READING WITH CHILDREN May 30, 2008
Posted by Ms. Klemundt in Reading Recommendations.trackback
As we said in the Summer Reading Booklet, reading with children is an amazing gift to them that only requires some time and attention from you. The easiest way to get started is to just take your little sisters or brothers, cousins, or the kids you baby-sit to your local public library and explore the children’s section. Or take them for story hour and pick up some tips by watching the librarian or story-teller do it. You can also volunteer to help at story hour or other children’s programs at the library.
If you’re looking for ideas about what to read, use the NoveList database (Res has a subscription). Click on the ”Award Winners” link under either the “Younger Kids” or “Older Kids” categories in the left-side menu. The “Literary” section has awards like the Caldecott Medal and Honor Books, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards, the Charlotte Zolotow Award and Honor Books, and the Newbery Medal and Honor Books. Take a look at some of the other lists as well. Most states, including Illinois, run their own book award programs and many of their lists can be found on NoveList.
Some of the same lists can be found on the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) website: http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/awardsscholarships.cfm. Click on the “Literary and Related Awards” and the “Children’s Notable Lists” for more than a summer’s worth of ideas.
Sometimes children have some pretty specific ideas about the books they like — and that’s great. But help them mix it up a bit by exploring fiction, nonfiction, fairy tales and tall tales, and poetry with them.
Kids who are beginning to read or who can already read love the chance to read to someone else. Your job is just to be a good audience — and maybe help them with a difficult word or two. It’s good practice for them and it takes most of the pressure off you because, in my experience, the kids can pronounce the names of all those dinosaurs WAY better than we can! I’m sure my nephew Nathan was motivated to take over the duties of reading his favorite, The Star Wars Dictionary, when I kept pronouncing “Queen Amidala” as “Queen Armadillo.”
Reading with children is one of life’s simplest pleasures, so just have fun with it!
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