Emergent Literacy and Beyond

Today's post on literacy comes from Colleen Felz, the Homeschooling Coach. Find her homeschooling tips & curriculum ideas as well as stories about the joys & trials of home education at her blog, Homeschooling Coach. In her sister blog, Living as a mom, read stories about her life as a Christian wife and mother. Here are her thoughts on literacy...and beyond.

Becoming a literate person is a big undertaking, and the early years are the time to lay a firm foundation. Throughout this series on emergent literacy you have read about some specific skills needed to read and write well and learned that it takes lots of practice to master those skills. In this post I'd like to sum it all up.

The most important thing that you can do to help your child learn to read and write is to simply reading good literature to your child from birth through the teen years. There is so much that you share with your child during those special times spent reading together. Your oral reading helps your child hear the rhythm of the language and the intonation used in reading. You also serve as a model for what expert readers do and how they solve problems when they read. Since your child naturally wants to mimic you in the early years, reading aloud is a great time to inadvertently (or even intentionally) teach your child about reading.

What behaviors are you modeling for your child as an expert reader? Just think of all that you do when you are reading aloud. If you misread a word in a sentence, you correct yourself when you realize that the word did not make sense, and you use the context to figure out the meaning of certain words. You make predictions as you read, too. You even reread excellent books because you get something new from those books each time you read them. The next time you read aloud, think about all that you actually do when you read.

As you model these skills, you can also explicitly share them with your child when you read aloud to him/her. When you and your little one snuggle together and read, talk about the book and ask questions.

"Those words rhyme."

"I love this author (book)."

"I wonder what will happen next."

"Have you ever felt like that?"

I cannot stress enough how important it is to read to your child . The time you invest in reading aloud to your child is time well spent. Enjoy it!

What are some of your favorite books to read with your little ones?

Thinking Thursday: Fostering Language and Literacy

We are continuing our look at early literacy. We've already looked at three pre-reading skills: print motivation, print awareness, and letter knowledge. We'll cover the last three skills in May. To wrap up March, I've invited my friend, Rebecka Wright, to share some thoughts on encouraging literacy in young children. Rebecka is a student at Utah Valley University (UVU) and was able to attend (and participate in) the Forum on Children's Literature at UVU a few weeks ago. And now, the post!

Hi, my name is Rebecka Wright. I’m a junior in the UVU elementary education program. I’m married to Barry and we have three children; Sammy, 14; Emily 12; and Steven 10. Our children have always been very verbal and in western societies this is a characteristic that is associated with intelligence or being smart. Sometimes people ask us what we do (or have done) to bring this to pass. Usually I’m at a loss, “I don’t know. We were just lucky.” And to some extent this is true, our children are who they are before they come to us. This semester I’m taking literacy methods and I’ve been learning how language and literacy are fostered. There are two specific things that are correlated to future success in school that I want to share today. The first is parent talk, the second is books, books and more books.

Both the quantity and quality of talk parents direct at infants and toddlers is important. The more verbal a family is, the more of a foundation children have to build on. One study shows parents who talk less use their talk mainly to control and guide students. Parents who talk more do this and offer approval, affirmations, descriptions, and explanations. Language is best developed in one on one conversations where children talk with an adult about things that are important to them and experiences they have shared. When I began to learn this in school I thought, “Oh, this is something we did!” Barry and I talked a lot to our children, explaining and eliciting their participation in the conversation.

The number of books children are exposed to in their home is correlated with literacy development and success in school. Parents who are readers often have children who are readers. You probably already know this, I did. What I didn’t know are some of the things my children were learning when we shared a story book. The first things children learn are concepts of print. They learn that a book is upside right when the binding is on the left and the pages on the right. They learn that the title and author are on the front cover, and that the cover gives us clues about what’s in the book. They learn that we read from left to right, and that letters make words and that words contain messages and stories. Most important they learn that reading is enjoyable and useful.

So what can you learn from my reflection?

• Talk a lot to your children. Give running commentaries and descriptions, explanations and praise.
• Talk with your children. Ask them how they feel, what they saw, what they like, and why, etc.
• Fill your house with books and let your children see you reading for fun and for purpose.
• Read with your children; encourage them to pretend to read and to recite their favorites. Tell them what you think of what you read together and ask them what they think.

Amber mentioned that I attended the UVU Forum on Children’s Literature. It was a fabulous experience and I met some incredible authors, illustrators and educators. Below are links to some of the speaker’s blogs and websites. I hope you enjoy exploring them.

One of my favorite authors, Shannon Hale: http://www.squeetus.com/stage/main.html
I’ve never had favorite illustrators before but these two gentlemen are my first, Robert Nuebecker and Guy Francis:
http://www.illoz.com/neubecker/
http://kactiguy.blogspot.com/
http://www.guyfrancis.com/

Thanks for letting me visit, Amber.
{Glad to have you, Rebecka! Today I'm posting over at Make and Takes so come check it out!}

Fitness Friday: Yoga...Is It Real Exercise??

As part of the Wii Mommies Blog Swing, I'm excited to introduce today's guest blogger, 3boyzmom, who blogs over at Save Your Money Mama where she tells us all about giveaways, coupons, new products and more to help us stretch our budget. Here's her post...

Yoga…four little letters with a lifetime of fitness results! Most people are familiar with yoga, they know what it is; but that’s where their knowledge ends. Yoga is thought by many to be great for flexibility and for your nerves…but not for real fitness. I mean…how can rolling around on the floor stretching your body in weird poses make you stronger or help you lose weight right? WRONG!

Yoga CAN help you lose weight and get fit! But there are specific types of yoga that are designed to maximize your weight loss! Yes! There are even specific yoga poses that will help you melt your fat away!! AND of course, you still get all of the regular benefits of yoga too, like the relaxation and soothing natural energy. Some refer to it as “Power Yoga”. And many experts agree that its fat and calorie burning can be equal to OR BETTER THAN regular aerobic exercise! And so much more calming and relaxing don’t you think?! (I’m quite biased though…I HATE aerobics of any kind!!! If it wasn’t for Yoga….I’d become a full fledged couch potato!)
What is Power Yoga? Power Yoga is an Americanized version of the traditional Yoga techniques, a spin on traditional yoga that incorporates vigor and whole body fitness. It is inspired by Ashtanga yoga, which means “eight limbs”. It’s Power Yoga that got people thinking that maybe yoga IS a way to lose weight and keep fit! Check out a video introduction to Power Yoga by none other than my Yoga idol…Rodney Yee.



So…how do you DO Power Yoga? Power Yoga is done by flowing through a series of yoga poses and synchronizing your breathing patterns with your movement. It may LOOK soft, light, and free flowing….but you are actually receiving a complete, heart pumping, blood flowing, calorie and fat burning exercise!!

I have gained and lost 60 pounds TWICE (I’m working on my 3rd time currently) And when people asked me HOW I lost the weight….they always looked flabbergasted when I said “Yoga”. But it’s true…..yoga is the ONLY exercise program I was using…and I didn’t even change my eating habits!! Once I started Power Yoga…..the weight just came melting off…literally. Some believe this is because many of the poses massage your thyroid gland, and cause your metabolism to be faster and more efficient. It’s also thought to be so fat burning because of the strength you are getting in your muscles…I’d say it’s a bit of both. Now I’m not trying to say that it’s easy and doesn’t require hard work and dedication…it does. But for me…it’s enjoyable. 20-30 minutes of Power Yoga 5 times a day….you will be shrinking so fast people won’t recognize you!!!

Now….if you are new to Yoga…you want to become familiar with yoga poses and develop some basic strength before attempting Power Yoga. Once you can comfortably do full yoga poses, you are ready to begin!

So next time hubby looks at you while doing your lovely yoga pose and says…”Aren’t you going to do real exercise?” You can say…..I AM!!! DUH!! (Ok..you don’t have to add in the Duh part…but I sure would☺

Don't forget, I'm over at The Good Enough Witch talking about Snack Time. The Good Enough Witch is over at Tree, Root, and Twig talking about A Whole New Mii. The Blog Swing is in full motion. Enjoy!