Websites:
• Guys Read
• READKIDDOREAD.com
• Kids’ Reading List at Oprah.com
Books:
• The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease
• Literacy Play: Over 300 Dramatic Play Activities that Teach Pre-Reading Skills by Amy Cox & Sherrie West
• The Eentsy, Weentsy Spider: Fingerplays and Action Rhymes by Joanna Cole & Stephanie Calmenson
• The Complete Book and CD Set of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays, and Chants by Jackie Silberg & Pam Schiller
• 201 Questions to Ask Your Kids by Pepper Schwartz
• 7 Keys to Comprehension: How to help your kids read it and get it! by Susan Zimmerman & Chryse Hutchins
Plot Potluck
What You Do:
1. Start the story with your own idea or ask for a topic from your child. Young children love to be the subject of stories, so beginning with something personal is a great launching pad. For example, you could start with: “Once there was a little boy named Luke who lived in a giant, purple castle.” However you begin, once you’ve created the first sentence, it’s time to pass the torch: let your child create the next sentence of the story. Continue on, back and forth, until the story is complete.
2. While this activity may be difficult for both of you at first, over time you’ll find that the ideas come easier and you’ll become better storytellers in the process. Even more importantly, you’ll be helping your child develop key pre-reading and writing skills, learn the natural flow of a story, and hone critical language skills.
3. Be sure to offer encouragement as you go along and help ensure that the story has a solid beginning, middle, and end. Most of all, let your hair down! If you come up with creative and descriptive contributions, your child will follow your lead. Don’t be afraid to dabble: fairy tales, fables, tall tales (outlandish explanations of how real-life things were made/animals acting as humans, usually with a lesson or moral at the end), mysteries, and stories inspired by real-life experiences are all great fodder for this game.
4. Consider recording some of your family’s creations for posterity. Your son or daughter will have a lot of fun reading them a few years down the road, and by then, they won’t even need your help!
Illustrate a Famous Book
What You Need:
• Picture book • Paper • Pencil
• Crayons or markers • Stapler, string, or brass clips
What You Do:
1. Pull out an unfamiliar book and sit down somewhere comfortable with your child. Without opening the book, look at the cover. Ask your child what the picture makes him think of. What’s happening in it? Looking only at the picture, ask him to predict what he thinks the story will be about.
2. Now tell your child you’re going to read him a story, but just this one time, he won’t be able to look at the pictures. Instead, ask him to use his imagination, and come up with images in his mind while you read.
3. During the reading, stop periodically and ask questions. For example, “Why did Sally go outside when her mother said not to?” Try to incorporate questions that require kids to make predictions as to what will happen next.
4. Once you’ve finished the book, tell your child he’s going to illustrate it! Now’s the time for discussion. While adults can often remember what happened in a story long after they’ve finished reading it, this is a skill that young kids need help developing. Give your child some prompts. Ask what happened first and then let him draw it. Ask what happened next, let him draw it, and so on. As he finished each picture, help him by writing some text below his illustration, using the words your child used when he retold it to you.
5. Bind the story and make a cover. If he likes, you and your child compare his version to the original and see what’s different. Don’t forget to take your new illustrator’s creation over to grandma’s house for some well-deserved bragging! He’s earned it.
- Mindy
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