I was looking for a place to store the literacy links that I find most useful, and might need to refer back to. There are so many links in the monthly literacy and reading news roundups that it's difficult to find things later. This page will be used to store a short list of "keepers":
- RIF article on motivating children who can read, but don't. The article includes reasons why some kids don't like to read, a list of things NOT to do, and 20 ways to encourage reading.
- Time Healthland published an article by Linda Park about what makes some preschools better than others. The gist, according to a recent Science article by Vanderbilt Professor David Dickinson, is that: "when preschool teachers engage children more in interactive conversations that require the youngsters to think and respond creatively, they go on to develop a more advanced vocabulary by kindergarten, which in turn translates to stronger reading and expressive skills by fourth grade."
- Keith Oatley has an article in the Huffington Post Books section about studies that he's worked on that find that reading fiction is good for people. A recent study concludes: "It looked as if reading fiction increased empathy and social understanding, not that socially skilled people read more fiction. Raymond Mar and two other colleagues also did a study on preschool children, and found that the more stories the children had read to them, and the more movies they watched, the better was their understanding of others. Watching television had no such effect."
- Trevor Cairney at Literacy, families and learning posted an excellent piece on Getting Boys and Girls into Chapter Books. The article is aimed at parents wondering when and how to start introducing chapter books to their kids. Trevor offers guidelines, and also some wonderful lists of suggested books, by listening level. And, like one of his commenters, I like that he makes the point that even after kids start listening to chapter books, picture books still have a place in family read-aloud time.
- Terry recently came across this list of Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children at the NEA website. The list was compiled from an online survey in 2007, and, while heavy on the classics, does include relatively recent titles like Inkheart and Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. The list mixes picture books and middle grade, but it's still a nice reference for parents looking for read-aloud or gift ideas.
- I liked this post from Read Aloud Dad. RAD asks, how do you want your child to spend time when bored? Watching TV (or worse), or reading books? One key to having your child read whenever they have a passing moment of boredom is to keep lots of books around your home.
This page is © 2011 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.
