READ! READ! READ!

             Schools deliver 85% of the curriculum using printed words in books, written words on chalkboards/white-boards and digitized words on computer screens. Reading is the most fundamental skill your child will use during his or her 12-20 years as a student.  (The Children’s Reading Foundation)

Nothing can replace practice.  Whether it is basketball, piano, art, or gardening, to become proficient in any endeavor requires practice. According to The Society for Research in Child Development, “Mothers who begin reading to their children at a very early age have toddlers with greater language comprehension, larger, more expressive vocabularies and higher cognitive scores by the age of 2.”  Obviously, this not only applies to mothers; that was just the subject of this research.  I’m sure if fathers, grandparents, siblings, and caregivers read to the child, it is just as effective.

Children learn by example.  If reading is an important component in your home, it will just become second nature to your child. If television and video games, Facebook, twitter, and texting are the most important elements in your home, that is what your child will gravitate toward. 
          

The following information is from The Children’s Reading Foundation:

Read Aloud. Read aloud 20 minutes a day with your child. From birth to age five, this enjoyable activity provides 600 hours of essential pre-literacy preparation before entering school. Once in school it's essential to continue the read-aloud habit through elementary school.

Bonding with Books  Reading together every day builds strong minds and strong relationships. Your child, snuggling in your lap, and enjoying your attention and laughter, is learning to love reading. As long as it is a happy experience there is no wrong way to read together. Reading aloud is practically free, you can do it anywhere, and children often beg for "just one more" story. Even parents who are not fluent readers can provide a good experience for their children by telling stories from their lives, from their imaginations, or from pictures in wordless books. It is best to read to your child early and often, but it is never too late to start opening the reading door for your child.

The Value of Literacy   Children who read, succeed, in school and in life. The simple act of enjoying books together every day from birth through elementary school establishes essential reading skills while building warm relationships. Your love and time are priceless. The reading skills you nurture are worth a quarter of a million dollars. For every year you read with your child, average lifetime earnings increase by $50,000. You can make a $250,000 gift to your child by reading aloud just 20 minutes a day!

            What should you read?  I have found with children younger than two the best books are intriguing picture books with a sentence or two on the page.  Most tiny ones do not have the attention span to sit and listen to very much text.  As they mature, they will enjoy more and more text and begin to require more challenging books. Make sure you pick books you like because little ones will pick the same book they like and will want to read it over and over and over.

How do you read to a baby?

• Use small, chunky board books that your baby can easily hold onto.
• Talk about the pictures with your little one.
• Sing the text to keep baby's attention.
• Play peek-a-boo with lift-the-flap books.
• Help your baby touch and feel in texture books.

         

 Try to remember the books you loved when you were young.  Your love of a book will be contagious to your child.  There are many new books to explore.  Ask your friends, or ask the librarian for suggestions.  You know your child best, so you can pick the best match.  There are also websites that can help you.   http://childrensbooksguide.com/top-100  
           Children will let you know when they are ready to transition to chapter books.  When our youngest daughter was five she crawled in our bed every night for weeks,  and we read one chapter of Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White each night.  What a precious memory! Growing up to the present, she has maintained a voracious love for reading, and she just graduated from college with a degree in English education

Word of wisdom for the day:  Love them while they love you.  Today you are the center of their world. If you want your children to grow up to embrace your values, spend all the time you can with them while they are young.  Soon enough, they will start breaking away from you, and their friends will become more important and more influential than you.  Hold them close while you can. 

This is the School Marm,

Ringing her bell. 

School’s out!