Literacy Hit Parade

I've been wanting to write this for several weeks now, but with 3 kids ages 5 and under, I'm having a hard time finding the time! Anyway, here are my latest big hits in the literacy department.



1. Book easels. My husband says these make our house look a little like a library, but I don't mind. I know from my years as a children's librarian that the books on display are the first books checked out. The kids just can't help it. They look so inviting and they have to have them which is just fine with me. At home I set up book easels in our living room and just put a new set of books in at the end of each day. Invariably, these are the first books my kids ask about. And a lot of times they just pluck them off the stands to look at them on their own. I've been checking out a lot interesting nonfiction these days purely for the purpose of independent browsing. I purchased my easels from DEMCO which is one the library supply catalogs I used when I was a librarian. They are simple, inexpensive, and 100% effective! The large all-purpose easels are $2.49 or $2.39 if you buy 6 or more.


2. Clip on reading lights for bed. I love to settle into bed each night with a good book. It's been a lifetime ritual and one I'm passing on to my kids right now. For Christmas both boys got an inexpensive clip-on light for their bed. Each night after we read stories together, they get to pick a few books to take to bed. We say good-night and they are on their own to look at their books and turn off their own light when they're ready. Besides promoting reading on their own, I like how this makes them responsible for lights out.


3. White board easel: We got ours from Ikea and then bought a big set of colorful whiteboard markers and an eraser from an office supply store. It's set up in the living room and each day I try to write one "secret message" for the boys to read. I usually include their names which they can already read and a few other easy site words and then also include some words which are easy to sound out. They love trying to read the messages and when they see their own names they are always interested to see what it says. Sometimes they just erase it and use the board for their own pictures or messages which is also great. I just try to sneak a message in at some point during the day and wait for them to notice. It's fun and gets us talking about words and letters in a natural way.