The Reading Light Bulb Has Come On
Evan has realized that letters string together into words. It is a pretty cool thing to watch (especially when you are a teacher) to watch that light bulb go off and the world open up. Being able to see the exact moment that the switch was turned on is super exciting!
Since beginning preschool a few weeks ago, Evan has been really interested in letters and what sounds they make, but this week, the connection between those sounds making actual words has been made.
As an example, this weekend I was wearing one of my favorite t-shirts 
around the house. My New Balance “Run” t-shirt pictured here. Now give me a break, the following picture was taken right after I ran, so I am looking a little rough around the edges. But the point I am trying to make involves actually seeing this shirt. As you can see, the design would be slightly difficult to read to a beginner reader. And you can’t really see the lighter lines, but there is a distinct “r u n”.
Evan jumped up on my lap, pointed to the “r” and said, “That’s an ‘r’, an ‘r’ sounds like ‘rrrrrr’. And next is a ‘u’ then ‘n’. Mommy was does ‘run’ say.
So together, we sounded out the letters and he was sooooo excited that he could “read” my shirt. He kept repeating “rrruuuunnnn”.
Now it is all he wants to do. “Mommy what does this say?”, “Mommy what does that say?”, “Mommy can you spell…”
Today, he read “Knuffle Bunny”, cover to cover to Carter. He has the book memorized so I pointed to the words and he “read” them to Carter. But when he read the word “daddy” the first time, he flipped through the pages and pointed out every single “daddy” in the book.
“Mom, ‘daddy’ is spelled ‘d-a-d-d-y’”
He also has picked up on the fact that Jeremy and I will spell things out when we don’t want him knowing what we are talking about.
“What you sayin, Mom? You just said ‘b’, ball starts with ‘b’ and baby and basketball.”
So I guess, we will only be able to use that technique for just a little longer 
!!
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Read Aloud Fun (What We’re Reading this Week)
This will be just a highlight of what Carter is reading this week. Well, let me restate that, what he has been reading now for a few weeks and if I am not smart enough to hide the book, what we will be reading for the next ‘who knows how long’. You may remember that his birthday cake was a barn since he loved this book:
Well, he found it again and the love that was between the both of them rekindled and is more on fire than ever!
I swear, if I have to read the book again, I may have to shoot myself in the foot, just to get out of it! Lovely, coming from a teacher, isn’t it? But it isn’t just the fact that he wants to read it, he wants to have the book open and looking at it, hours upon end. He literally would sit and look through this book for hours on end, if we allowed him. But we try to break it up for no longer than half hour segments – for our sanity!! But still, I think this weekend alone, Jeremy and I must have had that book opened and actively involved with him for over 4 hours!! Because, he won’t be content in sitting by himself and looking through it, he wants us involved reading, asking him “Where is _______” and watching him open each individual flap. Over and over and over and over…..
Okay, sorry, I digress. Seriously though, if you have an infant / toddler, you need to get this book!! It really is a great book to have on hand (yes, now the teacher is talking and not the frazzled over-read mom). It covers counting, colors, opposites, animal sounds and then you can still discuss many other aspects of each page. And each page has little flaps that can be opened by little fingers to see what’s behind them!!
Now it’s your turn. What are you and your kiddos reading this week? Just for the fun of it, take a few pics, write a post about it and link up (add the direct link for your post not your main website please) here, so we can check it out!
What We’re Reading This Week – November 16
Because the boys have been sick this past week, we have done a considerable amount of reading. So we did make another trip to the library this weekend to get just a few new books. Evan wanted to continue reading some of the books we checked out last week, but he did pick out some new ones.
Since Thanksgiving is around the corner, I thought I would prepare the kiddos and get a Thanksgiving book. We are planning on doing some Thanksgiving crafts this week.
Carter really enjoyed The Senses book, actually more than I expected. He really enjoys watching expressions on people, so I think that is why enjoys this book. And of course, he still loves animals. Since he loves the Sandra Boynton books we have at home, I saw these and couldn’t resist.
With Evan, what book list is complete without a Puma book? But his other choices this week are very random, well except the soccer book. But I went with it and he seems to really be enjoying the snails and pig books. Who knew?
And just for the fun of it, I am showing what I am reading this week. Our House Church is reading Crazy Love, so that obviously is on my list but while I was at the library, I picked out a few cake decorating books just for the fun of it. I am enjoying looking at all the amazing designs ! And I need some new ideas to feed the boys at lunch time. We are getting very bored with what we have been eating. Hoping to find a few easy recipes or ideas from the last book on my list.
Now it’s your turn. What are you and your kiddos reading this week? Just for the fun of it, take a few pics, write a post about it and link up (add the direct link for your post not your main website please) here, so we can check it out!
Ask the Teacher: National Young Readers Day
Today is National Young Readers Day. It is “set aside as a special day to recognize the joys and benefits of reading”. It is celebrated in schools across the country but it begins at home with you! As mentioned in yesterday’s post, as a teacher who is now a mom, I make mandatory D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) times of at least 30 minutes a day with my boys! It is such an easy thing we can do that will benefit our kids throughout their lives!
Your homework this week is to write some reading goals for you and your kids. If you already read with them daily, that is awesome, keep up the great work! If not, think about ways you can incorporate more reading into your schedules, maybe a quickie after naptime or family read-ins every evening before bed. Get creative, your kids (and their future teachers ) will thank you one day! Once you set some goals, drop me a comment and share them with me, I would love to hear what you come up with!
And just for fun, hop on over to yesterday’s post and join the link up. It will be open until Sunday night!
If you have questions or concerns, not related to this post that you would like to bounce off me, you can leave a comment HERE or contact me.
For a complete list of “Ask the Teacher” posts, click HERE
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What We’re Reading this Week – November 8
If you haven’t noticed yet, I think reading to your kids is a pretty big deal! Many of my “mom” posts refer to my boys reading and many of my “Ask the Teacher” posts refer to reading. So I thought it would be fun to document what we are reading, from our library and within our own book collection, in our household weekly or bi-monthly depending on the interest in the books.
Carter is STILL obsessed with three books in particular, AND you have to read ALL three books, in order, at each sitting! If you try to only read one or two out of the three, he will say “uh oh” and immediately hunt down the missing link and bring it to me. The lucky three, from our own collection, right now are:
When we went to the library this week, I picked out some non-fiction books on some of his interests. He likes to look at the pictures and we usually paraphrase to get through the books with him. We did go to the zoo last week, so I thought that reading a few zoo books would be a nice review of that “field trip” and since he is obsessed with Moo, Baa, La La La, it would be nice for him to see photographs of animals to practice our sounds. He also really enjoys looking and watching the trees and points out trees on our walks and drives, so I got him a tree book.
Evan, on the other hand, isn’t too much into reading picture books with me, much anymore. He really enjoys being in the same room with Carter and me, and finishing the sentences for me, from our own collection of books. So I will usually pause at the end of some of the pages and let him “read” along to Carter.
But he is enjoying reading non-fiction with Jeremy, not so much me for some reason. So of course you have the usual sports books, who knew there were so many to choose from and the Puma books, but this time we picked out an airplane book also because him and Carter have been playing “Airplanes” with their cousin Kaden (Kaden’s dad is in the Air Force, so Kaden is an “expert” on all things aircraft!) which has spurred a new interest for the boys.
So that’s what we’ll be reading this week, what are the good reads in your household this week? Better yet, in honor of National Young Reader’s Day this Tuesday, blog about it and link up (add the direct link for your post not your main website please) here!
Non-Fiction Reading: Getting Started Early
Toddlers and Preschoolers have a thirst to learn as much as they can. They are born with a natural desire to understand the world around them. Why not use this time to foster non-fiction reading skills?
The boys and I go to the library at least twice a month. The first several trips were just to get acquainted with the library, allowing the boys to explore. But one particular trip changed the way I approached my strategy with teaching reading to my children.
If you follow this blog or know me personally, you are aware of the fact that Evan LOVES sports. I think you can technically say he is obsessed with not just a sport but ALL sports. We were getting reading for a visit to the library when Evan starting talking about baseball, and it was like you saw the lightbulb go off.
“Mommy, does the library have books on baseball?”
I enthusiastically replied to him that, yes the library has baseball books, and we should ask the librarian where those books are. It was absolutely adorable the scene that played out at the library. As soon as the doors opened (Evan likes to “open” the doors for me by pushing the handicapped button), he ran to the information desk and asked the librarian as politely as I have ever seen him,
“Excuse me, do you have books on baseballs?”
The librarian looked at me slightly dumbfounded and immediately replied to Evan that they certainly did have baseball books. She then asked him what type of books he was looking for, then glanced up at me with a quizzical look on her face. I mouthed to her that it didn’t matter what type of baseball books to lead him too (she was concerned that the books they had were too advanced for him). I knew it didn’t matter, he would just be too excited to see books with pictures of baseballs in them.
Well, when she led us to the sports section, you could almost see the skies open up and hear the angels sing. Evan was in heaven.
“Mommy, look!!! Baseball books, oh oh and basketball books, and football books and tennis books and volleyball books.”
He looked at the librarian with eyes wide open and a big toothy grin, “Thank you!!”
So that day we ended up bringing home the six books in the above picture. While checking the books out, the lady behind us smirked, “I wonder what his interests are!”
The amazing thing was, that even though the books we brought home from the library were for older elementary students, Evan would sit and listen to Jeremy read those books to him over and over again. Jeremy would read then explain, and read and explain some more. Finding what your toddlers and preschoolers interests are is the first key element in teaching successful non-fiction reading skills. If you can teach solid reading skills early on with what your child’s interests are, then mandatory non-fiction reading in school will be an easy transition for your child.
Here are some useful tips and strategies to try with your children when reading a non-fiction book. Allow the questioning to come effortlessly, non scripted and smoothly. You don’t need to have these questions rehearsed. Remember you are modeling to your children. Allow them to watch how you approach it.
1. Allow your children to verbalize what they already “know” about the topic before you read the book, by asking them probing questions on what they already know about the topic. You are not looking for correct assumptions.
Just allow your child to talk the topic at hand. Evan is completely in to pumas right now, so the first time we picked up the puma book, I just asked him to tell me what he liked about pumas. He mentioned he liked how big they were and the loud roar they make. We learned later on in the book that pumas don’t roar. So it doesn’t matter whether their assumptions are correct or not. Most preschoolers want to read the same book over and over again. You don’t neccessarly need to have them repeat this step every single time.
2. Preview the text. Allow your child to look at the pictures on the cover and inside the book, read key words to them, read titles to them. Explain/ review those key words. Many of the key words in non-fiction are new vocabulary words that need to be explained. When they are old enough to read, they will read the key words and titles themselves. This peaks their interests and actively engages your child into the book.
3. Review what your child learned after you are finished with the book. This doesn’t have to be an oral quiz, a list of questions and answers. Allow it to be organic! You can start this conversation by saying something like, “wow, I didn’t know pumas didn’t roar, what did you learn from what we read?” Children at this age will want to tell you all kinds of new information. Just let it roll!
4. Review the topic later. I always like to bring up a topic at dinner time to let Evan tell Jeremy what he learned in one of his books that day. This is a great time for sharing for your preschooler. They feel actively involved and important in the dinner conversation. This also allows for the information to become permanent in their memory, by repeating what they read. Sometimes just to throw a curve ball, Jeremy or I will give a wrong fact, just to see if Evan is paying attention and corrects us. It’s a fun game to play!
5. Use new vocabulary, as much as possible, in other various conversations and topics. This will reinforce what your child previously read! And before long you will notice them using those words in their conversations with you and others.
Now it’s your turn! What topics are your preschoolers / toddlers completely obsessed with lately? Have you used those obsessions for some great learning opportunities. I want to hear from you, let me know by leaving a comment!!
If you have questions or concerns, not related to this post that you would like to bounce off me, you can leave a comment HERE or contact me.
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Ask the Teacher Tuesday: A New Reading Strategy and Gift-Giving!
This first topic is a “part 2″ of a previous question, posted a couple of weeks ago (Ask the Teacher Tuesday Reading and Study Skills). I would encourage you to read that post before reading this one since I will be bouncing off what I said in the original post.
The original question was: Do you have any advice on when/how to start teaching reading?
I came across some very interesting information this week that I wanted to share. It has to do with the topic that was discussed a couple of weeks ago about when and how to teach reading. I went to the library this week to pick up some books on activities to do with toddlers, just to get some fresh activities into the mix and to plan for the next few months of wet, cold and snow (need I say more?).
I came across a great resource: Baby Minds: Brain-Building Games Your Baby Will Love by Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn. I was very pleased to see that their approach on reading paralleled my views on teaching reading. But I did find a bit more information very helpful that I, myself, don’t do, but have definitely starting doing,this week.
A few very important statements from their book that I wanted to share with you:
- Countless studies have shown that children whose parents read to them from very early ages (regardless of how they do it) tend to talk earlier, read better and think in more complex ways than children whose parents don’t.
- The second item is a term they coined “Dialogic Reading”. All this means is to bring dialogue into the context of reading. Not just reading the words but modeling how and what we think while we are reading. This type of reading, answers questions in the reader’s mind. The “how”, “why” and “Where” types of questions. Let me just interject here, that as a teacher I was trained to approach teaching with this style. While reading a text, it is important to pause with the students and reflect what we were reading. But I have to admit that I haven’t thought to do this type of reading with young children (my own kids). Because in my mind, babies and toddlers couldn’t truly understand these types of questions and since they can’t talk to me, why try? I have been convinced otherwise and feel very foolish for being so naive.
- They cited a experiment done between dialogic reading and basic reading and what they found convinced me to definitely begin doing dialogic reading with my own kids and to inform you, my readers about it. The study took parents who ALREADY read to their TODDLERS on a daily basis and broke them into two groups. One group was encouraged to go home and continue what they had been doing and the other group was given the information on dialogic reading and shown how to do it with their toddlers. At the beginning of the study all the children were pretty much at the same developmental skills but after only 1 month, the group that did the dialogic reading were 8 and 1/2 months ahead on one measure and 6 months ahead on the other. And after 9 months of the study this group continued to be 6 months ahead of the other. Keep in mind, also, that all the children were found to be 6 months ahead in reading to their peers, before the experiment, due to parental involvement in daily reading.
Here are some examples of types of questioning to use:
“What’s Dumbo doing? He’s flying!”
“Where do you think Dumbo is going?”
“What do you think Goldilocks told her mommy when she got home?”
“Why do you think he is mad?”
“From the picture, so you think she is happy or sad?”
HOLY COW! How did I not think of this, as a teacher? But starting early, at 6 months, this type of reading seems to definitely improve language and reading skills.
Pretty much the authors state that a good question, is one that inspires your child to say something.
If you want more information on how to apply this type of reading, I would highly encourage you to check out the book at your local library or purchase a copy for you own.
I can’t wait to get to the Mathematics section of the book and report my findings to you.
The next question that was posed to me this week, that I thought would be a great one to discuss early on, isn’t actually on education per say, but on a more personal level with your child’s teacher.
Jenny asked, “What is a good teacher gift? I am already stressing over what to get Joshua’s teacher for Christmas. I don’t want to get her something she will get 1,000 of. What are some of the best gifts you got when you were teaching?”
I LOVE talking gifts and this actually is a fun one for me, because during the holidays and birthdays, us teachers would joke about our gifts. DON’T get me wrong, we definitely appreciate the kindness and thoughtfulness of the students and parents, but sometimes we wished we could do a “wish list” for parents to see. My teaching partner and myself actually starting joking with the kids early on in the school year of what we wanted for Christmas, in hopes to score some great gifts.
A few thoughtful and useful gifts:
- Gift Cards! I think this one is probably on the top of any teacher’s wish list. Gift cards could be for restaurants, retail stores or even salons. The beauty of it is, we teachers know that it is more the thought then the price tag!! We would be tickled pink to get a $5 gift card to Bob Evans, Starbucks or Bath and Body Works. If you can afford more, feel free to indulge your teacher in a larger amount. But DON’T feel bad if $5 is all you can afford. We understand and truly appreciate just being remembered during the holidays. It truly is the thought that counts
- Find an interest that you know your child’s teacher is into. I can think of 3 all-time favorite gifts that I received. And none of them were expensive or extravagant! The first being a University of Michigan bell. It was a small, porcelain bell that I could use in my classroom but also after the school year was over, I could place it on my sports wall at home. Believe it or not, that was the only University of Michigan gift I received in 7 years of teaching {insert jokes here…I know many of you OSU fans will jump on that one}. The second was a bag of bird seed. You may think that that is an odd gift to give a teacher, but this particular student knew how much I loved watching birds and that I had many bird feeders in my yard. What was even more thoughtful, he knew how much I enjoyed Cardinals in the middle of winter time, so he made sure it was black oil sunflower seeds – Cardinals favorite seed. To be honest, I almost cried after opening that gift because it showed me that the student really picked up on that particular interest of mine during the school year. The third gift was actually gifts for my kids. This particular student of mine was extremely into sports. It was phenomenal the information he could give me about “who did what, in what year etc” so know how much my Evan is into sports, he got Evan a Nerf Set of balls (the one with a basketball, a football and a basketball) and got Carter a book on sports. I also got a very generous gift card, but it was more thoughtful that the parents though of my kids too.
Now that I have given you a few things that are wonderful to receive as gifts, a few items that we tend to get A LOT of:
- Coffee mugs. I don’t know really why parents think we drink a lot of coffee or something – LOL but I got on average 5 coffee mugs a year. I do love my coffee, but unfortunately I don’t have room for 35 extra mugs in my kitchen. Instead, buy them a nice bag of coffee (i.e. Starbucks, Caribou etc)
- Candles. I love Yankee Candles but I don’t use up that many during the year. A possible alternative is the Bath and Body Works Wall Flowers and a set of refills.
- Lotions. I got a lot of lotions. And this one is border line because I love to small pretty but I actually have an allergy to many of the scented lotions, so many times I had to re-gift those. If you want to get lotion, get them a gift card instead to some place like Bath and Body so that they can pick out something that they will get to use. But one thing that I never got tired of was getting hand lotions, because teachers are always washing their hands and my hands will crack during the winter months. So the mini hand lotions were perfect for putting on my desk and using at school.
Hopefully those suggestions help!
So this week, what I want to hear from y’all is two-fold. Any books that you have read (on activities to do with toddlers) that are good recommendations? What special, creative gifts have you given teachers?
If you have questions or concerns, not related to this post that you would like to bounce off me, you can leave a comment here or contact me.
For a complete list of “Ask the Teacher” posts, click HERE
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Ask the Teacher Tuesday – Reading and Study Skills
Any advice on when/how to start teaching reading?
This is such a tricky topic, because there are LOADS of conflicting advice and so many ideas and theories out there. Please remember I am only one teacher, with one point of view. And basically you can take it or leave it. Hopefully I can give some insight on the topic and answer questions that some of you have. I have spoken to a few colleagues of mine about this topic since it is sooo controversial and we did come to somewhat of a consensus.
I have mentioned before on previous posts, the importance of reading to your child from the day you bring him home from the hospital. This is the first and most important building block your child needs to become a reader. Those little brains soak up more than we can even imagine and every experience they have with books and reading, brings them one step closer to reading and understanding the written word.
If you have taken a foreign language before, you have probably heard many say that you learn more quickly when you are immersed into that language and culture then just merely being in a classroom practicing the language. The same is true for babies. Babies need to hear the words that are being read on the pages of a book, the patterns that are formed while reading aloud, the intonations that you hear when a person speaks, the pictures that are associated with the words, the stories behind the words. All of these are very important for a child to experience, before their ability to read themselves. You are modeling to them from the beginning what reading sounds like and what reading means.
Secondly, it is very important to teach children at a very young age how to handle books. How to hold them in the proper orientation, how to turn pages gently and in order, how to respect books by not handling them roughly by bending and tearing. Believe it or not this too is also a very important step in the reading process. But fortunately this step in taken care of when you read to your child on a daily basis. They learn, by example, how to hold a book, how to turn pages and so on.
I remember a study that was discussed in one of my education classes back in college. The study surveyed several inner-city, poverty stricken schools and found on the first day of kindergarten that many of those children did not know how to hold a book properly, with the correct orientation. Can you imagine a 5 year old child not knowing how to hold a book, but worse is that many of those children never had any books to hold and read with a parent. They lost out on 5 years of reading and it is very difficult to make those years up! Those children many years later, still had difficulties in reading and comprehension.
Do you need to actually “teach” reading to your child? Not necessarily! Let me explain. I think that many parents think they have to sit down with their children and “teach” reading or worse, pop in a video. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t fully object to the previous examples, but they shouldn’t be your PRIMARY source of teaching. Reading is a necessity that we experience all the time. Why not bring your kids along for the ride. From the very beginning you can show kids words that we use on a daily basis. A good example of this is a stop sign. How many times have you gone for walks with your infant and have walked by a stop sign. First, your infant may love the way a stop sign looks. It is big and red and captures your baby’s attention. Stop briefly and say, “that is a stop sign, it say ‘Stop’ S…T…O…P, spells stop”. Pretty simple, right? You don’t have to sit them down and make them memorize words, they will pick up on this very quickly.
Another example, if you take your toddlers grocery shopping. Think about how many signs are hanging up, above the fresh produce, the deli counter, the meat department. Why not go through the produce isle and pick 3 or 4 signs and show your toddler, again in the same way we did with the “stop sign”, “Susie, that says grapes, you love to eat grapes, don’t you?, G…R…A…P…E…S, grapes.”
Words are all around us and if we keep in constant communication with our kids, in a way that is natural and organic, then kids will learn reading in a way that is natural and easy. And the best part of it is, it is simple to do. You don’t have to run out to the store for a video or curriculum. You don’t have to worry about when and how to start because you have been doing it all along. Communication is also very important because the communication you have between you and your children actually will be the clue when he is ready to move on to more advanced reading skills. He will begin asking you questions, such as, “what does that say?” or “how do you spell…?” Then you can feel free to challenge them more by showing them more words and phrases.
When your child gets to the point of being interested more in reading , you should begin sounding out words with them. Reviewing what sounds go with what letters. Beginning phonics can be “taught” right there along the same time as showing them the stop sign. “That is an ‘S’, an ’s’ sounds like this…”
The whole beauty of this is, that many of you are reading this and saying “duh, I am already doing this.” And that is what I am hoping for. As parents, most of us do this naturally, without thinking too much about it, to some extent, in our daily interactions with our kids. We find moments to give them tiny tidbits of information through out the day. That communication between you and your child is the most important step to beginning reading!
Any Advice on Study Skills
Understanding the way your child learns is key in helping your child succeed in studying. These are called Learning Styles. Is your child a visual learner? Have you noticed that if they see what is being taught they understand more, or if it is shown to them they pick up on it easier? Is your child an auditory leaner? Auditory learners typically can understand subject matter when it is explained to them and when they can talk about it. Kinesthetic learners learn by doing, they are the hands-on type of learners. Many times learners can fall into more than one category.
These are the 3 major ones. If you can figure out what category your child fits into, then you are half way through the battle. An example I will use is that I am a Auditory primarily and a visual learner secondary. I have to hear what is being taught and be active in a discussion about it! I cannot comprehend information by just reading about it. I have to be able to discuss it and sometimes have info read to me to understand it fully. But I also need to have info shown to me. Show me how to do something and I will immediately be able to remember it, but if I read it in a book, I can’t usually do it.
So what does this mean to you as a parent? First, try to find out what type of learner your child is. This would be a great question to discuss with your child’s teacher also. They see them for 5+ hours a day and may be able to give you some insight into what style your child falls into. Also you child’s teacher can give you specific examples on how to help them at home, based on the actual curriculum your child is learning!
Some tips:
- Set aside a quiet area in the house for studying.
- Be actively involved with your child during studying time, especially in the younger grades. By 6th grade, your child most likely won’t need or want your immediate help.
- Each night set aside 15 minutes to study, even if there are no tests the next day. These 15 minutes can include weekly vocab, weekly spelling words, math flash cards, or even flipping through their Social Studies chapter and scan the contents and ask review questions. What’s important to remember is that 5 minutes of vocab words (or spelling words, or math facts) a night will decrease the amount of cram time before the test and will build true understanding – and isn’t that what we want as parents.
- Have the younger kids do some quick exercises before sitting down to study: jumping jacks, a brisk walk around the park, 5 minutes of basketball outside. Studies have shown that exercise before studying has increased retention levels.
- Have open communication with your kids. Don’t ask, “What happened at school today?” because we know what the answer will be. Ask them to give you one thing they learned about in Math or to give you one positive thing and one negative thing that happened, etc.
- When studying with your child, try incorporating ALL three styles into the mix! It will make a big improvement on true understanding = higher grades!
Of course, these are brief explanations and if you have a more in depth question or need clarification please contact me or leave a comment below. Or if you want to ask a separate question or share a concern you can leave a comment here or contact me.
I have been receiving emails with some GREAT questions, that I will be sharing next week! To see past “Ask the Teacher” posts click here.
My Little Reading Angel
Okay, while I was trying to find a perfect angelic picture of Carter, to post a very non-angelic story (that story will come very soon), I came across the following pictures from his birthday a few weeks ago. I had to smile while I saw the progression after he opened this present. My very good friend, Jenny, was the photographer of these shots and I love how she got 4 great ones right in a row. And since I will post a very non-angelic story of him soon *sneak peak: the use of “no, no” and hitting*, I figured I should at least try to balance out the negative with a positive!
What can I say, the kid LOVES books. And I know I have mentioned it a few times, but I have never seen a kid get so excited about books at such an early age. I just want to bottle it up and use some of it when he is 10 and fighting me to read a book-report book. What? he will never do that!
Anyway, I love these pics!! And no, he isn’t excited about the Elmo, because he really doesn’t know who Elmo is, yet!
After taking off the wrapping paper
Checking out the Title (okay maybe checking out Elmo)
Showing off his new book.
Pure book-bliss
A few of his favorite books right now are:
Knuffle Bunny: a Cautionary Tale by: Mo Willems - He literally starts shaking more and more until the climax at the end.
Fisher Price My Little People Farm by : Doris Tomasellie – Yes he still LOVES this book (check out his Birthday Post)
Lift the Flap First Learning by: Sue Hendra and Phil Babb – Are you seeing a flap theme?
Now, I want to know what your child’s favorite books are?
My Little Reader
I’m not sure how it happened, except as a teacher I know the benefits of reading to your children constantly and both Jeremy and I have done that, but I am fortunate enough to have two boys who love to read. They especially love reading in the truck.
In the truck we have a bin of books and toys for the boys to rummage through and be entertained by when we are driving. I bet 80% of the time Evan will request a book instead of any of his toys. And it seems now that Carter is following in his footsteps. I will hear him in the back saying “book, book, book” when he has dropped his and wants a new one.
Occasionally, he forgets what you are supposed to do with books, as in the following picture, and it is quite humorous that I caught him looking through the hole in the book at Evan, at us and out the window.
Once he figured out whatever he was experimenting with, he flipped the book back in its’ correct position and continued to read.
