Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss’ birthday is an exciting day to celebrate for people of all ages! At one time or another, we have all experienced his whimsical stories from The Cat in the Hat to How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Growing up, I have fond memories of reading Green Eggs and Ham with my aunt and uncle on vacations every year. Even in elementary school, I remember my kindergarten class having a Green Eggs and Ham party in his honor. Dr. Seuss is such an iconic figure in the world of education and reading and his birthday is certainly a day to recognize!

“I like nonsense. It wakes up the brain cells.” – Dr. Seuss

I have always loved Dr. Seuss for his use of nonsense literature. Children’s authors such as Dr. Seuss and Lewis Carroll are famous for their use of nonsense writing. Nonsense literature is when authors derive their own words and meanings for words even when these words and phrases do not match up with logic and reason. While this type of literature is considered nonsense, these types of stories are critical for young children to develop strong reading skills as well has heighten creativity. According to The Nonsensical Seuss, “Nonsense words in children’s literature are important because the recognition of nonsense words by a new reader is an indicator of their future level of literacy.”

Here at Promising Pages, we have a special love for Dr. Seuss and all that he has contributed to children over the decades.

 

                                                               










“My favorite Dr. Seuss book is And to Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street. This was his first children’s book and it took him 27 times to finally get published. This is such an important book to us here at Promising Pages, and we make sure to use this book for our purposes any chance we get. Personally, I love this book because it shows perseverance and tenacity, which are two very important qualities we want kids to learn through becoming bookworms.” – Kristina Cruise, Founder and Executive Director

“My favorite Dr. Seuss book is Oh, The Places You’ll Go! In this book, it talks about adventures and challenges that life has to offer. It encourages one to try hard and give his or her best.” – Helen Kimbrough, Director of Operations

“My favorite Dr. Seuss book is Green Eggs and Ham. I am also a big fan of The Lorax because this book promotes the importance of taking care of our environment. I have always loved Dr. Seuss because his stories and illustrations are so unique and catchy. His words and pictures are so distinct that everyone can always spot a Dr. Seuss classic.” – Caitlyn Bergmann, Operations Assistant

Over his lifetime, Dr. Seuss published 46 children’s books. This means a lot to us at Promising Pages because 46 Dr. Seuss books means 46 stories we can share with young readers in the Charlotte area. In fact, every year we celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday with a number of schools that we partner with across Charlotte by throwing Dr. Seuss parties.

Be sure to read your favorite Dr. Seuss book today!

Source: http://seuss.obdurodon.org/lit.xhtml

Did You Know Reading Out Loud Improves Literacy and Speech?

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to play Erma the Bookworma for our weekly visit to Crisis Assistance Ministry. The first bookworm we met was a little boy named Thomas who was sitting with his grandmother. Thomas seemed very shy at first and was a very unique bookworm. His grandmother explained to us that he had speech difficulties. Since she spent the most time with Thomas during the week, she talked to us about all of the things she did with him to help improve his speech—Little did she know that reading books out loud with Thomas is a key factor in helping with speech difficulties.

While reading is typically viewed as an individual and silent activity, reading out loud really does have a great impact on how our brains learn and comprehend. When you are reading hard pieces of text, sometimes slowly reading it out loud helps your brain to process and sort the information better. Even when you are writing, it is important to read your work out loud because that helps your brain pick up on any overlooked mistakes. 

Reading out loud with young children is especially important in molding their brains and critical-thinking skills. More importantly, however, reading out loud can help enhance and develop speech. According to Reading Rockets, a national multimedia literacy initiative, “Reading to your child and having him/her name objects in a book or read aloud to you can strengthen his/her speech and language skills.” Reading Rockets also offers a number of tips for parents of children with speech and language problems, such as talking about the pictures in books and asking questions about the stories.

Figure 1: mysightwords.net/benefits-reading-out-loud-child

 Instilling the importance of reading out loud at a young age doesn’t just improve speech skills. It can also help develop skills in many different areas that are important when it comes to having a bright and prosperous future. Skills such as communication, listening, problem-solving, comprehension, inference-making, and literacy are all results of reading out loud. In fact, Speech Buddies, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of children with speech and language challenges through speech therapy, states that “Visual awareness of letters and sentences, auditory awareness of phonetics and the spoken language, processing skills for language, and skills for transferring what is read into speaking are all part of the literacy equation.”

Speech Buddies offers tips for reading aloud success. These tips are designed to promote reading out loud to enhance speech and literacy skills that are connected to other skills such as communication and critical-reasoning. The first tip is to start small and read below level. It is important not to overwhelm young readers with books that are complicated when you are first introducing them to the idea of reading out loud. Next, don’t interrupt the reading to correct. It is imperative that you don’t interfere with the flow of reading out loud, but make sure to point out corrections at the end. Lastly, have your child read out loud to something—not someone. This is important because it will reduce the stress of reading to a person, and it will give the child more opportunities to read aloud on their own.

Figure 2: mzteachuh.blogspot.com

Don’t underestimate the power of reading out loud with your children! Remember to always be a source of encouragement for your children, and practice reading out loud for at least 10 minutes every night.

Sources:

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-together-tips-parents-children-speech-and-language-problems

https://www.speechbuddy.com/blog/language-development/reading-aloud-how-to-help-kids-succeed/