Does anyone read (to your kids)?

[Schmeelkie]

I always think it's funny when parenting magazines say something about setting a 'storytime'. We read consistently before nap and bedtime, but on days we're home, Pumpkin asks to be read to generally more than once a day - we've killed an hour at a time reading. Probably doesn't hurt that he sees his parents reading often during our 'leisure' time.

Pumpkin's also big into the monster at the end of this book, Going on a Bear Hunt, and his Ladybug magazines. My parents got him a subscription to Babybug (~0-2 yrs) on his first Christmas and upgraded him to Ladybug a year ago. Some of you might remember the Cricket magazines growing up - same company - they have lots of mags for different ages. It's great to get new reading material delivered each month, and they not only have stories with culturally diverse characters, but also tend to have a story from another part of the world in each issue. And songs too - I can't read music, so usually I just read them in a rhymy tone unless I actually know the song.

When he was younger he loved (almost to death) the Snowy Day, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you see, and But Not the Hippopotomus. Actually, I'd recommend any of Sandra Boynton's books - we've currently been reading Hippos Go Berserk due to Pumpkin's recent interest in counting. Got his ABC's down cold and just started to realize that these letters make the words in the books we read. He's constantly asking me what letter different words start with and remembering and telling them back to us. So amazing to watch the his little brain grow!!

[GreatCarouser]

Got this in a Kindergarten class I taught in today. Those of you with pre-K kids may find it interesting/helpful. In California K kids are tested on their knowlege of Concepts of print:

CONCEPTS OF PRINT CHECKLIST
Say:
1. Show me the front of the book.
2. If I were to read this book to you, show me where I would start to read.(Does the child know that the print, not the picture[s], is the part to be read?)
3. Point to where I start reading(child should point to the words).
4. Which way do I go? (Left to right)
5. Where do I go after that?(Left to right sweep)
6. Point to the words as I read.
7. Show me the first part of the story. Show me the last part of the story. (First/last words on the line, sentence, or page.)
8. Where do I start reading? (Left side of the page before the right)
9. What is this called?(Point to a question mark)
10. What is this? (Point to a period, you can use on other punctuation as well).
11. Show me a capital/lower case letter.
12. Show me one letter. Show me two letters.
13. Show me one word. Show me two words.
14. Show me the first letter of a word. Show me the last letter of the word.
15. Show me the title of this book.
16. Show me the table of contents. (If applicable).
17. Show me the name of the author.
18. Show me the name of the illustrator.


Naturally, you wouldn't want to do all/many of these all the time but you may be able to work them in gradually and your child should be ahead of the game.

[BigJon]

Is that tested more towards the beginning of the year or the end? There is some advanced stuff for typical kids just entering kindergarten.

[piqaboo]

Everytime I read with Altoid we look for who wrote and who drew the pix - why?
Because if we like them, we might want to get more books done by the same person.

[GreatCarouser]

Is that tested more towards the beginning of the year or the end? There is some advanced stuff for typical kids just entering kindergarten.

It's something they need to know by the end of the year but some of the concepts are so central to reading that many kids will pick them up just because someone reads to them. Still, if you are reading to your kids, it can't hurt to add some of these as you read. They are the building blocks for understanding the code of written language.

This is part of the reason some kids don't learn to read well. They just never get exposed to the printed word through newspapers and books until they get to school. Even if they start to take advantage in Kindergarten they are behind.

Catchup really becomes difficult after the second grade. Since print is still the medium used most often to exchange information, every year behind a kid falls is a huge handicap to his/her further education in all subjects. Reading is very much a skill and as 'obvious' as it may seem to you that reading is decoding symbols that allow others to communicate with us, it is subtle enough that is must be explained to the non-reader in small steps. The good news is, that once the skill of reading is mastered it is transferable. If you relocate to, say Japan, once you learn Japanese and know their written coding system, you will be able to read Japanes without having to relearn reading. You will just make slight adjustments based on that language's concepts of print.

[BigJon]

This is part of the reason some kids don't learn to read well. They just never get exposed to the printed word through newspapers and books until they get to school. Even if they start to take advantage in Kindergarten they are behind.

Makes me want to when I hear that kids are not being encouraged to read and read well. I count it as my most valuable skill.

<Boast mode> Eldest son got tested for reading skills today. His is reading above grade level now. He came from a long way back. </Boast mode> Still needs to catch up on some other skills, but he is learning to marshal his prodigious energy.

Today was a poetry day for the younger son. We read poems and tried to make some up that would have an appropriate cadence for jumping rope. A tougher concept for a first grader than you might think.

[Schmeelkie]

my husband often reads author and illustrator names and Pumpkin has recently been asking about punctuation (happened with the monster at the end of this book, which, if you know it, has what Grover says coming out of 'bubbles', not typed text on the page). So, at 3, he seems to be getting a good start.

BTW, my own brag - got Pumpkin's hair cut this past weekend (he doesn't like it, but that's another story) and the hairdresser commented on his speech. Her son is almost 4 and doesn't speak as clearly or with seemingly such a large vocabulary (I forget what he said to prompt this...). I just told her that we read to him a lot and don't 'dumb down' our language in front of him. We end up explaining a lot and he's just starting to get the concept that you can use more than one word or phrase to say the same thing. Had to go over that when someone called him 'young man' - "I'm not a young man" he says, "I'm a boy!"

[Jeff Dutton]

My daughters are grown now, but we used to read to them at bedtime. We did this for many years. I know I read the complete "Little House" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder and the complete "Chronicles of Narnia" series by C.S. Lewis more than once. I'm pretty sure we also read 2 or 3 books by L. Frank Baum. I'm sure there were others as well.

Jeff

[piqaboo]

Slinky Malinky and "bubble baby bee" (Dr Seuss's ABC - see page B) have been pre-empted by The Giving Tree (Shel Silverstein). . I hate that story.

On a side note - there is a pic of the author on the back cover. Very angry looking feller.

[audiogirl]

Yes, Shel Silverstein looks like he could eat rocks. Have you introduced Altoid to Little Einsteins? (TV show)

[OperaTenor]

I leave The Atlantic Monthly out for Altoid to read.

[BigJon]

What?! Not The Economist? It's never too early to be shaping her head into an egg.