Articles Bruce Johnson on 09 Feb 2009 12:23 pm
Milk and Cookies Night
Interested in helping your parents learn to read to their children? Not all parents know how to present a read aloud as effectively as teachers do, so you may need to show them. Present a Milk and Cookies Night. This is a night where you invite your children to school, with their parents, and maybe with pajamas, sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals, and whatever else might make them feel as comfortable as at home. Choose a classroom setting where there are lots of books or try to use the school library.
Choose some of your favorite books to read. Model good read aloud techniques such as showing pictures, reading with excitement, or asking interactive questions. Read two or three books, maybe taking about 20 to 30 minutes. Offer the milk and cookies as a middle of the night break. Then invite parents to choose some books, find a corner in the classroom to read to their children. Again, two or three books, maybe taking about 20 to 30 minutes. For the most success, walk around the room, interact with children and parents, and if necessary, tactfully help parents to read correctly. Most of all, make sure all participants have fun.
A special thank you to Amy Hartman, Reading Specialist/Kindergarten Teacher, from North Carolina, for this wonderful idea. I’ve followed through two times with great success.
on 10 Jun 2009 at 9:09 pm 1.Carla Sharp said …
Yes! This is a wonderful idea. We offer something that speaks to the same idea. We offer a pj night and also model reading aloud for pre-school children.
We also offer an ongoing program created by the American Library Association entitled, “Every Child Ready to Read @ Your Library. This program is intended for children ages 1-5 and their adult.
We focus on those pre-reading skills and the concept of parent as first teacher.
Carla Sharp
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