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Every Child Ready to Read in Michigan - April 2017
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This Month's Wisdom...
"Experts
say when trying to determine if a child is ready, one should not just consider whether
or not he or she has mastered specific academic skills. Instead, his or her
readiness to learn should be considered. "
~ Sue McCleaf Nespeca
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Family Engagement is a hot topic in
library land. The Public Library Association (ALA) began emphasizing family engagement
in 2015, and created a task force charged with helping public libraries learn about and
implement successful family engagement practices. PLA defines family engagement
as “respectful partnerships that offer the information, guidance, and
opportunities for families to be active in their children’s learning and
development.” Recently PLA released the report “Ideabook: Libraries for
Families.”
The Every Child Ready to Read Project which
supports parents and children by encouraging them to engage in early literacy
practices creates an atmosphere which engages families. So, by using ECRR in
storytimes or in trainings, you are actually supporting this family engagement
movement.
PLA’s research points to the following
features as successful family engagement.
1.
Family engagement
is about building relationships with families. It gives families an opportunity
to design how they would like to promote their children’s learning and
development.
2.
Family engagement
builds on family strengths. This means that families can learn from librarians
and librarians can learn from families.
3.
Family engagement
is not a one-size-fits-all process.
4.
Family engagement
invites meaningful participation. It is not about teaching, but about creating
family interactions through programs and services.
5.
Family engagement
is systemic. Librarians need to reach, serve, and involve families as partners
in children’s lifelong learning, and community partnerships are essential.
It is an
easy connection to recognize that families and early childhood educators play
an important role in helping to prepare children for their entry into
kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness is another hot topic, and librarians can
help play a role here also.
There
are many charts or indicators of what constitutes kindergarten readiness and
many states have their own standards. Here are some general considerations of
what parents can do which is issued by the Mayo Clinic:
- Keep your child
healthy
- Develop routines
- Encourage the
development of basic skills
- Read, rhyme and
play games with your child
- Expose your child
to learning experiences
- Encourage
socialization
- Talk about
kindergarten
Two
documents on kindergarten readiness that are particularly important to consider
in the state of Michigan are: 1. Essential Instructional Practices in Early
Literacy Prekindergarten and 2. Early childhood Standards of Quality for
Prekindergarten.
I
will delve into both these topics, Family Engagement and Kindergarten
Readiness, in an upcoming webinar to be hosted by the Library of Michigan on Thursday,
May 11 at 2:00 p.m. I hope you will consider registering for this webinar.
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Here are a few new song picture books – read them, sing them, do both!
We Are the Dinosaurs. Laurie Berkner. Simon & Schuster, 2017. ISBN:
978-1-4814-6463-5. $17.99.
Who does not love this song by the
famous children’s musical artist? Recorded on several of her albums, including Whaddaya Think of That and The Best of the Laurie Berkner Band, after
reading the book, you need to share it a second time singing it and having the
children stand up and march along. There are many animal asides added to each
double page spread, which you will need to ignore when sharing in a group.
Those will be fine for one-on-one reading or browsing. This is another great
choice for a dinosaur storytime. If you can handle two dinosaur song picture
books in one storytime, add Groovy Joe
Ice Cream and Dinosaurs by Eric Litwin. ISBN: 978-0545883788
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Old MacDonald’s Things
That Go. Jane Clarke.
Nosy Crow, 2017. ISBN: 978-0-7636-9326-8. $15.99.
This Old
MacDonald just loves things that go, and he rides them one-by-one. Each
double-page spread introduces children to a different type of vehicle, such as a
tractor, combine harvester, digger, bike, truck, bus, train, plane and boat.
The familiar refrain E-I-E-I-O is replaced with “He loved things that go.” Farm
animals ride alongside Old MacDonald in vehicles of their own. Definitely a possible storytime pick, this
would be fun to compare to Old MacDonald
Had a Truck, published in 2016. ISBN: 978-1-45213-260-0.
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The Owl and the Pussy-cat. Edward Lear & Charlotte Voake. Candlewick, 2017.
ISBN: 978-0-7636-9080-9. $16.99.
The
well-known poem by Edward Lear is illustrated here by a New York Times Book
Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book of the Year winner. The pen and ink and
watercolor illustrations should be appealing to young children. Will children
enjoy this tale written in the 1800’s? Like nursery rhymes, children will
benefit from being exposed to the unusual vocabulary such as runcible spoons,
mince, quince and Bong-trees. Most storytellers will just read this, but the
tune to sing it to can be found on YouTube, such as the one by Oxbridge Baby.
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Reading Rockets has some
wonderful articles related to whether a child is ready for kindergarten, what
skills should be expected during kindergarten, and reading tips for
kindergarten parents. Here are four of my favorite articles that I like to
recommend to parents of children ready to enter kindergarten.
1. Is My Child
Ready for Kindergarten? “Kindergarten is where
most children learn to read and write. Though some kids can do this before
entering kindergarten, it is not required or expected. Being ready for
kindergarten means having well-developed preschool skills, and being
academically, socially, and physically ready for the transition. Here are some
signs that your child is ready for kindergarten.”
2. Kindergarten Accomplishments. The Committee for the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in
Young Children compiled a list of what the typical child can do in
kindergarten, such as knowing parts of a book, retelling parts of story, making predictions based on illustrations, and so forth.
3. Goals for
Kindergarten: Experimental Reading and Writing. From the National Association for the Education of
Young Children: “What children at the
kindergarten phase should be able to do, and what teachers and families can do
to support their development at this stage.”
4. Reading Tips
for Parents of Kindergarteners. Fun ways a parent can help a child become a happy and confident
reader. Reading tips for babies, preschoolers, and more can also be found on the Reading Rockets website, including tip sheets in 11 different languages.
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I entered first grade at
age 5. (We had no kindergarten classes in our school district at this time, and
there were no rules saying that you had to be a certain age to enter first
grade.) I grew up in a rural area, and the only person who lived near me that I
had to play with was my female cousin, who was a year older than me. So, when
she entered first grade, my Mom thought it would be terrible for me to be alone
all day by myself, so off I went to school early.
That same female cousin
became a kindergarten teacher and many times throughout my life she told me how
I should never have entered first grade at age 5, and what a terrible mistake
that had been. I am not completely clear on how I was damaged, but I think she
meant that I was probably not socially and emotionally ready to enter school,
and that it affected me in many ways throughout all my school years.
How does one know when a
child is ready to start kindergarten? Experts say when trying to determine if a
child is ready, one should not just consider whether or not he or she has
mastered specific academic skills. Instead, his or her readiness to learn
should be considered. How well is the child able to communicate and listen? Is the
child able to get along with other children easily? Thus, the child's development
and readiness for school is based on other skills besides their academic
abilities. Being able to listen and follow directions, certain motor skills,
and social and emotional development are all very important.
Some
parents choose to delay a child's entrance into kindergarten, believing that the
child will have an advantage in academics by being older than average for his
or her grade. This is more common among parents who have boys with birthdays
near the school’s cutoff date, thinking their child needs more time to mature.
However,
research suggests that parents who postpone enrollment for their child who is
old enough for kindergarten doesn’t perform any better than a child who enters
school at the usual age — particularly if the child remains in an environment
where readiness skills aren’t stressed. Some studies show that a child who is
old for his or her grade is at higher risk of behavior problems during
adolescence.
There
is a lot to consider when deciding if a child is ready for kindergarten!
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