"READING FOR JOY" - A GREAT RESOLUTION FOR THE NEW YEAR

A recent report from Ontario, Canada, published by the research group People for Education, found that fewer school age children actually enjoy reading.  Below are some of their findings...

     "Literacy – alongside writing and math – has been at the centre of Ontario’s educational agenda for more than a decade. And while Ontario students’ literacy scores have improved during that time, something unexpected has also happened: There has been a dramatic decline in the percentage of Ontario students who report that they “like to read.”
     While the increase in Ontario’s students’ reading scores is to be applauded, the decrease in their love of reading is worrying. It is possible that our focus on targets for test scores and on the “mechanics” of literacy have had an impact on students’ attitudes.
     Regardless of form, reading for the joy of it, for its capacity to broaden our horizons, use our imaginations, think creatively, understand ourselves and others better, and feel engaged as citizens in the world – reading for all those reasons must be a vital component of what we encourage in our schools." [You can read the whole report, with statistics, HERE]

What can help stop this worrying decline?  According to the study, educators need to
1- give kids access to school libraries and librarians, and
2- encourage parents to "read with their children for pleasure" at home.

This is where I insert one of my favorite resources - for read aloud books that kids will ENJOY:

You can also visit Jim Trelease's website: Jim Trelease on Reading. It's a helpful resource for parents,  teachers, and librarians.

DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THE IMPORTANCE OF READING ALOUD TO CHILDREN

"Richer than I you can never be --

I had a Mother who read to me."

-Strickland Gillian

Whether you're a mother, father, aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, teacher, or babysitter...please make reading aloud a priority for the children in your lives!  


Some Read Aloud "DON'Ts" to remember from Jim Trelease:

-Don’t read stories that you don’t enjoy yourself. Your dislike will show in the reading, and that defeats your purpose.
-Don’t continue reading a book once it is obvious that it was a poor choice. Admit the mistake and choose another. Make sure, however, that you’ve given the book a fair chance to get rolling; some, like Tuck Everlasting, start slower than others. (You can avoid the problem by prereading at least part of the book yourself.)
-If you are a teacher, don’t feel you have to tie every book to class work. Don’t confine the broad spectrum of literature to the narrow limits of the curriculum.
-Don’t overwhelm your listener. Consider the intellectual, social, and emotional level of your audience in making a read-aloud selection. Never read above a child’s emotional level.
-Don’t select a book that many of the children already have heard or seen on television. Once a novel’s plot is known, much of their interest is lost. You can, however, read a book and view the video afterward. That’s a good way for children to see how much more can be portrayed in print than on film.
-In choosing novels for reading aloud, avoid books that are heavy with dialogue; they are difficult reading aloud and listening. All those indented paragraphs and quotations make for easy silent reading. The reader sees the quotations marks and knows it is a new voice, a different person speaking—but the listener doesn’t. And if the writer fails to include a notation at the end of the dialogue, like “said Mrs. Murphy,” the audience has no idea who said what.
-Don’t be fooled by awards. Just because a book won an award doesn’t guarantee that it will make a good read-aloud. In most cases, a book award is given for the quality of the writing, not for its read-aloud qualities.
-Don’t start reading if you are not going to have enough time to do it justice. Having to stop after one or two pages only serves to frustrate, rather than stimulate, the child’s interest in reading.
-Don't be overimpressed by book awards. Most of the great read-alouds never
won a Newbery or Caldecott medal.
-Don’t get too comfortable while reading. A reclining or slouching position is most apt to bring on drowsiness. A reclining position sends an immediate message to the heart: slow down. With less blood being pumped, less oxygen reaches the brain—thus drowsiness.
-Don’t be unnerved by questions during the reading, particularly from very young children in your own family. If the question is obviously not for the purpose of distracting or postponing bedtime, answer the question patiently. There is no time limit for reading a book, but there is a time limit on a child’s inquisitiveness. Foster that curiosity with patient answers—then resume your reading. Classroom questions, however, need to be held until the end. With twenty children all deciding to ask questions to impress the teacher, you might never reach the end of the book.
-Don’t impose interpretations of a story upon your audience. A story can be just plain enjoyable, no reason necessary, and still give you plenty to talk about. The highest literacy gains occur with children who have access to discussions following a story.
-Don’t confuse quantity with quality. Reading to your child for ten minutes, with your full attention and enthusiasm, may very well last longer in the child’s mind than two hours of solitary television viewing.
-Don’t use the book as a threat—“If you don’t pick up your room, no story tonight!” As soon as your child or class sees that you’ve turned the book into a weapon, they’ll change their attitude about books from positive to negative.
-Don’t try to compete with television. If you say, “Which do you want, a story or TV?” they will usually choose the latter. That is like saying to a nine-year-old, “Which do you want, vegetables or a donut?” Since you are the adult, you choose. “The television goes off at eight-thirty in this house. If you want a story before bed, that’s fine. If not, that’s fine, too. But no television after eight-thirty.” But don’t let books appear to be responsible for depriving the children of viewing time.

A free brochure of the points on this page is available for downloading at:
www.trelease-on-reading.com/parent-reading-brochure.html

RAISING READERS

LAND OF ENCHANTMENT, by Norman Rockwell

"A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it."

~ Samuel Johnson

How do you raise a reader?
Here are some facts parents should know, from JIM TRELEASE, author of THE READ-ALOUD HANDBOOK...

1. READING is the most important subject in school. Why? Because a child needs reading in order to master most of the other subjects.
2. ACROSS the world, children who read the most, read the best.
3. WE humans are pleasure-seekers, doing things over and over if we like it.
4. READ aloud to your children, even as infants. Initially, the sound of your voice is a beacon of calmness, conditioning the child to associate you and the book with security.
5. LISTENING comprehension comes before reading comprehension. You must hear a word before you can say it or read and write it.
6. CHILDREN usually read on one level and listen on a higher level.
7. THE top winter Olympians come from states where they have the most ice and snow. And reading research shows that children who come from homes with the most print—books, magazines, and newspapers—have the highest reading scores. They also use the library more than those with lower scores.
8. THERE is a strong connection between over-viewing of TV by children and under-achieving in school. Simply put: those who watch the most know the least.