The term “literate” means that an individual can read and write in own their language. Statistics show that in many third world countries, nearly half of their populations cannot read or write! Literacy has impacts on economies, populations, and peace. How does reading and writing impact our lives? There are many ways to insure student literacy globally. This isn’t just a teacher issue. Remember it takes a community to raise a child. Here are a few suggestions that you could use to celebrate International Literacy Day on September 8, 2014.
Read To Your Child. Begin as early as possible to develop a love for reading. Read from a variety of genres together. Fiction and nonfiction provide opportunities to increase their global view.
Read With Your Child. There are numerous resources available to help early readers to develop phonemic awareness. Knowing that letters make sounds, sounds make words, words make sentences, and sentences make stories. By selecting books that are on their level will increase comprehension and fluency. As they develop fluency and further skills they are no longer learning to read; they are reading to learn!
Encourage Writing Activities. Allow students to express themselves thru pictures and words. Students need to have various writing experiences. Journal entries are a great way to develop the habit of writing. Provide writing topics that allow them to critically think about the world around them. You can even have them write and edit stories that will be shared with others around the world.
Find Engaging Resources! Big Universe has both reading and writing capabilities. By using these resources you will increase your students literacy! What resources will you use?
Try these with your students…
by Amy Buswell & Bruce Lansky (author), Stephen Carpenter (illustrator) © 2014
ISBN: 9781476742946
Amy Buswell and Bruce Lansky’s Giggle Poetry Reading Lessons turn struggling readers into happy readers.
Many struggling readers are embarrassed to read aloud. They are often intimidated or bored by texts that conventional programs require them to practice. So, instead of catching up, they fall further behind. Currently 67% of American fourth graders cant read grade-level text. Reading specialist Amy Buswell has spent eight years looking for remediation methods that work. What is needed, Buswell explains, is a program that improves the motivation of struggling readers, because that accounts for 90% of the problem. Four years ago, Buswell came up with a brainstorm. She knew her best readers enjoyed reading Bruce Lanskys poetry books for pleasure. The more poems they read, the better the reading got. Why not use Lanskys kid-tested poems as texts struggling readers could practice on to improve their readingusing six research-based strategies: choral reading, echo reading, paired reading, repeated reading, sustained silent reading and say it like the character reading. This book is the result of that brainstorm and the resulting collaboration between Buswell and Lansky. It gives teachers and parents everything they need to help children improve their reading: -35 kid-tested poems by Bruce Lansky -35 customized reading lessons by Amy Buswell -35 off-the-wall illustrations by Stephen Carpenter -35 sets of zany performance tips by Bruce Lansky all of which is designed to make the process of reading improvement more like fun than work. What Amy Buswell and Bruce Lansky have created is the most entertaining fluency intervention ever. Thats why it is so successful at overcoming negative attitudes to improve reading skills and scores. Ninety-five percent of participating students made significant improvement in their fluency (reading rate). And average reading scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) for Buswells school raised her schools rating to an A for the first time. In 2011, Buswells school achieved one of the highest-percentage reading gains in the county. Theres no reason parents cant get in on the fun, too. Parents will enjoy Lanskys funny poems and Stephen Carpenters delightful illustrations as much as their children. By reading the poems with their children and encouraging their children to try some of Lanskys entertaining performance tips (by adding gestures, sound effects, props and finding additional readers: be they friends, family or neighbors), they can dramatically speed up their childs reading progress (and have lots of fun in the process.)