Reading Aloud As A Family

Before you read.You might be nervous to read with your kids and that’s understandable. Maybe it will be helpful for you to read the book out loud to yourself before you have an audience. That way you can practice your delivery and tone of voice.


What you choose to read.Kids are smart and they’ll know if a book bores you, so make sure to select a book you both will enjoy and one that is fun to read out loud. Or better yet, have your kids pick the book out themselves. Also remember, words are everywhere, not just in books! If you’re in the kitchen cooking, read the recipe aloud, or while your eating cereal in the morning, read the box with them!


Make family reading time a fun time.
Turn off the lights and turn on a lamp. Maybe even put on your favorite pajamas or silly socks and get cozy. Reading at home is your classroom family time.


The end... now lets talk!
You don’t have to ask specific questions about what you just read but it is helpful to have a conversation. Tell your child what you liked about the story and what made you laugh and then see what they enjoyed the most.


Get them excited for the next story.
After you finish reading, tell them "More to come tomorrow!" and make sure keep your word!


I hope these simple tips make their way into your daily readings! While at it you can even start building a family library by shopping at garage sales or trading books with friends. Or instead of getting candy for doing good on a test or behaving well that week, treat them to a new book! The more you surround your family with literature the more comfortable they’ll feel reading on their own.


Happy reading and have a great weekend!

A,B,C, Make a Story With Me

When I was younger my friends and I used to play The A-to-Z Game. We would play it while walking to soccer practice, in the car with our families and even at the dinner table. What exactly is this game? How do you play it? I’ll tell you how! First step is, pick a topic. The topic could be anything from food, names, movies, things you bring on a camping trip to book titles. Once you have your topic that best suits your family or friends, you start with the letter A and take turns. Let’s use the example of things you might bring on a camping trip. The first person will think of an item that begins with the letter A, perhaps they’ll say apple, then the next player will take the letter B and perhaps they’ll say bug spray.


Now you’re off to a great start! If you can make it all the way to Z, pick a new topic and start again. As the players become more comfortable, the game may become easier. At this point you can start to add rules such as only giving them 10 seconds to respond. You can also call a “Time Out!” if you think a player said a word that doesn’t fit in with the topic. For example, the topic could be a day at the beach, and the player with the letter M says Monkey! If you think that doesn’t fit, yell “Time Out!” and ask that player to explain how a monkey could be found at the beach. If that player gives you an answer that supports their word, then move on! But if they can’t give an explanation then they will have to re-think their answer and respond again! If they can’t think of one, the letter gets passed to the next player.


So next time you’re in the car with your family, or walking to the park, try to see if you can get from A-to-Z!

Orlando's Preschool Ambassadors

Anna, Brittany, and Lillian’s favorite league, the Adult Literacy League, has teamed up with the Early Learning Coalition of Orange County in the creation of Preschool Ambassadors, one of the six initiatives within Mayor Buddy Dyer’s Orlando Cares citywide service plan. According to the National Institute for Literacy, literacy really begins during infancy with an infant’s exposure to words, speech, sounds, and print. Furthermore, the Institute also states that one key predictor of future success in school is a child’s preschool performance. Preschool Ambassadors was created with this in mind and specifically for the purpose of increasing the literacy proficiency of preschoolers within Orlando. One outcome of Preschool Ambassadors will be to have families spend at least 2 hours a week reading together. How do we plan to accomplish this you ask? Well this is where our favorite League comes in!


If you haven’t heard yet the Adult Literacy League already has a great family literacy program called Read to Me! This year-long program provides qualifying families with a brand-new book and materials for a corresponding activity, both at no cost to the family. All the families need to do is return the blue evaluation sheet included in the package and then another book will be sent to the family or brought to the preschool. The family has to have a child who is between the ages of 3 and 5. For more information about this program or how you can become involved in the Read to Me! program, check out: http://www.adultliteracyleague.org/about/famliteracy.html


So where do Anna, Brittany, and Lillian fit into this plan? Every Friday we’re going to post an article on the Adult Literacy League blog that we will so lovingly refer to as our “Family Literacy Friday” post. The articles posted will be written by the three of us and will include articles about literacy games, a potential “wacky word of the week”, literacy tips/tricks to practice, and other ideas that will make reading and improving literacy more fun for parents, children, and essentially the whole family!


Check back every Friday to see what we have store in for you and have a Happy Friday!

COMPLETED Volunteer Opportunity: Holiday Cleanup

What: Holiday Cleanup in the Office

Type: Office/Admin
When: January 4, 2012 - ??? | 8:30am - ???

Where: Adult Literacy League, 345 W. Michigan St., #100, Orlando, FL 32806

Happy New Year! All of our holiday festivities are over and it's time to start packing up the decorations. We are hoping for a little bit of help taking down all our holiday hangings.

We have a 6 foot tree (beautiful decorated by volunteers) that needs to be "de-ornamented" as well as holiday-around-the-world decorations that need to be packed up. Want to help us get right on track with the new year?

The dates and times for this opportunity are very flexible. We'll work with your schedule!

Email Zach Lynn if you'd like to be involved!

Or leave us a comment!