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:
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.
Our thanks to
Winter Storm Saturn for making yesterday the perfect Share-a-Story kind of day. For many of us, the snow & high winds brought down power lines, creating adventures of playing outside, sitting in front of the fire, and reading books.
Although I loved having the opportunity to “do nothing,” the lack of access to the Internet made it a bit challenging to add and schedule today's kickoff post.
Ultimately, it pushed me to think a little more creatively ... like we often do when we're trying not to sound like a broken record with every “teaching moment” that presents itself. Preschoolers are a savvy lot, and it doesn't take too many letter games for them to realize what we're doing!
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.
Oh, how time flies ...
our babies grow up too fast, days just zoom by, and weeks are here and gone before we know it. In addition to getting taller, our kids are learning and practicing literacy skills the best way they know how: talking!
And oh, the things they say!
Lucky for us,
Debbie Alvarez (
The Styling Librarian) is here to help us create and savor some magical moments.
She has created a
page on her blog just for today's theme, and is also writing posts throughout the week. Today, as host, she's letting us in on her
secrets of early literacy preparation. She's also linking to these great bloggers ...
Do you have a post about reading with kids who are three? 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.
Do you know this story? Are worried about it? Have you lived it? Maybe lived through it and have some ideas to share? Then this is your day!
On Tuesday, in her post at
Finding Wonderland, Tanita Davis explained that she saw
Share a Story as an event for the "wee ones." Admittedly, our goal is to encourage people to read early and often ... but we also want to encourage a lifelong love of reading, and we have to get through puberty (and lots of homework) to get there.
So who better to host today's theme -- and share all of the facets of the challenge -- than
Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn, the dynamic duo of
A Year of Reading and regular contributors to
Choice Literacy, the "home on the web for
K-12 literacy leaders." (emphasis mine)
Here's how Franki starts us off ...
As a classroom teacher, I have always struggled with reading homework. I know that when reading is assigned, it feels like a chore to me, I don't like it and I go through the motions of reading and I don't want that for my students. But I also know that the amount of reading kids do, makes a difference.
Parents and librarians see the same thing ... we want to keep that passion ignited, but know that this is a mighty steep hill. Franki and Mary Lee have asked some of their blogging colleagues to talk about free v. assigned reading. They are also encouraging you to
share your thoughts so that we can have a really great discussion!
Here's today's lineup.
It's was a real treat to write a post for your week long celebration.
Thanks Erica ... we were so glad you could join us!