolve conflict. Tell children they must climb the rungs in order, because if they skip one they might slip and fall back into conflict.
Blue: The color blue stands for calm. Take some deep breaths to overcome your anger and stay calm when you have a conflict with someone else.
Red: The color red stands for stop. Stop and take a minute to listen to what the other person is saying. Repeat what they've said back to them to make sure you really understand the problem.
Yellow: The color yellow stands for caution. Proceed carefully and use "I" statements so you don't sound like you are accusing the other person. For example, instead of saying, "You're mean!" say, "I feel like I'm being treated unfairly." Put the focus on you and or your feelings.
Red: Use red again because you need to remember to stop and listen after you've made your "I" statement. Let the other person respond. Some conflicts are due to misunderstandings. For example, your friend might say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. This is what I meant."
Green: Green stands for "go!" Go, and get other people to help you solve the problem. Gathering ideas from others usually results in a resolution of the problem.
Blue: Blue again to remind you to stay calm, even if the resolution isn't what you wanted or you are unable to solve the conflict.
Top 10 Things You Should Know about Reading:
Top 10 Things You Should Know about Reading:
1. Too many American children don't read well.
1. Too many American children don't read well.
Thirty-three percent of American fourth graders read below the "basic" level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading test. The "basic" level is defined as "partial mastery of the prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at
each grade." (NAEP Reading Report Card)
2. An achievement gap exists.
2. An achievement gap exists.
Many students enter kindergarten performing below their peers and remain behind as they move through the grades. Differences in language, exposure to print and background experiences multiply as students confront more challenging reading material in the upper grades. There is a well-established correlation between prior knowledge and reading comprehension: students who have it, get it. Students who don't, don't. The differences are quantifiable as early as age 3 (Hart & Risley, 2003). For some subgroups of students, the reading failure rate is even higher than their same-age peers: 52% of black students, 51% of Hispanic students, and 49% of students in poverty all scored Below Basic on the NAEP assessment. High-need students have chronic difficulty in the classroom, and teachers must be prepared to meet the challenges they face.
3. Learning to read is complex.
3. Learning to read is complex.
Reading is a complex process that draws upon many skills that need to be developed at the same time. Marilyn Adams (1990) compares the operation of the reading system to the operation of a car. Unlike drivers, though, readers also need to:
Build the car (develop the mechanical systems for identifying words)
Maintain the car (fuel it with print, fix up problems along the way, and make sure it runs smoothly)
And, most importantly, drive the car (which requires us to be motivated, strategic, and mindful of the route we're taking)
Cars are built by assembling the parts separately and fastening them together. "In contrast, the parts of the reading system are not discrete. We cannot proceed by completing each individual sub-system and then fastening it to one another. Rather, the parts of the reading system must grow together. They must grow to one another and from one another."(Adams et al., 1990, pp.20-21).
The ultimate goal of reading is to make meaning from print, and a vehicle in good working order is required to help us reach that goal.
4. Teachers should teach with the end goal in mind.
4. Teachers should teach with the end goal in mind.
Because learning to read is complex, the most accomplished teachers learn to teach with the end goal of readers and learners in mind. Teachers working with young children learn to balance the various components of reading, including phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension in their every day teaching. The very best teachers integrate the components while fostering a love of books, words, and stories.
5. Kids who struggle usually have problems sounding out words.
5. Kids who struggle usually have problems sounding out words.
Difficulties in decoding and word recognition are at the core of most reading difficulties. Poor readers have difficulty understanding that sounds in words are linked to certain letters and letter patterns. This is called the "alphabetic principle."
The reason many poor readers don't attain the alphabetic principle is because they haven't developed phonemic awareness — being aware that words are made up of speech sounds, or phonemes (Lyon, 1997). When word recognition isn't automatic, reading isn't fluent, and comprehension suffers.
6. What happens before school matters a lot.
6. What happens before school matters a lot.
What preschoolers know before they enter school is strongly related to how easily they learn to read in first grade. Three predictors of reading achievement that children learn before they get to school are:
The ability to recognize and name letters of the alphabet
General knowledge about print (understanding, for example, which is the front of the book and which is the back and how to turn the pages of a book)
Awareness of phonemes (the sounds in words)
Reading aloud together builds these knowledge and skills. As a result, reading aloud with children is the single most important activity for parents and caregivers to do to prepare children to learn to read. (Adams, 1990).
7. Learning to read is closely tied to learning to talk and listen.
7. Learning to read is closely tied to learning to talk and listen.
Families and caregivers need to talk and listen to young children in order to help them learn a lot of the skills they will need for reading. When a child says "cook" and her father says, "Would you like a cookie?" he is building her knowledge of vocabulary, sentence structure, syntax, and purposes for communication — all of which will help her become a reader in later years. When a caregiver sings rhymes and plays word games with the children she cares for, she is helping them recognize the sounds in words (phonemic awareness). Children with language, hearing, or speech problems need to be identified early so they can receive the help they need to prevent later reading difficulties.
8. Without help, struggling readers continue to struggle.
8. Without help, struggling readers continue to struggle.
Many children learn to read by first grade regardless of the type of instruction they receive. The children who don't learn, however, don't seem able to catch up on their own.
More than 88 percent of children who have difficulty reading at the end of first grade display similar difficulties at the end of fourth grade (Juel, 1988). And three-quarters of students who are poor readers in third grade will remain poor readers in high school (Shaywitz et al., 1997). These facts highlight the importance of providing a strong foundation for reading birth through age five.
9. With help, struggling readers can succeed.
9. With help, struggling readers can succeed.
For 85 to 90 percent of poor readers, prevention and early intervention programs can increase reading skills to average reading levels. These programs, however, need to combine instruction in phoneme awareness, phonics, spelling, reading fluency, and reading comprehension strategies, and must be provided by well-trained teachers (Lyon, 1997).
As many as two-thirds of reading disabled children can become average or above-average readers if they are identified early and taught appropriately (Vellutino et al., 1996; Fletcher & Lyon, 1998). These facts underscore the value of having a highly trained teacher in every classroom.
10. Teaching kids to read is a team effort.
10. Teaching kids to read is a team effort.
Parents, teachers, caregivers, and members of the community must recognize the important role they can play in helping children learn to read. The research shows that what families do makes a difference, what teachers do makes a difference, and what community programs do makes a difference. It's time for all those who work with children to work together to ensure that every child learns to read. It is our shared responsibility.
Reference: Reading Rockets
"Magical I Am" website for Dyslexia
"Magical I Am" website for Dyslexia
How to help Dyslexic students with writing (Dyslexia writing strategies):
How to help Dyslexic students with writing (Dyslexia writing strategies):
Dyslexia Basics
https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/dyslexia/articles/dyslexia-basics
12 Ways Libraries Are Good for the Country:
12 Ways Libraries Are Good for the Country:
Most Americans know what they can expect from a library. And librarians know what it takes to provide comprehensive access to every recorded detail of human existence. It takes support.
Libraries are ready when they are needed, ready to enrich our minds and defend our right to know, just as other institutions protect our safety and property. Without sound minds, however, the American dream of safe streets and secure homes will never be fulfilled.
Libraries safeguard our freedom and keep democracy healthy. To library advocates everywhere-friends, trustees, board members, patrons, and volunteers-American Libraries offers this gift of 12 ideals toward which we strive. It will take all of us, in a spirit of pride and freedom, to maintain libraries as a living reality in a free nation into the 21st century.
Libraries inform citizens. Democracy vests supreme power in the people. Libraries make democracy work by providing access to information so that citizens can make the decisions necessary to govern themselves. The public library is the only institution in American society whose purpose is to guard against the tyrannies of ignorance and conformity, and its existence indicates the extent to which a democratic society values knowledge, truth, justice, books, and culture.
Libraries break down boundaries. Libraries provide free family literacy programs for low-literate, illiterate, and non-English-speaking people. In addition, hundreds of librarians across America lead outreach programs that teach citizenship and develop multilingual and multicultural materials for their patrons. Libraries serve the homebound elderly, prisoners, and other institutionalized individuals, the homeless, and the blind and hearing-impaired.
Libraries level the playing field. Economists have cited a growing income inequity in America, with the gap between the richest and poorest citizens becoming wider year by year. By making all its resources equally available to all members of its community, regardless of income, class, or other factors, the library levels the playing field. Once users have access to the library's materials, they have the opportunity to level the playing field outside the library by learning to read, gaining employment, or starting a business.
Libraries value the individual. Library doors swing open for independent thinking without prejudgment. Libraries offer alternatives to the manipulations of commercialism, from the excellence of public-television productions to the freethinking of renegade publishers and the vision of poets and artists outside the mainstream business of art and literature.
Libraries nourish creativity. In the library we are all children. By stimulating curiosity-parent to the twin forces of creativity and imagination-even the most focused and specialized library serves the purpose of lifting the mind beyond its horizons. Libraries store ideas that may no longer work but can serve as the raw material that, cross-fertilized in the innovative mind, may produce answers to questions not yet asked.
Libraries open kids' minds. Bringing children into a library can transport them from the commonplace to the extraordinary. From story hours for preschoolers to career planning for high schoolers, children's librarians make a difference because they care about the unique developmental needs of every individual who comes to them for help. Children get a handle on personal responsibility by holding a library card of their own, a card that gives them access to new worlds in books, videos, audiotapes, computers, games, toys, and more.
Libraries return high dividends. What do Gallo wines, the I Can't Believe It's Yogurt chain, and billboard-sign giant Metromedia have in common? Libraries made millionaires out of each of these companies' grateful owners by providing crucial start-up information when they were no more than wannabe business titans. Libraries are there to help people with more personal goals, too. The seed money expended for these and other success stories? Less than $20 per capita per year in tax dollars.
Libraries build communities. No narrow definition of community will work in a library. Each community has its libraries and its special collections. Libraries validate and unify; they save lives, literally and by preserving the record of those lives. Community-building means libraries link people with information. Librarians have become experts at helping others navigate the Internet. Before there was talk of cyberspace, there were libraries, paving the way for the superhighway.
Libraries make families friendlier. The American family's best friend, the library, offers services guaranteed to hone coping skills. Homework centers, literacy training, parenting materials, after-school activities, summer reading programs, outreach-like the families they serve, libraries everywhere are adapting to meet new challenges.
Libraries offend everyone. Children's librarian Dorothy Broderick contends that every library in the country ought to have a sign on the door reading: "This library has something offensive to everyone. If you are not offended by something we own, please complain." This willingness and duty to offend connotes a tolerance and a willingness to look at all sides of an issue that would be good for the nation in any context; it is particularly valuable when combined with the egalitarianism and openness that characterize libraries.
Libraries offer sanctuary. Like synagogues, churches, mosques, and other sacred spaces, libraries can create a physical reaction, a feeling of peace, respect, humility, and honor that throws the mind wide open and suffuses the body with a near-spiritual pleasure. But why? Perhaps it is because in the library we are answerable to no one; alone with our private thoughts, fantasies, and hopes, we are free to nourish what is most precious to us with the silent companionship of others we do not know.
Libraries preserve the past. Libraries preserve the record; a nation, a culture, a community that does not understand its own past is mired in its own mistakes. Libraries enable us to communicate through distance and time with the living and the dead. It is a miracle kept available by the meticulous sorting, storing, indexing, and preservation that still characterizes library work-work that will carry, in the electronic environment, challenges and a price tag yet unknown.
Reference: Reading Rockets
*You are welcome to print copies for non-commercial use, or a limited number for educational purposes, as long as credit is given to Reading Rockets and the author(s).
Ideas for Parents: How to help your child become a stronger writer:
Ideas for Parents: How to help your child become a stronger writer:
What you need
What you need
Pencils, crayons, or markers
Yarn or ribbon
Writing paper or notebook
Cardboard or heavy paper
Construction paper
Safety scissors
Before getting started
Before getting started
Provide a place
It's important for your child to have a good place to write, such as a desk or table with a smooth, flat surface. It's also crucial to have good lighting.
Provide the materials
Provide plenty of paper (lined and unlined) and things to write with, including pencils, pens, and crayons.
Brainstorm
Talk with your child as much as possible about her ideas and impressions, and encourage her to describe people and events to you.
Activities for young children
Activities for young children
Encourage the child to draw and to discuss her drawings
Ask your child questions about her drawings such as:
"What is the boy doing?"
"Does the house look like ours?"
"Can you tell a story about this picture?"
Show an interest in, and ask questions about, the things your child says, draws, and may try to write.
Ask your child to tell you simple stories as you write them down
Copy the story as your child tells it, without making changes. Ask her to clarify anything you don't understand.
Encourage your child to write her name
Practice writing her name with her, and point out the letters in her name when you see them in other places (on signs, in stores, etc.). She may start by only writing the first few letters of her name, but soon the rest will follow.
Use games
There are numerous games and puzzles that help children with spelling while increasing their vocabulary. Some of these may include crossword puzzles, word games, anagrams, and cryptograms designed especially for children. Flash cards are fun to use too, and they're easy to make at home.
Turn your child's writing into books
Paste her drawings and writings on pieces of construction paper. For each book, make a cover out of heavier paper or cardboard, and add special art, a title, and her name as author. Punch holes in the pages and cover, and bind the book together with yarn or ribbon.
Day-to-day activities
Day-to-day activities
Make sure your child sees you writing
She will learn about writing by watching you write. Talk with her about your writing so that she begins to understand why writing is important and the many ways it can be used.
Encourage your child to write, even if she's scribbling
Give your child opportunities to practice writing by helping her sign birthday cards, write stories, and make lists.
As your child gets older, write together
Have your child help you with the writing you do, including writing letters, shopping lists, and messages.
Suggest note-taking
Encourage your child to take notes on trips or outings, and to describe what she saw. This could include a description of nature walks, a boat ride, a car trip, or other events that lend themselves to note-taking.
Encourage copying
If your child likes a particular song, suggest that she learn the words by writing them down. Also encourage copying favorite poems or quotations from books and plays.
Encourage your child to read her stories out loud
As your child gets older, ask her to share her stories with you. Listen carefully without interrupting, and give her positive feedback about her ideas and her writing!
Hang a family message board in the kitchen
Offer to write notes there for your child. Be sure that she finds notes left there for her.
Help your child write letters and emails to relatives and friends
These may include thank you notes or just a special note to say hello. Be sure to send your child a letter or card once in awhile too so that she is reminded of how special it is to get a letter in the mail. Consider finding a pen pal for your child.
Encourage keeping a journal
This is excellent writing practice as well as a good outlet for venting feelings. Encourage your child to write about things that happen at home and school, about people she likes or dislikes and why, and about things she wants to remember and do. If she wants to share the journal with you, read the entries and discuss them together.
Things to remember
Things to remember
Allow time
Help your child spend time thinking about a writing project or exercise. Good writers often spend a lot of time thinking, preparing, and researching before starting to write. Your child may dawdle, sharpen a pencil, get papers ready, or look up the spelling of a word. Be patient — this may all be part of her preparation.
Respond to your child's writing
Respond to the ideas your child expresses verbally or in writing. Make it clear that you are interested in what the writing conveys, which means focusing on "what" the child has written rather than "how" it was written. It's usually wise to ignore minor errors, particularly at the stage when your child is just getting ideas together.
Praise your child's writing
Take a positive approach and find good things to say about your child's writing. Is it accurate? Descriptive? Original? Creative? Thoughtful? Interesting?
Avoid writing for your child
Don't write a paper for your child that will be turned in as her work, and don't rewrite your child's work. Meeting a writing deadline, taking responsibility for the finished product, and feeling ownership of it are also important parts of the writing process.
Help your child with her writing as she gets older
Ask your child questions that will help her clarify the details of her stories and assignments as they get longer, and help her organize her thoughts. Talk about the objective of what she is writing.
Provide your child with spelling help when she's ready for it
When your child is just learning how to read and write, she may try different ways to write and spell. Our job is to encourage our children's writing so they will enjoy putting their thoughts and ideas on paper. At first, your child may begin to write words the way that she hears them. For example, she might write "haf" instead of "have", "frn" instead of "friend", and "Frd" instead of "Fred." This actually is a positive step in developing her phonemic awareness. Keep practicing with her, and model the correct spelling of words when you write. As your child gets older and begins to ask more questions about letters and spelling, provide her with the help she needs.
Practice, practice, practice
Writing well takes lots of practice, so make sure your child doesn't get discouraged too easily. It's not easy! Give her plenty of opportunities to practice so that she has the opportunity to improve.
Read together
Reading and writing support each other. The more your child does of each, the better she will be at both. Reading can also stimulate your child to write about her own family or school life. If your child has a particular favorite story or author, ask her why she thinks that story or that person's writing is special.
As you read and write more with your child, you will be building an important foundation, and taking steps that will help your child to become a better reader, writer, and student. Your efforts now will make a difference — and it may be just the difference that your child needs to succeed!
(Courtesy of Reading Rockets!)
Child Mind Institute Symptom Checker:
A free resource for concerned parents, created by clinical experts...
https://childmind.org/symptomchecker/
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A Parent's Guide to Anime
Manga
https://www.readbrightly.com/things-parents-and-educators-should-know-about-manga/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/sci-fi-fantasy/14-kid-friendly-manga-arent-pokemon/
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/02/04/manga-recommendations-middle-schoolers
https://bookriot.com/manga-for-kids/
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