Plastic plate as whiteboard

Here's another great idea from Lori Jamison's workshop.

A cheap, plastic plate can be used as a mini-whiteboard for kids.

They're durable, easy to store and inexpensive.

And best of all, dry erase marker wipes right off!

Kids can practise their writing on them, wipe off what they've done, and then practise again.

Jamison suggests you give each child a little glove (raid the lost-and-found, she says), which they can use to wipe their mini-whiteboard clean.

She packages a plate, marker and glove in a Ziploc bag for each child.

One caution - she says that not all plastic plates are erasable. And she says you should never, ever bring a marker to a store, poke a hole in the packaging, and try the plate before you buy it. No, no.

Lessons from a kindergarten teacher

This is a kindergarten teacher - and a teacher of teachers.

Lori Jamison introduced a roomful of kindergarten teachers at the recent Reading for the Love of it conference to a handful of "mini-lessons" to get kids reading.

Her first point was, "what do we want kindergarteners to know about literacy?" Here's what she thinks are the most important take-aways.

1) The concepts of print - which is the front/back of the book? How does a book work?
2) The conventions and structures of spoken language.
3) Why do we read/write?
4) Motivation - helping children see themselves as readers and writers.

This last point, she said, is the most important one.

I'll be posting more information from her very interesting session. In the meantime, here's one of the many great suggestions she had for teaching beginning readers and writers: Have them use the letters in their name to write.

She pointed out that the first letters children learn and use are the ones in their name. They're most comfortable with those letters, and they have a context for them. So concentrate on using those letters to help them spell new words.

It's a simple idea, but wonderfully helpful.

About the only thing I didn't love about Jamison's speech was that she made us all do a "hello to your neighbour" song - with high-fives and thigh bumps - at the beginning of her speech. As I was scowling, wondering how I could avoid doing it without making a scene, it brought home to me that I am far too cynical to ever be a kindergarten teacher. Fair enough.

Video-kid ideas needed

As you may know, when I'm not blogging or mothering I'm a freelance journalist.

I'm currently writing a magazine article about how to get kids who love video games, to love reading as well.

One of the ways to do this is to use technology, that has a literacy component, to interest them.

Do you know any particularly interesting websites, games, toys or products that use technology but have a strong literacy component?

If so, I'd love to hear from you. Please comment, below, or send me an e-mail at joycegrant (at) sympatico (dot) ca. Please include your e-mail address so I can follow-up with you if necessary.

Thanks!

The readers of this blog often have the most amazing ideas, which is why I'm reaching out in this way. Thank you, everyone, in advance for your thoughts. And Happy Valentine's Day!

Finger Puppet Book Bags

A little gem from the literacy conference.

It's a knitted book bag, with finger puppets that adhere with snaps to the bag. A knitted string lets the child hang it around her neck and take it anywhere.

Each bag has a theme. For instance, the Ocean bag has a handpainted ocean scene, and it comes with a clownfish, a crab, a mermaid, an octopus, a sea turtle, a seal, a shark and a starfish.

The idea is that you put a book, or a couple of books, into the bag.
There's a list of book suggestions for each bag. For the Ocean bag, they suggest Baby Beluga, by Raffi and Commotion in the Ocean, by Giles Andreae (and eight others).

Then, wherever your little reader goes, she carries an entire puppet show with her.

Interacting with literature is definitely a great way to get kids reading.

The bags are made in Bolivia by indigenous peoples; it's a Fair Trade project, benefitting both countries and helping families in Bolivia earn a living wage.

You can purchase a bag, a product the owner calls 3 Bags Full, from her website.

And speaking of the owner - here she is. Her name is Sue Berlove, and boy, she is passionate about what she does. Do visit her website. For one thing, they have way better pictures of her bags than the one I've used here (taken myself, as if you didn't know.)

For the Love of Reading

I'm covering the Reading for the Love of it conference today.

I've never been before, and I'm really excited about it. It's a two-day "language arts" conference in Toronto aimed at educators. I consider myself one of those--after all, if this blog isn't about educating, what is it about? ("Fun!" screams the sassy voice in my head, but I shush it.)

For every workshop time-slot, there are dozens of speakers. Impossible to choose. I can only imagine how many booths there will be. I had 100 business cards printed up yesterday, and I hope I give them all away.

From this literacy cornucopia, I will try to distill the best and most useful information and present it here in upcoming posts. In the meantime, I'm bringing my laptop and my camera and my good shoes.

Here's a link to the conference's home page.

Stephen Lewis is speaking on "Education: the world's greatest force for good." Good lord, how does anyone take the stage after that? It's like trying to follow Al Gore at an ecology conference.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

"Surprise!"

When my son went to bed last night, this is what he found on his pillow - a Coles bookstore bag, with a book-sized lump in it.

You're eight, you don't feel like going to bed, you're dragging your feet, prolonging the inevitable... and then you find a new book in your bed.

The whole situation suddenly changed. His face lit up, and he thanked me like crazy.

Giving a book as a "just because" and "for no reason" gift is a great way to get your kid reading.

And it helped that it's a book there's some buzz about, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Many parents have been telling me how much their kids are enjoying it--those who like fantasy and even those who normally don't.

I haven't read it yet (I'm going to), but it's based on Greek mythology; Percy discovers that he's a demi-god--a son of Poseidon, who rules the sea. He finds out there are other living Greek gods in the world, both good and evil. He meets up with them, has some battles, and presumably finds out some things about himself in the process. Here's a slightly longer synopsis.

There's a series of five books, and the movie is due out this month in the US and Canada (I'm not sure about the UK or other countries, but I would assume so).

Hiding a good book in your child's bed is a fun way to stall bedtime for just a few minutes--and get your kid reading.

The Percy Jackson books started out as tales the author told to his son, who was studying Greek mythology in Grade two. Eventually, he wrote them down and now... well, now he's a ba-jillionaire. Ka-ching! Wait until my writers' group hears about this.

Seen in Blockbuster: books!

Get your kids reading by telling them about the movie or TV show.

I don't visit Blockbuster very often. So it was a revelation to to me that they had a book rack filled with the book versions of about a dozen popular movies.

That is great.

I'm a big advocate of what I call "reading extensions." That's a book that has been made into a movie or a TV show.

I think reading extensions can get kids reading. For instance, while they're waiting for the new Alice in Wonderland movie to come out, I bet a lot of kids are picking up the book for the first time.

Or let's say they've seen all the Twilight movies. It takes a long time for those movies to be made. In the meantime, they buy the buttons and the reversible Jacob/Edward posters... and then they see the book stand at Blockbusters. And maybe they buy the books.

Harry Potter. Julie and Julia. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Up in the Air (betchya didn't know there was a book). The movies can be portals into the joys of reading, that's what I think.

My 18-year-old niece is, by her own admission, not a big reader. But she did read all the Twilight books. The other day, I gave her The Host, by the same author. I'm hoping that her interest in Twilight will spark her to read The Host. If not, the book may sit on a shelf in her room until the movie comes out and then I'm almost certain she'll read it.

Wait - I just Googled it - yes, they are making a movie of The Host. So now I've just texted my niece, saying "you'd better hurry up and read the book!"

See, that's how it works.

So - good on ya, Blockbuster, for selling books and helping to get kids reading.

That last line had a bit of an Aussie accent, didn't it? Consider it an homage to all our readers down under (undah).