Emergent Storybook Reading

Have you ever wondered what kids do for "reading" in school if they haven't yet learned how to read conventionally? Well, I will tell you!

In schools across the country where I work, kindergarten teachers read and re-read special storybooks that we call "emergent storybooks." This is based on the work of Elizabeth Sulzby, a renowned researcher. To support emergent readers, teachers read aloud a few stories again and again. The children get to know the stories really well, and soon will begin to talk about the pictures and even tell the story to go with the pages. Some children will even point to the words and "read." All of this fosters a love of reading along with an emerging understanding of how reading works.

In classrooms, teachers will scour the classroom library for books that:

1. Have characters, a problem, and a solution

2. Have pictures that closely match what the text says on each page

3. Are highly engaging. The kind of books children love to hear again and again.

4. Are memorable - often there is a refrain or repeated phrase that helps kids remember how the story goes.

5. Contain rich, beautiful, literary language (think fairytales or folktales as examples)

Some examples of emergent storybooks that you might know:

Caps for Sale

Three Billy Goats Gruff

The Gingerbread Man

Three Little Pigs

Once you have some books, all you need to do is read them again and again. Soon, your child will know the story so well that she'll start to chime in with you. Then she'll start to tell the story to go with the pictures herself. Sometimes, she'll even start recognizing some of the words in the book!

A few tips for reading in a way that is especially supportive:

1. Make your voice as EXPRESSIVE as possible!

2. Point to the PICTURES as you read.

3. Use GESTURES and act things out with your hands and your body as you read.

Emergent storybook reading isn't just for classroom teachers or researchers. Parents and caregivers can support their wee readers at home by reading and reading and reading these books!

ABCs

(Almost two)

Counting to Ten

This summer we read a lot of counting books and sang a lot of counting songs!

(22 months old)

Why Are We So Afraid Of A Little Paint?

Seriously moms, teachers, grandparents, caregivers...what gives? Is it really so scary to let your toddler wield a paintbrush? Next time you're tempted to hide the new paint set that your tiny artist received as a gift (usually from someone without kids), keep these few things in mind.

Number 1: Washable paint really is washable. We've washed it out of clothes, towels, furniture, dog fur, everything. Never had a problem.

Number 2: Set it up so it's okay to be messy. Put a big old beach towel down and train your child to stay on it when paint is being used--or else no more paint. If the rules are broken, paint goes away. Trust me when I say that after the first time, your child won't step off the towel. Stick to it and it works!

Number 3: Clean as you go. Stick a small (snack-sized) bowl of sudsy water along side the paintbrush water and show your child how to dip her fingers in it. She'll wash her own little hands as she goes. Little L. has just as much fun with the water as she does with the paint! (Evidence: See the patch of paper that we taped over part of her original work, where the paper got soaked and ripped. Not a problem!)

Number 4: Too much of a good thing can get ugly. Ever heard the saying, "A good Kindergarten teacher knows when to take the crayons away."? Step in the moment your child becomes a teeny bit bored, too silly, or destructive. Put new paper up just before he's quite done with the first painting. Aim for the "I want to do another one!" feeling, rather than the "I am completely totally utter DONE with this and I don't like it anymore!"

Our Little Musicians

Corner Library

Literally. A library. On the street corner.

Summer 2011, aka "The Summer of Libraries"

This was definitely the summer of libraries for us! We went to our neighborhood library at least once or twice a week to escape the heat, see some other kiddos, and read lots of books. This is at the NYC Main Branch (the one with the statues of lions that you see in lots of movies). Have you ever seen so many picture books in one place in your life?

Scribbling: Circular Stage

Little L. said: "Circles!"

Little L. said: "This is rain. This is Pooh Bear. This Mommy. Daddy... Mimi... Grandpa..."

Yes, there are stages to scribbling! Little L. is in the late Circular stage, early Naming stage!

Click here if you want to find out the stage of your own tiny artist or writer.

Try these handy tips:

1. Compliment your child's work by naming what you see, reinforcing her newfound skills as well as vocabulary. If you can name it, she can learn what it is called. Try saying things like,"I see straight/curvy/zig zag lines!" or "I see circles/dots/curves!" or "I see lots of blue on your page, and even a little bit of yellow!" After a short amount of time, you'll hear her naming her own work!

2. Keep materials easily accessible. If you have to dig out the paper and crayons from the bottom of a closet or a drawer, you and your child will be less likely to spend 5-10 minutes drawing. Try an easel or large notebook set up with not-too-messy materials. Tape the paper down so she's less likely to rip it apart. A few washable crayons are pretty easy to manage and pose little danger to your furniture and walls--they really are washable--trust me! (Hint: The fatter the marker or crayon, the harder it can be for your child to use a three-finger grip. Really fat crayons and markers force your child to fist it rather than pinch it. Try having a variety of art materials, both fat and skinny, for fine motor skills, and also just for fun!)

3. Make time every day. While I'm making my coffee in the morning is one of Little L.'s favorite easel times. She hunkers down with markers and crayons for just the right amount of time for me to pour it, add milk and sugar, down half of it while I still have a chance!

Life-to-Text Connections

Real life always reminds us of life-to-text connections! (Yes, "life-to-text.")

This picture is from one of our many trips to the Bronx Zoo. It reminds us of so many great books!

This reminds me of...

... Llama Llama Red Pajama, by Anna Dewdney

... Is Your Mama a Llama?

... Zoo Looking, by Mem Fox

What does it remind you of?

Check Out the We Teach Summertime Learning eBook

Over at We Teach, the amazing leaders put together this beautiful eBook filled with fun ideas for summer learning. Check it out! Baby L and I contributed to it!

Experimenting with Magic Markers and Ice

This post is especially for teachers I work with. Next year we will all be trying out a new unit of study in science and writing workshop. We'll teach the kids how to design their own experiments, and how to write up their results. Baby L and I tried it out the other day, and here's how it went. (You could use the same materials for experiments with your kids, or you could use our "lab report" as a mentor text for their writing.)

Whether you are a teacher, a parent, or caregiver reading this, have fun doing experiments with your tiny scientist! If you know some great links to other fun easy experiments, please share!

Baby L's Lab Report

The questions we had:

What happens when you color on ice with magic markers?

What happens when you stir water with a magic marker?

What happens when you mix the colors?

What happens to soap suds when you add color?

What we used:

1. bowls of water

2. ice cubes

3. markers (nontoxic, washable)

4. some bubble soap

5. spoons and cups

What we did:

1. We had a giant chunk of ice-cubes that had melted together in the ice-tray in the freezer, so we took that out and put it in the big wooden bowl.

2. We poured some water on it to see what would happen. Not much. It made the ice chunk look shiny and slippery.

3. We colored on the ice chunk with magic markers. It was so cool! The ice turned different colors!

4. We poured some more water on the ice chunk, so now there was lots of water in the bowl. The water changed to the color of the magic markers!

5. We moved some of the ice into a new bowl. The ice was clean! No colors when we moved it!

6. We colored the clean ice and poured water on it. The same thing happened- the water changed colors again!

7. Then we poured a little water with no ice into a third bowl and stirred it with a marker. The water changed colors!

8. Last, we stuck in some hand soap to see what would happen. We made lots of suds, but the suds didn't really change color even when we stirred in more magic marker!

New Words for Baby L:

Melt

Drip

Suds

Mix

Stir

Frozen

Pour

Slippery

Dolls Need Books Too!

Alphabet Song!

Summer Reading and Writing Kits!

Now that spring has (FINALLY) arrived, Baby L and I are already thinking ahead to summer! With all the traveling we plan to do, we need some portable drawing and writing materials to keep Baby L's writing life alive and strong!

Here's what we did.

First I gathered up materials to make a box to hold all of Baby L's fun summer writing materials: 1) a cereal box decorated with catalog clippings, 2) some stapled booklets of blank paper, and 3) some crayons, markers, tiny notepads, stickers, envelopes, and post-its:

























Then I put it all together, so that Baby L has one transportable, totally fun, totally awesome SUMMER WRITING KIT! I even added in the mini-clipboard that the Easter Bunny brought her.













In the classroom, I love ending the school year by making reading kits and writing kits for the kids to take home for their summer reading and writing lives. You can spend the last week or two of reading workshop or writing workshop teaching the kids how to take care of and use their special summer kits so that by the time they leave for summer vacation, they've had plenty of practice with taking things out and putting them back, coming up with their own ideas for reading and writing projects, and dreaming up the kind of reading and writing they hope to do.

Here are some ideas that many teachers (and parents and caregivers) love!

For a container you could use:

• A giant zip-loc baggy
• Cloth bags ordered from Oriental Trading or other catalogue
• If you're a classroom teacher, sometimes parent volunteers are willing and able to sew beautiful bags for reading or writing kits. Thanks parents!
• Blank aluminum lunchboxes (available at some craft stores and websites) for children to decorate
• A typical pencil box
• Children could decorate whatever the container is with glued on pictures, stickers, or paint to personalize the kits

Some possibilities for tools to put in the Writing Kit:

• A notebook or notepad with blank paper (unlined for young children)
• “Special” summer writing paper with a place to sketch, and lines to write on just like writing workshop at school (photocopied onto colored paper to make it special; stapled or hole-punched and stuck on a ring to turn it into a notepad)
• Consider various paper sizes, decorating the paper with a stamp, photocopy a border or design onto it or placing a sticker at the top to turn it into “stationery”
• Colorful post-its, or post-its cut into shapes (stars, hearts, clouds, or other)
• Special glittery or colorfully designed pencils, pens or markers
• Envelopes and stamps, include a card with an address where children can to write to you and their new teacher(s) over the summer
• Post cards, greeting cards, notecards, etc.
• Poetry object(s) (seashells, stones, feathers, leaves, dried flowers, other)
• Recipe cards, list paper, How-To paper, mini-calendar
• Mini-staplers, tape, and/or glue sticks
• Personal Word Wall, Alphabet Chart, Blends Chart

Some idea for reading kits:

• Collect favorite books to put in the reading kit
• Include books written by the child, other children, or by the teacher or parents or caregivers and friends
• Special book marks with reminders for things to think about while you read ("I'm wondering..." "This makes me think..." "I notice..."
• A tiny flashlight for reading under the covers
• Special post-its (of course!!)
• A tiny notebook for making a wish list of books, or for jotting or sketching ideas about the books
• A tiny calendar for tallying up how many books you read each day or how many pages you read (if you are an older kid who reads chapter books)

Whatever you do this summer, have fun doing it! If you decide to make a summer reading or writing kit let us know, we'd love to hear about it!

Easter Egg Hunt=Grammar Lesson?

Baby L, Daddy B, and I went to our first Easter Egg Hunt this weekend at McCarren Park! It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and Baby L filled a shopping bag full of eggs. We put lots of them back for other kids to find, and still had a ton to take home.

Later that night, after Baby L went to bed, I emptied out all the eggs and cleaned them up so L could play with them in her play kitchen. As I popped open each egg and removed whatever candy or toys were inside it dawned on me that we could hide the eggs all over again in the house--why wait until Easter? What a fun game to play!

So that night I filled the eggs back up with stickers and hid them all over the house. Since L is only 1.5 years old, I hid them in plain sight. I didn't want her to lose interest after finding the first egg.

The next morning, Baby L found the first few "hidden" eggs immediately. It's easy to see why:









After she found the eggs on the stools, we started giving her clues to find the rest. "Look under the baby doll.... next to the wagon... on top of the coffee table..."

L totally understood that we were telling her generally where to look, but the prepositions-- under, over, in, on... those were tricky for her. We coached her with gestures, we pointed, we restated, we repeated and emphasized certain words. What great practice with grammar! said the teacher-voice inside my head. Oh just have fun...don't ruin it with grammar! said the non-teacher voice inside my head...as usual.

Either way, L loves our new game!

Note:
Teachers are constantly asking me for ideas for how to teach grammar. A really great resource for teachers of older children is The Power of Grammar, by Mary Ehrenworth and Vicki Vinton. You'll find lots of smart ways to teach grammar in a way that calls upon children's abilities to think creatively and meaningfully, rather than memorizing a bunch of grammar rules for a test, or filling out worksheets.