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.
After you write your post, be sure to come back here and add the link in the comments. That's how we'll be able to enter you in the drawing.
Rules Reminder:
- Winners will be selected in a random drawing. Each post written as part of our Writing @ Reading series will count as one entry for the contest.
- Each set of Writing @ Reading prompts will be published at Noon each day, March 4 to 8, 2013.
- We accept entries all week long, so if you decide to write to Monday's post on Wednesday, that's cool!
- All entries must be submitted by Saturday, 9 March 2013 at Noon Eastern time.
- The drawing will be held on Monday March 11, 2013, and winners contacted by email by Tuesday, March 12, 2013.
Wednesday. Already. What a week!
One of the things that makes the tour so special is not just that we share a passion for reading or sharing books with kids, but that we share parts of ourselves. Yesterday, it took three posts (!) for Chris Singer to share stories from dads about the gift of reading at Book Dads. What a wonderful follow-on to Paul W. Hankins' incredibly poignant, beautiful story about a student and a book on Monday. Talk about the power of a book! Both Chris and Paul are back again today, too!
Dawn Little and her guests at the Literacy Toolbox could fill a library with all of their great suggestions (Thanks Jen) for healthy readers (thanks Dawn). Amy Mascott of Teach Mama went a step beyond and showed us how to look beyond the words and images in sharing the gift At Book Loving Boys,Trina O'Gorman helped bring us full circle with her personal story about what happens when the kids get ahead of us.
For these past two days, we've been thinking and looking at literacy through a traditional lens. But change is afoot. There is no reason to think that we can't still keep and perpetuate those special moments of our kids sitting on our lap. But we may be using various media and digital ink.
Danielle Smith and her guests at There's a Book are looking at how those tools play a role in helping us learn to read and how we, as curators, can use them, too. Are they the be-all-to-end-all? Can we completely ignore them? Here's today's lineup. As posts go live, I will be back to link them.
- From Carisa Kluver @ Digital Storytime: With iPad books that look more like toys and entertainment how likely are they to be used as tools for literacy and how does it affect the reader, children
- From Eric Van Raepenbusch @ Happy Birthday Author Blog: Using video to extend the meaning of a book beyond its pages, teach basic skills, entertain, and provide primary sources of information. Eric's post includes examples of all these ideas, plus ideas to produce your own video as a literacy activity. And that’s not all....there are links to the sources of video I have used to write my blog.
- Chris Singer @ Book Dads talks about using the Nook Color with young, beginning readers.
- Pam van Hylckama Vlieg @ Bookalicio.us follows a similar line and talks about using technology to foster a love of reading in the home.
- Holly Slotkin shares her thoughts about using apps/iPhones/iPads/Tablets/etc. @ LitLad.
- Our friend and founding Share a Story contributor Susan Stephenson does what she does best: explores online resources for reading and writing and offers suggestions on ways to engage kids with fun literacy games. Head Down Under to the Book Chook blog.
- Melissa Taylor shares a post about Reading on the Go. From r
Looking forward to participating this week! Thank you for the opportunity!
Hi Dena, So glad you're joining us ... can't wait to see which prompt(s) entice you this week!
I'm working on a post for the writing prompt, what ten books would you include in a children's library. I look forward to seeing what books others would choose. I'll share my post as soon as I'm done. I think I'm supposed to submit the link to LINKS TO THIS POST Create a Link. I thought I'd get done tonight, but my bed is calling me.
I finished my post. It was fun. http://parentsfeelsuccessfultoday.blogspot.com/2013/03/choosing-ten-childrens-books.html