The Wimpy Kid contest!

Are you a Wimpy Kid or do you know one? This looks like a fun contest for kids to enter! To promote the new "The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Youself Book", which just came out May 1st, Amulet Books and the School Library Journal are sponsoring a "Do-It-Yourself Comics Contest" where kids can win $500, a signed copy of the book by Jeff Kinney, and $1000 for the library of their choice. (May I suggest Massillon Public Library?)

The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Book is like a journal that lets kids draw and write inside. It has questions for them to answer and places to create their own comic strips like Jeff Kinney. My 12 yr old son filled his book up within the first day of buying it, and he is a reluctant reader at times!

The contest is open to children ages 6-16. They just need to create an original comic on an 8 1/2 by 11" paper (see the Wimpy Kid books at our library for inspiration!). Then mail it to The Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself Comics Contest, c/o Amulet Books, 115 W. 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 by June 10, 2011. Winners will be announced on June 25, 2011. Here's what you need to do: Official contest website rules.

Good luck and have fun creating!

Massillon Ready to Read

Research has shown that children need to know six literacy skills before they can learn to read. Children who enter kindergarten with these skills learn to read more easily and are more successful throughout school. The Massillon Public Library is now offering free workshops to teach parents and caregivers how to incorporate these skills into early reading experiences.

Our next workshop will be offered on Saturday, May 21, from 9 am to 12 pm at First Baptist Church, 20 Sixth St. SE, right off of Lincoln Way. The info for that workshop can be found here: http://www.massillonlibrary.org/ReadytoRead.

At our last Massillon Ready to Read workshop on April 26, we were excited to host a small-but-mighty group of interested adults, including two moms, a grandma and grandpa and a preschool teacher. I never cease to be amazed that people from all walks of life are thrilled to learn some new facts as well as tips and techniques to use with the little ones in their lives. You might think that a degreed teacher would already know many of the things we discussed at the workshop, but it was so inspiring to see her enthusiasm for learning and also for educating preschool children. Through Massillon Ready to Read, the library is trying to reach everyone in our community, whether you have small children at this time or not. Even teenagers, as potential babysitters, older siblings, and future parents themselves, can learn how to help preschoolers learn the six skills that lead to reading! Grandparents, daycare providers, Sunday School teachers, Godparents, friends and parents ALL have important roles in the lives of the children of our community and can impact young lives in a very positive way that leads to education, literacy, and future job skills.

To sign up to attend one of the Massillon Ready to Read workshops, call the Children's Department at 330-832-5037.

You may have tangible wealth untold,

Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.

Richer than I you can never be --

I had a mother who read to me.

--Strickland Gillilan, from the poem "The Reading Mother"

This lovely quotation is something my grandmother used to recite to me and, in fact, inscribed on the flyleaf of a big picture book of children's poetry she gave me when I was a preschooler. Only later did I realize that, although my grandmother believed in the idea behind it, her mother probably never actually read to her! Being from Poland, speaking very little English, and as a widowed mother of seven during the Great Depression, her mother did not have the time nor the ability to read to her children. My grandmother, however, became a great example of someone whose life was transformed by the ability to read. Although she never went to school past the eighth grade, my grandmother was a voracious reader throughout her childhood and after. She likes to tell the story of how her brothers would throw rocks at the door of the outhouse (the only place she could get any privacy and some quiet!) to get her out of there when she was taking too long, reading a book. "Get your nose out of that book!" was a phrase that, unfortunately, she heard all too often. Eventually, she had educated herself so thoroughly by reading that people would often assume she was a retired teacher, although she actually worked as a waitress and then on the Hoover factory assembly line until she was 70 years old.

So although it is sometimes easy to feel discouraged, overwhelmed, or unqualified to teach your own little ones reading or the skills that help lead to reading later, remember that YOU ARE your child's first teacher. You are the person he or she looks up to, and you are a role model. So if you read to your child, check out books from the library, and allow your child to see you reading, he or she will come to learn that reading is a valuable skill that is useful and important in all areas of life.

Tell me a story...

There are six early literacy skills that research has shown children need to know before they can learn to read. One of those is "Narrative Skills," or the ability to retell a story. Often with a young child, reading a favorite story over and over again and asking your child to repeat the story back to you is a good way to reinforce this skill. But it can be fun for older, school-age kids to practice this reading skill too.

Here's an idea for parents of school-age kids:
A fun activity that supports "Narrative Skills" or the ability to tell a story is for you and your child to write your own book or a few chapters of a book. When I was about 7, like many girls, I loved Nancy Drew mysteries. When I went to my grandmother's after school once a week, she would allow me to go into the bathroom off the kitchen and write a page or so of my own version of a Nancy Drew mystery. Ever interested in being mysterious, I would then slide the page under the door to her, and she would pause in her chores, write a continuation and slide it back under the door to me. Later on, we would read our story together. This is something that is so simple, yet so memorable to me, and that helped me with my reading and writing skills. It impresses me that my grandmother took the time to do this, after having worked day shift at the Hoover plant, and while trying to get supper on the table. It's something that doesn't take any money, not much time, and yet can help a child learn to value reading and writing and later help him or her in school.

If you'd like more ideas, leave a comment below and one of our librarians will help you come up with more games like this to help your child with their reading skills.
 
If you'd like to attend our next Massillon Ready to Read workshop on Saturday, May 21, call the Children's Department at (330) 832-5037 to sign up. All the details about that workshop are on our website: http://www.massillonlibrary.org/ReadytoRead.