Everyone knows that I'm a media specialist for my day job, which means I'm obviously passionate about books, literature, and finding that perfect book for a child who is desperately in need. Connecting kids with great literature is one of the best parts of my job! Over the summer I heard about the Little Free Library project and I just KNEW I had to have one at my house. (You can thank Pinterest again for this one...). What is a Little Free Library? It's a weatherproof box of books, placed outside for public use, curated by a steward, and used by the community! Here is mine: This Little Free Library lives in front of my house in Greencastle, PA. It is filled with books for birth - 10. I've advertised it on our neighborhood Facebook page and so far it's been well-received. Neighborhood kids love to drop by and borrow a book, and can often be seen reading standing around the library. Here's what happened a few weeks ago when the kids were sent out to play... this picture wasn't staged, I swear! The two on the right belong to me, another one was my BFF's daughter! So now you want to have a Little Free Library, too, right?? Good news - Pinterest has loads of plans for building one. Lucky me had the box given to me, and the awesome students at Williamsport High built the post with these directions!
The books were culled from my own kids' collections. As you can imagine, Mommy LOVES books and we have too many at our house. It was easy to pull out books to place in the library. Now my kids visit some of their former favorites regularly. If you aren't as obsessed with books as I am, you can get them free or cheap from yard sales, used book stores, and even library giveaways. Neighbors will also provide books - within a matter of days, one neighbor supplemented what I had placed in there with books from her children's collections! If you do install a Little Free Library at your house, make sure you also register it on the website so you can get an official charter. It took about 5 weeks for my charter to arrive, so we are officially official! A teacher recently asked me - do they have to "check out" the books? Nope! Just take one to enjoy, return it when you are finished, then borrow another (or several)! Come for a visit - take a book, return a book, love to read!
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One of the questions I get asked most often is "How do I get my child to enjoy reading?" I've heard it from teachers, parents, friends... and they all want to know how to make their kid(s) enjoy reading. I am a huge fan of this quote, by my FAVORITE author: Never was there ever a kid who didn't like to be read to when they were young. So what happens? How are we killing the love of reading in our youth? And how do we recapture it in the modern age of screens and technology sucking up all their attention? I certainly don't have all the answers, but I do have three reasons why I'm so interested in raising readers: I know, I know, I have the cutest.kids.ever. As you can tell by the picture, they are still pretty young. 6, 3, and 8 months at the time of this blog post. And I'm worried about them. Right now they LOVE to read. They can't get enough books! So how do I keep that momentum going to turn them into lifelong readers? It turns out that it's not super difficult to raise a reader, but it does start at home. Here are three tips: 1. Read aloud early and often. I know this can be next to impossible. Just last night I was thinking about reading aloud to my own kids, and it occurred to me that some nights we hurry through books because it's already past bedtime and everyone is tired. Sometimes we pick "just one book" or "just a short book" because we don't have time to read a book aloud. I'm working on this as a parent, because reading aloud to my kids is the most important indicator of their future success as readers. We made time last night to read aloud six chapters from my son's current favorite series... Junie B. Jones. There was nothing better than cuddling up with him (and my daughter, too!) and reading aloud to them in the chair. The dirty dishes waited because there were more important things to do. And just because your kids are big doesn't mean you shouldn't read aloud to them! Check out this article about reading to big kids and why it is so vital to their success as readers! 2. Model reading and talk about your own reading. It should come as no surprise to anyone that I love to read. Don't most librarians? But my kids never see me reading, because I am too busy taking care of everything else that needs to be done. And that is not okay. Seeing important adults in their lives reading and talking about what you are reading to kids engages them in books too. Just today I had a great conversation with one of my 7th graders about how I totally HATED how Veronica Roth wrote Allegiant - I loved the story, but I hated the writer's craft. It now has a hold list of kids waiting for it! I told a couple of kids last week about how Holly Black's Doll Bones CREEPED ME OUT and that I wished someone had warned me - I can't keep it on the shelf. I showed them the shrine to Harry Potter that I have in my office - and now there are no Harry Potter books to be found anywhere in the library! As this article says, "If you have books, newspapers, and magazines around your house, and your child sees you reading, then your child will learn that you value reading. You can't over-estimate the value of modeling." 3. Go to the library. I am totally biased because I work in one, but go to the library. Go regularly and frequently. One of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, gets a slow clap for this article on why our entire future depends on libraries, reading, and daydreaming. "The simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books, and letting them read them." Is that man brilliant or WHAT? I LOVE HIM. #FanGirl. But he's right... our future really does depend on raising readers and having a literate society. And where better to find materials than the library? Libraries are awesome places full of awesome people who love to share their love of books and technology with their patrons. Get thee to a library today! Looking for more tips on raising readers? I have a collection of articles for parents and educators - check it out by clicking the "Literature Resources for Parents" tab on the left of the website.
Do you have any tips for raising readers? Leave them in the comments below! |
About the AuthorHi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Christine Hurley. This is my 17th year of teaching - I've taught Kindergarten, 4th grade, elementary media, and now I am in my 6th year of teaching middle school media! Archives
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