Have a ball reading!

Our last blog post featured a Read-Aloud about being yourself. For the activity, kids and volunteers took turns answering questions about themselves based on questions from a paper cube they rolled like a die.

Volunteers found the cube with questions online.  They discovered that having the cube to roll to prompt kids to answer questions was a great tool. 

You don't need a theme-specific prop to use this idea at your Read-Aloud. You can get the kids talking with each other and moving at the same time by using a beach ball to prompt questions. You can use it at any point or at several points during your Read-Aloud. For example:

• With the kids standing or sitting in a circle, toss a beach ball around to each kid and have them answer a question about themselves or about the Read-Aloud.

• Before, ask a theme-related question to start the Read-Aloud and get the kids thinking about what they already know about the theme.
• What lives in the ocean?
• What is your favorite food?

• During, ask questions while you are reading:
• What will happen next?
• Do you agree or disagree with the character's choice?
• Does this remind you of another book you've read?

• After, ask questions about books the books you've read:
• What was your favorite character?
• If you could change the ending, what would happen?
• Why did a character make a certain choice?
• What did you like or dislike about this story?
• Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

• You can also use the beach ball to get the kids to:
• Answer questions about themselves (likes, dislikes, etc.);
• Think up rhymes with words you provide;
• Name things in categories related to your theme like nocturnal animals or feelings;
• Name something they learned during the Read-Aloud.

You can use any kind of ball to do this, even a tennis ball, but a beach ball is easy to catch and store and isn't likely to break anything if it gets away from the group.

You can just ask one question at a time and throw the ball around, with each child or volunteer answering as he or she catches it, or you can use a dry-erase marker to write specific questions on your beach ball. The person catching the ball would answer the question his right thumb is on when he or she catches it.

In addition to being a way to encourage and organize conversation at your Read-Aloud, using a ball has the added benefit of integrating physical activity into the reading experience. So have a ball at your Read-Aloud and get some conversation rolling!

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

Guess who's coming to our Read-Aloud: Having special guests at your Read-Aloud

This post is the second in a series that began with a post on March 8, 2016, called Guess who's coming to our Read-Aloud: Finding special guests. In that blog post, we discussed how to choose, invite, inform your colleagues, etc. In this follow up, we cover planning the Read-Aloud to take advantage of this special event. 

Reading time

Having a special guest at your Read-Aloud will likely change the usual session structure. Your guest might converse with the kids longer than is typical. The activity may also take more time than usual, or you might not have time for an activity at all. These changes will affect the amount of time you'll be able to devote to reading.  
 Even if you're unsure of how much time you'll read, be sure to bring books related to the theme. It's important for the kids to see books related to the special guest's theme, because this encourages the kids to explore the subject through books if they are interested. 

If the Read-Aloud is dominated by conversation between the guest and the kids, that's completely appropriate. Building literacy entails expanding background knowledge and vocabulary. By hearing new subject area vocabulary and learning about a new topic, kids are building their background knowledge and vocabulary so they will be better positioned to enjoy reading and learning in the future.

To summarize, prepare as usual by bringing a few books that will work to read to the whole group, as well as some that would work in small groups, but don't be distressed if less reading than usual takes place.

Activity time

Sometimes, simply interacting with the guest will be your activity. Or, a hands-on activity may be the best way to let the kids experience the guest's subject. Think carefully about what kind of activity would work best with your guest. 

Activities should be interactive so they bring the subject to life. For example, when Becky, a zookeeper from the National Zoo, came to Greentree Shelter, she brought bamboo for the kids to touch. Then the kids prepared foods that the animals eat (and they could eat too!). This hands-on activity got kids engaged in thinking about the lives of animals and the work zookeepers do.

Even if your plan for the activity is for the kids to interact with the guest, bring a simple back-up activity. You never know how long a guest will speak or if an unexpected turn of events (like firefighters having to leave because of an emergency call) will cut that interaction short. 

Including your team members

Although one or two volunteers may take the lead in scheduling the guest, planning and orchestrating the Read-Aloud, all of the volunteers can help keep the kids focused and engaged. All team members should be encouraged to help with the following: 

• Look for books related to the theme,
• Brainstorm short additional activities to be used if the special guest and main activity don't use as much time as expected.
• Take photos, if allowed at your site. Send them on to TRC and to the special guest. 

Thanking the special guest

Send a thank you to your guest for coming to the Read-Aloud. In the past, we have had guests come back time and again because they had a such a great experience. Fostering a positive experience for the guest and showing our appreciation can increase the likelihood that he would be willing to come back again or to visit another site. If you were able to snap a picture with the guest and the children, or of the children engaged during the Read-Aloud, send it along with a thank-you letter to the guest. Also, at your next Read-Aloud, ask the kids sign a group thank-you card. (If you do this and wait a month, send a note from you and your fellow volunteers right away.)

Read-Aloud report

When completing your Read-Aloud report, be sure to describe how the guest interacted with the kids, what kind of activity you did, how the kids reacted and which books worked well. This will help other volunteers who might want to do a Read-Aloud on that theme, with or without a guest.

If the guest was a big hit, call or email Stephanie about her! If the guest is interested, TRC may try to coordinate another visit.

Bringing a special guest to your Read-Aloud can open up a whole world of experiences and excitement for the kids you serve. And volunteers often enjoy the visit as much as the kids.


This post was written by Rachel Fishman, TRC's AmeriCorps VISTA. 

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

Race and reading: developing personal relationships

When is a name tag not just a name tag? When it helps TRC kids and volunteers develop personal relationships even though they are divided by race and social groups. Knowing and using someone's name is a powerful affirmation of his or her value.  

TRC recently conducted a volunteer seminar focusing on racial identity development and TRC programs. In it we explored several aspects of race and mainstream culture and how they affect our Read-Alouds. With issues of race and racially-rooted conflict in the news, and recognizing that the majority of the children and parents we serve are people of color and the majority of our volunteers are white, it was a timely topic.

Currently our Read-Aloud volunteer corps is made up of 86% Caucasians, 5% African Americans, 3% Asians, 3% Hispanics and 3% mixed race individuals. Our current Read-Aloud partners report having 0 to 30% Caucasian clients. Because we have long recognized the importance of having a diverse group of volunteers, TRC actively seeks to increase the number of people of color in our volunteer pool. 

TRC Read-Alouds provide opportunities for the kids we serve to have positive, supportive experiences with caring adults who are, based on our current corps of volunteers, most likely white. It's a chance to have frequent personal experiences with adults that may counter the negativity of mainstream culture toward people of color. Based on recommendations from Marty Swaim of Challengeracism.org and Cheryl Robinson and James Sample of Arlington Public Schools, we examined three factors volunteers could control to ensure all TRC kids feel welcome, valued and engaged.  

Factor 1:  Personal relationships 

Build relationships with the kids and let them know you are interested in them and respect them as individuals. Show them you value them, their culture and their race. When you do this, you model a relationship built on communication, not on cues based on exterior appearance. As you get to know each kid and each kid gets to know you, you help the child bank positive experiences that build strong and healthy self-images.

How do you build relationships at a Read-Aloud?

Come prepared and arrive early to set up. You'll be showing the kids you've planned a special Read-Aloud for them and are excited to see them.

Welcome participants by name and use name tags. Using kids' names shows respect and interest in them as individuals.

Do a group welcoming, team building or settling activity. You'll be easing the transition into Read-Aloud time and building a sense of community.

Create a balance between volunteer control and kid choices. Provide both choice and reasonable boundaries.

Providing clear boundaries and as many opportunities as possible for the kids to call the shots helps balance the adult/kid power imbalance and demonstrates your regard for the kids.

• Use TRC's Promises to set expectations for behavior during the Read-Aloud and follow up if kids need reminding. You'll be showing the kids that you see them as responsible and capable and that you will ensure their time with you is safe and enjoyable.
• Let the kids choose books they want to read with you in small groups. An adult has already chosen the book to read to the group as a whole. Letting kids choose what to read next balances out the power dynamic.
• Provide open-ended activities that foster creativity and individual expression. You'll get to know each kid better and each kid can enjoy being herself.
• Take time to talk with the kids and answer their questions as they choose books to take home. Don't choose books for them.

Make eye contact. Like using someone's name, making eye contact creates a connection between you and the child.

Sit down on their level. Be one of the group instead of towering over the kids.




Have conversations with the kids

• Share information about yourself. When you do this, you create opportunities to connect with the kids.
• Encourage kids to share their ideas and feelings.
• LISTEN to what they have to say. You'll gain insight into their thoughts, feelings and experiences.

When you have a genuine conversation with a kid, you get to know him as an individual and he gets to know you, too. These relationships can go a long way in helping build understanding and positive experiences across racial or social lines.

You've probably noticed that all the strategies recommended are ones that TRC has encouraged you to do at your Read-Alouds already. We want volunteers to use name tags and TRC Promises and to come prepared to help the Read-Alouds go smoothly and be enjoyable. We include conversation and choice because those are important factors in reading development and motivation. It turns out they also help kids build positive racial identities and are components of culturally competent Read-Alouds.

TRC will provide more posts on this topic, exploring two more factors that volunteers can control to ensure every Read-Aloud is culturally competent.

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

Now boarding on platform 9 3/4...

Have you ever used a manual typewriter? Have you ever seen a tumbleweed or a coal chute? If you haven’t, it would be hard to understand some of our favorite Read-Aloud books:  Click Clack Moo:  Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin, Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion and Tumbleweed Stew by Susan Stevens Crummel.

To help kids get the most out of books you are reading aloud with them, it’s a good idea to read through the books, looking for words or situations with which the kids might be unfamiliar. Sometimes words or concepts will be unfamiliar because they are old fashioned—like manual typewriters or coal chutes. Sometimes geography (take tumbleweeds for instance) or simply opportunity will be the factor preventing understanding. 

This kind of broad vocabulary and life experience is called background knowledge, and it is crucial to reading comprehension. It is your job, as an experienced person and reader, to look for stumbling blocks to understanding in the books you've chosen, and think of ways to remove those blocks for the kids. Here’s an example:

King's Cross Station

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry is supposed to take a train to his new school, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He instructed to go to King’s Cross train station where the Hogwarts Express, his train, will be waiting at Platform 9 ¾. If you've never ridden on a train, like an AMTRAK train, the idea of a platform for a train might not make any sense. After all, a platform can be a stage or a shoe or a political thing, too. And the fanciful idea that there could be a train platform 9 ¾ would be lost on the kids.  How can there be a 3/4ths kind of place?

If you were reading that passage to the kids, you’d need to stop and talk about train stations and platforms. You could ask “What is a platform?”  “How do you think Harry will find his train?” It might even help to have some pictures to show the kids. (Google Images is your friend.) 

In addition to explaining what a word means, it also helps to make a connection between the new word or idea and the kids’ experience. For example, you could say, “Have you ever ridden on the metro or on a subway? The place where you stand and wait to get on the train is the platform.” And then you could talk about how they might have figured out which train to take when they were standing on the platform. That kind of connection helps kids apply their new vocabulary word or experience not only to the current story you are reading with them, but also in other situations in their lives.

Sometimes when you are reading with kids, you'll stumble upon words or ideas they are unfamiliar with and you just need to take a minute to explore and explain. But it would be even better if you had a chance to prepare in advance, so take a minute when you are looking over books to read with kids and think about, not just how you might read it to them, but also how you can build their background knowledge.

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

Asking open-ended questions

Conversations are all about give and take. One person asks and the other person answers. What is it about our questions and answers that causes some conversations to continue forever and causes others to stop dead in their tracks? The answer is largely the difference between open- and closed-ended questions. For example:

Adult: Did you do anything fun at school today?
Child: No.
Conversation over.

Adult: What did you do at recess today?
Child: I played on the monkey bars with Amelia and then we played tag with some of the other kids.
Now there are a lot of follow-up questions and different directions you could take this conversation.

The difference between the questions is that the first was a closed-ended question and the second was open-ended. The difference lies in the way a question can be answered. Closed-ended questions can usually be answered with one or two words while open-ended questions require some elaboration. Sometimes, you can follow a closed-ended question with an open-ended one to keep the conversation going.

Adult: Which animal at the zoo is your favorite?
Child: The white tiger.
Adult: What is it about the white tiger that makes it special to you?
Child: I like that he's white and not like the rest of the tigers. Also it reminds me of Aladdin and I like his exhibit.

The beauty of open-ended questions is that they engage kids' thought processes, vocabulary and cognitive skills. They are great in personal conversations, but also fit perfectly into a discussion about a book. When open-ended questions are used with books, they encourage kids to use their imagination to extrapolate what's not shown and help them to understand different viewpoints. 

Some great open-ended questions to use in reading are

• What do you think this book is going to be about?
• What makes you think that?
• Why do you think he did that?
• How do you think that makes her feel?
• How would you feel if that happened to you?
• What would happen if this happened in real life?

For more information about open-ended questions, check out Stories and Children and a great list from Georgia's Department of Early Care and Learning. Also be sure to check out our post about talking with kids.

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

What do you know?

Years ago, I tutored a 4th grader in Washington, DC. DeShawn was still struggling with reading on her own, but she loved hearing books read aloud and having conversations about everything. We’d work on homework together and spend time reading aloud.

One evening, she chose a book about the solar system. The book dedicated a double-page spread to each planet and when we got to the end, DeShawn looked up at me and said, “Is that all the planets? What about the third world? I keep hearing about the third world on the TV.”

I was so proud of her question. She’d thought she’d known where to look for an answer—in a book about planets. When she didn’t find it, she was comfortable questioning what we’d read.

Lots of kids won’t ask questions. But to develop knowledge and build critical thinking skills, kids have to know how to ask questions and be able to communicate what they are thinking and understanding. Support them by:

• Modeling conversation skills and by asking good open-ended questions
• Reflecting on your own personal experiences and connections to information and text
• Sharing your own knowledge and asking kids related questions about their experiences
• Giving kids time to think before asking questions or answering yours
• Listening carefully and thoughtfully to what they have to ask and say

Listening carefully to DeShawn’s question about where to find the third world, I knew an answer of “in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America” was not going to be helpful to her. A globe, an atlas, and several magazine and newspaper articles later, DeShawn was satisfied. And so was I. Her one question had turned into deeper knowledge of the world and got us exploring texts we’d never considered before.

Reading and listening to informational text can definitely help kids develop knowledge of the world, which in turn, will help strengthen their comprehension skills. What DeShawn and I learned is that while informational text is a type of nonfiction, it can be found in lots of places besides nonfiction books. Newspapers, magazines, brochures, and websites have interesting informational reading that answers questions kids are curious about and helps prepare them for life.

You can bet that if something is in the news, kids have heard about it, but often have little understanding. Some issues may not be appropriate for you to discuss with kids that aren’t your own, but knowing that those questions are out there, you can help them start building the knowledge they need to ask their questions and understand the answers.

Guest blog post by TRC Advisory Council member and Belle of the Book, Rachael Walker.

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