"Books to the ceiling,
Books to the sky,
My pile of books is a mile high.
How I love them! How I need them!
I'll have a long beard by the time I read them."
- Arnold Lobel


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Every Tuesday is Book Review Day, where I review and recommend a children's book.

Every Wednesday is Wise Owl Wednesday, where you can butter up your brain with some children's literature facts - history, milestones, trivia ... stop by here to learn a little something about the amazing world of books for the young!

Every Thursday is Literacy Tip Day, where I offer literacy suggestions for your children based upon my teaching and parenting experience.



Keep cozy this fall with a good book!

26 April 2010

Literacy Tip #1 - READ!!!!


While it may seem painfully and ridiculously obvious, my first literacy tip is...READ...and do it often.  Read with your children, read to your children, and let your children see you reading. 

Like any other undertaking, reading skills can only improve with practice. 

As a classroom teacher, I assigned my students thirty minutes of reading for pleasure each school night.  They were to spend this time reading a book of their choice, not assigned homework.  In addition to that, we had thirty minutes of D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) in the classroom every day, where everyone, including me, put everything else aside and read a book for pleasure.  It was the highlight of every one's day!!

By the end of each school year, my students and their parents were astounded at how enormously their literacy skills had improved and how much they simply enjoyed the act of reading.  Parents who were (understandably) irritated with me at the beginning of the school year for assigning thirty minutes of reading time on top of homework were thanking me by the year's end!

While it was a very simple activity, the reading my students did on a daily basis was the secret to their true enjoyment of literature.

2 comments:

Roseann's Musings said...

This "simple" idea can lead to profound results. My mother read to me every time I asked (which was pretty often) when I was very young. Then, one night my mother heard me talking over a book, she walked up behind me and saw that I was pointing to a word as I read. After that evening I could not get enough books.

Reading has become one of the most important parts of my life and one of the reasons I was an honor student in school. Yes, keep reading and read often as it can take you to places you would otherwise never go.

Mary Elizabeth said...

Thank you for sharing your reading experience and visiting my blog!!!

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