Is it Friday already? Wow, what a week! Today at Jen Robinson's Book Page, Jen is wrapping up the week with a look at how we take the next step. She and her guests are offering answers and ideas to some of the toughest questions we have as adults ... mostly parents, but not always. We have a few questions left ourselves, so here goes ...
- Is there a book from your childhood that you didn't like "back then," but that you've since re-read and liked? What was it about the book that you didn't like before?
- Do you have a favorite chapter book for reading with kids of different ages (e.g., 4, 9, 13)?
- What book(s) has your child recommended to you that you loved?
Just a reminder for new visitors. Here's how it works ...
1. Select the question or questions that resonate with you.
2. Find an old post or write a new one that answers the question. [Be sure to grab the Share a Story button from the sidebar to include in your new post!]
3. Come back here and link your post either via the inLinxz box or as a comment.
We'll be adding links for this question through tomorrow (Saturday). If you haven't had a chance to link up through the inlinkz box, don't fret ... the comments will remain open for 30 days, so if something strikes you next week, we'd love to hear from you then.
Something old, something new, something borrowed ... Yesterday it was "something true." to finish our rhyme. Today? Well, it's something
valued.Okay, it isn't a perfect alliteration, but I tried!
Although reading is a timeless skill, what we read - and how we read - change. Some of the books we loved as kids would seem hokey now. Some have references that wouldn't make sense to kids - phone booths? telephone dials? what are they? What hooked us - maybe a classic Nancy Drewor Anne of Green Gables or Heidi or Journey to the Center of the Earth - wouldn't work for many of our 21st Century kids. There was no
realistic fiction back in the day - no edginess, no taboo subjects, and the good guys usually won. It's different now - not better, not worse - different.
Donalyn Miller (aka the Book Whisperer) and her group of rabid readers are going to help us embrace the differences and bring them together. They're talking all kinds of books, sometimes pairing books we loved with modern classics. Whether you're trying to get a pre-reader excited about books or trying to keep a pre-teen reading, they've got lots of ideas.
Here's today's lineup.
- Donalyn Miller has “Something Old, Something New: Pairing Classic and New Favorites” at The Book Whisperer blog
- Danielle Smith has “When I Was Young: The Books That Got Them Started” at There’s a Book
- Tess Alfonsin shares some “Childhood Favorites” at Reading Countess blog
- For some “Dystopian Science Fiction” ideas, see what Kate Sutherland suggests at Kate’s Book blog
- “Read Alouds in the Secondary Classroom” at RAW INcK Blog (still waiting on the URL)
- Professor Nana has “The New Classics: New Books for Tweens on Classic Themes” at The Goddess of YA blog
- Hilde Garcia is sharing some “First Lines from Children’s Books”at The Pen and Ink Blog
Do you have some suggestions of books that bring favorite/classic stories to a modern audience.? We'd love to hear them. Reading is a way to connect with your kids ... share the stories, swap books, laugh, cry ... make these the classics YOUR kids remember!
As has been our practice, we will update the direct links to the individual posts as they go live. You can also follow the discussions on Twitter. We're using the #SAS2010 hashtag.
Kids love nonfiction books.
That's a fact!
Sorry, I couldn't resist. Before you decide nonfiction = boring, you might want to take a stroll around the village today. Nonfiction - particularly nonfiction picture books - may be the perfect lure for reluctant readers.
At the
Reading Zone, today's host Sara Mulhern has two posts. In addition to
introducing Day 3 of Share a Story, she has a great piece about
pairing nonfiction with fiction in the classroom, complete with reviews of a few science/nature books for use in middle school, she links you to great ideas by other nonfiction lovers.
As has been our practice, we will update the direct links to the individual posts as they go live. You can also follow the discussions on Twitter. We're using the #SAS2010 hashtag.
Welcome!
Bienvenue
欢迎 (huān yíng)
wilkommen
Yeah! It's here!
Share a Story-Shape a Future 2010 has started. We selected the theme
It Takes a Village to Raise a Reader because learning to read is an immersive process ... everyone in a child's life plays a role, either formally or informally. One of our goals with this year's event is to share ideas about all of the ways we can create readers and, by extension, celebrate the efforts that each of us dedicate to the children in our lives.
With today's theme,
The Many Faces of Reading, Terry will takes us on a guided tour around the proverbial "village." She's hosting at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub (Reading Tub blog) and we'll share stories with and from people in our communities who dedicate themselves to promoting reading.
- Lee Wind starts us off with Dads! He shares the 3 Secrets of Reading with Your Daughter.If you've got the worry ... Lee's got the answer.
- Greg Pincus
- Melissa Taylor offers a win-win-win with parent-child book clubs at Imagination Soup. Don't tell anyone, but this is the best book club you'll ever join. From Melissa: "PS, Oprah, I've got one on ya. You forgot the kids."
- Terry thought Just One More Book had something on this topic, but Andrea Ross says it was probably her article The Family that Reads Together ... What's In It for Me? She wrote this as a guest blogger for the Children's Book Review. Here's a link to the podcast version of The Family that Reads Together.
- Sarah Mulhern will talk about the teacher-student relationship at The Reading Zone.
- The Book Whisperer (aka Donalyn Miller) is going to talk about teaching ethics, responsibility, and the difference between "teaching books" v. teaching to read.
- Terry Doherty shares her experience as a reading tutor at Scrub-a-Dub-Tub.
2 Comments on Share a Story 2010 Day 1: The Many Faces of Reading, last added: 3/8/2010
This morning on her Parents and Children Reading Together blog, Cathy Miller has a handy list of literacy terms with family-friendly definitions.
Some terms, like sight words, you may recognize, but others are a little more technical. That said, they are words you're likely to hear during parent-teacher conferences and see when reading the results of standardized tests for reading. As you read Cathy's list, it becomes clear that some words make the concepts sound harder than they are ... try metacognition for example: thinking about how you think. C'mon.
Cathy is doing a radio show with award-winning author Stacey Kannenberg that will be available on the Get Ready to Learn Mom website. She'll also be continuing her series about ways to help independent readers at Parents and Children Reading Together.
Disclosure notice: Cathy serves as a member of the Reading Tub Board of Directors. She offers counsel and is a sounding board for me in framing literacy programs, building outreach, and educating families about reading with kids.
Last week, we talked about some of the Reading Tips we gathered during Share a Story-Shape a Future 2009. This week, I’ve rounded up the resources and ideas related to reading aloud.
Reading aloud is crucial to our development as readers and communicators. As Donalyn Miller pointed out in her post, you’re never to old to enjoy having a story read aloud. Still not sure? Then visit The Reading Zone, where you can follow along as Sarah shares the reactions and excitement of her middle school students.
These are posts from the week, as well as links and posts mentioned in the comments. Sarah wrote a post in early April about her process for reading aloud. Although it wasn’t directly part of Share a Story, it goes to the heart of what we hope this event will do. So we’ve included it below.
Understanding Read Aloud with Young Children
Thoughts and Tips for Reading Aloud with Independent Readers
Read Aloud Resources for Adults
Next Week: Books and Booklists. There were so many recommendations, we’re going to break this into a series.
In today's edition, I've pulled together the full week's agenda in one post. It is still sorted by day, but it includes all of the hyperlinks from the main posts, as well as other bloggers who added to the discussion.
Thanks to the outstanding work and dedication of our bloggers, this is an incredible resource as a place to start thinking about ways to engage kids in writing. To make it even handier, we have created a downloadable version, too.
Event Takeaways
Day 1: Raising Readershost: Terry Doherty @
Scrub-a-Dub-TubDay 2: Selecting Reading Materialhosted by Sarah Mulhern at
The Reading ZoneDay 3: Reading Aloud - It's Fun, It's Easyhosted by Susan Stephenson at the
Book Chook blog
Day 5: Share a Story-Shape a Future: What the Future Holdshosted by Elizabeth O. Dulemba at
Dulemba.comMy thanks (again) to everyone who participated in Share a Story-Shape a Future 2009!
My favorite book to read with kids about 4-6th grade (yes, if framed correctly they still do like the read aloud) is John H. Ritter's Over The Wall. I love the raw emotion of the main character and how the writing makes you want to sit on the edge of your seat at parts, gives you great sympathy for the main character at other times and always connections you to thinking about the metaphor in the title.