“Children more likely to own a mobile phone than a book.” Can this be true?
June 11, 2010
A survey of 17,000 schoolchildren by the National Literacy Trust found that “85.5% of pupils had their own mobile phone, compared with 72.6% who had their own books,” the Telegraph reported. The disclosure follows the publication of a study which found that keeping just 20 books in the home could boost children’s chances of doing well at school. Jonathan Douglas, National Literacy Trust director, said: “Our research illustrates the clear link with literacy resources at home and a child’s reading ability, as well the vital importance of family encouragement.”
There is also ample evidence that parents who promote reading as a valuable and worthwhile activity have children who are motivated to read for pleasure. “Involvement with reading activities at home has significant positive influences not only on reading achievement, language comprehension and expressive language skills, but also on pupils’ interest in reading, attitudes towards reading and attentiveness in the classroom.”
Questions to think about:
~ Who is buying the mobile phones for children?
~ How many book do you buy or borrow from the library in a given month?
~ How did we come to accept that children “need” mobile phones more than they need books?
Summertime and reading~ thoughts to ponder.
May 18, 2010
As we get closer to Memorial Day, the end of the school year looms large and brings us to the subject of summertime reading. There are more than enough lists of book recommendations and summer reading program than we know what to do with, so let’s take a moment to contemplate the subject of children […]
A must share from one of my favorite authors—Phillip Pullman
May 6, 2010
“As a passionate believer in the democracy of reading, I don’t think it’s the task of the author of a book to tell the reader what it means. The meaning of a story emerges in the meeting between the words on the page and the thoughts in the reader’s mind. So when people ask me […]
Good-bye to national poetry month, but not good-bye to poetry!
April 30, 2010
A favorite poem from my childhood—and it continues to conjure up wonderful feelings of swinging higher and higher! The Swing, by Robert Louis Stevenson How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing Ever a child can do! Up in […]
“A little bit of poetry is a vitamin for the spirit.”
April 26, 2010
April and National Poetry Month are almost over but a little bit of poetry every day is a good habit to cultivate, so in the next couple of days, let’s indulge and cultivate the habit. To start the habit off right, let me offer a few “personal rules” that help make poetry the pleasure it should […]
