Because there are no time machines, because it is not possible to travel to all the countries and cities of this amazing world, and because we cannot personally interview all the important leaders, philosophers, scientists, inventors, and villains that have trampled the earth, we must get most of our knowledge from books. Through books we are able to travel to various places and meet people we otherwise would not know--and sometimes we even meet characters and creatures that are other-worldly altogether. But not all books are created equal. And we must learn to distinguish between the books that are worth our children's time and those that are not.
If children are to love reading and learning we must introduce the best literature to them. A good book should be filled with not only accurate information and rich characters, but must be written well. This is what we will be discussing over the next month. Feel free to add a new post or comment of your thoughts and experiences on what has worked in your home and what hasn't, or simply any thoughts you may have on the subject. I look forward to an informative and enlightening discussion!
Beautifully said, Courtney, and something I've been thinking about quite a bit.
ReplyDeleteHere's a question:
As I'm teaching my girls to read, I'm finding the leveled phonics readers to be truly horrid reading. I guess I shouldn't be surprised as the writers are using a limited word base. But there is often no plot, no conflict, no conclusion, no substance. Words like trite, repetitive, and insulting come to mind.
The girls despise reading them, and so do I. Especially because they are hearing such rich literature, like Anne of Green Gables and The Secret Garden, read aloud to them.
I understand the usefulness of leveled readers, but I'm looking for another option. At this point we're working through Phonics Pathways to learn how to read and I'm reading aloud to them to model the joy of reading.
I'd love to hear others' thoughts on how to jump the "learning to read" hurdle in order to get to the "loving to read" stage.
I'm not very experienced in this regard, but do you have The Writing Road to Reading? In there she lists real books kids should be ready to read at which stages. I can bring it, if you want to look at the list? It's a bit long to list here.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to look at it. Thanks!
ReplyDelete