Librarian Shannon McClintock Miller of Van Meter School in Iowa has graciously shared this presentation in honor of Read Across America Week. Capstone Publishing is making these ebooks available all week long so students and their families can celebrate the joy of reading. Pick a collection to explore and have fun reading!
Our East Woods Library has many great books, and your local public library (usually, right in your neighborhood) can offer families access to so much information and cultural opportunities. In addition to books and multimedia materials that can be borrowed, local public libraries offer free programs and access to many tools, both high and low tech. All you need is a library card.
September is Library Card Sign Up Month. Most local libraries just require proof of ID and proof of residence, so find your local library and sign up today!
Register here for this free online event!
“This hour-long online event will feature read-alouds of several Eric Carle classics plus a few new books featuring favorite characters, a simple craft activity inspired by the illustrator’s signature style, and extra-special segments featuring an exciting look at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, puppet friends from The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show, and an interactive song and dance from The Little Gym!”
Margaret Kristin Merga, Murdoch University
Many of us will be able to recall the enjoyment of shared reading: being read to and sharing reading with our parents. However, my research has found that of the 997 Year 4 and Year 6 respondents at 24 schools who took part in the 2016 Western Australian Study in Children’s Book Reading, nearly three-fifths reported that they were not being read to at home.
A sample of these children also participated in interviews, where I asked them how they felt about shared reading. While a few children did not mind no longer being read to, others were disappointed when it stopped. For example, when I asked Jason about his experience of being read to by his parents, he explained:
… they kind of stopped when I knew how to read. I knew how to read, but I just still liked my mum reading it to me.
His experience is common, with other recent research suggesting that more than one-third of Australian respondents aged six to 11 whose parents had stopped reading to them wanted it to continue.
But why is it so important for us to keep reading with our children for as long as possible?
Research has typically found that shared reading experiences are highly beneficial for young people. Benefits of shared reading include facilitating enriched language exposure, fostering the development of listening skills, spelling, reading comprehension and vocabulary, and establishing essential foundational literacy skills. They are also valued as a shared social opportunity between parents and their children to foster positive attitudes toward reading.
When we read aloud to children it is also beneficial for their cognitive development, with parent-child reading activating brain areas related to narrative comprehension and mental imagery. While most of the research in this area focuses on young children, this does not mean that these benefits somehow disappear as children age.
As young people’s attitudes towards reading reflect their experiences of reading at home and at school in childhood and beyond, providing an enjoyable shared reading experience at home can help to turn our children into life-long readers.
Continue reading
January 20th is U.S. Inauguration Day for the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
USA.gov has designed a web site that gives users a behind-the-scene look at this important event. Users will be able to view information regarding the swearing-in ceremony and learn interesting facts about past presidential inaugurations, and see historic documents related to early presidents. You can also learn facts about presidents, vice presidents, and first ladies, past and present and learn about the election. process.
We hope that everyone is finding something enjoyable to read this summer. Reading is its own reward, and now there’s a fun contest that celebrates summer reading.
Enter Amazon’s Kindle summer reading contest for a chance to win a Kindle prize pack for the whole family. By August 3rd, share a photo of your child reading here.
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. You must be a legal resident of the 50 U.S. or D.C., 18+, and a parent or legal guardian of a child under 18 years of age. Limit one entry per person and e-mail address per day.
Picture Book Month is a 30-day celebration of print picture books. Each day during the month of November, a different picture book “champion” shares a post about the importance of reading picture books. Let your imagination soar–pick up a picture book & read!
The Seattle Public Library had a special event that required a lot of volunteer help. No books were harmed in the making of this video!
As you may know, Newsweek Magazine has ended publication of its weekly print edition. As of the beginning of the year, the magazine has been renamed Newsweek Global, and all future content will be digital only. Our library’s print subscription has been converted to allow us access to this new format.
To read selections of the current digital content, you may access the Daily Beast web site.
To read the full current issue and access previous issues online, you will need to connect to the Newsweek Web Reader Issue Library
Please contact Mrs. Lorbert if you need help accessing the new digital content.
The new version offers readers an interactive multimedia experience with animated covers that incorporate video and audio. The format is certainly attention-getting , but readers not accustomed to reading their news online or on digital devices will need learn to navigate the content displayed. For the most part, clicking on screen arrows, swiping and tapping will be all that is needed to connect to a story or feature.
Will you miss flipping though the pages of the print edition or are you pleased with the switch to the new format?
Illustration by Baiba Baiba for the Joan Ganz Cooney Center
A new study from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center of 500 iPad users shows that parents have mixed feelings about using e-devices for reading to their children in the two to six year-old age group.
Even though e-devices are preferable and convenient for families on the go, most of the parents surveyed preferred the use of print books and believe that their children would agree. Although parents liked some of the interactive features of the digital books, such as audio cues for sounding out words, many felt that the games and videos often packaged with the e-books were distracting to the reading experience. A third of the parents surveyed felt that reading with young children was too difficult on digital devices.
The full report is available on the Center’s site.