Tag: Reading

Rise and Shine Expo – 2 great workshops worth going to + Giveaway #01

Credit: Rise and Shine
Credit: Rise and Shine

In our family, we speak Chinese 90% of the time.  As a result, our kids are strong in this language that many kids here are struggling with. However, in Singapore, we have to be bilingual and are taught English and Chinese since young. English, being our teaching medium, is extremely important in getting good grades in schools. Without a good English foundation, students will struggle to understand Mathematics problem sums and tackle English comprehension questions.

Recently, my 8 year old girl is losing marks in her test papers due to her weakness in the English language.  She does not have full understanding of the questions.  It is not easy to be equally good in 2 languages and I do empathize with her.  I take a partial blame too that I do not speak much English at home. I always believe my kids can pick up English in school easily since they interact with mostly English-speaking classmates daily. I read to them since they were babies and am still reading to them.  Perhaps they are not reading enough on their own.  Despite being worried about their English standard, I have never regretted speaking Chinese primarily at home.  I take pride that their Chinese is strong as Chinese is indeed a very difficult language to master. It is important to speak well since it is our Mother Tongue.

So, when I knew about a workshop where the famous speaker Dr Thomas Armstrong is going to share tips on teaching everything from phonics to reading comprehension using brain strategies, I was curious to find out if there are ways for me to help my girl with her comprehension skills. This workshop is held in conjunction with the Rise and Shine Expo which will span across 3 days of exciting kids’ activities, premium brands and workshops for parents from 27-29 Sept 2013. This speaker is an award winning author of “Nurturing Multiple Intelligences in Children”. I have extracted some details to this workshop here:

Workshop with Dr. Thomas Armstrong: The multiple intelligences of reading and writing: making the words come alive!

This workshop will show parents how to help children develop literacy skills by linking words to images, music, logic, emotions, physical expression, social context, oral language, and nature.  Dr. Armstrong draws upon recent neuropsychological research in showing how reading and writing skills are whole brain activities, and he provides practical tips and suggestions for teaching everything from phonics to reading comprehension using whole brain strategies.

This workshop is for parents with children from 3 to 12 years old who want to lay strong foundation in their kids in reading and writing using the concept of multiple intelligences.

Speaker:
Dr Thomas Armstrong
Award Winning Author and Advocator of Nurturing Multiple Intelligences in Children

Dr Thomas Armstrong is the author of fifteen books including Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom, In Their Own Way, Awakening Your Child’s Natural Genius, 7 Kinds of Smart,The Myth of the A.D.D. Child and Awakening Genius in the Classroom. His books have been translated into twenty-six languages. He has appeared on several national and international television and radio programs, including NBC’s ”The Today Show”, “CBS This Morning”, “CNN”, the “BBC” and “The Voice of America”. Articles featuring his work have appeared in The New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Good Housekeeping, and hundreds of other newspapers and magazines around the country.

Date: Sat, 28 Sept
Time: 2.30pm – 4pm
Venue: Room 305, Suntec Convention Hall

To register for the workshop, please click here.

Price: $20

Early bird discount by 2 Sept: 10% off
Group booking: 3 or more in a group enjoy 50% off
PAssion Card holders: 1 for 1 signup (partner attends for free)

For more details on this Rise and Shine Expo, click here.

I would encourage those parents who are keen to help on their children’s language development to attend this workshop.

Being a Rise and Shine partner blogger, I am entitled to give away 5 pairs of tickets (worth $20 for each ticket) to my readers for this workshop. If you are interested to know how this workshop can benefit the reading and writing skills of your child, please do the following:

1) Like Kids R Simple and Rise and Shine facebook fan pages

2) Leave a comment below with your email address or on Kids R Simple facebook page (If you are not comfortable with leaving your email address, please message me via facebook)

3) The closing date for enrolment of giveaway is on 6 Sept 2013.

Good luck!

This is the first part of the Rise and Shine Expo Giveaways.

Stay tune for the second giveaway…

Reading – a simple yet important routine for the child

The best way to learn a language is to speak and read.  The best way to attain knowledge is to read.  The best way to indulge in vivid imagination (imagination = creativity) is to read too. 
 
Books are real, kids can touch them and parents can spend bonding time with kids by reading to them.  I would not encourage kids to read e-books since e-books cannot be touched and flipped.  And staring into the screen for long hours will stress the little eyes.  I would rather my kids being read to by me than to be read to by the iphone.  I am sure I can do a far better job than technology read-out-loud.  I started reading to my kids since I was pregnant with them and till now, I still read to my soon-to-be 5-year-old boy and 7-year-old girl.  They are still loving it!
 

How I read to my children:

  1. Cover page – Read the title, author, illustrator.  They will learn to appreciate the people behind the wonderful making of the book.
  2. Pictures – For the first few times, linger on the picture page for a longer time for the kids to interpret the pictures.  Their detailed observation of the pictures often stun me, as adults would not be bothered about how many mice appeared in the book of Goldilocks or whether Cleo has a bow on her head in Clifford stories.
  3. Add in words on your own and describe what you can see in the illustration. 
  4. Ask questions about what comes next, take their answers seriously, there is no right or wrong answers!
  5. Never read in a monotone way!  Read in a MELODIC way, with pitching and be immensed in the story to enact the expressions in the story.  Get them excited or in suspense to make the stories interesting. 

Choosing a book:

  1. BABIES – Big board books with texture and pop-ups, my kids’ favourites are “That’s not my…” series by Fiona Watt and cloth books with a mirror in front.  Too bad, there are very few Chinese Big Board Books around
  2. TODDLERS – Ladybird Classic series – Level 1 books, like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”.  I love Ladybird books because they repeat words and lines on many pages to reinforce simple words and sentences for early readers.  Another hit with my kids is “The very hungry caterpillar” by Eric Carle.  And don’t forget to read simple Chinese books to kids from young.
  3. 2-4 YEARS OLD- Ladybird Classic series – Level 2 books, like “The Gingerbread Man” and Clifford The Big Red Dog series, Chinese books with moral stories, fairy tales and The Berenstain Bear series.  The Berenstain Bear series revolve much in moral and daily routines and happenings for young families and they are depicted in good humour.  However, the stories may be a bit lengthy even though they do have simple “I can read” series.  For lengthy stories, you may have to summarize as you read along for the initial few times just to catch the children’s attention and interest. 
  4. 5-7 YEARS OLD- Ladybird Classic series – Level 3&4 books like “The Wizard of Oz” and The Berenstain Bear series.
  5. PICTURE BOOKS WITH NO WORDS – I love these stories without words!  It really is up to the imagination of the reader to interpret the story and follow what comes next.  One good picture book without words is “The Chicken Thief” by Beatrice Rodriguez.  You can borrow this book from the community library.  It has an unexpected and interesting twist to the end of the story. 

Ways to encourage reading:

  1. Bedtime reading should be included in the Bedtime routine from birth.
  2. Read to your children frequently and read to them even when they are capable of reading on their own.  My 7-year-old girl still loves and enjoys being read to her.
  3. Allow them to choose which books to read.  My kids are good negotiators when it comes to the number of books to be read for the night.
  4. Go to the library often and borrow books.
  5. Go to the bookstores often and buy books occasionally.  That shows how you treasure books enough to buy and keep them, besides, it helps to have a mini library at home.
  6. Leave books around the house casually.  This is to encourage kids to pick them up when they walk by or have nothing to do.
  7. Let the kids see you read books and newspapers, be a good role model! (you may refer to my earlier post “Why it is important to be YOURSELF in front of the kids” and that will probably give you a good excuse to indulge in some “me” time)
  8. Read a wide variety of books to your kids.  My son YH loves the animal encyclopedia and especially books on gorillas, apes and dinosaurs.
  9. Have a book in the car (books with large prints so as not to stress the eyes) or in your bag while travelling.
  10. Be ready to read the same book a hundred times to your kids.  They simply love the familiarity of the story and knowing what comes next. 

Do you have good books to recommend?  I would love to know! Tell me in the comments section!