"A miraculous alchemy takes place when one person reads to another, one that converts the ordinary stuff of life - a book, a voice, a place to sit, and a bit of time - into astonishing fuel for the heart, the mind and the imagination."
- Meghan Cox Gurdon, author of 'The Enchanted Hour'
Welcome Back to School!
September has always been my favourite time of the year - I love the colours, the cooling of the earth and the air from the heat of summer, the colours of changing leaves - but mostly I have always loved the excitement of returning to school! As a small child I celebrated getting new crayons and notebooks, and a special new school outfit - including new shoes :) As an adult, once my children arrived, I loved the transition to fall meals, fall sports (like hockey, figure skating and curling) and unpacking all the warmer clothes we had stored in trunks and closets late the previous spring - it was such a time of celebrating how much the children had grown as I sorted what could be handed down to a sibling from what needed to go to into the donation bins around the city. However, the most important ritual of fall for me, from the time I was a very small child through to today, was the starting of a new fall read aloud novel.
My dad was the read aloud guy in our home, he read to all three of us from the time we could sit up, curled up on the sofa. I remember picture books, ones we had selected on our weekly Saturday morning visits to the town library where I grew up, but mostly I remember the novels. Dad read novels to us that were well above our age level - ones that I am sure he loved himself! Before I turned 9, I was very familiar with the Swiss Family Robinson, Tom Sawyer, The Jungle Book, Anne of Green Gables (my all-time personal favourite - still is!) and Treasure Island - every September as school started, Dad brought out a new novel and he would read it through at least twice over the course of the winter so we would "remember the good parts". Reading before bed was a ritual in our home that I loved for a billion reasons, and those 'readings' have become some of my fondest childhood memories. Dad didn't read chapters, he read pages. Usually only 3 or 4 each evening, and it seemed he always stopped just when it was most exciting! Reading aloud didn't happen for a long time each evening, but it was a great time for us kids - it was the reason why we hurried through baths and teeth brushing and getting our pjs on - we were never late for bed because we didn't want to miss 'the reading' that precipitated being put to bed. Dad started and stopped whether we were ready or not, so three little girls made sure they were ready!
Later, as a working mother of five children, I think I probably got a little carried away with home read alouds - I saw them as a daily bonding time with my children and I would carve out an hour (often two!) for baths, read alouds and bedtimes. Read alouds happened even when there were evening activities and we were late for bed - the 'reads' were shorter, but they were not skipped. Sometimes I read aloud in the car while we waited for a teenaged hockey player to emerge from the rink after a game as a way to squeeze in read aloud on a busy evening. Sometimes I I only read for 5 or 10 minutes when bedtimes were exceptionally late, but they were almost never missed. Story time was a sacred time in our home.
When the age differences between our five children became too significant for shared read aloud times, I would start with the smaller ones, and then tuck them in before moving to novel reading with the older ones - with most of my children, read alouds at bedtime continued into their early teens. I let them determine when they were 'too old', never offering to stop until I was asked. Bedtime 'reads' were the best time of the day for me and, I am confident, for the children as well. I read chapters, not pages, and there was much greater involvement in selecting the stories and novels than when I was a child. But there is no doubt - the seeds of bedtime reading were sown firmly in my own childhood.
When I became a grandmother for the first time, almost sixteen years ago, I started 'read loud with Nana' times when each grandchild was a newborn - by the age of 5 months, every one of them could turn the pages of their own small board books (photo and video evidence exist :) and every child would calm quickly when reading began - their parents read to them as well, so reading was definitely an enjoyable activity for all six of them! Often they would come and spend weekends - or in summer, weeks at the cottage - with us, and part of the fun was choosing the read alouds for bedtime. By the time the 'grands' came along, I had a pretty extensive collection of picture books and childrens' novels in our home, and browsing through Nana's books continues to be a favourite past time. Just this summer, I spent two very enjoyable days with my youngest granddaughter, Ellery, who was almost 8, introducing her to 'Anne' through story, cooking, dressing up and videos - ensuring one more Kinsman offspring had an opportunity to fall in love with my favourite, feisty book character!
Why am I writing about these three generations of bedtime read aloud experiences that have framed my family's relationships with books? Because it is September and I cannot imagine a more powerful or rewarding experience for all families than choosing a 'fall read aloud' together, and then finding time to share it with each other! These are busy times for families, I know, and the fall always seems busier than any other time as we let go of our relaxed summer attitudes and gear up for sports, music, crafts and learning activities. But quite frankly, none of these activities will benefit a child as much as a daily read aloud experience.
There exists a multitude of research that supports the value of read aloud - from improving vocabulary awareness, to understanding differences in culture or gender or personality or life experiences, to improved social communication, learning new concepts, and so much more. However, the most important reason read aloud is so valuable is because it is an interaction of words and comfort between people who are connected and care for each other. It meets the most basic need of humanity - connection. For just a few minutes each day, the phones go away, the tablets are closed, the tv is off and human beings in a family take the time to speak to each other, to share an experience, to make eye contact, ask a question, smile or cry or hug. It bridges the hectic pace of every day with the slowing down that will be needed for sleep, and just for a few minutes each day, allows everyone participating in the read aloud experience to stop and acknowledge the impact of both words and human connection in busy lives.
This school year, I am going to focus most of my blog entries on nudging the humans in my circle towards rich, fulfilling lives attained through through acts of reading, including how to foster and support children learning to read at all ages.
Having spent the last 10 years of my life studying and researching reading as a graduate student, it seems like an appropriate time to advocate both visibly and noisily for reading - to stir the pot and meld teaching, parenting, enjoyment, human interaction and the great power of words into action in our homes and our communities. I hope there will be found new understandings and insights into how we all grow into readers in these entries, as well as strategies for enhancing the power and role of reading in all our lives. Mostly, I hope to inspire every child who enters school - and every adult who loves a child who enters school - to become an avid, curious, risk-taking reader of words in both texts and in the world - to me, this is the ultimate purpose of school. If one cannot read words nor the world successfully, there is small hope for a fulfilled and happy life. Reading is the key.
Challenge #1 - find a September book and begin a 'fall read aloud' with a child :) Every day makes a difference!
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
PS - I highly recommend "The Enchanted Hour" by Meghan Cox Gurdon for adults who are interested in "the power of read aloud in the age of distraction"
No comments:
Post a Comment