I believe there’s a gene for competition and some people just don’t have it. It doesn’t mean they aren’t skilled, maybe more so considering their motivation is more intrinsically noble, simply that besting some arbitrary benchmark or talented rival doesn’t light their fire. Having been genetically pre-determined to overachieving, I get a strange sensation when I encounter folk who do stuff just because they enjoy it rather than to prove something. I think it’s called bewilderment and I’ve experienced it with my oldest daughter since she got here. Since Keilana’s paternal line if full of water-dominating merpeople, she was born a natural swimmer. She was good. I mean really good. My competitive instincts kicked in something fierce and I couldn’t wait to get her on the local swim team. I knew she would rock their world. Promptly after her fifth birthday, we showed up poolside to claim our victory, but only one of us was on board. After effusively praising Keilana’s swimming prowess, I stepped back to let them see for themselves. And we all watched Keilana pretend to drown for the next thirty minutes. Back in the car, I asked the child who could swim the length of an Olympic-sized pool at four what happened. Her answer was simple: she only wanted to swim for fun. Such an option never occurred to me. In Erica Silverman’s Don’t Fidget A Feather, Gander and Duck go mano y mano and friendship wins. I didn’t know there was a trophy for that…
http://www.amazon.com/Fidget-Feather-Turtleback-Library-Binding/dp/0613076419
http://www.ericasilverman.com/
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: toddler reading, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 2 of 2
Blog: Read to Me! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: toddler reading, Erica Silverman, Don't Fidget A Feather, reading, swimming, competition, Add a tag
Blog: bubublog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's books, literacy, bilingual books, learning to read, asian americans, bilingual children, bububooks, Trends in Education, bilingual parents, bilingual chinese english books, bilingual spanish english books, bilingual children's books, bilingual homes, getting ready to read, getting your child ready to read, toddler reading, Reading with your child, multiracial children, teaching my child a second language, teaching my child my native language, reading, preschool, Add a tag
Hello there! This blog posting serves as a ‘prequel’ of sorts to the last blog posting and focuses on getting your toddler (2 or 3 years old) ready to read. Below is a checklist for you as you help your toddler grow with strong reading skills. And REMEMBER: you can follow this checklist in the language YOU feel most comfortable! Literacy skills transfer across languages, so be sure to expose your children to your native language.
√ I read with my child every day, even if it’s only for a few minutes.
√ I encourage my child to bring his favorite books to me so that we can read together.
√ I point to pictures and name them out loud, and encourage my child to point to pictures while we read.
√ I watch to see if my child sometimes makes eye contact with me when I read aloud. That tells me she is paying attention to me and the story.
√ I talk with my child throughout the day about things we are doing and things that are happening around us.
√ I try to be patient when my child wants to read the same book over and over again.
√ I encourage my child to “play” with books—pick them up, flip them from front to back, and turn the pages.
√ Sometimes I listen when my child “pretends,” to read a book—he holds the book, goes from page to page, and says words, even though they’re not the words on the page.
√ I give my child paper and crayons so she can scribble, make pictures, and pretend to write.
This checklist was taken from the National Institute of Literacy. More information can be found at www.nifl.gov/nifl/publications.html. Happy reading!