Monday, January 5, 2009

Reading and learning can be fun!

In this day and age there are many resources available to make learning easy and fun. This blog’s purpose is to explore different ways to do just that. To start things off, I’m going to share one tip or idea a day of things you can do to take a book, any book, beyond reading and have fun at the same time. I’m aiming for 30 tips, let’s see if I make it.

Do you have a favorite way to take stories beyond reading? You do? Please share it in the comments section. I’ll post it here, giving you full credit of course. (This could help me reach my 30)

Enjoy the ride, I know I am!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an illustrator, one of the ways I take any of the stories I've illustrated beyond reading is to incorporate my favorite activities into them: art and cooking. When I visit schools, I'll often show kids how I painted a certain part of the book and let them try it on their own. It builds up their hand-eye coordination and interest in the arts. As for the cooking, some of the Hispanic bilingual books I've illustrated include recipes of the ethnic food that is featured in the book. This is something that I'm taking further by making recipe cards for kids to download from my site when it relaunches in the future.

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I have a two-year-old grandson who loves books so I'm looking forward to your tips. He enjoys sound effects as we read. I have to admit his grandfather is much better at that than I am.

Jane Kennedy Sutton
Author of The Ride
http://janekennedysutton.blogspot.com/

Joy said...

Thnak you Christina and Jane for your ideas.
Cooking is a favorite of mine and I have some recepies on my web site that could go with my book. When I read to my children when they were young, I'd use voices for the different characters. My kids would always tell me if I was using the wrong voice! LOL! Your ideas are in the fray of my tips and will show up somewhere down the road.

Thanks for stopping by.

Katrina L Wampler said...

I'll be back to share ideas..but I wanted to stop in and congratulate you on your new BLOG.

You'll have to stop by Kat Logic sometime and say hello.

Good luck on your 30 posts in 30 days...you can do it!!

Morgan Mandel said...

When I read a Dean Koontz novel, I always find one or two words I never heard of before, so he increases my vocabulary. I don't recommend doing too many of those words in a book, because not everyone wants to take the time to figure them out.

Morgan Mandel
http://morganmandel.blogspot.com
http://www.morganmandel.com

Lael Johnson said...

Hi Joy,
Your upcoming tip list sounds wonderful. Why not write one for adults too? Not that we can't enjoy books just for the sake of reading them. But, I think sometimes it's easy to take reading for granted. But for children the skill is stil so new, fresh and exciting. Good work.

Lael

Sharon Reece said...

Great ideas. Reading in different voices is something I attempt to do, but my husband does much, much better. I have found that my grandson likes any story better if I make up at least one song to go with it.

Joy said...

Thanks for stopping by everyone.
Kat, I look forward to reading your ideas and will be stopping by soon.
Morgan, I agree. Reading books that have a few new words makes our brains grow in a different dimension.
Lael, I'll give it a try. Since Oprah started up her book club, many adult books have started to include discussion questions at the back of the book. I've been pleased to see this. I'll work on this and in a few months I'll do a few posts on the subject.
Sharon, thank you. different voices is fun. My two always remembered which voice I used for what character. They kept me on my toes. Making up songs to go with the stories is a very creative idea. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on a great idea for a new blog, Joy! This will be very helpful to teachers I think.
I take my book beyond reading when I do presenations at school with children. Frankie (my dachshund)that is in a wheelchair, which is what the book is about teaches some powerful lessons.
I get the kids involved by having a volunteer help me take Frankie out of her wheelchair so it shows them how easy it is and not to be afraid. I also show them how I do physical therapy for her and then have the practice. It goes over quite well. Instills in them that animals are REAL and they do get hurt and they do need help and teaches them responsibility.
I look forward to following your new blog!!
Barbara Techel
Author of Frankie, the Walk 'N Roll Dog
http://www.joyfulpaws.com
http://www.joyfulpaws.typepad.com
http://www.frankiethewalknrolldog.blogspot.com