A Gift of Words
Everyone remembers the joy and wonder of being read to while
snuggled in mother’s comforting arms. We pass on stories, traditions,
history and culture through reading to our children. Do you ever
wonder how many children don’t get to share that experience? You
would be amazed at how many children don’t get that interaction
with their parent. A majority of families today are single parent
homes. I am going to show you two different single parents. After
I give each scenario you will see how at-risk our children are. They
need reading experience to build their self-esteem as well their
education.
Parent one has a high school education but her reading level is third
grade. Working two jobs, each night when she gets off work the
children are asleep. If she were at home in time to read her children
a bed time story, she could barely read the book.
Parent two has a high school education and is continuing her
education. She is working two jobs as well and attending a local
university. When she doesn’t have to work late she reads a bedtime
story to her children at least two times a week.
My question is what do we do to change a child’s exposure to
reading for the better given the often difficult circumstances at
home? I came up with an idea to help children learn the value of
reading and writing and become more independent readers and
writers regardless of their level of learning. This program will offer a
series of workshops through local libraries, Head Start or any other
daytime program designed for children.
Ages 3-5
We want to help children, particularly at-risk children, understand
the importance of reading and writing. We want to instill in very
young children the excitement and satisfaction of being read to
on a regular basis. Children learn the importance of reading when
read to on a regular schedule. Listening to stories expands a child’s
knowledge and challenges him or her to learn new skills. Reading
to a child will increase vocabulary and he or she will understand
more words and be able to better communicate. Another way to
communicate a child is to draw a picture that he or she can relate
to the story. Sadly, one in six children live in poverty in the United
States. Many of these children never get to experience the joy of
listening to a story. Their lack of exposure to this basic skill places
them at a tremendous disadvantage throughout their lifetime.
Ages 6-8
We plan to help beginning readers learn how to write their own
material beginning with a single sentence. The children will enjoy
a Saturday workshop held at a local library, designed to ignite
the spark of imagination through the use of authentic language.
Through a series of guided activities, children will be taught how to
capture their imagination through writing. They will then use their
own material to learn how to edit and revise to create good writing.
One item they will learn is sentence structure. Sentence structure
is an important part of communicating clearly and concisely. Every
sentence must contain a subject (noun or pronoun) and a predicate
(verb or action word) in order to be considered complete. Children
will be taught to always look for ways to shorten their sentences and
make them more active than passive. For example, they might be
told when you see someone about to run across a busy street you
can yell, “Hold it, there is a car coming down the street and it may hit
you if you were to run into the street.” Or, you can yell, “STOP.”
Ages 9-12
My Life So Far
This age audience has developed language skills and may or may
not enjoy writing as a daily activity. Our program will encourage
children to express themselves through writing. They may not realize
that they have an important story to tell and that their story, when
woven together with their friends, will create a beautiful tapestry.
Youngsters this age love a challenge. They will be asked to write
about their life so far. We will use various techniques to help each
child organize his or her thoughts and decide on a topic. They will be
guided through the process of outlining their project, then filling in
the details to complete their own story.
Once the youngsters write their stories, we will compile them into a
book that they can keep.
snuggled in mother’s comforting arms. We pass on stories, traditions,
history and culture through reading to our children. Do you ever
wonder how many children don’t get to share that experience? You
would be amazed at how many children don’t get that interaction
with their parent. A majority of families today are single parent
homes. I am going to show you two different single parents. After
I give each scenario you will see how at-risk our children are. They
need reading experience to build their self-esteem as well their
education.
Parent one has a high school education but her reading level is third
grade. Working two jobs, each night when she gets off work the
children are asleep. If she were at home in time to read her children
a bed time story, she could barely read the book.
Parent two has a high school education and is continuing her
education. She is working two jobs as well and attending a local
university. When she doesn’t have to work late she reads a bedtime
story to her children at least two times a week.
My question is what do we do to change a child’s exposure to
reading for the better given the often difficult circumstances at
home? I came up with an idea to help children learn the value of
reading and writing and become more independent readers and
writers regardless of their level of learning. This program will offer a
series of workshops through local libraries, Head Start or any other
daytime program designed for children.
Ages 3-5
We want to help children, particularly at-risk children, understand
the importance of reading and writing. We want to instill in very
young children the excitement and satisfaction of being read to
on a regular basis. Children learn the importance of reading when
read to on a regular schedule. Listening to stories expands a child’s
knowledge and challenges him or her to learn new skills. Reading
to a child will increase vocabulary and he or she will understand
more words and be able to better communicate. Another way to
communicate a child is to draw a picture that he or she can relate
to the story. Sadly, one in six children live in poverty in the United
States. Many of these children never get to experience the joy of
listening to a story. Their lack of exposure to this basic skill places
them at a tremendous disadvantage throughout their lifetime.
Ages 6-8
We plan to help beginning readers learn how to write their own
material beginning with a single sentence. The children will enjoy
a Saturday workshop held at a local library, designed to ignite
the spark of imagination through the use of authentic language.
Through a series of guided activities, children will be taught how to
capture their imagination through writing. They will then use their
own material to learn how to edit and revise to create good writing.
One item they will learn is sentence structure. Sentence structure
is an important part of communicating clearly and concisely. Every
sentence must contain a subject (noun or pronoun) and a predicate
(verb or action word) in order to be considered complete. Children
will be taught to always look for ways to shorten their sentences and
make them more active than passive. For example, they might be
told when you see someone about to run across a busy street you
can yell, “Hold it, there is a car coming down the street and it may hit
you if you were to run into the street.” Or, you can yell, “STOP.”
Ages 9-12
My Life So Far
This age audience has developed language skills and may or may
not enjoy writing as a daily activity. Our program will encourage
children to express themselves through writing. They may not realize
that they have an important story to tell and that their story, when
woven together with their friends, will create a beautiful tapestry.
Youngsters this age love a challenge. They will be asked to write
about their life so far. We will use various techniques to help each
child organize his or her thoughts and decide on a topic. They will be
guided through the process of outlining their project, then filling in
the details to complete their own story.
Once the youngsters write their stories, we will compile them into a
book that they can keep.
