Our crowd is typically five to nine years old. They are rambunctious. Eager....about everything. When we read we want to grab their attention, their imaginations, and their interests.
We've picked up a few tricks to encourage active listening:
-Pick a book you enjoy. We love all of Mark Teague books, Jamberry, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Bad Kitty.
- Read loudly.
- Read slowly. Slower than you think you should.
-Use voice inflection- different characters talk differently. Right?
- Point out items on the page- a bird, funny hat or something of interest.
-Ask the children questions that have to do with the story. If you are reading Mark Teague's book Pigsty you might ask if their rooms look like the picture in the book? Or if anyone lives with pigs? Kids want to be part of the book. Or ask about a word in the book and tell what it means.
- act out parts of the story.
-and finally, a secret tip... you're allowed to skip pages if you need to!
Mostly, the more you enjoy reading the more the children will enjoy it. Have fun!
Why Read Aloud?
"If we could get our parents to read to their preschool children even just fifteen minutes a day, we could revolutionize the schools." Helen Love, Former Superintendent of Chicago Schools
"The single most important activity for building knowledge- for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to young children." The National Commission on Reading/ Becoming a Reader 1986 Report
FACTS & FIGURES from ServiceNation:
- Nine-year-olds growing up in low-income communities are already three grade levels behind their peers in high-income communities.
- Only 31% of fourth graders are proficient in reading. Low-income students do half as well.
- As many as fifteen million students have no place to go after school.
- Teens who do not participate in after school programs are nearly three times more likely to skip classes or use marijuana or other drugs, drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes.
- The hours between 3-6 p.m. on school days (referred to by law enforcement officials as a "danger zone") are the prime time for violent juvenile crime.
- More than 1.2 million children drop out of school each year. The cost is more than $312 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetime.
- Only 70% of students in the U.S graduate from high school. In the nation’s urban schools, the dropout rate is fifteen percentage points lower. Those who do graduate high school will, on average, read and do math at the level of eighth graders in high-income communities.
- Only 1 in 10 students in low-income communities will graduate from college.
