Enjoying Books with Children

02/27/2008

Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.
Margaret Fuller

Mary Hohman, writing in High/Scope Extensions (Summer 2007; www.highscope.org), describes the many pleasures of reading with young children. For example, she talks about the "pleasure of place"....

"Looking at, reading, and talking about books with children magically transports you and the children out of your immediate surroundings to Nashville, Tennessee (Goin' Someplace Special, McKissack), the Spanish countryside (Ferdinand, Lawson), a Lakota camp on the Plains (Crazy Horse's Vision, Nelson), a restaurant in Chinatown (Apple Pie 4th of July, Wong), Canada in the time of the voyageurs (A Dog Came, Too, Manson), or Mali (The Hatseller and the Monkeys, Diakite). You might go to Sam-sam-sa-mara 'where the animals and the people lived and worked together like they didn't know they weren't supposed to' (Sam and the Tigers, Lester) or the land of wooden blocks (Changes, Changes, Hutchins). You can live in the past, the present, or the future; a real place; or an imaginative world where animals talk and mingle with humans, fairies, giants, and 'wild things.'

"Psychologically, these places can be safe, reassuring, scary, strange, evocative, familiar, whimsical, puzzling, or absurd. The beauty is that children can enter and leave these worlds at will by opening or closing a book. They can venture forth on their own, with friends, or snuggled comfortably next to you or any other book-loving adult.

"So let us exert ourselves to supply children with wonderful books and read them with pleasure all the days of the preschool year. Surely, a love of books and comprehension, phonological awareness, alphabetic principle, and concepts about print will follow."

Tools for Training Staff about Literacy and Learning

The Exchange Out of the Box Training Kits provide directors with a great way to jump right in and lead in-house training sessions for teachers on a variety of topics such as literacy and learning. Check out our current list of Out of the Box Training Kits. If you purchase the online versions, you save money and have immediate access to the kits.

Nike teacher opportunities!
Nike's Child Development Programs is holding a virtual career event on March 20th. To learn more and register to attend the event go to www.nikevirtualevent.com

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