Reading to Children
The best way to
prepare students for reading instruction is to
read interesting books to them. Nearly any book
that youngsters can understand and relate to will
do. Nursery rhymes and books with repetitive
patterns lend themselves to preparation for
reading.
The Family Literacy Center
offers the magazine Parents and Children
Together. The magazine's goal is to
further the cause of family literacy by bringing
parents and children together through the magic
of reading. The magazine features original
stories and articles for children, suitable for
reading aloud. A special section for parents
features articles on issues related to children's
reading and writing and book reviews of recent
children's literature.
Children begin
acquiring literacy (reading and writing) long
before they enter school. Most school-age
children have acquired a fairly extensive
vocabulary and sophisticated language system.
They have seen traffic signs and billboard
advertising, printed messages on television, and
printing on cereal boxes. They can tell a
McDonald’s logo from that of Burger King and
distinguish a box of Fruit Loops from a box of
Captain Crunch.
They have seen
their parents read books, magazines, newspapers,
letters, or bills, and observed them writing
notes or letters, filling out forms, and making
lists. The children may also have imitated some
of these activities. Their parents may have read
books to them and provided them with crayons,
pencils, and other tools of literacy. All
youngsters, no matter how impoverished their
environment, have begun the journey along the
path that begins with language acquisition and
ends in formal literacy.
Creating Reading
Instruction For All Children by Thomas G.
Gunning, Allyn and Bacon, 1992.
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s anxious for these reports,
but they have forced important dialogue
about education, not only here, but
across the country. Illinois legislators
finally passed a funding bill which may
help some of those districts which are so
inadequately funded. Boards of education
had an opportunity to learn about and
practice their roles in a state-wide
conference. The conference provided us an
opportunity to launch an exciting new
program for the Internet. 
Graphic by: Yiqi
Shao 
Strategic Studies needs teachers to
prepare lesson plans which can be used in
conjunction with the Internet. Lessons are being
sought in all curricular areas and all grade
levels from primary to high school. You may want
to visit
