This is your brain on poverty

The topic of the TRC Volunteer Seminar held on October 30, 2013 was "This is your brain on poverty." Lib Gillam, a therapist at the Center for Alexandria’s Children, addressed the effect of being homeless on growing children.    

Ms. Gillam began her presentation by describing the Circle of Security. This behavioral model and corresponding graphic provide the best ways of interacting with a child while attending to his needs.  

As the responsible adult at a Read-Aloud, a volunteer is essentially a child’s caregiver for that period of time. Kids need the volunteers to provide a safe haven and secure base where they can feel safe, comfortable and appreciated. The Circle of Security graphic above shows some specific ways in which volunteers can help kids feel safe and secure so the kids can eventually explore and learn new things. Over time, with such support, kids can work through their feelings.

Next, Ms. Gillam described the physiological effects of homelessness and poverty on developing children and the ways in which children's behavior can be affected. When under stress, the body floods the brain with adrenalin and the body and brain go into fight-or-flight mode. Kids growing up in stressful conditions find their bodies persistently in crisis mode. 

Lacking a sense of control and safety in their everyday lives, children living in homelessness and poverty may exhibit changes in their behavior. Ms. Gillam pointed out various triggers and common responses from children under stress. Some examples are:

• loss of security: she may become hyper-vigilant or emotional
• loss of control: he may try to take control or act out for a limit to be set
• loss of attachment from someone: she may become clingy or avoid contact
• shaken self-concept: he may become withdrawn or look for a role in a group
• anxiety from adults: she will carefully assess adult enthusiasm versus tension

Because the bodies and brains of Read-Aloud kids are likely in an emotionally-charged fight-or-flight mode, it is important to connect with them emotionally and help them feel safe. Volunteers first need to build a relationship with the child before directing or correcting their behavior. According to Ms. Gillam, the best method is to "Connect, then correct.”

While working with kids under stress may seem daunting, the good news is that positive experiences make a difference in the brain. Experiences that strengthen connections

• are frequent, regular and predictable,
• occur in the context of a warm, supportive relationship,
• are associated with positive emotions (fun, excitement, humor, comfort),
• involve several senses and
• are responsive to the child’s interests or initiative.

Creating a TRC Read-Aloud that is fun, predictable and safe helps kids switch out of fight-or-flight mode and create new, positive connections in the brain. 

When asked what elements of this talk they would use at their Read-Alouds, TRC volunteers said, "Now we understand where kids are coming from." Realizing how consistency supports kids under stress and that the kids need to have fun with them gives the volunteers an informed perspective to planning and conducting Read-Alouds.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Expanding vocabulary

The achievement gap between at-risk youth and advantaged youth usually begins even before children arrive at school. It often starts with a child's vocabulary. We are only able to comprehend and discuss concepts and issues for which we know the associated vocabulary. So, it is essential for kids to learn lots of new words all the time.

One of the best ways to learn new vocabulary is through reading. Picture books contain a lexicon at a much higher level than what a child can read on his or her own. For example, the picture book In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming contains the text "waddle, wade geese parade" and "minnows scatter." A seven-year-old might not know exactly what minnows are or what waddle means, but she will be able to decipher their meanings from the images and the context. However, this deduction probably won't happen unless a discussion about the words is prompted by an adult.

Children usually skip over unknown words when reading, so when helping kids learn new vocabulary, take just a moment to point out a new word and then return to the flow of the story. Provide a short, kid-friendly definition and show how it relates to the picture (if possible). A short definition ensures the children understand the text and will hold their interest. Focus on words that are common in adult speech so the kids hear the words again. Hearing a new word one time won't make it stick, but repetition will. Encourage the children to name similar words or connect the new word to what they already know. For example, after reading about geese waddling in In the Small, Small Pond, ask the children what other animals waddle.

Show the kids how to use the pictures to their advantage while reading. This will go a long way in helping them when they have to read in later grades. Explain that looking at pictures is not cheating, but it's what they're there for.

For more strategies about improving kids' vocabulary while reading, check out Reading Rockets.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Focus on the process, not the product

“All young children are great artists. The importance of their art is in the act of creating with confidence and in using their imaginations. It is our sacred trust not to take away this gift from our children, but to encourage and nurture it at every opportunity.” ~ Susan Striker, creator of the Anti-Coloring Books.

All too often when planning art activities for kids, we focus on the finished product and forget to leave room for kids' individuality in their creations. Providing a model for an activity is a good idea because it provides guidance, but it is always best to encourage the children to follow their whims. Some kids will take just a few minutes to add just a bit to what you give them. Others will add and add and add more and more materials. Some of the difference is a matter of age. Some kids just love to manipulate craft materials and use their fine-motor skills. 

We believe open-ended projects help build children's confidence in their skills and their individuality. It is important to praise equally those children who make elaborate extensions to the activity AND those who seem to engage only briefly. Who knows what elaborate extensions may be being built in the second child's imagination?

Open-ended activities work well for Read-Alouds because they are easily adaptable to wide age ranges. A four-year-old will enjoy these projects as much as an 11-year-old, but will likely produce a less ambitious product and spend less time at it. At a recent Read-Aloud at Next Steps Housing, the volunteers read Ten Black Dots by Donald Crews and gave each child dots with which to create an image of their choice. All of the kids, ranging from four to fourteen years old were thoroughly engaged in their creations and loved the freedom of the activity. 

Here are some open-ended ideas that could be adapted to fit a variety of themes.

From ID Mommy blog.

Collage.  Save or collect old magazines, catalogues and newspaper pages. Cut out pictures, paste them together on a sheet of construction paper to make a collage. Kids can create their favorite meal, if reading about food, or their ideal vacation spot, if talking about travel. Libraries often have old magazines for sale for $.25 each. You can also include nonpaper materials. For example, beans and rice, add so much to this farm scene.

Paper cutting. The classic example of paper cutting is making paper snowflakes. Show children how to fold the paper and where to cut so the finished product does not fall apart. Then give them the freedom to create snowflakes in different shapes and colors. Copy paper, tissue paper and coffee filters are great for this activity. 

Papel Picado is another great example of paper cutting. It's a traditional Mexican decoration that is easily adapted for kids. Fold colored tissue paper much like you would for a paper snowflake and cut out designs. These are often strung together to make colorful banners.

Clay and other manipulatives. Give each child some clay, play dough or pipe cleanesr and let her to create something related to what you've been reading. A team at Virginia Gardens last year let the kids create dinosaurs out of pipe cleaners. The kids were so proud of their creations. Have a look here:

Creating a scene. Provide each child with a piece of heavier stock paper as the base and a variety of materials to create a scene based on your theme. If creating a winter scene, provide cotton balls, glitter, pine needles, colored construction paper and stickers and let the kids create winter vistas.

When doing open-ended crafts, there is no "right" or "wrong" result, and it is finished when the child decides it is finished. The focus should be on the process of creating, not necessarily the end product. To spark conversation, ask each child to tell you about his art and what he used to create it. Let each child's personality and skills shine through their art.

For more ideas for open-ended crafts, read this pamphlet by 123child.com.



To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Read-Aloud planning made painless: part 1

There’s more than one way to plan a fantastic Read-Aloud. If your team struggles with planning, whether because you don’t remember it’s your team’s turn to read, someone won’t step up and take the lead in planning, or your plans turn out to be too complex or time consuming, TRC is here to help.

This is the first of two posts about planning stemming from our recent volunteer seminar. In this post, we’ll explore two very different planning styles from TRC sites and some communication options. In the next post, we’ll explore components of planning like timing, choosing activities, recycling Read-Alouds and keeping kids’ attention.

Planning

TRC volunteers presented two different planning styles at the seminar. Karen McNeilly from Carpenter’s Shelter and Bonnie Miller and Ellen Abramson from ARHA described how their teams plan Read-Alouds and answered questions from fellow volunteers.

Carpenter’s Shelter uses their TRC Google Docs for long-term planning.  Their site coordinator, David Saunders, creates a Read-Aloud team captain calendar for the entire year. Volunteers can access Google Docs to check when they are assigned to be team captain. 

• The team captain role rotates through every member of each Read-Aloud team, so every volunteer at the Carpenter’s site is responsible for planning a Read-Aloud once every four months.  
• The captain does everything for his or her month (theme, books, activity, Read-Aloud report), although he or she may ask other members for help.  
• The captain emails the rest of the team the week of the Read-Aloud with the plan and team members may add ideas.
• The team arrives ten minutes before the Read-Aloud to look at the books and the activity and prepare the reading area and the activity. All of the volunteers work together to make sure the space is cleaned up at the end of the Read-Aloud.

Karen also pointed out that

• They can re-use ideas because kids turn over pretty fast at Carpenter’s. 
• She researches TRC’s website and Read-Aloud database for theme ideas.
• In terms of crafts, less is more. Limit the kinds of materials you provide and let the kids’ imaginations do the rest.

Team Three at ARHA plans long-term as a group and assigns responsibilities based on members’ strengths and interests. They also use a conference call a week before their Read-Aloud to firm things up.

  

Once the Read-Aloud schedule has been set and the team knows the dates they will be reading, the team meets to choose themes for the upcoming four to six months. At that meeting they:

• review and confirm dates for the upcoming Read-Alouds,
• brainstorm themes, books and activities,
• assign a person or volunteer to be the Read-Aloud captain for each week/theme, and
• one person sends out an email outlining the rough ideas for the next six months with date, theme, name of Read-Aloud captain for each month and dates for upcoming conference calls. 

This team divides up the responsibilities for planning based on members’ strengths and interests.  One person knows a lot about children’s books and likes to get them while other members like to plan and implement the activities, so they do those jobs every month. The whole team has agreed to this arrangement and is involved in the theme choices, brainstorming and implementation.

  

A week or so before the Read-Aloud, the team has a conference call to review the theme, books, activity and snack. 

The night of the Read-Aloud the team arrives early. The book person has put post-it notes on books highlighting features and recommending age groups. If they using special equipment like a cd player, they make sure it works
beforehand.

ARHA uses its TRC Google Docs to keep track of the themes folks have done or have planned for the future. All teams have access to it, so they can avoid duplication.

Communication

One of the keys to easy planning is strong communication within teams and between teams. 

• E-mail, Google Docs and conference calls can keep everyone in the loop. 
• Reading the weekly Read-Aloud reports from other teams at your site provides crucial information about the kids attending and themes that have been done or suggested.
• Meeting with your team after a Read-Aloud or site meeting, or on another date, allows you to work out some long-term plans and brainstorm in person. 
• Arriving early to Read-Alouds to do a quick briefing and let folks look at the books before they have to read them brings everybody up to speed before the Read-Aloud starts.

However your team chooses to do it, volunteer experience has shown that a pre-planned Read-Aloud is a fun and effective Read-Aloud. Talk with your team today and make your own plan for great Read-Alouds. And take a look at the TRC Training Hub next week when we explore components of planning.

To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

How to Talk with Kids

For volunteers, interacting with kids at Read-Alouds can be intimidating. Children are interested in different things than adults, their social skills aren't yet totally developed, they might not like the books or activities that are being shared with them, and it might prompt them to act out. Furthermore, the kids at TRC Read-Alouds can be even more difficult to interact with since children in unstable family situations--the very demographic TRC works with--can be particularly fidgety, distracted, and hard to engage. But kids are just people, and they want to be treated respectfully and taken seriously. This blog entry will present some ideas on how to connect with kids in conversation, earn their respect and trust, and help engage them in the Read-Aloud.

1. Before the Read-Aloud, engage children in conversation to make them feel welcome.

It's true that you may have different interests, conversational styles and backgrounds than the children you're interacting with, and this might make conversation different--but can't those things be true of anybody? Volunteers should always arrive 15 minutes early for a Read-Aloud to get set up, and part of getting ready is to help make the kids feel welcome and excited. Do this by engaging a child in conversation the way you'd engage an adult who arrived to participate in a meeting or a workshop: ask how their day is going, what they've done that day, and then listen when they answer. Talk about what books they've read recently and if you've read something good, tell the kids about it (briefly). Welcome every child to the Read-Aloud individually, using his or her name.

2. Be aware of the child/adult power dynamic--because you can be sure that the kids are!

Children don't need to be treated like a bomb that could go off at any minute or a wild animal that needs to be lured into sitting still to listen to a storybook! Take care to treat every child as your equal—ask questions that you might ask to a friend and respond to their stories the way you would reply to anyone. Don't dumb down a conversation because you're talking to a 7 year old, just be aware of what conversation topics will interest and engage them.



3. Maintain a respectful disposition towards children who are acting out.

Of course there are times when kids are acting out or talking during a story or distracting their peers, and in those instances it is appropriate for a volunteer to exercise power as an authority figure. If this happens, be sure that in your response you remain calm and gracious. One easy way to do this is to cite the TRC promises that you reviewed at the beginning of your Read-Aloud. Many kids at Read-Alouds are familiar with the language of TRC's promises.

To the child who is talking out during the story, say, "We all promised to respect and listen to one another. Can you be respectful while I am reading?"

To the child who is distracting another child by talking to or physically bothering him or her, say, "I really need your cooperation if we're going to all have fun at the Read-Aloud."

If a child really can't cooperate, respect and listen at a Read-Aloud, have a volunteer pull him or her aside and say, "I really enjoy having you at Read-Alouds and I would hate for you to have to leave. But if you're not ready to be at the Read-Aloud right now, then it's time for you to go home and I'll have to see you next time. Do you think you are ready to be part of our Read-Aloud?"

The key is to emphasize that while certain behaviors are not welcome at Read-Alouds, all children are.

4. Remember that you also promised to Listen, Respect, Cooperate and Have Fun!

It's hard to blame a kid for acting out towards an adult who treats him or her like, well, a kid. Nobody likes to be condescended to or patronized (even by someone the same age as their parent!) As a Read-Aloud volunteer, it's your job to:

Listen to what the children are saying about the books and activities. If they say they don't like one or are bored, ask what kinds of things they would rather read about and what kinds of activities they'd rather do--and then listen to their answers!

Respect their contributions. Just because a kid's story is long and rambling and seems to make no sense, bear with him or her--you might be one of the only people who does. If a child has a problem that seems unimportant--a scab, or trouble sitting still--remember times that you had something distracting you from work or whatever you needed to be doing, and do what you can within reason to help the child solve his or her problem.

Cooperate. If a kid wants to take home a give-away book that is too advanced, reach a compromise: sit him or her down and read the first few pages out loud before letting the child take it home! If a kid's approach to a craft isn't what you had in mind but isn't disruptive or problematic, why not just let him or her go in whatever direction inspiration takes?

Have fun! Don't let kids stress you out! Do your best as a volunteer to listen to, respect and cooperate with the kids at your Read-Aloud, and you will probably do great! Children are sometimes less guarded and more genuine than grown-ups, which should make them easier to talk to.

Post by The Reading Connection intern Anna McCormally.


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.

Get in on the ground floor: early literacy development at your Read-Aloud

Reading research demonstrates that literacy learning starts at birth. Crucial components of reading skills are built long before a child starts school, mostly by adults talking with young children, reading to them and providing them with lots of experiences.

Fortunately, very young children are champs at absorbing these important concepts and skills they’ll need later on. They just need a grown-up to show them. If I child doesn’t learn these concepts and skills before school starts, he’s going to be playing catch-up for a while. And even as kids are catching their stride as independent readers, practicing these early literacy skills strengthens their abilities. 

Here are the cornerstones of early literacy development and some ways to incorporate them into your Read-Aloud or a reading experience with a child in your life. 

Comprehension

Understanding what you read requires a large vocabulary, lots of experiences in the world and the abilities to both predict what will happen next and to connect what you are reading with your life experiences. 

 
Every new word a child learns and every experience a child has are money in the bank that he can draw on to help him understand as he reads or listens to a new text. The bigger the vocabulary and the more life experiences, the bigger the “account” from which to draw. 

To develop comprehension skills at your Read-Aloud, choose books with unusual words and take the time to talk with the kids about what those words mean. Choose books with a repetitive or predictable structure and pause while you are reading to let the kids practice predicting what will happen next. Some books, such as Who Hops? by Katie Davis, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Jr. and many books by Jan Brett include hints and questions to help kids guess what will come next. Encourage the kids to make connections between the book and their own experiences. Model these skills by saying things like “I wonder what that word means.” or “Gee—what will happen next. Maybe…” or “Oh, this reminds me of the time when I …”

Phonological Awareness

Phonological awareness means being aware that letters have sounds associated with them and words are a combination of those sounds. Children’s books are the perfect tools for helping kids become aware of letter and word sounds because so many of them have great rhyme, alliteration and rhythm. 

Rhyme and alliteration help kids learn about the sounds that letters make. Rhythm helps kids recognize words, syllables and the sounds they make. Nursery rhymes are also a great way to teach these skills since they include rhyme and often incorporate hand motions that illustrate the text.

"Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they are four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they are eight."  -- Mem Fox, Reading Magic.

Why? Because nursery rhymes have great rhyme, rhythm and alliteration.

To build phonological awareness at your Read-Aloud, choose books with rhyme, rhythm and alliteration (words all starting with the same sound.) Encourage the kids to finish rhymes when you pause, clap out rhythms and name other words that rhyme or start with the same sound.  Try pairing a book with an associated nursery rhyme. Teach younger kids the words and help them sing along.

Alphabetic Principle

Letters are just symbols. They are shapes that have sounds associated with them. Developing this concept requires helping kids recognize letters, name them and learn the sounds that are associated with them.

Read ABC books and books with alliteration with the kids. Encourage the kids to point out letters they recognize and to make the different sounds letters make. A recent story on NPR tells of a study that found that asking kids to identify letters on a page in a story helped their reading skills even several years later.

Concepts about print

Simply put, it’s understanding how books work. Any book will do. 

Help the child identify parts of the book (cover, spine, title page, author and illustrator), orient the books for reading (right side up), understand the direction of text (in English, we read left to right) and distinguish words from pictures. 

Reading research has identified the four concepts above as the cornerstones of early literacy development.  I’d add one more:  delight in books and reading.  Developing positive feelings about books and reading are also essential to becoming a life-long reader. So be sure to keep your Read-Alouds fun. You’ll be helping create readers from the bottom up!


To receive credit for this online training, please fill out the form here.