There is nothing that compares to a Book Fair for a child. You quickly become aware that it is Book Fair season, and you will know it even before your child buckles themselves into the car. They dig through their backpack, pulling out that ever familiar brochure with Scholastic written in bright red across the front. "Can I buy a book?" They ask. Some of the time they will already know what they want. As you peruse the catalog, you see that every other book is check marked. You know they can't have it all, so how do you pick the right book for your child?
There are three major factors to consider when book shopping for your young reader: something that is age appropriate, that meets their ability to read, that lines up with their interests.
Your child will judge a book by its cover. If the picture grabs their attention, chances are they will want to buy the book. But just because a cover photo is attractive, doesn't mean that your child will be able to read the book. A seven-year-old may have enjoyed the Harry Potter movies and may get excited when they see a book with Harry on the cover, but that type of book will not be an easy read for a child.
The same thing goes for simpler reads. There may be a cute unicorn on the cover of a book, but an eight-year-old would be too far advanced if that book were only a sight word family book. A good book needs to fit their age range. Some of the book order forms will break down the books available in age brackets. Even if they don't, you can visit the Book Fair website and research different books there.
The ability to read a book is different than a book that is age appropriate. Since the way of learning varies from child to child, the ability to get through certain books can be a challenge. Yes, schools try and keep all children on the same level, but we both know that is not always the case. At every teacher conference, you are given what reading level your child is at. You are also shown what the reading level goal is for the end of the year. The teacher lays out a plan to help your reader reach that goal. It is up to you as the parent to work with the teacher to accomplish that goal.
If you select a book that is too easy, then your child will never grow. If the book is too complicated, they will become frustrated and may give up. The idea is to find a book that is right in the middle of the road while trying to adhere to the reading level that you are shooting for. Keep in mind that it is okay to challenge your child. In fact, it is imperative that you challenge a child. Without a little difficult, your child cannot develop the ability to dig within themselves and discover that they can do it.
This is the easy part. You are usually always aware of what your child's interests are. You can see it from the toys in their room, the posters on their wall, and the comforter on their bed. It is easy to assume they would enjoy books about those characters. With the way that companies market their product, books are in abundance. If a book fair does not carry a particular item, there are scads of websites that will. Even the local library will most likely have what you are searching for.
Just as it is important to challenge your child when reading, it is also imperative that you keep an open mind to your child's interests. Don't snuff out their excitement for a particular topic. Just because you do not enjoy a subject, doesn't mean that you have to force your interests on them. Allow them to be who they are. Encourage them to explore what's out there. You will never know where a child's interests will take them.
Books are more than learning tools. You have found that yourself through the books that you read. You don't read them to learn; you read them to escape. Your days are filled with your bosses demands, stacks of bills, and an endless list of errands to run. A good book is a great way to temporarily get away from life's responsibilities and recharge.
Sometimes children need that same escape. While not as stressful, their lives can be tough. They too need to escape into another world, just as you do. With so many books out there, there is sure to be one world that your child will love to envelop themselves in. Whether it be dreaming about fame in the suburbs of Plainview, walking the halls of Cherrydale Elementary, or laughing along with the Cat in the Hat, there is a world just waiting to grab your child's attention.
The post How to Pick the Right Book for Your Young Reader appeared first on IsabellaBookStore.com.
I live in a small town in South Central Texas with my wife Carolyn and our four children. We attend the local First Baptist Church where we have been serving for 8 years. I drive a truck in the transportation industry and I pursue my writing career in my spare time. I have a passion for writing, and I plan to use my voice to glorify God.
In addition to my freelance work, I have a series of Children's books that will begin to be released starting in June of 2018. I also have written a novel that is currently being edited. I look forward to sharing it sometime in 2019.
The post How to Pick the Right Book for Your Young Reader appeared first on MyStoryBin.com.
The struggle is all too real for some parents. You may have done all you can to introduce your child to the wondrous world of reading, but they aren't taking to it as you had envisioned. Whether it is just a hyper child who will not sit still, or the other end of the spectrum, where they want to read, but just cannot. In either instance, a parent is racking their brain for ideas to flip the switch within their child that gets them to understand.
I am no expert when it comes to a child who wants to do everything else but sit and read. But I have a couple of friends who have dealt with it. I have inquired of Jenci and Alesha in the construction of this week's blog. I drew on their insight, and I hope to convey to you what their experiences have taught them.
Me on the other hand, my wife and I have somewhat dealt with the slower learner. Our oldest son struggled in school. Not so much as with a medical condition, but with focus and conveying his needs to those that mattered. This piece will be a bit difficult to write as it will dig up old emotions, but to help some of you who are reading this, I am willing to relive the past, if it will help your future.
If you have not lived it, there is no way you can describe the reality of raising a hyperactive child. From the outside people see a child who needs discipline. When the truth is, the child may not have complete control over how he or she acts. True, in some cases, discipline can be a factor, but not all. People naturally assume because of the day an age we live in that parental discipline is not used with the child. However, a child who is consistently on the move is wired differently than a child who prefers to sit. Discipline has little to do with it.
When parents are faced with a teaching situation, like reading, most try and calm their child down. They believe that reading time is quiet time. That to read, one must sit down in a chair and focus solely on the task of reading. There are to be no other activities going on; no TV, no music, and most of all no goofing off. This is where many parents fail their children. Reading time becomes forced. This can cause a child to dislike reading. It can also cause the parent to give up trying to have reading time altogether. This can bring about further issues with a child falling behind.
Both Jenci and Alesha have been face to face with this situation: What do you do with a child who struggles with reading? What they have found is that there is nothing "wrong" with their precious children. They are just different. Their struggle was with learning what techniques would be effective with their child's personality.
She also tells me it's about trying to find what a child's limitations truly are. She understands that a child can, and will, take advantage of a situation. So yes, you push the child to do what you are trying to accomplish. But after multiple successes and failures, you will then know if your child is egging you on, or if they are seriously unable to do something. Then a parent can know when to push and when not to push, when to persevere, and when to pray.
Alesha found that with her child, he is situational. He can, and will, sit with her and read. But if there are distractions, like another child in the room, he will want to engage with the other child. There are also days when her son loves to read, and then there are days when it's like pulling hair to get him to read. She also has learned that pushing too hard can be detrimental to the progress.
Both have learned different methods that their kids have responded to. While the approaches may be different, the outcome is the same. They realized that children can still learn while they are playing. However, they agree that if you are taking this route to occasionally pause and strategically ask questions. Test their retention. You will be amazed by how much they remember.
Children are much smarter than any of us give them credit for. In fact, some believe that an active child can show tendencies to be smarter than the average child. Reasons being that as they are active, they can still be in tune with the world around them. They are able to have their minds remain focused on someone reading to them even while moving about or engaged in another activity.
This is something that schools miss. Teachers are trained for sit-still-and-learn. Which is right to some level. I mean, imagine a class of thirty kids all moving around while the instructor tries to teach. OR just one kid moving around while a teacher tries to deal with twenty-nine distracted kids.
Now we move to the other end of the spectrum. Maybe the child is not hyper at all. Mine wasn't. He was just slow at learning. Every teacher he had, every school he went to all said the same thing; we should run some tests. The thing was that every test they gave him he passed. They checked for everything from Dyslexia to Attention Deficit Disorder. Yet, nothing could be found, so he continued to struggle.
My oldest son was able to sit and be read to. He could follow along easily; as long as the story was not too long. It was not that he would get bored, his mind would just wander. We would be in the middle of a story, and he would ask a random question that had nothing to do with the story. He struggled to stay focused. Mom and I were concerned that this lack of focus would hurt his education.
Through many doctor visits, we learned that our son suffered from the same condition I suffer. It has a long name, and a symptom of this condition causes the mind to have a shorter attention span than someone without this condition. To put it simply, his mind is continually active.
Think of it as watching TV and every few minutes the channel changes without you touching the remote. It is like the hyperactive child; only it's not physical activity, its mental. The learning process to overcome this condition is to learn how to slow down the mind and force yourself to maintain focus. This is a difficult thing to teach a 5-year-old. Heck, it's still difficult for me to deal with and I am 43 now.
For our son, the solution was to adapt to his learning ability. Shorter stories or breaking the story up into two halves. If we started to see him drift off, we would use a "to be continued." While this worked for reading time, he was still struggling with school in general. Through tutoring and special education, he was able to make it through High School. This special education involved giving him extra time to complete his classroom work, especially tests. It wasn't that he couldn't do the work, but his focus issue suffered even more when under the gun. The help he received gave him the ability to succeed.
For those of you whose kids are breezing through school and have no issues, please do not judge those who are. You do not know their story. There are many stories like Jenci's, Alesha's and mine. Pointing a finger and making assumptions only exasperates the situation. Instead of a crooked finger, you could be extending a hand of assistance.
The post How to Teach a Child Who Struggles to Read appeared first on IsabellaBookStore.com.
The post How to Teach a Child Who Struggles to Read appeared first on MyStoryBin.com.
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