How the Reading Aloud Method Will Help Children Love Reading

Posted on | by KD Novelties

When it comes to literacy development, there are not many methods better than simply reading aloud. According to the Bredekamp, Copple, & Neuman, 2000 study, it is the single most important activity for reading success and to boost reading comprehension. It not only provides children with an accessible demonstration of phrased, fluent reading but it also provides them with the immediate rewards of reading, developing the listener’s interest in books and piquing their desire to be a reader as they become more skilled.

Reading out loud can be a great tool for parents, as well as a great activity to share with children. Listening to others read can develop key understanding skills and reading comprehension, even if the child is not doing the reading themselves. Active listening can help kids familiarize with the different parts of a story as well as with different and integral parts of language. On that note, children can listen on a higher level than they can read – meaning that they can listen to books that are more advanced than their reading level. This can be extremely helpful when trying to boost your child’s reading skills, reading level, and generally interesting them in reading on their own.

For the most part, a child’s first experience with reading will be story time with their parents or something similar. By making story time a staple of your daily schedule, reading and storytelling can quickly become a very important part of your child’s life. However, parents can take it a step further, too.

Make Reading a Part of Your Lives
When story time has its own time and place, children find meaning for stories and reading in their lives. There are so many ways in which parents can make reading a part stor
of their child’s everyday world. Have books around, of all kinds. Give your kids a little library of their own, but even magazines and coffee table books around the house can pique their interest – one day, they’ll be able to read those things, too. Kids also learn from example, so if you read often yourself, children will develop an interest in reading, too. But overall, if shared story time is something that you do every night before bed, or in any part of the day, they become habits and the comfort they provide can help to ensure that your child is always interested in books, reading and learning.

Encourage Kids to Listen and Form Opinions
Reading aloud is one thing, but it can play a huge role when it comes to active listening. Active listening during story time can help build vital reading comprehension skills that kids will utilize once they can read more independently. Ask your kids questions about the story. Request an overview after every book or chapter. Have them tell you about their favorite characters and why.

Read Aloud – and Think Aloud, Too
In addition to asking kids questions about what you’re reading, asking them to share their thoughts and feelings can help them develop communication skills that can carry across verbal and written forms. Ask them to connect the book to their own life experience, to other books you’ve shared together, and even ask them to connect what they are reading to universal concepts like love, friendship, family, etc. Stories made personally for children can help with this process as they are submerged into the story themselves helping them connect with characters in the story.

Have Kids Read Along
As kids get older and begin to learn, they will surely be able to identify some of the words you’re reading – even if the book you’re sharing is a bit more advanced for them. If kids are encouraged to read along, even if they are still listening, different parts of their brain are being activated and utilized. Kids will have a better idea of the relationship between how words look and how they sound, and they may also develop a deeper understanding of how language flows and how stories develop as well.

Are Kids Getting Enough Recess at School?

Posted on | by KD Novelties

For many of us, recess is one of the the more memorable staples of our early childhood school experience, along with long summers and sweet treats. For many kids, recess is the most anticipated part of the day, but in many schools recess only comes once a day given that the weather allows it. As schools across the country are looking for ways to improve the experiences that they are providing for their students, one school in Texas has taken recess to a whole new level.

For the most part, schools tend to offer recess for children once a day around lunchtime. Oftentimes, the scheduling of recess relies on the weather, indoor space, and other scheduled school activities, but at Eagle Mountain Elementary in Fort Worth, Texas, recess knows no bounds.

At Eagle Mountain Elementary, kids have several recess sessions: The youngest kids at this school now enjoy two 15-minute breaks in the morning and two in the afternoon. That makes for a total of one hour of recess a day, which is three times longer than they used to get.

The faculty and the staff were anxious about enforcing the change, but they have found that increased recess time has actually improved their students’ overall performance.  They also found that their students are more focused and less fidgety, contrary to what most will think when giving kids too many breaks, that they would lose focus.

The secret behind this success?

According to Debbie Rhea, a kinesiology professor at Texas Christian University, allowing kids time to run around, play, and be generally active can help children focus better once they’re back in class. Rhea is actually the creator of LiiNK, a new program that boosts the amount of recess for the youngest students. The goal of the program is to allow kids the time to “reboot”, helping them function at their best level.

With lessened activity, children are more likely to become fidgety, impatient, and even to misbehave. By allowing kids to release their excess of energy in a healthy and positive manner, issues that teachers normally face are less likely to occur or affect their students.

The idea of “rebooting” is not a foreign one. Have you ever been told that taking breaks while studying or working can actually help increase your productivity as well as your brain’s ability to intake and retain information? Much of the same principles apply. By allowing kids to take a break and move around, they are more likely to willingly devote their attentions to more sedentary activities while also gaining more from the experiences overall.

Staying active has benefits when it comes to health, as well, which is a major concern for American children in particular. Putting more of a positive emphasis on recess can help to encourage more active lifestyles and healthy living while also improving a child’s overall academic performance.

Did you like this article? Feel free to pass along and let’s start a movement on bringing recess back to schools and making them for longer periods.

For more parenting resources be sure to check out the KD Novelties blog and check out our unique books for kids to promote literacy and boost self-esteem.

Simple Ways to Encourage a Healthy Self-Esteem in Kids

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Self-esteem is something that many people need to work on. Some individuals naturally have a healthy self-esteem, but there are many others who struggle with self-image – especially children. Kids may have problems with the way that they see themselves, with their overall confidence in their abilities and with who they are for a number of reasons. Kids are still learning about themselves and their capabilities, and things like bullying may not help. It is important for parents to help their children navigate difficult issues such as these without letting them get too spoiled or over-entitled. So what is a parent to do?

Give them choices.
Showing confidence in your children is a great way to help them build self-esteem, but it also helps to impart them with even simple responsibilities. Allowing your children choices can help them to develop their own unique opinions, thoughts, and ideas. Something simple enough as offering your child a choice of different breakfast dishes to choose from can help them feel empowered and in control of their decisions.

Don’t do everything for them.
It can be difficult for parents to not step in when their child is having difficulties. Whether they are struggling with a puzzle or trying to figure something out, it’s important to exercise patience and allow them to develop a solution on their own. This is important for many reasons. Not only will your children begin to rely on themselves for their own resourcefulness, but they will also develop a strong sense of self. Having things handed to them all the time can be dangerous – it can lead to spoiled attitudes as well as difficulties facing any kind of failure in the future.

Remind them that people are human.
No one is perfect, and people make mistakes. Children may fret over these kinds of trip-ups but mistakes are great opportunities for learning. Things happen, and it is important that children understand that there is always room to improve and to get better. This can help your children when they make mistakes of their own but it can also help them become a better judge of others, as well.

Spend time with your children.
Whether you have one child or many, it is important that you spend one-on-one time with them. Parents are arguably the most important people in a child’s life, and knowing that they are worthy of your undivided attention when appropriate can help them to understand their importance as people. For parents with only one child, it’s important to remember to give your child space and allow them to spend time on their own as well. For parents with multiple kids, it’s important that you spend time with each child individually and that you are careful not to compare your children to one another, either. It’s important that you appreciate each one’s individuality. 

Incorporate positive words. Positive words/phrases can help boost kids self-esteem and self-image.  You should be telling your kids these positive phrases more often…

– good thinking
– keep it up
-you can do it
-nice going
-very proud
-much better
-thank you
-great choice
-well done
-keep trying
-great job
-I believe in you
-way to go
-you make me happy
-give me five
-super
-how kind

 Be sure to check out our parenting resources and personalized storybooks to boost self-esteem while promoting literacy.