Skip to main content

On Reading to Children

Recently, I wrote a blog post on the impact of my mother's love of reading and our visits to the public library on my own passion for reading. Since my mother and father were divorced when I was very young, I didn't have a male influence, but early in my career as an educator, I read a research study on the impact of a father reading to a child on the child's reading development.

My son will graduate from high school on June 18th, the day before Father's Day. My husband read to my son for most of his early years, but I was the one who read to him nightly -- until he was a freshman in high school! We love it! Some of our most cherished memories are of piling up in the bed together to read the next chapter in the His Dark Materials trilogy, or the Harry Potter books, or the Lord of the Rings books. This summer, we have our reading list and though I won't be reading aloud to him, we'll still be reading and talking together about the books. In the fall, my son will go off to college and study to be a writer.

Last Sunday, I watched a wonderful segment on Sunday Morning about a father who read to his daughter every night from the time she was in fourth grade through her first day of college. She received a degree in English Literature. The video clip is below and I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch it. Of course, this story of a father and daughter parallels my story of a mom and son, but the overarching theme is the impact reading aloud -- just 15 minutes a day -- can have on children.

Reading Rockets has several great articles on fathers and reading: The Role of Fathers in Their Child's Literacy Development: K-3, Boys and Books, and DadCast podcast from iTunes for the busy dad who wants to learn more about literacy, what good reading instruction looks like in the classroom, and award-winning children's book authors.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Orbis Pictus and Gray Awards

The 2014 NCTE Orbis Pictus Award for promoting and recognizing excellence in the writing of nonfiction for children goes to: A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin written by Jennifer Bryant and illustrated by Melissa Sweet (click here to find the book at your local library).  Honors go to: Locomotive by Brian Floca The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdos by Deborah Heiligman, illustrated by LeUyen Pham Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Melissa Sweet Parrots Over Puerto Rico by Susan L. Roth and Cindy Trumbore   Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers by Tanya Lee Ston The 2014 Dolly Gray Children’s Literature Award , recognizing authors, illustrators, and publishers of high quality fictional and biographical children, intermediate, and young adult books that appropriately portray individuals with deve

Webcast focuses on struggling readers

A free School Library Journal webcast sponsored by Capstone Publishers will bring together a panel of experts in reading, media center services, and children’s literacy--including school librarians, educators, and a representative from Capstone Press and Stone Arch Books--to cover a range of processes, programs, and ideas that can bolster reading skills, comprehension, and literacy in the K-6 library and classroom. The webcast will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. eastern time on Wednesday, October 8. Attendees will learn best practices to engage struggling and reluctant readers, discover multi-level reading resources for classroom and school library integration, and pick up techniques and programming ideas that will encourage the use of fiction and nonfiction. Time will be reserved for questions and answers at the end of the webcast. Who should attend: School librarians and library media specialists working with grades K-6, classroom teachers and reading specialists, and public libraria