Books Alive!

BOOKS ALIVE!

Oh, I thought I was so clever to come up with this catchy phrase, and then I found this awesome image on google. Oh well, I may not be the first to think of it, but I still like it. So until a time when I think of something more original, this is the title of my new page.

Books Alive! is a page where I will review new picture books and pair them with fun activities for children to help bring the magic of the book alive for them. This may be a craft, a recipe, a game, or any other fun activity. These activities are meant to enhance the reading experience and foster a love for reading that will last a lifetime.

Studies have shown that children learn in many distinct ways and employ more than one way of learning at a time. Howard Gardner developed a theory of multiple intelligences in the 1980’s. He identified seven intelligences and later added an eighth. You can read more about his work HERE.

Even minimal understanding of multiple intelligences leads us to further understand that children need a variety of experiences to be well-rounded and well-educated.

The highest praise a child can give a book is ‘Read it again!’ Multiple readings, shared reading, and independent reading can all be enhanced with reading related activities. This is what I hope to promote with this site. After sharing a picture book look for fun and interesting ways to extend the reading experience. Sing, dance, cook, build, create, write, talk, do, find, solve, wonder, experiment…

I’ve run into former students at the mall, in restaurants, at the theater. Inevitably, they will say ‘ I remember when we made stone soup.’ or ‘I remember the graph we made about what part to of the gingerbread man we bit first.’ These memories stick with kids long after storytime is over.

These are the things kids love. These are the things which foster a love of reading and a love for learning. These are the types of things I want to share with you and encourage you to do with your own kids.

Given the accessibility of wonderful ideas already online, I will share links to specific sites which have done an awesome job of describing an activity with easy to follow directions and limited materials required to enjoy it with your child.

I’m going to focus on fiction picture books this year and so I will organize them under the tab,  alphabetically by title.

Please join me in discovering NEW great literature this year and sharing it with children.