Here
is a sample from the Concepts About Print
list of skills to check for:
Knows a book is right side up, knows a book
has a front and back,the book should be right side up (really?),knows there is a title, knows words, not
pictures, hold the meaning-(FYI, not always.)
The
list continues to drone on and is as exciting as this morning’s oatmeal.
Rather
than complain to the experts (especially when I am not sure how to contact the experts), I decided to ask
my shorter friends to talk to me about all the things they have figured out
about how books (print) work. I told the
kids that this would help big people like me understand how reading works.
I
think their nuggets of information on this topic really nail down the key items
that are so important in the engaging and joyful journey toward literacy
competence.
Will
you read what the kids have to say on the subject and let me know what you
think?
Newly-minted
Concepts About Print: According to Shorter Friends.
HOW BOOKS
WORK
·
You can
ask for a re-play (like a pause on the remote) of a good story at bed time and this
will end up keeping the light on and you can get more cuddle and talking time instead
of going to sleep.
·
You can
talk back to the people in the book and give them better ideas when they make mistakes.
It is also helpful to tell the writer person if they are funny /not funny.
·
Letters
are just like you and me and get their feelings hurt when you don’t know their
story and they really want you to say a certain sound when you see it. So now I
say “SSS” when I see the S letter because Sammy Snake likes me to do that.
·
Auntie
can leave a bunch of blue squigglies
on the message board in the barn, and it sounds just like Auntie talking even
though she is nowhere to be seen. (It
really happened in our barn; you should come and see it-(the message is still
there-she is still talking to me every time I pass the message board. Weird but
true!)
·
If the egg
word is in “The Odd Egg” story it is so big it fills the whole page and
if it is on the egg carton it is small; and if we are making cookies and the egg word is in the cookbook it is even smaller but it
still says egg! This is ridiculous but
it is just the way it is so you have to get over it.
·
It is
really awesome when I see my name. Every time you, or my friends see it -you
get to say my name. You can ask me to write my name on my best drawings; and
this will make the drawing even better because you will see my name when you
look at it and you will think about me. I like Alexandra’s name because it has so
many letters and takes a long time to say it.
·
If you
let my cousin drink milk from my cup that says my name on it- that’s not
nice. He should drink out of his own cup
that says his very own name on it. That is why there are letters. All you have
to do is look for the J (the J has a hook and a hat on it) and you will know it
is my cup.
·
If you
really want a special toy or a new Lego set, you should find the picture in the
TOYSRUS flyer; and then cut out the toy with the words that fit the toy; and
then give it to someone in your family who will get you this toy because you
really, really want it. The flyer helps the
big person remember what you really, really want. Ask them to put it in their purse or pocket;
so they will remember even though you are at kindergarten.
·
Don’t
be embarrassed if everyone talks about when you were little, you liked to read
tractor flyers because you thought wheels were cool. I know a lot and I know that you need to tell
everyone what you like to read
about. Things change a lot-because now I
like to read about Star Wars characters and so I have to keep telling Grandma I
don’t have hardly any Star Wars books.
(and this is how I get my family to get me gajillians of books.)
·
It is cool when you know about dragon flies
or,like my cousin, Ari,-she knows about horses.
When you read a lot of books, big people say things like “You are a very
smart boy”.
·
Oh and
don’t forget to use big words like nocturnal
and stegasaurus and epic when you talk to younger brothers
or sisters. This helps them learn. It also tells them you know more than they do.
·
It is
kind of fun to look at a book and guess if the writer person has a pattern in
her book. This makes it so you can guess what the next page will talk about. Grandma says I am like a Reader Detective when I search for clues. One good clue is to listen for rhyming. This makes reading really easy when you see
the writer likes to rhyme things. I think they do it so it sounds like a
song. I like songs.
·
Have
my uncle read Three Billy Goats Gruff to you.
You will be shaking because he makes the Troll really loud and very scary. You should notice that he always says the
same things every time he reads this story but really loud and scaryier. One time he did it wrong and I had to help
him. (This story is Not recommended for younger kids like my cousin Ari.)
·
It’s good
to pay attention to where the letters are; because if you are trying to read go and you start making the sounds the
wrong direction, it comes out weird. But
if you start to read no the wrong
direction it comes out on…but pup
stays the same backwards or forwards. It’s easy if you know the way it works.
·
If you
like to keep track of all the Monster
Trucks you have, you should put down a letter for each part of the truck’s name
and you will be able to read the list and keep track of your monster trucks and
this means cousins will know which monster trucks belong to me. MNSTR
TUK LIST GRVDIGR is an example for you to read.
·
If you
get worried, or if certain things are scary, you just find a book that talks
about it; and then you know that other kids have some of the worries you do and
you can get ideas about making the trouble less troublesome. (I don’t like dust bunnies, because they move
around and are called bunnies; but they are not really alive; but they still scare
me.) We read a book about Scaredy Squirrel
who was afraid of EVERYTHING and I don’t know why, but felt better after
reading this book.
·
When you
are reading a book and it makes you think of a really FAT (hard) question for
Grandma or Grandpa, you just grab it out of the air, put it into your head; and
then you can keep it there or write it down and put it into the I Wonder Box we have on top of the fridge.
·
Oh, I
think the most important thing is to pretend you are inside the book when there
are awesome pictures. This helps you know
what is important and you can see what
is happening better. I am a good
pretender. Lots of times you will see more than your uncle or mom does when
they are reading to you. This is because they forget to be in the picture; and
they don’t have as good of eyes as we do.
·
Here
is something that you can only learn when you are very smart. When I was reading a little book called Are you Hungry Little Bear?, Grandma
said hungry was just one word. I helped
her say it properly: Hungry
She kept saying Hungry. Maybe she
will learn it someday.
·
You should learn the things we have learned about
books. My Grandma writes books with her
friends. She asks us kids to help her because we know when a story is good. We
get stuffies out and put them in a big circle and we listen to my Grandma’s new
stories. We tell her if the story is
funny or not funny. Sometimes she writes a book that nobody likes so we try and
figure out how to make it better. This
is hard work but my Grandma really needs our help, so we don’t mind. Did you
know we have a lot of stuffies? (One hundred and eighty-six)
You can come and see them.
We hope this helps you know how to read. It’s easy when you know how.
Ari, Jayden and Ethan
Well Dear Reader, Let me know if this helped you learn about
reading. I always think it is good to go
right to the source. Asking your
favourite shorter friends how they know about how things work is always
helpful.
In friendship,
Donna Klockars
The Literacy Lady
No comments:
Post a Comment