BOOK NOTES by Joan Ruddiman: Jillian recently interviewed her grandmother about "life before television" for a communications course. The memories were of games, family gatherings and doing chores, including taking the wagon to the store to carry home groceries.
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Jillian recently interviewed her grandmother about "life before television" for a communications course. The memories were of games, family gatherings and doing chores, including taking the wagon to the store to carry home groceries. Kids played dodge ball and hide and seek outside, dominos, Parcheesi and lots of card games inside. Kids and adults played games together.
Then the country was fully wired and radios made their entrance into American homes thank you David Sarnoff and RCA. Families now listened to radio shows like "Fibber Magee and Molly" and "The Shadow Knows," and the "soaps." Grandmom said, "We’d hear the words and sounds, but all the pictures were in our heads."
Ah, the good old days.
Now our children hear and see in graphic detail things they can’t even imagine thanks to cable networks and home videos. Network television doesn’t have a whole lot to recommend it either, as it pushes the boundaries of good taste and sense to compete.
So how is your family doing during this TV-free week? Running low on ideas on how to fill time? Have you tried a game night? Pictionary captivates our clan, from the 10-year-old, the middle schoolers and the high school and college kids to the grown-ups. The kids of all ages enjoy Monopoly and play it ruthlessly. We are also big card people though the family games of Liverpool now take four decks and are more controlled chaos than card sense.
Has homework time been easier this week without the demands of TV time? Homework should have some element of fun. With the unfettered time, think of the creative spirit that can break through. Extra time allows for answering the question just because you are curious. Obligation "have to" homework becomes "want to know," "want to do" ownership.
Research says that young children who participate in conversations, are read to regularly, have books in their home and develop print awareness have a head start on reading and literacy skills when they enter school.
I have never mastered the art of talking over, or around, the television. I think for most people, it stops conversation. Certainly for children, it must be hard to filter out the sirens’ song that lures them to come closer and pay attention. It makes sense that if the goal is to support literacy development in children, the television should be turned on judiciously, and turned off liberally.
The International Reading Association puts out a brochure annually from its Family Literacy committee. It provides helpful suggestions for parents to provide a literacy-development boost to children, from infancy through high school. Here are ideas for all ages. Try them out this week while the television is off. You may not need to turn it back on.
Infants learn from listening, observing and following actions. Pat-a-cake and peek-a-boo are simple talking and touching games that really do build language skills. "Pat the Bunny" and all its offshoots are the literature version of these touch and talk games. Babies love to be read to. Find big pictures, simple text and spend lots of time pointing!
Toddlers want to point and say what they see. Ask questions that need more than a yes or no. Put names to emotions, like "Oh, the puppy is sad…" and make a sad face. Or "Look how happy the puppy is to be home with his mommy" with your smiling face. Hmmm. Feelings have names. That’s an empowering concept for a child to grasp.
Preschoolers are into numbers and letters and listening for the story. They can predict "What comes next?" They want to "pretend" read and scribble their letters. When you make the grocery list, your preschooler has his or her own "list" they are writing down.
Kindergartners are supported in their reading development by parents who know what is being done in the classroom (the letter of the week or the theme of the day) and extending the conversation or skill at home. Read books with a strong phonics base lots of rhymes and repeated words. Write with your kindergartner.
Library trips should be part of the routine from toddler age. By elementary school, library trips are essential to extend the reading that is required in school. You can support the classroom curriculum by finding biographies or historical fiction related to science or social studies topics. The more experienced your reader becomes, the more leeway they should have in choosing what they read. Don’t make judgment calls on whether a book is "too easy" or "too hard." They may choose a book because the topic is interesting, or the cover is intriguing. If it is too hard, this may be a book that you use as a read-aloud. And you are still reading aloud daily to your elementary school child.
Even middle schoolers and high schoolers should be read to. Magazine or newspaper articles can be shared over the breakfast or dinner table. You may have a book that they would enjoy so share it. My heart was broken when Nancy Drew just didn’t cut it for me anymore. Mom gave me a Nero Wolf to read and I was entertained through high school.
Upper elementary and older kids appreciate gifts that support their reading and writing like pens, specialty papers for writing and those for computer printers. And books especially a title in an area in which they have an interest or a genre or author they enjoy make a very special gift.
The message from these activities is that you value literacy. This is what adults do and this is what your child will want to do as well. The payoff is pretty high certainly worth missing "Survivor."
Joan Ruddiman is a teacher and member of the Allentown Library Board.