A Book a Day

            Many of my posts center around the classroom, but I don’t think learning is limited to what goes on in the schoolhouse.  The impact on life outside the classroom should not be overlooked.   And so occasionally Mary, the parent “educator,” will pop in here to say her piece…

I love to read.  I’ve always loved to read.  I have a degree in children’s literature for landsakes.  So I’m sure you can imagine that it is very important to me that my children love to read.  My two-year-old will “read” just about anything.   One of her favorites is Machievelli’s The Prince (don’t ask).   My four-year-old son is much more difficult to please.  He’d rather have my husband or me make up a story, any day.  The budding writer in me would like to think that that’s because our stories are amazing, but the truth is that I’m not all that good at thinking on my creative feet.

            Over the years, I’ve worked to instill a love of books in him.  We have bookcases full of them, we go to story times at the library, we read at bedtime, my husband and I model a love for reading, but my son hasn’t really embraced these efforts.  He hasn’t rejected them, but I wouldn’t say books are something he’s passionate about.  For many parents this might be okay, but I’ve got hang-ups and reading is one of them. 

            For one, I love the armchair escapism that reading allows. What better way to relieve stress than by seeping myself in someone else’s reality?  Also, I believe that to some degree books kept me out of trouble as a teenager by allowing me to experiment vicariously.  Reading fiction teaches empathy and opens minds to multiple perspectives and differing worldviews.  Reading non-fiction exposes people to complex thoughts, ideas, and information.  The very act of reading forces the brain to work, to think, and to strengthen. As an educator, I’ve seen firsthand that strong reading skills are essential to success in every core subject area.  And the only way I know to get strong reading skills is to read. If reading is joyful, then we’ve already won 2/3 of the battle.

            A few months ago, a major opening presented itself as I was leaving for my monthly book club meeting when my son asked, “Why don’t I get to go to book club with my friends?”  

Picture the smile that erupted across my face.  “You want to have a book club?  You got it.”  And so it was born.  And he loves it.   And I love it.  If you want an example, check out this former blog post.

            More recently, I discovered another idea that’s spurred reading in our home from this classroom blog.  Basically, everyone in my family earns a colored paper clip for each book they read.  Both of my children are excited about the crazy decoration they are creating and feel pride in picking out their paper clips.

            The essential key, though, has been finding books my son likes.  When I try books that are beautifully written and stunningly illustrated, he is indifferent.   When I search Best Books for Kids lists created by experts (librarians and teachers), they fall under a similar category (except you can add didactic to the description).  My son does not measure a book by the same standards that adults do.  Instead our treasure trove for suggestions is on-line forums with parents of reluctant boy readers recommending books to one another.  Often these books are, well, crap, but he loves them and so I love them (sort of).  They are stories of adventure, dragons, knights, pirates, superheroes…

            If you have any suggestions either of books you think he’d like or ideas to encourage reading, I’m always grateful to hear from you.

           

Books, Baby, Books

Monkey see, monkey do.  A few weeks ago my four-year-old son fussed that I was going to book club and not bringing him along.  I countered with offering to put together a book club for him and his friends.  Next thing I knew nine kids were sitting on my playroom floor chatting about Big Pumpkin by Erica Silverman.  The kids were aged 2 (my daughter, who was too young, but not about to be left out) to 6.   They were invited to come in a costume inspired by the book, and to my delight we had a ghost, a mummy, and a witch arrive.

Our afternoon started with a 15-minute discussion.  Here’s what we talked about: 

1. Was this book real?  Did this really happen?  How do you know?  Are monsters real?
2. What did you like about the book?
3. How many of you have been to a pumpkin patch?  What was it like?  Have any of you planted a pumpkin?  What did you do?
4. What can you do with a pumpkin?  What did they do in the book?  Have any of you ever eaten pumpkin pie?  Did you like it?
5. If you could change something about the book what would you change?  Note:  The kids did not understand this question.
6. What happened when one monster tried to pick the pumpkin? What was the solution?  How many of you have ever been on a team?  Tell me about it.
7. What is a character?  Which character was your favorite?  Let’s hear everyone laugh like a witch.  Now let’s sound like ghosts.  Can anyone pretend to be a vampire?  How about a mummy?  How about a bat?

We followed that with a cute pumpkin craft. The crafting was a bit of disaster because I didn’t realize that if you wind the yarn too tightly around the folded cardboard, then you can’t feed in the pipe cleaner.   Oh well, lesson learned.  Still, the pumpkins were pretty cute and the kids seemed to dig them.

After craft time we played ring around the pumpkin (or stand at a line and try to throw a hula hoop over a pumpkin).  Each kid got to throw until they succeeded and won a chocolate lollipop for their efforts (which by the way are cute and super easy to make).

We finished book club with a snack—pumpkin pie (I cheated and bought a frozen one), pumpkin ice cream, and apple juice.  Many of the kids had never had pumpkin pie before and discovered they loved it.  The ice cream—not such a kid hit, though the parents enjoyed it.

I loved having a celebration of reading with my children and their friends.  I can’t wait until next time.  If you have suggestions for other books for our book club, send me a comment.  I’d love to hear from you.

Don’t forget to check out my book review of Big Pumpkin on Amazon.