KidBibs LT #2: Variety is the Spice of Life

LearningTip #2: Variety is the Spice of Life!
...and a Key Factor Which Strengthens Reading Achievement

By Joyce Melton Pagés, Ed.D.
Mother of two children, President of KidBibs

This is the subject of this LearningTip article. Other factors affecting reading achievement, writing development, study strategy development, school success, test scores, etc. will be the subject of future LearningTip articles.

Literacy materials include the materials that help children become proficient and confident readers and writers. Young children need to own books, be read to, and have opportunities to write; these things help them develop an understanding of how print works, why people read, and why people write. To continue their literacy development, older children need to own books, be read to, be encouraged to read, and have opportunities to write. Books, newspapers, magazines, maps, reference materials, paper, pencils, markers, crayons, and other reading-writing tools are considered literacy materials.

In many homes, children have books. Children love reading bedtime stories with their parents. Teachers also have children read stories. The stories told in children's literature are important because they delight the imagination, develop a sense of story (with setting, characters, problem, plot, etc.), enrich vocabulary, teach life lessons, provide children with characters to identify with, and broaden the child's world. Being drawn into stories motivates many children to become readers and writers for the sheer enjoyment of it.

Children enjoy stories, but they also like information. Young children have "a million" questions. Older children have interests that they wish to pursue. In homes where children are becoming readers and writers, they have access to stories, informational writing, and reference materials.

Reference materials for children include age-appropriate dictionaries, thesauri, atlases, almanacs, and encyclopedias. Having these materials in the home often helps children complete homework assignments. This support for school learning usually improves school grades. In addition, these materials can help children develop independent strategies for locating information. With practice, the child will be able to locate answers to questions on his/her own. Further, children who have these materials available from a young age often entertain themselves by perusing almanacs, encyclopedias, etc. They develop a curiosity for things around them and a genuine love of learning.

When a child asks a question, it is important for parents and teachers to legitimize the inquiry by using references to locate the answer to the question with the child. Encyclopedias, dictionaries, and atlases on software or the internet are useful to both adults and children. But the ready print reference is very useful for parents and teachers to use with children as well. In the first place, it is usually much easier to quickly locate information in a print reference than to wait for the information to "arrive" on the screen. In addition, children benefit a great deal from handling and manipulating print references. As they turn pages, they find the varied topics that are covered in references. Computerized references (software or internet) often have the learner generate his/her own topic; this means that they are confined to topics related to their experiences and imagination. Manipulating print references broadens the world of the child and helps him/her discover new topics, interests, and ideas. So, even in homes with encyclopedia software, children benefit from having encyclopedias--a single-volume children's encyclopedia or a set of children's encyclopedias that they can read whenever they wish.

Parenting Activities

Keep your child's interest in learning alive!!! Respect his/her questions and help him/her locate the answers to their questions. Read the information that answers the question to the child or with the child. With time and experience, the child will be able to locate and read the information him/herself.
Let your child see you using directions to build or repair things, cookbooks to prepare food, atlases/maps and travel schedules to plan trips, etc. Help your child understand that reading is a real-world activity---not just a subject that they study at school.
Point out guide words, pronunciation markings, etc. as you use the references together. Help your child develop an understanding of which materials should be used to answer different questions and how to use the materials to answer those questions.
Set up a children's reference library in your home. This makes it easier to quickly locate answers to your child's questions. Further, it helps your child locate the necessary materials to complete homework assignments. Finally, this helps your child develop as an independent learner---this is the goal of all education.
Show your child where the references are in your local library. Use these references together as questions arise on your visits to the library.
Keep a children's almanac, atlas, or encyclopedia in the car. These references often have relatively brief, but interesting, entries. Because of their format, the child can read for a short time or a long time from these references. Further, these references can ignite curiosity, stimulate thinking, promote inquiry, encourage learning, and promote independent reading.