What to Read

It's time for another installment of What to Read Wednesday. This week, I've chosen to highlight You Read to Me, I'll Read to You: Very Short Stories to Read Together by Mary Ann Hoberman. In October 2008, Mary Ann was asked to serve as the Children's Poet Laureate by the American Poetry Foundation. She has written 3 other books in this series of You Read to Me, I'll Read to You. This book contains short, rhymed stories that are like little plays for two voices. Mary Ann envisions this book being read by a pair of beginning readers, or one beginning and one more-advanced reader (older child or adult).

In my other life, I'm a reading teacher, so I get to work with students who need a little pick me up. I'm thankful to have paraprofessionals to help me in this endeavor and we've been watching some professional development videos on effectively teaching reading. One of the many ideas that stuck out to me is that it is so important for children to have an ear for language. The instructor on the video compared it to being tone deaf in music. Some of us have a tin ear for language, BUT we can help that! How do we develop an ear for language? By playing with it! Listening to reading, having conversations with our children, singing songs, chanting nursery rhymes and poems. Those are just a few ideas. Here's a website that children can go on and play around with language: www.starfall.com
Happy Reading!