Reading to and with Children:Reading Aloud, Shared and Guided Reading and Writing

While we all know that there is a time and a place for things in life, this applies to reading aloud as well. It has come down to a simple science of when, what, where, why and how. many over think this process and become overly concerned on how to read aloud when in reality it is just going with it to a certain point. This applies to writing as well. Mem Fox is a great resource of children's literature, along with teaching how to read aloud to our students and children. As an educator or parent The National Writing Project:Mentor Texts is a nice resource for providing reading material on the art to writing.

The Top Ten Read Alouds: Stories in which the books come to life

• The Book of Story Beginnings, by Kristin Kladstrup, 2006 Candlewick
• Edward and the Pirates, by David McPhail, 1997 Little Brown
• The Great Good Thing, by Roderick Townley, 2001 Atheneum
• Inkheart, by Cornelia Funke, 2003 Scholastic
• Lionel and the Book of Beasts, by E. Nesbit, 2006 HarperCollins
• Magic by the Book, by Nina Bernstein, 2005 Farrar, Straus and Giroux
• My Book Box, by Will Hillenbrand, 2006 Harcourt
• The Neverending Story, by Michael Ende, 1997 Puffin
• The Red Book, by Barbra Lehman, 2004 Houghton Mifflin
• Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book?, by Lauren Child, 2003 Hyperion

In order for children/students to learn how to read aloud or write, they must have good examples set up for them. They learn from experiences, and usually the enjoyable ones. While everyone learns at different rates, there are simple steps that can be followed and gradually moving along as the child does.  When is all said and done, it is important to remember to follow up with the child at the end when the child has shown enthusiasm in the book.

The New Literacies: The New World of Online Children's Literature

This chapter focused on emerging the internet and children's literature through a variety of engaging upcoming tactics. While there was positive and negative sides to emerging the two, if done correctly and with thought-having children's literature can be a very powerful tactic for the literacy world. There comes a whole new group of terms that one must know and understand to fully utilize what is to offer.

There are so many amazing ways a person could use the internet to satisfy their love for literature, while sometimes we just like to be a able to hold the book and turn the pages in our hand. If you are open to new ideas and change, literature has become assessable at the tips of our fingers. There are even sites to visit that have over 200 free e-texts for all age ranges. Perhaps you or a student find a novel by a new author you just love, and want to see an interview or meet the author. However we all have crazy, busy lives, preventing us traveling sometimes to such events, now it is as easy as logging on the internet. There is a site to bring the author into the classroom virtually called WETA. This site has over 40 videos teaching children to learn along with author interviews for each of the stories read.

Over all the internet is taking literature to a new level and way of teaching a learning. It is important that children have a balanced experience of holding literature in their hands as well as experiencing it virtually. There comes pros and cons to each, however we must embrace all different point of views and take it for what is is-the future.

One "About Me"

Meridith Meerman, I would love to teach kindergarten/ first grade, I am a student at Florida Gulf Coast University and am set to graduate Spring 2014!      

A little bit more about me:


My name is Meridith Meerman and I am currently in blocks 2,3,and 4, for elementary education. I have lived all of the United States, from Ohio, Kansas, Alabama, North Carolina, and now Florida. I have had my fair share of different schools, being in seven before I was in high school. I have also attended Monissori schools for a number of years. This has given me a different perspective on learning and a new approach to some subject areas. With this experience it was diversifying me, by meeting all types of new people, and being able to adjust into new environments more easily. This has helped me in the education system by being able to look at different situations in more than one way. I have been working since I was 14years old, mainly in the restaurant business, thus improving my people skills. I started out my college journey at the University of South Florida as biology major. Then transferred to The State College of Florida after blowing out my knee and losing a basketball scholarship. Luckily I had academics to fall back on and then transferred to Florida Gulf Coast University. It was at FGCU that I realized I wanted to work with young children and became an education major.

After finishing just block one I had my first child, Faith Annette-taking off a semester. However I have just started back up this fall, and it feels great to back in the swing of things! I live in Port Charlotte, Florida with my fiancé, daughter, our two dogs and my wonderful horse. Live can get busy and crazy sometimes, but I always follow through and keep my head up. My fiancé works for Comcast 40+ hours a week having Mondays and Tuesdays off, which in turn I have school on those days. Completing homework assignments usually come late at night once everyone is asleep. I myself stopped working after my daughter was born and am now a full time mom and student. Some hobbies I enjoy are scuba diving, horseback riding, playing basketball, and going on picnics. These are all things in which are tranquil and something I do for me in my free time. I find it important to not get caught up in the hustle of everyday life, and to make sure you always do things for yourself that make you happy.