Guest Post by Abba of Read Aloud with Abba

Guest post by S.B. Goncarova, a.k.a. Abba of Read Aloud with Abba

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Last March, when all non-essential travel ground to a halt, I found myself on the other side of a border from my two nieces, ages 3 and 5. Their mom, my sister, an elementary school teacher herself, decided to homeschool the girls, and I was eager to help anyway I could, however I could, even if that was just entertaining the kids over FaceTime to provide temporary relief so my sister could go sneak in a shower and maybe even wash her hair. The girls and I fell into a routine of calling over FaceTime for a few hours a few times a week.

I’ve been teaching early music to kids pretty much all my adult life, so invariably these calls would turn into some sort of musical game, a hybrid of the games  ‘musical chairs,’ and ‘freeze.’ Of course, these would also involve a leaping over hot lava inexplicably bubbling up through the tiles of the kitchen floor.

Soon our musical games became musical adventures, centered around two heroes, coincidentally aged 3 and 5. And our adventures were not only full of hot lava, but also saber-toothed tigers, pterodactyls, and creepy caves, to the accompaniment of minor seconds, tritones and diminished sevenths and ninths. 

Besides spending some fun quality time with my nieces, I also wanted to sneak in some music lessons on the sly. I myself had a very different first training in music, basically starting with thumbs on middle c and learning outward from there.  But in the years I’ve spent as an adult teaching early music to children, I’ve seen the benefits of exposing kids to different aspects of music through ear training, even without them knowing it. What I’ve learned over the years is that if kids are having fun, laughing, and creating something from their imagination, they’ll spend longer at whatever they’re doing.

And the same goes for reading as it does teaching music; the more engaged kids are, the more fun they’re having, the longer they’ll spend reading and the stronger their reading skills will be. This is why, when I recorded my first set of read-aloud videos, I wanted to make it as fun as possible, with music (of course) but also with fun voices and silly sound effects. I wanted kids to stay with the book as long as possible. 

Then one day, over a FaceTime call, almost a year later, my sister put on one of the chapters of my read-aloud videos on YouTube and I got to see my nieces’ reactions. They giggled, they cackled, they repeated the same chapter over and over again just to hear their favorite line over and over. They had just spent a good 25 minutes reading along with a book and not realizing where the time went.

I was grinning from ear to ear.

And when, a month later, when my sister called to report back that the girls were getting more comfortable with bigger words and more complicated sentence structures, and their everyday vocabulary was improving, I was the one dancing around in the kitchen as if the floor were flowing with hot lava. 

Watch Chapter 5 of ‘The Curious Case of the Creepy Cave.’

Upcoming LitWorld Leadership Transition

Dear LitWorld Friends,

We wanted to share with you some important transitions and updates.

Dorothy Lee, the Executive Director of LitWorld, will be stepping down in September after 12 years with the organization. Dorothy has always been a dedicated and passionate leader for LitWorld, and she leaves big shoes to fill. This is particularly the case given the breadth and depth of experience we seek in this role—spanning literacy and social emotional learning, U.S. and global education, as well as outstanding conceptual, development, and leadership skills. And, of course, someone with a deep personal passion for LitWorld’s work and mission.

We will launch a search for Dorothy’s successor this week. Dorothy will continue to lead until her departure, and we are in the midst of identifying an acting director in case there is an interim period before the new Executive Director is identified.

This is an exciting moment for LitWorld. The work has never been more necessary, and we have a clear path forward to drive even greater impact in the communities that need us most. Still, we are taking this opportunity to engage in active thinking, learning, and dialogue around our programmatic work, and always challenging ourselves on how we can deepen LitWorld’s continued commitment to strengthening kids and communities through the power of stories. We look forward to sharing more updates on this journey with you in the coming weeks and months.

Best,
Samantha, Dorothy,
& LitWorld Leadership

The Importance of LitCamp

Guest post by Pam Allyn, founder of LitWorld and author of many acclaimed books for educators and families including ‘Every Child a Super Reader’, co-authored with LitWorld board member Dr. Ernest Morrell.

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This summer more than ever, LitCamp has meant so much to so many children across the country. With its social-emotional learning framework and authentic literacy skill building activities, LitCamp provides a welcoming, caring community of belonging at a time when all of us really need that - especially our nation's kids.

LitCamp began as a seed idea in Harlem, NY and Nairobi, Kenya in 2010. That summer, the LitWorld team co-created a strengths based approach to meet the needs of summertime learning with two of our cherished local partners. Together, we recognized the power of this work when many more children than the original participants started to come, more and more each and every day! It turned out everyone was telling their cousins and friends and neighbors, so everyone wanted to come to LitCamp and we made space for them all! It was the first sign of what would become a sustaining feature of this program: a powerful community of belonging and learning that wraps each and every LitCamper in an environment of serious joy.

Pam Allyn and Dick Robinson

The CEO of Scholastic, Dick Robinson left an extraordinary legacy with his dedication and support of LitCamp. After hearing the story of how much the first of our LitCampers loved their experience, he asked: "How can Scholastic help grow this amazing work?" And with that question, thousands more children were able to join into the power of LitCamp.

Many times, I have LitCampers say to me: "Only 323 days left until LitCamp... Only 12 days left.." Children count down the days. They count them down because they love that their stories matter at LitCamp. They count them because they love improving their reading and writing skills in record time. They count them because they love how LitCamp values and understand matters of the human heart: friendship, joy, optimism and courage.

This year, we see so profoundly the value of a program that intersects social emotional learning and academic development. But most of all, we see how much it matters to connect to others. LitCamp does it all.

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About LitCamp

LitCamp is LitWorld's innovative literacy program that combines engaging, motivational literacy lessons with an interactive summer camp approach for Pre-K through 8th Grade and centers our 7 Strengths. LitCamp, in English and Spanish, and deeply culturally responsive in the LItWorld core values, celebrates and builds on kids’ strengths, helping them reach their full potential as empowered literacy learners across all subject areas.

Together, LitWorld and Scholastic - the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books - bring LitCamp to thousands of classrooms every summer, reaching over a million kids across the U.S. since 2015!

Celebrating and Supporting Women Who Lead this Mother’s Day!

Mother’s Day is less than a week away, and this year we are celebrating by shining a light on some of the many incredible women in our LitWorld family who help their communities stay strong - through COVID-19 and beyond!

From sewing and distributing face-masks to reading aloud with children and creating a new generation of leaders, we are beyond thankful for these role-models and honored to support their journeys with Moms LitClubs.

Kenya Connect, Kenya

Laughter and chatter filled the room during the last Moms LitClub session at Kenya Connect as LitMoms worked together word-by-word to tell a story, then used book illustrations to create their own stories! Afterwards, each LitMom borrowed a picture book to replicate the activity with their children and grandchildren, passing the knowledge and joy on to the next generation.

According to LitMom Anna, "The skills that I have acquired from LitClub have made me a teacher, and I am very confident that I can now teach my grandchildren... I have gained so much interest in reading. Whenever I go out to graze my cattle, I carry a book with me. What we are doing in Moms LitClub is really helping me a lot."

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Seeds of Hope Foundation, Pakistan

In the wake of COVID-19, LitMoms at Seeds of Hope Foundation took action by starting a friendly sewing competition to make face masks! Safia and Anum won with 230 and 150 masks made respectively, which they distributed to the community for free.

Safia told our partners that "she is really grateful to LitWorld and Seeds of Hope Foundation for giving her this opportunity to use her skills for the betterment of humanity in such a crucial circumstance." She also added that "in this epidemic, everyone needs to be optimistic and to act courageously to fight against this adversity."

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Ready for Reading, Rwanda

When LitClub mentor Sylvie was unable to join other Ready for Reading LitClub members for World Read Aloud Day this February, she did not get discouraged. Instead, she celebrated at her own home and led a read aloud with her family, encouraging a culture of learning and joy!

Like Sylvie, many LitMoms have been working hard to share skills they learned in Moms LitClubs with their families. Check out Josephine, Francoise, and Fortune reading aloud with their kids, instilling in them a love for reading and giving them the tools they need for a brighter future!

Memorable Read Aloud Moments

Guest post by Abigail Calkin, author of The Soul of My Soldier. Read more of her writing by visiting her blogs here or here.

My grandson loves ocean fishing and caught his first salmon and first halibut as a preschooler. However, even as a nine-year-old, he doesn’t love schoolwork and had not brought a book with him for our weekend together. He decided the book I was reading, Crawford’s Mariner’s Weather, reading level probably technical university graduate, would do fine and opened to the first chapter. He slowly read the first two paragraphs to me, then interpreted them to tell me we live on the vast ocean floor of the atmosphere.

At one school where I was principal, we had twenty minutes of silent reading every day after lunch. Occasionally a teacher would read to the classroom during that time. Yes, students reading out loud would have been better but far noisier. In today’s world, perhaps 20 minutes of twenty-five children reading aloud in one room might work, but we didn’t think of it then. In the school, we also had a gallon jar in the office that held all positive tickets any staff member had given a student whether for good learning, good behavior, or a special kindness. By the end of the week, the jar had always filled.

One March during Read Aloud Month, I said if the slightly more than 200 students from very nonacademic homes read 1,000 books, I planned to spend a day doing my work on the roof of the school. The students made lists of books read at school and home. Parents signed for those at home. We vastly exceeded our aim as they collectively read over 5,000. I drew a name from the jar for one student who would get to eat lunch on the roof with me. Ten-year-old Kim climbed the ladder and we had a delightful, chatty lunch in the sunshine. Some 1990s Topeka Capital Journal has a photo and short article of the rooftop event.

Waiting for laundry to finish—two parents, two children, two books.

Another memorable reading moment occurred when I watched my son, daughter-in-law, and their infant daughter cuddle between them to listen to her nightly bedtime story. Reading aloud doesn’t have to occur at bedtime only, though. Laundromats in an Alaska winter are fine.  

When I was a graduate student supervisor, Daisy, in the graduate program, had a high school student who wanted to be on the football team, but his grades were too low. When he came to the university reading clinic, he had a beginning second grade reading level, not high enough to absorb the content of high school texts and pass all courses.

University terms were ten weeks, thus Daisy would work with him for ten weeks. Daisy did one thing I thought was crazy. She had him read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. Oral reading fluency is 200 to 250 words per minute. The young man read 40 words a minute. At the end of ten weeks, neither gave up. Daisy volunteered her time for the next six and a half months to continue to teach him to read better. Yes, with the training she had, they did more than just read from the book. She also worked to improve his phonic and comprehension skills. Nine months after they started, the young man finished Of Mice and Men, still at a frequency of 40 to 45 words per minute. He improved his reading scores from beginning second grade to mid-fourth grade level, a two and a half year gain in nine months. He got on the team and graduated from high school.

The benefits of reading aloud are at least twofold—teach the love of reading and teach the habit of reading. Have books in your house. Let your children and others see you read a book or magazine. Let people see you absorbed by the words, pictures, and stories.  

Reading Aloud: A New Appreciation

Guest post by Scott Rubin. Scott Rubin’s super nerdy and uplifting baby name book, Naming Your Little Geek, was published by Familius in 2020.

We can all agree that books are the best. I grew up with parents and grandparents instilling in me a deep love and respect for books, and as a geek and author I’ve only grown in that appreciation. My favorite books take me to fantastical worlds and into the depths of space, and to meet ancient evils, secret societies, and superheroes hiding in plain sight. For most of my life, reading was a solitary endeavor, best enjoyed by myself in quiet surroundings. Recently, though, I’ve gained a huge appreciation for reading aloud, and you should too. 

Why read out loud? Let’s start with the obvious; it’s crucial for kids. I have two young sons, 2 and 6 as of this World Read Aloud Day. Before becoming a parent, I expected to read them a lot of silly stuff, marking time until I could start filling their heads with “real” science-fiction, fantasy, and the like. Boy, was I wrong! There is so much incredible kid literature out there, and a lot of it is really fun to read out loud. I’m not just talking about rhymes and goofy sounds, but unique characters, interesting stories, and emotional beats that will stick with you and them.

Best of all, reading to my children has given me a new love and appreciation for reading out loud. It’s a whole new way to enjoy your favorite stories! During the pandemic I started livestreaming, and reading aloud has become a major aspect of what I do. Whether it’s slogging through the complex prose of Frank Herbert’s Dune novels or channeling my inner bard with ancient epic poetry, I’m bringing to life incredible tales.

Heroes and villains speak through me, and I get to enjoy the richness of the author’s words like I never have before. Sounds and onomatopoeia literally become audible, and sometimes unintentionally hilarious. I’ve even discovered some instances when homophones can create alternate (hidden?) meanings in texts that you’ll only experience when reading out loud or listening to the reading!

 No matter what kinds of books you enjoy, I highly recommend doing some out loud reading. Even when doing it by yourself, the experience can be very different and offer you a new way to connect with stories, histories, and more. Even better, find yourself a kid and share the love of reading with a new generation!

Some of my favorite books to read aloud include Frank Herbert’s Dune, epic poetry like the Iliad, Prose Edda, and the Epic of Gilgamesh, and children’s books like Girl and Dragon series by Barbara Joosse and Randy Cecil and My Truck Is Stuck by Kevin Lewis and Daniel Kirk.

The Book of Mistakes and Reading Aloud: Jenn Curtis

Guest post by Jenn Curtis.

My house is littered in white printer paper, and it’s been like that for years. Clear Ziploc baggies made colorful with ragtag hodgepodges of crayons, pens, markers, and colored pencils are tucked away in every single room. Both my girls love the creative process, whether it involves writing stories about The Friendship Club (modeled after the Babysitters Club) or coloring for hours.

Several years ago, when my oldest daughter was 4, I started to notice just how difficult it was for her to make a small mistake, particularly when she was writing or drawing. I feared that, in time, her mistake aversion might inconveniently spill out into the rest of her life. A slight shift of the hand, revealing a misshapen “o” or lopsided eyes, led to a meltdown—or at the least to an insurmountable obstacle that made crumpled up printer paper overtake our trash cans. Frustrated with my own inability to help her see the beauty in her mistakes, I turned to books. I still remember the day The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken arrived on our front doorstep.

The Book of Mistakes is a beautifully illustrated book about an artist who makes a mistake while drawing. That mistake leads to others—splotches, incongruous limbs, an unfortunate “frog-cat-cow thing”—which lead to others, which ultimately reveal a gorgeously unique piece of artwork that never would have existed were it not for the initial mistake. Mistakes are beautiful, it taught. The creative process is exciting and mysterious, it said. The first time I read it to my daughter, she listened intently. She leaned into me. But she didn’t say much. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if she was absorbing the point, but I hoped that she’d grasp the lesson over time.

Every few weeks, for quite some time, she’d go back to that book. She fixated on the art, but she remained quiet even as we discussed what the book taught us. Over time, though, as she became more interested in reading independently, The Book of Mistakes was tucked away on the bookshelf, replaced by chapter books with zany plotlines and curiosity-piquing mysteries.  

Last week, my daughter, now 7, set to work on a picture for her teacher. Armed with a fine black pen (eerily similar to that used in The Book of Mistakes), she started in on creating her piece—a simple depiction of her and her teacher. Within minutes, she realized that her legs in the picture were not nearly long enough to rest on the same plane as the legs she’d drawn for her teacher… but they were supposed to be standing right next to one another.

With a level of calm that I wasn’t expecting, her eyes turned upward. Rather than crumpling the paper with an exasperated snarl, she softly said, “Oops. I guess I’ll have to draw in some floor tiles to fix it.” She incorporated her classroom’s blue and yellow tiles under their feet, an unplanned addition. Several minutes later, her attempt to draw an object (I’m not sure what) went awry. She paused to think, then morphed the object gone wrong into a stack of books, then housed the floating stack of books on a sturdy bookshelf. An error while drawing her fingers led to the pair sharing ice cream cones together. Satisfied, she colored in her creation, and before placing it in an envelope to gift to her teacher the next morning, she took me on a tour through her creative process. When she was done? “It’s just like The Book of Mistakes, mom.”

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Jenn Curtis, MSW, is an educational consultant, author, and speaker. She is the co-author of The Parent Compass: Navigating Your Teen’s Wellness and Academic Journey in Today’s Competitive World. As owner of FutureWise Consulting, a college counseling company in Orange County, California, she is most passionate about empowering students to find their voice and their purpose. Jenn also co-hosts The Parent Compass x Smart Social Podcast, where she explores parenting amidst a competitive academic environment. On it, she chats with bestselling authors, parenting experts, and education thought leaders. Jenn lives in San Clemente, California with her husband and two daughters.