Pocket Tales Blog

Should Children Be Forced to Read the Classics?

pockettales — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:04:50 -0500

I love Anne of Green Gables. The book is a classic and always brings a smile to my face listening to Anne ramble and tears to my eyes when the end draws near. My wife and I were watching the movie version and, afterwards, my wife turned to me and said that I should read the book to the class. Which made me think,

Is this a book that I would read to my class in today’s day and age? Would they actually be interested?

Should we force children to read/listen/work through classic literature as part of the school day, whether as a read-aloud or book study?

So, first of all, I guess the first part of this would be to ask what we mean by the classics?

For children’s literature, my idea of the classics include books like The Secret Garden, Treasure Island, Anne of Green Gables, The Phantom Tollbooth and others along those veins published 20 years ago and prior. Wikipedia has a good list of books from the 18th, 19th and 20th century, which lists books that are still used in schools. I myself have read Little House in the Big Woods to my class, usually at the beginning of the year or for a pioneer. And while I love the book, I find that I have to do a lot of editing as the students start to lose focus in the longer, more drawn out detailed parts.

So do we continue to try and read this books to children?

The one side of the issue would say, “Yes”. That children need to be exposed to books that are considered high-quality narratives that have defined literature; that these books give them access to words that people don’t use in everyday speech, exposes them to proper sentence structure and correct grammer. The writing is more detailed and strengthens reading comprehension, stimulates thinkings, evokes ideas, creates mental images and engages the emotions. They would also say classic literature has endured over time for a good reason, has universal meaning and explores the human condition in ways that Spongebob Squarepants does not. In fact, they would point out the proliferation of books sold by groups like Scholastics which seem to focus on selling brands and series to the detriment of good literature, as speaking to their argument. These days kids are so immersed in videos and flashes of information that unless you are reading longer, more descriptive passages, they are going to have a much harder time understanding what they read and hear in school.

The other side would say that a lot of these classics perpetuate values and ideas that are outdated. These books contain too much detail and outdated verbiage that drive kids away because they don’t understand or get lost in the expansive illustrative details. How do we maintain a child’s interest in a story that has no relevance to the 21st century child? More modern books speak more to the angst and lives of the modern child with situations they are more likely to relate to. In speaking about a modern day authors effect on students, one teacher writes, in discussing the works of Walter Dean Myers, “Of course they loved Meyers - at night, they heard the gunshots he wrote about. They told me so when I asked about homework. On weekends, some of them visited brothers or cousins on Rikers. Doritos were breakfast. And, often dinner.”

These modern day situations are what students relate to. It is part of their world now and not unattached from their realities like the classics tend to be. Afterall, proponents for not having children forced to read the classics would say, shouldn’t we encourage children to read what excites and interests them? Shouldn’t we foster a love for reading? We should be pushing young readers to try new genres, to explore a variety of authors. To use their imaginations to build worlds in their minds. Not stunting their comfort in reading through literary texts that might not be relatable to them yet. Do we chance having children driven away from a love of reading because we force on them books that we think are good for them?

I would say that I am in the second camp in many ways. I believe that we need to find the modern day classics and bring those to our children and students. We need to have literature available that will excite, captivate and encourage children to want to explore more. And in those explorations, if they come across “The Hobbit”, they may discover that they love the language and the ideas that come through. I would say good for them. Given a choice between reading “Treasure Island” or “Holes”, however, I know that my students are going to enjoy “Holes” more. While “Treasure Island” may be a classic and written as a boy’s adventure book, “Holes” brings in situations and characters that children can relate to and understand. I am not saying that children should never read the classics but maybe, as a lot of adults do, they will discover them later in life and be more rewarded through a better understanding of life and the context these great classics live in.

So, while we may long to have the literature we grew up and loved brought to another generation, maybe those are longings from behind rose-tinted glasses. Teaching has always been a balance between what we want to do and what is good for our children. While I would love to draw them away from, and often tear my hair out at the books I find for sale in the Scholastics Book Club forms, the fact is, these books get my kids reading. It is what interests them. It is what they pick up. Choosing books for my class needs to take this into consideration. So I will continue to hunt for those modern classics to use in the class for book studies and read-alouds that are engaging and relevant but also make students realize that there are more things out there than the Captain Underpants/Squarebob genre of books that are placed prominently in front of children’s eyes.

What do you think? Are there Classic books that you have found kids love? How do you make it engaging for them?

Join us by adding your comments! If you haven’t already, let us help you sign up for an account to start using Pockettales in your class. Teachers and classes are always welcome! Sign up at Pockettales.com!

Reading for Life: Video Resources for Parents on Raising Readers

pockettales — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:05:00 -0500

As the Pockettales team continues building out cool new features and improvements in our website (btw, more new cool features are on the way!), we occasionally, come across some interesting resources for parents and educators.

Reading is probably one of the toughest areas to teach and definitely something that parents struggle with at home in knowing how to support their children. While parents and teachers can usually force children to read, what we want is for our children to have a love for reading; that with all the distractions in the world around us, our children will discover the joy, thrill and fulfillment that a beautiful and well written book brings to them. The other area of difficulty for parents is navigating the world of language terms they often hear when meeting with their child’s teacher. As the teacher explains the development of the language skills their child is gaining or having difficulty with attaining, parents can often get lost in all the terminology along with what to do with that information once they get home.

That’s why this free video series we discovered in our travels through cyberspace, is a nice introduction and resource for parents. Created by the Literacy Center at the Northern Illinois University, the videos include helpful information on topics including developing a love of reading, building reading habits, comprehension of fiction and non-fiction texts, phonemic awareness, and comprehension strategies. You can check out the video below and click on the link to view the other resources on their Youtube channel.

The link to the rest of the videos can be found here.

How do you encourage reading at home? Share your tips and ideas here!

Enhanced Books for the Ipad Kid

pockettales — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:40:45 -0500

More and more, kids are using digital platforms like the ipad for reading. With recent studies showing that kids prefer digital e-books with enhanced content over regular paper editions and comprehension levels remaining similar for both digital and print copies, enhanced books are going to become increasingly popular. While some critics state that,

the level of recall actually was less when comparing an enhanced ebook to a standard digital edition” and that “the culprit seemed to be too much focus on enjoying what the screen could do rather than the material itself

there is no doubt that enhanced books are engaging and fun forms of literature that take advantage of new technologies and new ways to bring stories to life (For more on the debate, check out the articles, “Digital Media Brings the Reader into the Book” and “Are Children’s E-books Really Terrible For Your Children”).

My own children, ages 3 and 1, both love the Dr. Seuss books available on the ipad. Not only can they have the books read to them and follow along but they can also touch objects on the screen and have the app say what those objects are. The text is highlighted as it is read so children and see and hear the words and they are both very engaged. Of course, we don’t use the apps exclusively and we provide tons of great print books for our children which they also love. We believe it is always about moderation and allowing them to enjoy the fun of the apps but also knowing that the act of reading print books to our children is also an important bonding experience that an app just cannot give.

Regardless, there are some great apps out there. The blog, Digital Media Diet, has a great post on 25 Essential Children’s Book Apps, where the author has,

whittled down my favorites to just 25 apps I would recommend for a well-rounded collection. This list represents just 10% of the 250 books reviewed on our site (and includes insights from previewing over 1000 book apps overall).

Our Top 25 Children’s Book Apps:

Essential Fairy Tales & Nursery Rhymes:

The Three Little Pigs - Nosy Crow Interactive Storybook

Nursery Rhymes with StoryTime

Cinderella - A PicPocket Book

Extra Special ‘Wow’ Factor:

Teddy’s Day

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

The Penelope Rose

Great Enhanced Storytelling:

Fierce Grey Mouse

Sir Charlie Stinky Socks and the Really BIG Adventure

A Fine Musician

Digital Classics:

The Cat and The Hat – Dr. Seuss

PopOut! The Tale of Peter Rabbit

The Monster at the end of this Book

For the Very Young:

Scruffy Kitty

The Going to Bed Book

Pat the Bunny

A Present for Milo

For Older Kids:

Treasure Kai and the lost gold of shark island

Be Confident in who you are: a middle school confidential graphic novel

Trans-Media Chart Toppers:

Toy Story Read-Along

Angelina Ballerina’s New Ballet Teacher

Bedtime Favorites:

The Wrong Side of the Bed

Nighty Night!

Too Unique to Miss:

Bartleby’s Book of Buttons Vol. 1: The Far Away Island

The Strange & Wonderful World of Ants

Lazy Larry Lizard

Another great site to find Digital E-books is Digital Storytime. The site lists e-books that are available on the ipad and reviews them so you can get a good idea of what the story is about and about how the interactive elements work.

Whatever you decide about digital e-books, there is no doubt that there are going to be more and more published as publishers jump on the digital bandwagon.

What do you think about digital e-books for children? What are some of your favorites?

New Student Profile Page = More New Features Coming!

pockettales — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:35:26 -0500

As we continue to build out new features for Pockettales, we want to share with you some of the great changes and additions we have in development.

A few posts ago, we shared a new feature we are working on that we’re really excited about. We know that the teacher dashboard is going to be a great addition for teachers in helping them make better decisions for their reading programs.

Today we want to share with you another exciting part of the teacher dashboard; the Student Profile page. Below is a picture showing details on what that will look like.

The Student Profile page is a fantastic way for teachers to get a closer look at an individual student and what they are accomplishing. Unlike the main teacher dashboard page, which gives you a larger overview of everything happening, the Student Profile page will allow you to zoom in and focus on an individual student and what is happening as they use the tools within Pockettales.

Just as our education systems are beginning to change their philosophy from whole class instruction to more individualized programs, we think that both the teacher dashboard and the new Student Profile area will help teachers to better individualize their students reading program. Teachers can see exactly what reading is happening and tailer their programs to fit the needs of all their students.

Choosing "Just Right" Books

pockettales — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:04:54 -0500

One of the more difficult things in supporting and encouraging your child’s reading, is knowing the right kinds of books to purchase or borrow that fit with your child’s current reading level.

There are many things that can make it difficult or that you need to think about when choosing appropriate books for your child. These can include:

Finding a book that matches or engages your child’s ever changing interests;
Finding a book that is at their level (more about this in a minute)
Finding a book that appropriate, in that it fits within the context and values of your family

I wanted to expand on the second point as that can be a tricky area for parents. As we choose books for children, we of course want to allow children to have choice as that gives them ownership. However, we also want to ensure that children are reading books at their appropriate level to build reading skills and growth. A student in Grade 6 reading at a Grade 6 level but choosing books that are more intended for a grade 3 students because they are easier, is not providing enough of a challenge. Children also need to be reading books that are at or even slightly ahead of them to build vocabulary, as well as strength in comprehension and reading fluency. I am not saying that everything has to be chosen to challenge them. I myself like to read some YA materials, not only to keep up to date but also for enjoyment. However, if children are always reading books below their level, they are not building the skills they need as they move up through the grades.

I recently came across a couple of resources that I thought would be great for parents and maybe even teachers as they look at supporting their children as readers. The first is an article from the Royal Gazette Online. The author, Darnell Wynn, states that,

Parents want their children to read well and independently for enjoyment. Research has shown that children who read generously develop more expansive vocabularies and achieve higher levels of reading and writing development. Reading daily at home is beneficial for children to learn new vocabulary and information, increase speed and fluency, improve comprehension, experience different authors’ writing styles and ultimately develop a greater interest and love of reading and writing.

How can parents choose ‘just right’ books for their children to support reading and writing development?
‘Just right’ books means your child:
l Is interested in the book
l Can read and figure out almost all of the words
l Understands what he or she is reading and can tell you about the story
l Can read fairly smoothly

Noted educator and author Regie Routman recommends the five-finger rule in selecting the ‘just right’ book for your child. She suggests as your child reads, have him or her count on one hand any unknown words. If there are five or more different unknown words on a full page, the book is too hard for your child to read alone. However, you could read the book aloud to your child. Older children can read several pages before deciding whether a book is too hard. Ms Routman notes that sometimes a book that may initially seem too hard is ‘just right’ once the child has read enough for meaning to ‘kick’ in.

Ultimately, parents should make reading fun for their children. In addition to selecting ‘just right’ books, parents should never tie their opinion of their child to his reading ability by communicating that through attitudes and behaviours. Parents should not push their child to read at higher levels at the sacrifice of understanding. The best way to make reading fun is through conversation about what is being read.

Options for parents looking for ways to support a child’s reading can include scanning stories ahead for difficult or unusual vocabulary and going over these words in advance. Allow your child to read through a story silently before reading aloud (especially if your child is self-conscious about reading aloud). Alternatively, a parent can first read the story aloud and discuss the story content. Parents can add variety to the reading sessions by taking turns with the reading by sharing lines or pages. Read story beginnings aloud to your child to hook interest then let your child finish the story independently. If a story includes dialogue, assume the role of one of the characters and read using different voices, accents and inflections.
When helping your child to understand and respond to stories, think about ways to get your child involved. For example, if the story takes place in an unfamiliar place, use an atlas to locate the place and share as much as you can to generate interest and knowledge about the location of the story.
After reading the first few pages or chapters, stop and talk about the main character in the story and discuss possible events and endings that might occur. Connect the character to your life.

While the reading is progressing, check in to see how the character’s situation is progressing and how your child is reacting to the developments in the story. Have your child read sections aloud that she finds particularly interesting or confusing. You can give your child sticky notes to mark special pages for further discussion.

After the reading, discuss personal reactions to the story with your child. What was liked or disliked and were there any lessons learned?
There may be an opportunity for a follow-up to the story and this can be done in art form, writing, drama or reading another book by the same author or similar genre. The possibilities are there to explore.
Choosing ‘just right’ books and knowing how to engage with your child as a reader and as a supporter of reading is the best way to instill a love of reading and life-long desire to read. Our children learn to value reading when it is a shared and supportive home activity with adults who actively engage with books.

Link

The Reading Rocket site has another way to think about helping your child choose the appropriate books for their level: How can parents help their children find books that are not “too hard” and not “too easy” but instead are “just right”? Here’s some advice.

Five finger rule

Choose a book that you think you will enjoy.
Read the second page.
Hold up a finger for each word you are not sure of, or do not know.
If there are five or more words you did not know, you should choose an easier book.

Still think it may not be too difficult? Use the five finger rule on two more pages.

Choose a book that is a good fit for you!

Read two or three pages and ask yourself these questions:

Will it be an easy, fun book to read?

Do I understand what I am reading?
Do I know almost every word?
When I read it aloud, can I read it smoothly?
Do I think the topic will interest me?

If most of your answers were “yes”, this will be an easy book to read independently by yourself.

Will this book be too hard for me?

Are there five or more words on a page that I don’t know, or am unsure of?
Is this book confusing and hard to understand by myself?
When I read it aloud, does it sound choppy and slow?

If most of your answers were “yes,” this book is too hard. You should wait awhile before you read this book. Give the book another try later, or ask an adult to read the book to you.

Tips on reading with your child

When they can’t read the word, say…

Can you sound it out?
Fingertap it.
Can you think of the word or movement that helps you remember that vowel sound?
What is the first and last sound? What word would make sense?
Does it have a pattern that you have seen in other words? (ex-an, ack)
How does the word begin?
You said_______. Does that make sense?
What word would make sense that would start with these sounds?
Put your finger under the word as you say it.

When they want to read a book that is too hard, say…

Let’s read it together.
This is a book you will enjoy more if you save it until you are older — or later in the year.
[Be honest!] When people read books that are too hard for them, they often skip important parts. You will have more fun with this book if you wait until you can read it easily.

I hope that that gives some good guides to helping you with choosing good books. Your child’s teacher or your local community librarian can also give you some good suggestions on books to share with your child. They have had many years of guiding students to good books and are excellent resources.

Coming Feature Announcement: Teacher Dashboards

pockettales — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 10:35:05 -0500

As hinted at, Pockettales has been thinking up some great additions to the Pockettales site to include more functionality and tools for teachers. As you can see below, we are putting the finishing touches on a new teacher’s dashboard.

While our vision is to make Pockettales a great way for students to share and be introduced to great books, we also feel that there is a great opportunity to get real-time data into the hands of teachers to help them make better decisions in planning, maintaining and adjusting their reading programs to be more individualized to the needs of their students.

On the dashboard, you can see several areas to allow teachers to manage what is happening as students use Pockettales. You can use the dashboard to

track daily, weekly, all time usage and statistics,
see daily newsfeeds of what is happening as your students use the site,
see the reading levels of books your students are reading either individually or as a class.
quickly see the most popular books being read
Quickly filter data
And much more!

This is a really exciting part of the Pockettales site and one that we think will be very popular with teachers.

What do you think? What do you like about the new teacher dashboard? Is there anything you would like to see?

Happy New Years From Pockettales

pockettales — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:05 -0500

Everyone here at Pockettales would like to wish you and your loved ones a Happy and Safe New Years!

We’re looking forward to big things in the New Year so keep coming back and tell your friends about us!

Above all, keep reading and sharing great books!

We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading. - B. F. Skinner

Weekend Fun: Cooking with Children's Literature

pockettales — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 10:00:06 -0500

So, I was organizing my kitchen cupboard to make room for the three new Jamie Oliver books I received for Christmas (and boy, does he have a lot of cookbooks), when I came across this delightful book by Liz Franklin called Cooking Italian with Kids.

While it’s a little old for my children, it got me wondering if there was a way to combine favorite children’s literature books with some great cooking experiences in the kitchen. Combining books with food is always fun. Getting to make the food is even more fun (Though it can get messy. Our apologies in advance!).

Some of the books have some very obvious food elements that you can do as a snack to go along with the book. You can either read the story first, point out the foods that are mentioned, then make the snack or make the snack as an introductory activity, then eat it as you read the book. So taking a look around Google, I came up with some great ways to combine children’s literature with some cooking ideas:

1. Chocolate Chip cookies with If You Give A Mouse A Cookie: this is a great series of books with a progressive story line which circles back to the beginning by the end of thestory. Kids love the silly things that the animals do and the illustrations are very nicely done. There are a few books in the series that involve food but chocolate chip cookies are lots of fun for kids to make and taste great.

2. Pancakes with Curious George Makes Pancakes: While Curious George oftentimes elicit expressions of disbelief (and why exactly does the Man with the Yellow Hat keeping leaving that monkey by himself?), children love how Georgegets to do all the things that they don’t get to do but wish they could. In this case, they can make pancakes. The nice thing is that they are not difficult to make. If you want to be even more experimental, try sticking bamboo skewers or popsicle sticks in them as they are cooking to make pancakes on a stick.

3. Strawberry Shortcake with Cook-A-Doodle-Do: a favorite dessert of mine (being a good Nova Scotian boy!), this is a fun story to read. Rooster—rebuffed by Dog, Cat, and Goose just like his Granny was—finds companionship in the kitchen with Turtle, Iguana, and Potbellied Pig. As Turtle reads the recipe aloud, Iguana continuously confuses the instructions to great comedic effect. Scattered through the story are sidebars with cooking tips that offer information on the ingredients, measurements, and techniques mentioned in the text.

4. Blueberry Muffins with Blueberries for Sal: This classic story by Robert McCloskey,has a little girl and her mother setting off in search of blueberries for the winter at the same time as a mother bear and her cub. A quiet comedy of errors ensues when the young ones wander off and absentmindedly trail the wrong mothers.

5. Soup with Stone Soup: Two hungry travelers, denied food by the inhabitants of a mountain village, publicly declare that they can make soup from a stone. Only they need a carrot… and a potato… and a few more ingredients to make it taste really good. Everyone in the town contributes something, pronounces the soup delicious and learns the magic behind it: sharing. Their are several versions of the story but the version retold by Heather Forest includes a recipe for Stone Soup though any simple recipe for soup would work.

6. Popcorn with The Popcorn Book: This is a nice “night lunch” book. Make some popcorn and eat it while reading this fun book by Tomie De Paola just before bedtime.

Some other books you can use include:

In the Night Kitchen
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Bread and Jam for Francis
The Pie and the Patty Pan by Beatrix Potter
Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto
The Little House Series
Four Famished Foxes and Fosdyke
Pineapple Poet and the Curse of the Smoothie Man
Green Eggs and Ham
The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog
My Mom Loves Me More than Sushi

Happy Cooking and Reading!

Do you have any favorite books that could be used as a cooking experience with children? Let us know in the comments!

From Classic Books to Screen (Or the new Hobbit trailer)

pockettales — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:09:00 -0500

Quick question …

What’s even better than reading a classic book for the hundredth time; a book that you could probably recite from memory?

Seeing your favorite book come to life on the big screen.

Now, I know what you are saying. So many times, you look forward to the movie adaptation only to be so disappointed that you come out of the theater weeping like the Mock Turtle in Alice Wonderland (I’m looking at you, directors of The Shipping News and The Series of Unfortunate Events! Why, oh, why?). I remember one of my absolute favorite books, which I still read every year at about this time, being made into a movie a couple of years ago. It was the film adaptation of The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper, and I couldn’t wait for it to come out. What I hadn’t anticipated was that the director and screenwriters would change just about every aspect of it that made it such a classic book. From the setting to the ending; nothing was sacred. In short, it was a horrible movie and never did well.

That is why I am so looking forward to the film adaptation of The Hobbit. Having seen “The Lord of the Rings” many, many times and loved it’s dedication to the source material, I know that The Hobbit will be beautiful, exciting and faithful to what made “The Hobbit” one of the most important books of the 20th century. If it can even elicit a bit of the feeling I had opening the illustrated version of the Hobbit I was introduced to when I was in Grade 3, it will be wonderful.

You’ve probably seen it but here is the first trailer for “The Hobbit” coming out next year.

Do you have a favorite book that has been made into a movie? Did you like the movie? Let us know in the comments!

Wintry Books to Celebrate the Season!

pockettales — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:32:56 -0500

I don’t know about you but it’s getting cold here. While it’s not the coldest I have ever experienced (you don’t know cold until you are walking in -30 degree weather with a windchill that makes it -42 degrees to the school which is still open even when buses don’t run!), it is still cold enough to put on the Bing Crosby Christmas album, get some good books and snuggle on the couch with your child.

Winter time is always a great time to bring out those wonderful winter theme books that you have been saving all year. One of the new blogs I have been enjoying, Ohdeedoh.com, has some suggestions for winter books that I think are great. I thought I would share them below plus add some of my own favorites that didn’t make it on their list. These books also make great read alouds.

Snowflake Bentley by Jaqueline Briggs Martin, Illustrated by Mary Azarian

Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

Waiting for Winter by Sebastian Meschenmoser

Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost, Illustrated by Susan Jeffers

The Snow Day by Komako Sakai

The Mitten by Jan Brett

In My Dreams I Can Fly by Eveline Hasler, Illustrated by Kathi Bhend

I would also add these favorites of mine:

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

A Prairie Boy’s Winter by William Kurelek

Winter’s Gift by Jane Monroe Donovan

And finally, for the Canadians in the crowd (or those Canadian wanabees!), a couple of my new favorites . .

A Porcupine in a Pine Tree by Helaine Becker and Werner Zimmermann

Singing Away the Dark by Caroline Woodward

I also love the TA novel, The Dark Is Rising. While it isn’t for all people, the mix of celtic/Arthurian legend and the winter solstice give a unique look at the winter season.

So grab a good book, a comfy chair, some hot chocolate and enjoy some of these wonderful winter tale’s to drive the cold winter away!

What do you think? What are your favorite wintry books to share? Let us know in the comments!

Join us by adding your comments! If you haven’t already, let us help you sign up for an account to start using Pockettales in your class. Teachers and classes are always welcome! Sign up at Pockettales.com!

Pockettales Founder Featured in News Media

pockettales — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 19:20:23 -0400

Cruising from one success to the next, Pockettales Founder Yaw Awing was featured in the Nov. 5 edition of the Post-Bulletin Newspaper. Developing the idea from his experiences as a young child, playing math games on the computer, Yaw talks about the early days in creating the popular online reading site. You can read the short excerpt here or if you have access to the print edition, you can read the full article there. Just another reason why Pockettales is so awesome!

10 Reasons Why You Should Read Aloud To Your Child

pockettales — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:58:00 -0400

After having written the blog post on how to choose a good read-aloud, I thought afterwards that I should have perhaps started with the why of reading aloud. In our busy days and schedules, it can be easy to dismiss prioritizing time to read aloud to our children. In his book, “The Read-Aloud Handbook”, Jim Trelease gives several important reasons to read-aloud. Surprisingly, I just came across this book recently and wish I had seen it years earlier. It is a treasure trove of research and resources for both teachers and parents.

Taken from his book, here are 10 reasons why you should read to your child:

1. It’s an accrued skill - It’s a time thing. The more you read, the better you get. Therefore the more time you spend reading to your child the better they are going to be prepared for actual reading. You are embedding those building blocks. Just because they can’t read yet doesn’t mean that they can’t still begin learning and understanding the process. Quite often, you will hear the kindergarten teachers talk about those students who have come into kindergarten not ready. A lot of times it is because families have not spent the time reading to their children right from an early age. The interesting thing is that often Kindergarten teachers can accurately predict how a child is going to do as they continue through to graduation. Some of that prediction comes from how they enter kindergarten.

2. Create life time readers and not just school-time readers. A lot of times I see parents butting their heads against teachers and homework policies. I have had numerous conversations about how school is for school and home is for home. And there is certainly a place for that thinking. Homework for homework sake is not good and is really what the fight over homework is about in my mind. However, this is not a post about homework per se. The point though is that, we want to build children who don’t just read for school. That just creates students who think that reading is just about schoolwork. Reading at home build’s the “want-to” of reading and not the “just-to”.

3.The best source for brain building at the early ages is through the ear. While young children are not yet ready to read with their eyes on their own, reading aloud to them, helps them to hear the words and associate it with what they see. The rich sounds of words help the child make sense of the words they will read later on.

4. To reassure your child - the whole reading with your child reassures them and comforts them. They can snuggle in your arms and feel safe. It is time well spent with your child that will pay huge dividends later on. They know that the time you spend with them is important and thus, they are important.

5. To entertain and bond with your child - The way you speak the text and interact with the book and your child builds reading as something done for fun. Using voices, emphasis, engaging children with the various elements on display brings stories to life as a tv brings live action to life. The important difference is that the stories you read can proceed at your own pace, not a pace dictated by the television. You can stop to explore, talk about what is going on, ask questions. You are an engaged, interactive audience not passively immobile with no control. I still remember my father reading “Danny, the Champion of the World”. It created an indelible memory in me that makes me remember my father every time I read that book. Now that he has passed away, it is nice to have something that I can remember as having been a bond between us.

6. To arouse curiosity and inspire - as with the previous point, as you begin to delve into the story, the pictures and the concepts, you inspire and grow curiosity within your child. And again, they can stop to think about what they are seeing, hearing and reading. They can go back to a previous idea if they need to. A book of poetry with original photographs can inspire your child to look at photographs in new ways or to create their own photograph album. The possibilities are endless with books. You can find and explore books on any concept regardless of the age level. Just because a child can’t read the book themselves does not mean that it can not still be read to them and explore the illustrations. The interesting thing is that children often have a higher level of listening comprehension than reading comprehension meaning that a child at a grade 4 read level can understand a grade 6 reading level if it is read to them. Often the books, I read in my class are of a higher reading level than what my students can actually read. We’ll talk more about this later.

7. Conditions the child to associate reading with pleasure - When you read with your child, it actually triggers pleasure sensations within our brains. And we always want to return to things that bring us pleasure. My daughter associates reading with getting to snuggle with her father. It is our time together and it brings us both happiness. Developing this joy in reading will help create a reading that is “want-to” reader rather than a “just-to” reader. We will always come back to reading because our brains have associated it with a time of happiness.

8. Creates background knowledge - Allowing your child to find and read books based on their interest, helps them to build knowledge that is relevant to them. I remember being fascinated with Napolean when I was in Grade 3 (Yes, I know I was weird). My mother took me to the public library which had a very limited number of books on the subject and none at my level. So, instead of telling me that there was nothing for me, my mother took the time to go through the material with me and help me to understand and read what I could not. Young children can interact with material as their parents engage them with the text, questioning, pointing out elements of the pictures, etc.

9. Builds book vocabulary - Just engaging with books with your child helps to build the vocabulary of using books. Table of contexts, page turning, reading from left to right, front cover, etc, are all things that children begin to understand just by sharing books with parents.

10. Provides a reading role model - Seeing your parents, older siblings, heros reading is hugely important. I just had a conversation with a parent about their child’s reading at our recent report card interviews. She was complaining that her child doesn’t like reading much at home for pleasure. I asked her what the reading was like for the parents. She looked a little sheepish and stated that she didn’t particularly read much for pleasure either and realized on her own that there may be a connection. If you prioritize reading and make it important at home, your children will know it is important and may be more likely to pick it up themselves. Getting them their own library card, bringing books, books, and more books into the home, going to bookstores, sharing what you are reading, having conversations about reading and books; these are all things that show how important it is. Having their role models doing this … it just makes even more of a case for getting into it themselves.

The Read-Aloud handbook is a great resource for parents and teachers. You can probably find it at your local library. If not, you can find quite a bit of good information online at http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/rah-intro.html.

What do you think? What reading traditions have you started with your children to develop a love of reading? Let us know in the comments.

Read-Alouds for Children: Choosing A Good Book

pockettales — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:20:50 -0400

Reading out loud to your children, whether you are a teacher or a parent, is one of the best ways to encourage and share the love of reading to your children. However, some books are better than others for this as I discovered last year when I went to share a great book I had found with my class.

I had just finished reading The Mysterious Benedict Society and was so excited to share it with the students. As I was nearing the end of the book I was reading with my class, I thought it would be the perfect next book to read aloud. It had action, adventure, interesting young characters and humour. Or so I thought.

Once I started reading the book out loud, I realized that the book was far too long with way too much descriptive text. The students quickly tuned out during the long expository moments and got lost in the fine intricacies of the plot as they had failed to pay attention to the other parts. It wan’t a failure. Some students loved. But it was definitely a harder book for them to get into.

So what makes for an exciting and captivating read aloud book?

It tells a rich story in simple language: This was my problem with the “Mysterious Benedict Society. It was a very rich story but the richness of it made it difficult for the students to get into it as a read aloud. A read aloud should move the story forward easily without getting bogged down in too much descriptive language. While descriptive language is important in developing intense, vibrant and complex ideas and literature, it is hard to get that across as a read aloud. Much better to leave that to the children to read on their own. It’s easier to digest that amount of detail when you are reading with your own eyes.
Is enjoyable for the reader too: I have found this to be very true with books my child loves. It is hard to maintain the enjoyment of a book when it has been read over and over again. While repetition is good for young readers, it is hard to get across any excitement when you are not enjoying it. However, if you allow your child to choose a book, then choose one of your own during your reading time (or even hide the book in questions as we have done) you can at least show your child that there are other books to enjoy. If you are a teacher, this job is a little easier. There are lots of good lists out there to help you choose a read-aloud that others have found to be good. A librarian can also be great in helping you choose a good read-aloud. Part of this also comes from experience and trial and error. My experience with the Mysterious Benedict Society showed me that that was not the ideal book. The kids will be gracious though and I just finished anyway and chalked it up to experience. Some of the ones the kids did love though were the Shiloh series and the The Series of Unfortunate Events though I only read the first three. And here is the difference which is important in picking a book you will enjoy reading. The books I have enjoyed reading the most have been the books where I can get into the characters and act them out. There are exceptions to this but this has been the one rule that has helped me. With both the books mentioned above, I have been able to develop the character in front of the kids and act the voice parts of it out in front of them. There are other books that don’t fit this but are still good read alouds but I have noticed that the students really get into the stories if I can bring out the characters in interesting ways. For example, the novel, “Shiloh” takes place in the Southern States so I like to use my form of a southern accent for the characters. It usually surprises the students and brings attention to the characters and setting. But above all it makes it fun for me which the students can see.
Sometimes deals with mature subjects or issues: Read-alouds can be great books to have quick discussions about in the moment. Just yesterday, I had a conversation with my Grade 3’s about compound interest as the read-aloud I was reading involved the young character deciding whether or not to put his money in the bank. There are lots of examples of places that read-alouds can speak to students on difficult subjects. With the teacher or parent reading the books, they can help students to understand the complex issues or plot. One of the books I have read to the students, Holes, is a great contemporary novel. However, it all hinges on a series of plot devices including flash backs. If the students in Grade 3 read the story themselves, they would most likely miss these elements. However, I can certainly help them understand what is going on and they always love the story and the quirks in the plot. Reading books that are more mature than their actual reading level brings in and exposes them to higher level ideas and vocabulary with the help they need to assimilate them into their own world of reading and writing. I also enjoy reading these books to the students as it allows me to help students grapple with interesting and thought provoking ideas and concepts.
Or is very, very, very funny: Some books, no matter what age level they are, are just fun to read to the students. If you have a great book, it doesn’t matter what age level it is actually for, students and children of all ages will love it.

Now, I know what you are thinking, dear readers. What books do I use in my class? Here are some of the books I use in my class though it does sometimes change.

1. Little House on the Prairie/ Farmer Boy: These are timeless classics and they are great to remind students of how much things have changed. While the language can be a little archaic (indians, etc), they can also be great conversation builders especially if you are doing a pioneer unit. They have some great stories in them and students always enjoy them. I usually start my year with either one of those books.

2. Loser: This is a fairly recent book but the short chapters and the

details in it that students will recognize in their own lives make it a lot of fun to read.There are some very humourous moments in it as the book describes the life of a boy growing up. There are also some deeper issues in it about how people view others, what makes people different and how we treat others who don’t always fit in. It’s also a great book to talk about perspective. This is one of my all time favorites!

3. Series of Unfortunate Events: This book has great characters I

enjoy acting out and lots of interesting vocabulary. This isn’t a book for everyone thoughand some may not like the topics in it but the students have always enjoyed them. I only read the first couple though.

4. Shiloh: I love to use my Southern Accent on this book (bad as it is!)
and the students completely side with the main character as he fights to save the life of an animal. Some good discussions on whether it is

good to lie and steal if it is intended for good. Some great action in this book.

5. Holes: A great book to read with great action and plot details. If you take time to explain what is going on throughout the book with the plot
pieces all weaving together the students will enjoy it even more. A good one especially for the higher kids in your class.

6. Because of Winn-Dixie: An easy read but fun. Another book where I get to use my southern accent badly!

7. Stone Fox: A short chapter book, this story will have your students mesmerized. Warning! Very sad ending. I often find myself on the verge of tears reading this book and you are guaranteed to have tears from some of your students.

8. Danny the Champion of the World: This is a sentimental favorite of mine which allows me to add it to this list. My father read this to me and I enjoy it so much as a tale of a father and his son exploring the world together.

Let us know in your comments below!

What books do you enjoy reading to your children? What would you add to the list? Are there other ways you use to separate good books from books that make great read-alouds?

21st Century Ken and Changing Paradigms!

pockettales — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 18:30:27 -0400

That would be Sir Ken Robinson of course (Not Ken of Barbie and Ken fame. Not that that Ken doesn’t deserve a lifetime service award for his work over the years but I digress)!

Sir Ken, a proponent on changes to our education system, recently spoke at a conference on changing the traditional paradigm of education. It’s a great video by RSA Animate. They have taken his speech and created some beautiful graphic illustrations underneath that complement and enlarge the ideas. Watch the video beneath and then share some time with me as we look at some of the issues involved.

Now, I think everyone agrees that things in Education need to change. I agree with everything he says to some degree. I think that, like all speakers who make their living on a soapbox, that there are elements of embellishment to help make his point. There are several examples of creativity and wonderful learning going on in traditional schools all over the country. Oftentimes we forget that in the rush to change. We do have great things happening.

Having said that, there is a change that is needed. My question though is this:

When have we talked about this enough?

We have made these arguments so many times, in so many ways. I don’t think there are many out there that would disagree that we need change. There are lots of engaging figures and videos out there that have been talking about these issues for years already (you can see two of them here and here).

I think teachers and educators are tired of the conversation. They want to see action.

After several sessions from our principal laying the foundation for 21st century education and changes in education, one of the teachers I work with leaned over to me and said, “I’m glad that we’re finally looking at some practical ways of doing this. I get so tired just talking about the theory.”

Now, I know what you are saying. Theory is important. It is the foundation of what we are trying to do; the reason for making drastic changes.

But a lot of teachers are practical. They agree that there needs to be change but they want to know how to do it. And here is where I believe the real issues are.

1. The Conversation Doesn’t Need to Stop; It Just Needs to Move Forward:

Most teachers want to know that it can be done. They want to change but they don’t want to fail. As Heidi Jacobs Hayes states in Curriculum 21 (2010), teachers are not “resisting new approaches; (they) just want to do it right.” They understand the theory but are overwhelmed with all the buzzwords and elements needed to put it into place. As I work with my elementary staff on this, the resistance comes from a fear of failure and chaos. They feel so safe with their worksheets and textbooks. They can control the situation and know what to expect. These changes are trying to throw all that out and replace it with an unknown which is scary. They say, “Why would I trade what I have for that? Where are the supports? Where are the resources? How do I know this is going to work for my students?” We need to now move the conversation to the HOW of 21st Century Education. Which brings me to my second point …

2. Industries Around Education Need To Change and Be More Proactive

Now, I know that someone is going to say that there are lots of resources out there on how to do this. There are websites galore all expanding on the how of 21st century education and PBL (project based learning). Here is one example here.

But these resources and websites are not typically on the radars of most schools and teachers. They need to be searched out and found, then adapted to school and teachers unique needs. This takes time and unless there is an active and micro-managed movement in the school, teachers are not usually going to take the time to do it. There are many reasons for this including a lack of experience in searching effectively and the building (or lack of building) of a personal network of teachers, educators and leaders.

Teachers, schools and districts typically still rely on the big industries surrounding Education to supply their resources in bringing concepts and learning to the class. Yes, these rely on the curriculum and are developed around them. But, for the most part, they have not changed in style or format since we were younger.

If we want to create a change and a movement towards 21st Century learning, we need to bring the big companies on board and “encourage” them to start creating resources that are more in line with 21st century pedagogies. These are the companies (Pearson, McGraw-Hill, Scholastics, etc) that can help transition teachers to developing the skills students need. Replacing textbooks with resources for implementing and creating 21st century skills can also help bring relevancy to these companies as more and more institutions move away from textbook. However, as schools and teacher continue to use and depend on these companies for resources, they need to be targeted.

3. Where Are All the Small, Creative Industries?

We continue to talk about how we are training students for jobs that don’t exist yet, that students are finding work that does not involve being hired by a large company/firm, that university degrees may be irrelevant in tomorrow’s economy but schools continue to guide students to the big universities and faculties that have always traditionally drawn students. Where are these opportunities for students? Why do we continue to push students towards the large faculties?

Recently, I had a student helper in my class who was in her Grade 12 year. She had been planning to go to post-secondary and go into law. As she worked in my class, I continually gave her projects that included designing and creating my bulletin boards for various subjects. As I watched her and saw her work blossom on my walls, I realized that she had an incredible gift for graphic design. When I talked to her about it as a possible career, she was amazed that that was even a possibility.

My point is that if employers want students that are creative, adaptable, collaborative and skilled in the areas that entrepreneurs in all areas want, they need to be proactive in getting into the schools and engaging with students, teachers, districts to open the eyes to the different possibilities. Maybe they need to go in and help schools develop an apprenticeship program to draw out the work force they need. Maybe it’s just to help schools understand that there is more out than just the big faculties. I, myself, had always thought that if I had been guided differently, I might have chosen to go into graphic/web design myself. You never know. But if this is what the business world wants then they need to help shift the paradigm.

These are by all means not the only ones. There are also issues revolving around time and work schedules, spaces, etc. But those require more drastic changes; whereas the ones I am highlighting can make changes right away in ways that create the need and desire for bigger changes.

What do you think? What do you see happening in your schools? Has change happened easily? Where is the resistance coming from? How do you think needs to change?

Let us know in your comments.

Getting Children to Read More!

pockettales — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 01:06:12 -0400

Interesting article on CNN.com on getting children to read more. Teaching children to read is such a fine balance in schools. Getting children to love reading but also to impart upon them the skills they need to become better readers can be tricky particularly amongst boys. While we want to encourage children to read, by putting into place a variety of reading programs like Accelerated Reader; a lot of times those same programs drive children away from a love of reading.

James Patterson says,

“The best way to get kids reading more is to give them books that they’ll gobble up — and that will make them ask for another. Yes, it’s that simple. 1 + 1 = 2. Kids say the No. 1 reason they don’t read more is that they can’t find books they like. Freedom of choice is a key to getting them motivated and excited. Vampire sagas, comics, manga, books of sports statistics — terrific! — as long as kids are reading. Should they read on e-tablets? Sure, why not? How about rereading a book? Definitely. And don’t tell them a book is too hard or too easy. “Great Expectations”? Absolutely. “Finnegans Wake”?Well, maybe not. And remember, books can be borrowed free at libraries.”

In the article, James Patterson also pinpoints the important role that parents need to play in encouraging reading at home by being role models. In my years in the classroom, one of the differences in children who are readers and children who are not, is the priority that parents place on reading for enjoyment. The more children see the influential people around them prioritizing and loving books and literature, the more children are encouraged to read. There is a crucial partnership that parents and teachers need to have.

Here are several tips I give to parents when asked about how to foster reading at home:

Find a place and time free of distractions: While bedtime is the most popular time to read, anytime where you can focus on the book with the child is important.
Be creative and Use expression: Even though it may not be the thing that you are most comfortable with, using voices and expression bring stories alive for children. They will sit rapt and attentive as they listen to the stories you are reading.
Re-read favorite books: We know. We feel your pain as you site reading Cat and the Hat for the 20th time in one day. However, re-reading a book allows children to learn stories and words by heart which is part of the process of reading. Those words are used in many other places and children learn to recognize those same letter combinations in other places. Children also begin to feel confident as readers when they begin “reading” their favorite books even though they are actually just re-telling the story from their memory. These are important first steps.
Talk about the books you read: Talking with your child about the books you are all reading begins to help students understand that there are messages and ideas behind the words and that it is important to delve deeper and think about what is happening. Checking with your child by asking about the chapter or pages they have read also provides accountability for children who may be rushing to do other activities.
Allow children to choose: While you may have loved Black Beauty when you were younger, children today may not understand the context and be turned away. Allowing children to choose from their own interests, as it fits in the context of your family values, gives children a sense of ownership over their own reading.
Pick both fiction and non-fiction books: We generally tend to gravitate to the fiction section of the bookstore, but there are some great non-fiction books out there that can really connect students. Imagine getting a Stars and Constellations book and going outside at night and seeing the constellations you have bee just reading about! Some powerful learning and connections can happen.

These are just some tips I give to parents. This is why Home Reading programs are so important to classes. In my class, it’s not about giving another thing for homework. It’s about fostering, enabling and supporting parents in developing children into fanatic readers.

That is why we designed PocketTales to help children rediscover a love of reading by helping to share and find great books!

What do you think? Do you think parents do enough to foster reading at home? Or do you think schools need to do more? What influenced you as a reader? Let us know in the comments!

Join us by adding your comments! If you haven’t already, let us help you sign up for an account. Teachers and classes are always welcome! Sign up at Pockettales.com!

Pockettales Wins Global Education Challenge!

pockettales — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 01:11:27 -0400

We knew that Pockettales was awesome! Teachers love it, kids love it and now big name publishers have told us that they think our idea could have an amazing impact on student learning!

The Global Education Challenge is a new award sponsored by Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt Publishers to identify innovative, game-changing ideas for improving K-12 student outcomes around the world. Amongst the many amazing entries, Pockettales stood out as an amazing product that focused on developing a love of reading through goal-setting, game mechanics, social interaction and feedback.

As Michael Muldowney, Chief Financial Officer of HMH states, “The goal of the Global Education Challenge was to rally innovative thinkers worldwide to share creative ideas for tools that address the issues inhibiting student achievement, and identify solutions that foster positive student outcomes. These winning ideas illustrate the power that communities can have in generating tangible education solutions.”

We are so proud of the great team behind Pockettales. A lot of hard work and incredible passion goes into developing a top notch product by our developers and it is nice that they are getting some well deserved recognition from one of the largest book publishers!

For more information, click here to read the announcement.

Join us by adding your comments! If you haven’t already, let us help you sign up for an account. Teachers and classes are always welcome! Sign up at Pockettales.com!

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Reading For This Brief Introduction

pockettales — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 18:42:23 -0400

Welcome and hello, eh?

My name is Ian Hancock and I am so happy to be the newest member of the Pockettales team! As we are going to be seeing a lot of each other over the coming days, weeks and years, I thought I would take a moment to tell everyone a little about myself.

For the last twelve years, I have worked in the Education field primarily as an elementary teacher. I have taught all ages of students but my real passion is to teach Grades 3 and 4. I am currently teaching Grade 3 in a private school in beautiful British Columbia, Canada! I am also currently the Head Teacher for Grades 4-6 and love having the chance to work with and learn from my colleagues. I recently completed my Masters in Educational Technology which has helped me to combine my two passions, Education and Technology (go figure!). I have enjoyed the opportunity to enhance and inspire my students learning through the use of technology and 21st century skills. I am also interested in technology outside of the education field and am currently developing an app called iWishfor. I love design as it pertains to web development and print media. I also have to admit that I have a bit of a fetish for different fonts, which is a little embarrassing!

A little more about me: I love traveling, singing and listening to all types of music, from Broadway to bluegrass! I love Italian food and barbecue pizza. I have two beautiful children who love reading and being read to.

Which brings me to Pockettales. I am so happy to have been asked to be a part of this team. I am passionate about reading and books and feel that children these days don’t get to have the same feeling of wonder from opening a new book or finding a new author that I had as a child. There are so many distractions and messages bombarding kids and it can be hard to encourage readers. That’s why I love the idea and driving force behind Pockettales. In the followings weeks and months, I want to encourage Pockettalers with news, resources and thoughts on books, reading and other topics. It’s going to be a blast and I would love to have you join us.

Join us by adding your comments! If you haven’t already, let us help you sign up for an account. Teachers and classes are always welcome! Sign up at Pockettales.com!

Great Things Ahead!

pockettales — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 17:04:04 -0400

It’s been a busy start to the year for Pockettales and there has been so much happening since we last wrote on our blog that we felt that we needed to let all the Pockettalers in on some of the exciting things going on behind the scenes.

First of all, we want to introduce our newest member to the team, Ian Hancock. While we will let him introduce himself, we are so excited to have him as a part of our team. Ian will be sharing news about new Pockettales updates and features as well as giving insight to things happening in education and with educational technology.