Comments on: Literacy Rich Environments

By: Janet

Janet — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:55:53 +0000

Hi Miss Carly…
This is really a very resourceful website. After reading some of the articles, I realise that I have so little time and it is really a bit overwhelming for me. Hahah… But I am really glad to come across your website. Got to start so where. But how? How? Ok. Take a deep breathe and take a step at a time. I’m very excited.

By: Sarah @ Baby Bilingual

Sarah @ Baby Bilingual — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:48:37 +0000

Thanks for sharing so many inspiring ideas!

Our public library’s current strategic plan emphasizes early childhood literacy. Our baby storytime is amazing–it includes songs, rhymes, musical instruments like bells to shake, fingerplays, reading to the group, opportunities to read to your own kid individually, and sign language instruction. It’s the best storytime I’ve ever been to, and I’m sad that my 2.5-year-old has long graduated!

Our library also has book kits for babies that consist of a bag with five board books (in especially good condition, so not all chewed up already), a CD, and some pages of activity suggestions. We also have book kits for older children with five books on a theme (like dinosaurs, seasons, babies, pirates, etc.), plus a toy or activity that matches the theme (such as puppets or a matching game), plus a list of fingerplays and nursery rhymes on the theme.

I bet a lot of other libraries offer similar materials. We parents love to just grab a bag and go!

By: Christie - Childhood 101

Christie - Childhood 101 — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:41:08 +0000

A great post, Miss Carly, can’t wait to see you in action as a classroom teacher, you will rock!

By: Narelle

Narelle — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 02:40:54 +0000

Some great ideas there – thanks for sharing! I really want to set up a seperate reading area in our house but we don’t really have enough room :( I have one of those mosquito net/bed canopies that would be perfect for creating a secluded space!

By: Monique

Monique — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 23:51:34 +0000

Excellent thank you for those book ideas in the 4-5 year old group, I haven’t heard of a couple there :-)

By: Miss Carly

Miss Carly — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 05:24:35 +0000

@ PlanningQueen – I love both Gruffalo books. Julia Donaldson is a fantastic author!

@ SquiggleMum – I have used it with 3-5 year olds with the same way you used it. With the older children I saw the book and activities incorporated and thought it was fantastic!

By: SquiggleMum

SquiggleMum — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 03:50:10 +0000

I used to do a similar thing when teaching year one. We would send home a toy and class scrapbook for the weekend. Each child had a turn with our “class pet” and each family had the opportunity to contribute to the scrapbook. A lovely home – school connection.

By: PlanningQueen

PlanningQueen — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:23:54 +0000

You have listed some of my favourite books. We recently purchased the Gruffalo and Gruddalo’s Child on iTunes and my kids love listening to it and reading along with the pictures.

By: Miss Carly

Miss Carly — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:06:30 +0000

@ Deb C – I love recalling back to when I was younger and the love of books my mum instilled in me.

@ Catherine – Props are excellent and a lot of props I use are just around the house.

@ Julie – I love well-loved books and you can generally tell which ones are the favourites. For me, the taking care of books, is the not throwing them around, tearing pages out, etc.

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 10:17:07 +0000

Great ideas for different age groups. Interesting that you talk about “taking care” of books. I do instill this in my children, but at the same time, we take our books everywhere and our books have had water bottles leak on them, many are dog-earred etc. I noticed at a friend’s house the other day that her books (her eldest is the same age as my eldest) are much better looked after than ours! It is one of those things. I want to have nice looking books, but I also want them to be well-loved!