Jim Trelease’s The Read-Aloud Handbook is lovely and very helpful for parents wanting to immerse their children in the world of written and spoken language, stories and books.
I aspire to creating the math version of this; the Read-Aloud Handbook of Math in a sense.
Here is how he began.
The dearth of accessible material inspired him to write and self-publish the first edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook in 1979. “I self-published because I never thought any of the major publishers would be interested in it. At that point, ‘reading aloud’ was too simple and not painful enough to do the child any good. At least, that’s what many educators thought,” he says in hindsight. But that mindset would soon change.
His book is now in its seventh edition and has sold nearly 2 million copies.
Wish me luck, OK?
Just keep exploring with the little ones, keep writing what you learn, and keep sharing. You’re already changing habits of others, and I suspect that you will, eventually, have as much influence as you dream about now.
In the meantime, keep doing what you’re doing–those of us paying attention are selfish and want more….
No worries, buddy. Lots more to share in this space! Indeed I cannot imagine this well running dry any time soon.
This is a truth I learned from a colleague who was also a certified reading specialist. All kids need experience in reading aloud as a social activity in as many areas of their lives as they can get. I have seen this with middle schoolers, with high schoolers, with college students, and with colleagues. I’m so glad I am on this campaign bus with you because too many of our colleagues still don’t understand how vital it is!
– Elizabeth (@cheesemonkeysf)
How are you going to structure this? I teach math to very young children and do it based on a lot of Froebel. Good luck on this and keep us posted on how it is coming along.