How to use this Page

Welcome to Friday's Writing @ Reading prompt challenge. We think of it as Our Closing Ceremonies!

We've had lots of fun this week exchanging literacy ideas, reliving special times with our little ones (who may not be so little anymore), and sharing creative ideas in words and images. Here are the final Writing @ Reading Prompts for our 2013 Share a Story - Shape a Future event.

• Have you read a book with your child that you want to save and share with them when they get to middle or high school? 
• Today is Poetry Friday ... here's your chance to write a poem for a Kindergartener!
• The other day we asked what characters you like to "play" when you read ... what / who are the characters your toddler- to Kindgergarten-aged child likes to imitate (e.g., dress up as). 

Can't decide on just one topic? Yeah! We hoped that would happen. Remember, you are welcome to write a post for any or all of them! Each post = 1 entry for our fabulous book prize packages.

Rules Reminder:

Add a Comment

Do you remember that moment?

For those of us who are passionate about raising readers, we nurtured that spark and now it is a flame we carry with us always.

Just as it excites us to watch our toddlers and preschoolers explore the world around them, being part of that moment when a child has discovered reading is pretty darned special, too.

Although we tend to equate Kindergarten with learning to read, not every child is ready to read quite yet. It becomes a balancing act of guiding and helping (but not pushing too hard) and minimizing the peer comparisons.

Lucky for us, our guests today have great ideas on ways to encourage your reader-to-be and nurture a love of literacy, too. We're hosting "Graduation Day" at Family Bookshelf, and these are the posts to get us started:

• Mia Wenjen explains the reading and writing connection in her post Invented Spelling and Creating Books with your Kindergartner at Pragmatic Mom;
• Susan Stephenson reminds us that reading is not just books at the Book Chook;
• Debbie Alvarez describes the Kindergarten Reader at The Styling Librarian;
• Colleen O'Hearn talks about Kindergarteners at the Library on the Destination Happy blog;
• Laurie Mattaliano is In Search of a Swan and His Trumpet (reading up) at Rocks in the Dryer;
• Dawn Little explores Text Features with Kindergartners at the Literacy Toolbox; and
• Michali Lerner shares her thoughts in It's a Small World on the Marketing Barefoot team blog;

I will be back later with a post about that magical moment of discovering "I Can Read." In the meantime, we would love to hear YOUR stories about literacy with Kindergartners ... or your journey to being a bookworm and writer.  

Add your links in the comments here or on the Family Bookshelf post and we'll incorporate them into the Event Summary.

Add a Comment

We hope that you've been enjoying all the posts so far this week for our 2013 Share a Story - Shape a Future literacy blog tour.

Before we know it, the school bells will ring, and we'll alternately worry about how our "babies" are doing and dreading the spelling lists! But lets not rush it! So today, we'll enjoy the footloose, creative creatures who are our preschoolers.

Today's Writing @ Reading Prompts reflect the joys of the dramatic life ...

• Is there anything your preschooler has taught you about reading?
• Help: what do you do when the rhyming book doesn't rhyme like it should? Tips please!
• Create a book ad! Susan Stephenson, the Book Chook sent us this one as an example of the limitless possibilities.

Can't decide on just one topic? Yeah! We hoped that would happen. Remember, you are welcome to write a post for any or all of them! Each post = 1 entry for our fabulous book prize packages.

Rules Reminder:

Add a Comment

• Dawn Little talks about nonfiction with preschoolers in Discover-ing Baskets of Hands-on Learning at Literacy Toolbox;
• +Debbie Alvarez shares the ABCs of reading and writing with your 4-year-old at The Styling Librarian; 
• +Erica MomandKiddo gives us 6 ways to make rhyming part of everyday life at What Do We do All Day;
• +Liz Hughes explains my family is not special at Inventing Liz; and 
• Sheila Magovern shares her ideas about engaging busy bodies on the Marketing Barefoot blog.

There are tons of wonderful ways to engage four-year-olds and help them with reading readiness. Do you have a post about engaging four-year-olds? We'd be honored to have you join the conversation, and welcome posts old and new.

Last but not least, save a little energy ... our Writing @ Reading prompts will go live at Noon today.

Display Comments Add a Comment

Our theme today, about preparing children for preschool and beyond, could easily be called

I don't know about you, but in our house, the threes were much more terrible than the twos! More vocabulary = more ideas, more ways to express herself, etc.

It wasn't that our then 3-year-old could actually read, but she thought she could ! She morphed into the Bedtime Stories Casting Director. When she wasn't reciting her books herself, she was correcting us when we skipped missed a [word, sentence, page] or didn't use the right character voice.

Today's Writing @ Reading Prompts reflect the joys of the dramatic life ...

• Is there a book your child loves (or loved) to read to you? What is it, and what do you love about their reading style?
• Tell us about a time when a book first came to life for you.
• Let's turn one of your toddler /3-year-old's/preschooler's books into a mini-movie. What is the book, what stars would you cast in the various roles, and why?
• Have you ever had a situation / event in your adult life that reminded you of a book, story, or character from a children's book? [Either one you read as a child, or one you've shared with your kids]

Can't decide on just one topic? Yeah! We hoped that would happen. Remember, you are welcome to write a post for any or all of them! Each post = 1 entry for our fabulous book prize packages.

Rules Reminder:

Add a Comment

Welcome one and all ...

We hope you've enjoyed reading the posts this morning and saved some energy for Writing @ Reading!  Today's Share a Story 2013 theme is The Terrific Twos, and our writing prompts center on literacy-related ideas and activities for toddlers. So without further ado ...

• What (or who) are your favorite characters to "play" when you share stories with your child(ren)?
• Please share three, non-book literacy activities that you use (or have used) to engage toddlers. 
• Have there been any books that you originally borrowed at the library and then ended up buying because your toddler loved reading it so much? 

Can't decide on just one topic? That's okay ... you're welcome to write a post for any or all of them!

Rules Reminder:

Display Comments Add a Comment

Although we tend to think of literacy as "reading," it is so much more. Literacy encompasses communication and the ability to express ideas and comprehension, as well as critical thinking and its cousin problem solving.

Books are one tool for building these skills, but not the only ones. In our quest to "walk the talk" of literacy, we created Writing @ Reading. Each day this week we will post two or three writing prompts build around the daily theme.

Just as we have in years' past, Writing @ Reading is a contest. Thanks to our generous sponsors - Reading is Fundamental and The Reading Tub, you can win books for your school, public, or personal library. For each post you write, you receive one entry in our random drawing for one of six sets of books.

Today's prompts:

• If you were creating a children's library from scratch, what ten books would you start with, and why.
• In a still image or 30-second video, share what "literacy with baby" looks like in your house.

Display Comments Add a Comment

Today's Writing @ Reading Prompts focus on the giving the gift of literacy. Our very good friend Mrs. P., is not only sharing her own thoughts about the gift of reading, but has a few other surprises. No, I'm not going to tell you up front!

A few years ago, a friend gave me a nightgown for my birthday that was so large I wound up using it as an emergency parachute in case I ever had to jump out of my second-floor bedroom. Last Christmas, I received a pair of red socks from my cousin that were so small I wound up using them as ear warmers for my cat.

There is, however, one gift I enjoy receiving even when it doesn’t fit. Sometimes especially when it doesn’t fit. That gift is a book.

Getting a book that doesn’t “fit” can open up your world in ways you never imagined. “Why I never showed the slightest interest in Ancient Egypt,” you think. “Why would someone give me a book about that?” Then you read it and are transported back to a world so amazing and compelling, you read three more books about it simply because you don’t want to leave.

“Why would someone give me a book about a racehorse? I’ve rarely gone to the races and have no special interest in horses.” But then you read Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand and are hypnotized; swept away against your will by the evocative writing and astonishing story.

Sometimes, I enjoy wandering through a library or bookstore and letting serendipity direct me to my next book. And if it’s the last thing I ever thought I’d read, odds are it’s going to be a fulfilling experience.

On my free website, www.MrsP.com, I sit in a cozy chair by the fire and read classic stories to kids. It’s one of my favorite ways to share the gift of reading. My website features a library with dozens of tales, from the hilarious to the scary. I encourage kids to not just choose the stories that immediately strike their fancy, but to give others a try too. For some reason, those often turn out to be the stories that stick with you – and even change your life.

Or course, I realize it’s not always easy to persuade kids to read anything if they haven’t developed a love and appreciation of books. To help parents with a child needing a bit of encouragement, and to celebrate Share a Story, Shape a Future, I’ve created a new, free activity on my website.

It offers fun ideas about how you can – with very little time and money – create magical, handmade books out of stories created by your child. And when a child sees a story woven out of thin air from her or his imagination turned into a real book – well, I guarantee, that child will be a lot closer to understanding the power of books and the wonders of reading.

Thank you Mrs. P! You ARE the best reader in show biz!