Latest in Literacy Blog
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Poetry: My Story
Read more: Poetry: My StoryIn 1994, my 6-year-old son Nicholas failed first grade. Testing revealed he could read ten words, showed no strengths, and had a low IQ. The prognosis was dire, his future bleak. Finally, the diagnostician called him: “The worst child I’ve seen in twenty years of teaching.” I had the option to remove my son from…
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Include Me!
Read more: Include Me!All children like to read things they can relate to or that make them feel good. And the best children’s stories I “read” were those on the laps of my parents. In order to write books for children of a different mold than our own, we need to know them. I grew up in a…
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Reading Supports Social Emotional Learning
Read more: Reading Supports Social Emotional LearningHow reading helps children learn social emotional skills I am a lover of all things book and the written word. As a child, I was precocious and very curious. Thankfully, my father had a great passion for reading and ensured that I, along with my siblings, understood the importance of literacy and that it was…
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Four Fun Ways to Incorporate Reading into Everyday Activities
Read more: Four Fun Ways to Incorporate Reading into Everyday ActivitiesReading time can be fun time too! Learning to read opens different worlds to children – fantasy, mystery, funny, history – but it can also help them understand the things around them in everyday life that maybe they never thought to notice before. Here are four fun ways to incorporate reading into everyday activities! 1.…
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Keeping Reading Social While Social Distancing
Read more: Keeping Reading Social While Social DistancingHere are 3 easy ways to keep reading social while social distancing The cancellation of events has left everyone disappointed at points throughout the past year, and that list of most missed gatherings looks a little different for everyone. For me, it has been the cancellation of two fundraising luncheons that annually bring together authors…
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Background is Everything
Read more: Background is EverythingAlthough we don’t generally think about it, every experience we have adds to a repertoire of events that create “us” – our background. The stories we share with friends, the lessons we teach our kids, and the bank of knowledge we use to make decisions in the moment. Everything we encounter adds to this background,…
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How writing can help you read
Read more: How writing can help you readDuring meetings, are you a notetaker? I often find myself scribbling down notes throughout a meeting only to never refer to them again, simply because I remember what is on them. The act of writing down the information helps my brain convert it to long term memory. The same thing happens when children write. Even…
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Normalizing Emotions
Read more: Normalizing EmotionsEmotions. We all have them. We’ve felt the good, the bad, and the ugly. Happiness, sadness, anger, disappointment, guilt, love. Even though kids are small they can feel some huge emotions, and they should be normalized and discussed. Building a Support System Your child should feel safe to discuss emotions and feelings with family, friends,…
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7 Ways to Get More Books
Read more: 7 Ways to Get More BooksHow to get more books and build bigger libraries for your young readers Parents always ask how they can expand the Kids Read Now summer reading program into the rest of the year. Here are seven great ways to get more free or almost free books. This will keep your children building their reading skills…
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What is your Literary History?
Read more: What is your Literary History?Pleasure reading and assigned reading are not mutually-exclusive activities Have you ever taken pause to consider your personal literary history? I remember back to my senior year, an honors English class where I was asked to do this very exercise. It is remarkable how influential the very first pieces of text you consumed are. They…