Reading Tip in Practice: Ask Open-Ended Questions

A fun, easy way to get a discussion started about a book you have read...

Reading Aloud Tip: Ask Open-Ended Questions!

Specifically, ask questions that initiate a conversation with your child. Through this sort of question and answer session, your child will gain important language & expression skills, comprehension skills, critical thinking skills, and memory skills - all the while using his imagination!

In Practice

I keep open-ended questions for stories on index cards - which gets baby bookworm excited to do them, because she thinks they are a "story game". I generally use the open-ended questions on the cards after we've finished reading the book, but I try to ask additional questions at the beginning of the story, as well as points throughout my read aloud that I feel are appropriate.

Here is an example of a read aloud we did today using open-ended questions with the book Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems. It's a cute story about a little girl named Trixie who loses her favorite stuffed animal while at the laundromat with her daddy.

Prior to the story...I asked baby bookworm to remember what this book was about (we hadn't read it in awhile), and to try and predict what might happen in the story based on the front cover. During the book, I asked questions like: "What do you think will happen next?"

Once we were done reading, I let baby bookworm hold her story cards. She would select one, hand it to me, and I read it. Then we discussed! Here's the questions we used (and her answers).

1. How did the main character [Trixie] feel in the story?

"She felt sad because she lost her Knuffle Bunny."

2. What was your favorite part of the story?

"When she was sad and lost Knuffle Bunny."

Me: "Why was that your favorite part?"

"Because she said all those baby words, and that was funny."

3. Turning to the last page of the book..."What happened at the end of the story?"

"She didn't lose Knuffle Bunny anymore because she loved her." 

4. Keeping on the last page of the book..."What do you think might happen next in the story?"

"They are going to run all the way home."

5. "What character was your favorite?"

"I liked the mommy because she didn't lose anything."

6. "What new word did you learn from the book?"

She didn't really have a response for this one, but it led to a discussion about the word 'errand' which was in the book.

7. "What will you remember about this story tomorrow?"

"That they said aggle flaggle goggle - that was funny."

Of course I elaborated on her initial responses so that we were having a real discussion about the story! These questions are great way to get a conversation started with your child, and here are a few others you might want to try:

What about the story made you feel [insert an emotion]?  

What would you do if you [were that character or in the story]?

If you could make up an ending to the story, what would it be?

Lakeshore Learning has "story wands" with open-ended questions such as these, too, or you could make your own.

Whether you are using fancy story wands, ones that are homemade, or even index cards like we do - asking open-ended questions before, during, and after a story is one easy way to enhance the read aloud experience!

Play Is More Than Just Fun: 5 Skills Your Child Is Gaining

I recently read an article on the play versus learning dichotomy in early childhood education (and shared it with my facebook friends).  If you are not familiar with this topic, give it a read, but I'll try to describe it briefly. 

Should early childhood education programs focus their attention on play or direct instruction in "academic" areas like math and reading?  With the increased pressure for students in elementary schools to meet mandated standards, many educators worry that early childhood programs will place less value on play and focus their attention on skills needed to succeed on statewide tests and assessments.

The author of the article I linked to above argues that it shouldn't be an either/or dichotomy; that both play and direct instruction serve an important purpose in early childhood classrooms. 

And, I tend to agree.  Baby bookworm is not in a formal classroom, and will probably not be in one until she reaches preschool.  While we do many activities and lessons that have a clear learning agenda, I always try to give her time in the day to play.  I try to find a balance between "learning" and play.  And as I write this last sentence I see how strange this topic is....because play involves learning, too!!

What skills do children gain through play?  Here are just a FEW things.  This is not an all-inclusive list, but hopefully gives you an idea of the importance of play in the development of babies and toddlers.

1) Language Skills. 

When you and your child play "kitchen" together (or engage in any other type of pretend play) - think of all of the varied language that you use.  "Now, take the spatula and flip the pancake (child does the action).  OK, great.  Now pick up the chopping board over there behind the microwave.  We're going to chop up some fruit to have with breakfast." Pretend play (as opposed to playing with manipulatives such as puzzles) provides a fabulous way to expand your child's language skills because more varied language is often used. 

2) Pre-Reading Skills.

Try reenacting your favorite story.  Not only will it be fun, but you will be teaching your child the important connection between written and spoken language - which will help in learning to read.

3) Gross Motor Skills.

Playing at your child's favorite playground is a great way to get him to release all that energy and take a nice long nap.  True.  But, it's also a fabulous way to build gross motor skills.  All that running, jumping, and climbing (or crawling) is well-needed practice.  Throwing a ball or kicking one is also great for coordination and balance, too. 

4) Listening Skills.

Do you often sing playful songs together?  Babies and toddlers love to do fingerplays, or read books that have songs that go with them (see my recent post for an example). The bonus is that this type of play builds listening skills.

5) Social Skills.

While true joint play may not develop until preschool years, babies and toddlers are learning important prosocial behaviors early on.  For instance, young children learn to imitate their peers, recognize other children's expressions and feelings and imitate or identify them, and learn about turn taking and sharing.  Finally, play is a great way for a child to learn about conflict and how to resolve it. 

Given the importance of play in development of skills, how do you incorporate play into your child's routine?

Well, one way we have been trying to incorporate play in our lives, given the colder weather in our neck of the woods, is by visiting local indoor gyms or museums.

Recently, we discovered The Little Treehouse play cafe in Chestnut Hill, and have been spending our rainy and cold afternoons doing some play-based learning in the comfort of their modern-style play room.  The nice thing about this place is that it's incredibly baby and toddler friendly, but preschool-aged children would enjoy it as well.  There's a small slide, lots of pretend and manipulative toys, an adorable playhouse with lots of comfy pillows inside, and even some books.  Since it's a cafe, you can grab something to eat and let your child explore.  A nice concept, if you ask me.  It's even BYOB.  If you live in the greater Philly area, you should check it out, especially if you are looking to do some play-based learning in the company of others.

So my post cannot be complete, of course, without mentioning at least one book.  This week we came across a new book at the library called A Few Blocks by Cybele Young.  It's a tale of two kids and how they use their wild imaginations while they journey a few blocks to school.  I thought it was appropriate for this post - imagination makes even the simple things more enjoyable!

 
If you are interested in finding out more on play-based learning, you might want to check out these blogs: Irresistible Ideas for play based learning, Let the Children Play, or The Imagination Tree.

Have fun!  Play makes learning come alive!

A Recipe for Learning: Soup Day by Melissa Iwai

One thing that I love to do this time of year is to make a nice, huge pot of soup.  The way the whole house fills with fabulous aromas as the pot simmers is just one of the coziest and comforting feelings I know. 

When I stumbled on Soup Day (Christy Ottaviano Books)by Melissa Iwai at the library, with it's cute and colorful cover page, I kinda got excited to read this book with baby bookworm.  It's a story of a little girl's soup day ritual with her mother - from going to the market to select the best ingredients, to chopping them up into smaller pieces, to hearing the pot sizzle as the oil is poured in, to spending time playing with her mom as they wait for the flavors to develop, to getting to devour the soup that they worked so hard to make. 

This book gives me the same cozy feeling as my soup day (without all the hard work), and what I love the best about this book is that Iwai's invented mother-daughter soup ritual took me back to my childhood and reminded me of the excitement I experienced with my mother when we did something special together. 


At the end of the book there is a recipe for making your very own pot of veggie soup - and I was happy to see that it wasn't too different from mine!

Baby bookworm became instantaneously hooked on this book like I did.  In addition to it just being an all around cute and cuddly book, it also provides a great opportunity to review colors, shapes, and the names of various objects (particularly, the names of vegetables, of course!).  I thought it would be fun to reenact this book, but since baby bookworm is only 23 months, I didn't really feel like dealing with knives and ovens and hot vegetable stock and sizzling oil.  So we did a learning-craft version of this book instead...

Here's what we did:

1) With construction paper I assembeled our ingredients: mushrooms, zucchini, potatoes, parsley, carrots, onions, and celery. 

2) Then I got an empty pickle jar that I had saved and washed; we used this as our "pot". 

3) As we read the book, we followed their "recipe" step by step for making veggie soup.

Baby bookworm telling me what to put into the pot!

4) We counted the number of pieces of each ingredient that we added to our pot

5) I wrote up our version of veggie soup on a little index card

Baby bookworm had a blast with this activity and we pretty much "played" it every day for a week!  Give it a try yourself - it's a great, easy, toddler-friendly way to follow directions, learn new vocabulary, practice counting, shapes, colors, and it also builds language through pretend play!

A Final Farewell to Pumpkin Books and Activities: Pumpkin Pumpkin and The Pumpkin Book

Today is Halloween and October is coming to an end....and even though there is now snow on the ground at our house, I am doing one LAST pumpkin post.  I guess the pumpkin theme could potentially carry over into the Thanksgiving holiday as well, but after today, I promise to put the pumpkin books and ideas to rest until next year!

Two fabulous pumpkin books that we discovered recently and read were:

Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington

and

The Pumpkin Book by Gail Gibbons

Both books tell of the life cycle from seed to pumpkin - so in that respect they make a great science lesson for little minds!  Pumpkin Pumpkin has much fewer words than The Pumpkin Book, so if your child is under 18 months I might try this book first.  The Pumpkin Book also tells of the traditions and cultural meaning of pumpkins and Halloween.  Although it is longer, it could easily be paraphrased for the under 3 crowd, and the photos are bright, bold, and interesting so young children (including baby bookworm) would likely find them captivating.

To go along with our last pumpkin books of the season, we did our last pumpkin learning projects as well!  Check it out:

1) We carved a jack-o-lantern.

• To work in a little science lesson, we "dissected" the pumpkin, scraped out the pulp, and "examined" the seeds. I asked baby bookworm, "what do you think would happen if we saved one seed and planted it into the ground like Jamie in Pumpkin Pumpkin?" She did say it would "grow".
• To work on our math skills, I asked baby bookworm to "estimate" or guess how many seeds there were inside the pumpkin (to which she responded 3).  Then we took a few handfuls and made piles of 10 seeds, and counted by tens.
• To work on creativity, I let baby bookworm draw a face on the pumpkin with a pen (with my help) - then I used a pumpkin knife to carve out the face.  I did let her poke each piece out, which she found very fun. 

2) We played 10 "questions" (although some were statements) with 4 very different kinds of pumpkins that we had picked up over the past few weeks.  Basically what I did was I asked baby bookworm a series of questions such as the ones listed below.  It was a great way to practice listening skills, following directions, and for me to assess baby bookworm's receptive and expressive language. 

• Can you show me which pumpkin is the biggest?
• Can you show me which pumpkin has stripes?
• Can you show me which pumpkin is the smallest?
• Can you show me which pumpkins are round?
• Place the orange pumpkin on the ground, and hand me the white pumpkin.
• Place the smallest pumpkin in front of the largest pumpkin.
• What color is this pumpkin (as I pointed to the white one)?
• What shape is this pumpkin (as I pointed to a very round one)?
• What colors are on this pumpkin (as I pointed to the yellow and green one)?
• What is this part of the pumpkin called (as I pointed to the stem)?

Baby bookworm LOVES to show me what she knows, so we played many rounds of "10 questions".  She did very well with all responses too, but she did have some trouble with the two-step statements.

Obviously this game can be played with a number of objects, so give it a try!

3). We played a sequencing game. 

• After reading both books, we made a picture time line of the stages in the pumpkin's growth cycle. 
• I would say things like, "What happens after the seed is planted?"  (of course, baby bookworm needed help with the questions and I would always refer her back to the pictures in Pumpkin Pumpkin)
• If your child is older, once you have your time line established, try mixing up your pictures and have him reorder them back into the correct sequence.
• You can also try putting the pictures into the correct sequence, but leave one picture out.  Have your child guess what is missing.

  Remember, even though we did these activities with pumpkins - you can work on similar skills with different objects and books.  And any of these activities could be modified easily to fit your child's age and

ability level. 

Can't wait until next pumpkin season already!

Happy Halloween and stay safe!

How to Read With 6 to 12 month olds: Tips and Book Recommendations

While some parents may feel a whimper of sadness as the newborn phase becomes a thing of the past, many happily embrace the period of time when their child is 6 to 12 months of age......

Sleepless nights are replaced with hours of uninterrupted sleep; "ooo's" and "aahhh's" start to resemble babbles that not only sound like, but may actually BE real words; liquid-only diets become a thing of the past; and increased mobility means that those little arms and hands that once could barely grasp an object, can now hug you, play ball with you, and blow you a kiss. 

And let's not forget that those little arms and hands can also now hold books, turn pages, and "lift-the-flaps" in books (or rip them, if they so please). 

Reading to infants in the second half of their first year is in many ways similar to reading with a newborn. 

You'll likely still be spending the majority of reading time using board, cloth, or vinyl books, cuddling close and bonding, and reading brightly colored books with few words.  But, in many ways reading to a baby, as opposed to a newborn, is different because........well, they have started to "grow up" a little!  Their learning becomes increasingly more active, and so you will want to add books to your library that capitalize on their newly found mobility and advanced cognitive development.

If you weren't a super devoted reader with your newborn, don't worry, it's not too late to begin; but I encourage you to begin now.  Why?

• school readiness begins well before a child ever steps foot in a school; you can even begin preparing your child for success in school at birth
• the more you speak to and read with your child, the better your child's language and reading skills will become
• reading is a great way to help your child learn new vocabulary; the larger your child's vocabulary, the more spoken language he will understand, and the more written language he will comprehend which = a greater chance of success in school

So if you are now convinced that reading to your infant is a good (and by good, I mean GREAT) idea, you might be wondering exactly what kinds of books are well suited for this age group. 

Well, it's your lucky day then because here are 5 categories of books that every parent with an infant should have in their at-home library.

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes are great for babies for a couple of reasons.  First of all, they are fun!  If your child is having fun, he's likely to stay engaged and, consequently, learn.  Secondly, and more importantly, nursery rhymes RHYME.  Rhyming words help children gain important phonemic awareness skills, which are necessary for learning how to read.  In fact, research conducted on children in Pre-Kindergarten has shown a strong relationship between nursery rhyme familiarity and success in reading and writing (MacLean, Bryant, and Bradley, 1987). 

So get out those Mother Goose books!  Here are a few great ones:

My First Real Mother Goose Board Book

by Blanche Fisher Wright

The Pudgy Book of Mother Goose

by Richard Walz

Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose

To learn more about this topic, you can read this article titled Nursery Rhymes and Phonemic Awareness.

Books You Can Sing

Between the ages of 6 and 12 months children begin to become even more active participants in their learning due to their increased mobility.  For this reason, books that you can sing are particularly beneficial for this age group because they often have hand motions or finger plays that go along with them. Associating words with actions gives more meaning to those words, and they will be more easily learned and remembered.

Here's a couple suggestions to get you started: 

Ring Around a Rosie

by Annie Kubler

Wheels on the Bus

by Brenda Jackson & Ronald L. McDonald

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

by Eileen Christelow

 

Curious George Pat-A-Cake!

by H.A. Rey

First Word Books

First word books are perfect for this age group because infant's vocalizations become even more speech-like during the last half of the first year. 

At about 6 months of age babies begin to produce strings of syllables such as "da-da" or "ba-ba" or "ma-ma-ma".  These "babbles" become increasingly complex over time and babies begin to string together different consonant-vowel combinations.  By 10 months, infants even begin to mimic adult-like intonation.  And by a year, many children transition from babbling to actual speech - either in the form of protowords (words that have consistent meaning for the child, but are not actually "proper" words), or actual words.  While there is a large variation in the timing of first words (they can appear between 10 and 18 months), most children utter their first true word around 1 year.  When first words do appear, they are used to convey a whole sentence (this is referred to as a holophrase).  So "doggie" might mean "Look! I see a doggie," or "daddy" with arms extended upward may mean "daddy pick me up!" 

Infant's first words are generally familiar objects (like spoon, ball, car), animals (like cow, dog, duck), body parts (like nose, ear, eyes), or people (like boy, girl, daddy, mommy) - all things that are (not so coincidentally) in FIRST WORD BOOKS!!

Here's a few you might want to check out:

First Words (Bright Baby Series)

by Roger Priddy

First 100 Words (Bright Baby Series)

by Roger Priddy

ABC books

ABC books are great on many levels for children who are 6 to 12 months.  In particular, they teach infants letter and object recognition. 

An infant's receptive vocabulary, or the words that he can understand, will be vastly greater than his expressive vocabulary, or the words he can produce. 

ABC books are a wonderful way to help build a child's receptive vocabulary.  Point to and name the objects on each page, and if your child has begun to gesture through pointing, you can then ask him to point to an object.  You may say something like, "Can you show me where the lion on the page is?"

If he hasn't begun to point on his own, you may want to model that for him, or take his finger and guide it to the correct object.

This particular ABC book is a good place to begin, and has lots of objects as well as flaps to lift to discover even more objects or words.

My First Lift-the-Flap ABC Book

by Diane Thistlethwaite and DK publishing

"Game" Books

Finally, infants love to play games, and many books incorporate them into the storyline. 

Back and forth games like "peek-a-boo" are a fun way to sneek in a language lesson because they mimic the back-and-forth process of a conversation.  Read the book, then follow up with your own game!

Books such as these below will likely entertain your child while helping them learn about language and the world around them:

Peek-A-Moo

by Marie Torres Cimarusti and Stephanie Petersen

The Very Funny Frog

by Jack Tickle

I encourage you to leave a comment!  I'd love to know:

What book does your infant love and why?

If your infant is all grown up, what book was their favorite?

I will combine suggestions and repost!

Questions or curious about more good learning strategies for this age group? 

Feel free to email me at: landofoneuponatime@gmail.com

Memories of Me: Strengthening Memory Skills Through Photo Books

One of baby bookworm’s favorite books isn’t one that we borrowed from the library or bought at a book store, or any store for that matter.  It’s one that I spent many, many hours making this past December as a Christmas gift for her.  The book is titled “The First Year” and contains pictures from her life in chronological order from birth through her first birthday (you’re saying, “duh” right about now I know).  I created a story that goes along with the pictures so that we can actually read it like a book, and this of course provides me with documentation of those first months of life (wow, baby bookworm said “dada” at 5 ½ months?) that I am sure to forget when I’m 50…..or 35…….or maybe even tomorrow. I know that thanks to infantile amnesia baby bookworm won’t remember going to the pumpkin patch, her first trip to the zoo, or her first birthday – so this book provides important autobiographical memories for her too.

If you don’t have a book similar to this one for your own baby bookworm, I definitely encourage you to make one.  I mean, you might as well put those millions of pictures you have of your baby to good and educational use (it truly is amazing how you can have SO MANY pictures of the same little face).  I created mine as a photo book through Kodak Gallery, but you could just as easily paste some photos on to construction paper, write a few captions or a more detailed story, and then staple the pages together.  And if you’re really crafty or artistic and have older children, I’m sure they would find it really fun to be a part of this art project. 

Aside from this being a fun book to read, it truly is very educational!  And probably more than you realize.  Discussing memories or events that have real meaning to your child will help him or her develop autobiographical memory, build and maintain their own memories of the past, and develop a sense of “self”.  Be sure to discuss what you see in the pictures with your baby bookworm, and really try to relive the experiences - be a “storyteller” so to speak (which also conveniently helps baby learn important language skills about how to structure their own narratives, and also expands vocabulary).

Here’s just a few other ideas about how to enhance your baby bookworm’s memory skills:    

1. Remember those millions of videos that you’ve taken, in addition to those millions of pictures; well, pull them out & watch them!  These also provide valuable memory tools, help baby develop a sense of self by hearing and seeing him or herself in action, and help to sharpen language skills.
2. You know those recordable books sold in Hallmark? Turns out they not only make a great gift but encourage all of the same skills mentioned in #1.  Not a bad use of $20 after all.
3. Create flash cards with photos of important people in your child’s life.
4. We all have photos displayed throughout our homes, but remember your baby is small!  Try to find a hidden wall space where you can display a few photos at baby’s eye level.  We have a photo collage in baby bookworm’s room.  I used clear contact paper to adhere the photos to the wall.  It seriously is one of baby bookworm’s favorite spots in the room.