books

Reading Books=Longer Life.

Jj is for Jottings 150.  Reading Books=Longer Life.

Research – some but not all – is now telling us that reading novels leads to a longer life.  On the other hand, it is well known that long periods of sitting increases health risks and reduces life span.  Researchers from Yale University set out to investigate three things:

  • Whether there is really a life-extending benefit from reading.
  • What is the mechanism behind it?
  • Do different types of reading material have different effects on longevity? There have been no studies done on this aspect."Photo
  • Reading Books=Longer Life. These two are starting early.

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Learning Vocabulary.

Jj is for Jottings 131. Learning Vocabulary.

Learning vocabulary – the words a person knows and uses – is a lifelong process. Talking to and reading with your child right from the start is a good recipe for a child to develop a rich vocabulary.  I have talked about vocabulary in previous articles, mainly in the context of reading with children and children reading for themselves.  But, given that vocabulary is so important, I thought it was worth going into a little further.

Photo of a father reading to a young child with the caption: Learning Vocabulary. The User Guide in "Aa is for Alpacas" explains how to use the book to enhance vocabulary skills.

Learning Vocabulary. The User Guide in “Aa is for Alpacas” explains how to use the book to enhance vocabulary skills.

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Children Who Own Books Read More.

Jj is for Jottings 116.  Children Who Own Books Read More.

 

OWNING BOOKS BENEFITS READING.

Children who own books are six times more likely to read.  And they are more likely to read above the expected level for their age.  The UK-based charity, The National Literacy Trust, did a survey of more than 56,000 children from all over the UK, ranging from ages 9 to 18.   The survey revealed that 22 % of children who own books read above the expected level for their age.  But only 3.6% of children who did not own a book read above the expected age level. Continue reading →

Strategies for Listening to Sounds in Words.

Jj is for Jottings 106.  Strategies to Encourage Listening to Sounds in Words.

 

In the previous article I said that I would discuss general strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words, rather than visualising them.  As I said, I have found no hard and fast rules, but these types of activities are helpful.

Picture of a cat coming towards us on a roof with the caption: Shanti is coming to tell us all about strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words.

Shanti is coming to tell us all about strategies to encourage listening to sounds in words.

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Print Books are Better than Digital Books for Toddlers.

Jj is for Jottings 99. Print Books are Better than Digital Books for Toddlers.

The question of whether print books are better than digital books for toddlers is a concern for many parents who are looking to do the best by their children.  Here are two pieces of evidence, one anecdotal and one from research, which will answer this question. Continue reading →

Reading Difficult Words.

Jj is for Jottings 98.  Reading Difficult Words.

Picture of a man reading "Aa is for Alpacas", with the caption: Reading difficult words is not an issue with this book!

Reading difficult words is not an issue with this book!

When your child starts to read aloud to you, they will often have problems with reading difficult words.  These words may be just long, or tricky in other ways, such as having several consonants together.  (See consonant clusters).  Or they could have vowel patterns which are unfamiliar, the rules for which they don’t yet know.  It is important to give children time to try to work out the word for themselves.  This helps develop reading skills.  However, when they get really stuck you will need to help them out. Continue reading →

Reading-Aloud Games.

Jj is for Jottings 97.  Reading-Aloud Games.

Following on from interactive reading with children, here are some ideas for “reading-aloud games” which you can play with children while reading stories with them.  The idea is to be spontaneous, just playfully engaging in banter whilst actually providing wonderful learning opportunities as a bonus.  It may sound strange, saying to be spontaneous and then making suggestions as to what to do.  But it is helpful to see the types of games you can play and, once you have the idea, you can invent your own activities in the moment. Continue reading →

Interactive Reading With Children.

Jj is for Jottings 96.  Interactive Reading With Children.

There is a difference between reading to children and reading with children.  Reading TO children is just that – reading a story without any sort of discussion or interaction.  (For disquieting statistics on reading to children, see here.)  On the other hand, interactive reading with children, or reading WITH children, is an active process rather than a passive one.  In this case, you are encouraging the child to think, predict, remember and discuss the story, and other related topics may also arise.  Therefore it has all the benefits of reading to children, plus many more.

Photo of newborn alpaca on the ground, her mother and another alpaca sniffing her, with the caption: Too young for interactive reading with children, but the right age to start reading TO her.

Too young for interactive reading with children, but the right age to start reading TO her.

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Decodable Readers and Phonics.

Jj is for Jottings 80.  Decodable Readers.

What are Decodable Readers?

As mentioned in the previous article (see here), decodable readers support the teaching of phonics in a cumulative manner.  The rules and patterns of the English language are taught sequentially.  As the student learns the rules, he practices using decodable readers.  In this way there are no nasty surprises involving unknown words, because they know the rules  and every word can be decoded.  This gives the reader both skills and confidence, and makes learning to read much less of a challenge.

Most Children Learn to Read Without Decodable Readers, Don’t They?

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