Lewis and Clark and Yahtzee

"MOM!" One excited learner yells while running from backyard to front.

"Come quick!" Another shouts, following three feet behind. 

"Look what we made!" Two voices joined in unison. 

We had just finished reading The Adventures of Lewis and Clark by Ormonde De Kay (Step Up Books).

Imaginations were churning. Thinking.

Dad had just finished trimming bushes.  

Branches piled along the driveway, waiting to be bundled in twine. Perfect.

Imaginations and dad's trimmings, a perfect combination to bring history to life. 

The result: A lean-to in along the back wall of the house. Creative! Ingenious! Fun!

"Watch how we can climb in!" 

"I bet Lewis and Clark had to make these!"

"Can we eat dinner in here?"

(Sure, why not! I used to eat dinner in treehouses when I was young and pretending.)

Later...

When explorer tummies were full and baths washed away dirt, we sat down around the coffee table to play a family game of Yahtzee--notice the arrow doodles on the bottom of the page!

"Mom, do we have any other books about Lewis and Clark. We want to learn more!"

"They were amazing!"

Let's look in the (home) library.

Meriwether Lewis, Boy Explorer (Childhood of Famous Americans) 

Learning leaps into a new day. 

What will we learn tomorrow?

Can Living Books Teach History?

I read this common question, or variations, in my inbox this time of year, every year. I usually answer something like:

Question: As I start the look into what we will do next year. I have been thinking about history. Next year I will have a 4th,2nd, and 1st grader. Someone mentioned Childhood of Famous Americans to me. I am looking for something to do maybe twice a week as the other days we have other activities. Could you comment on my thoughts.

Reading aloud returns great rewards. Auditory processing, the ability to process what is heard, develops as children listen to audio materials. Comprehension improves as participants ask questions and retell parts of the story. Vocabulary builds as the reader explains unknown words. Attention span increases as listeners sit eager to hear a story unfold. Relationships deepen as reader and listeners share emotions, thoughts and ideas. Reading aloud returns great rewards at any age. 

In response to the question raised by this mom (and many others like her now considering their curriculum choices for the coming year), she was specifically interested in Childhood of Famous Americans (the hardcovers if you can find them), for the ages posted. Older children may be interested in the Landmark books, biographies in the Signature series or We Were There books.

With the ages stated, these books can be read, comprehended and enjoyed together, as a family. Each child will gather details they find most intriguing. In our home we read in the afternoon before Dad comes home while toddler is still napping or later in the evening right before bed after jammies are on and teeth are brushed. Little eyes and bodies relaxed, transition to bed is easy. Family read-aloud time offers priceless memories of siblings and parents snuggled in the living room, reading.

Reading COFAs is a way to learn history and science. Children quickly become interested in COFA stories because the main characters are introduced as children. As to which title to choose, it is beneficial if the child chooses which title he would like to read first. Children are more likely to engage immediately and intently if their interest is piqued. Remember the content of COFAs lend themselves to history and science. Often as parents read, children begin to think how they can "study" the subject in more detail, maybe designing a lapbook, maybe helping to create a unit study, maybe acting out a historical event or dressing up as the main character, maybe simply checking out library books on the subject for deeper learning. 

If the listener is a reader, he or she may become so interested that independent reading may become a personal motivation. The result may be heading to the home library shelf to choose another independent read. COFAs make great independent reads, encouraging reading growth and fluency while learning history.

Younger readers, not quite ready to read a COFA independently, may enjoy choosing a similar title in the Step-Up book series. The reading level is lower than COFAs and make great reads for emerging readers. They are well-written and kids LOVE the content. 

Can history be studied reading "living books", books which allow the listener/reader to journey alongside characters? Absolutely! In fact, it is the stories our children have "lived" that are best remembered. 

Step Up Books Save A Want-to-be-Reader

The want-to-be-reader in my daughter disappeared, somewhere between simple short vowel words and complex sentences. Just like that, gone. In desperation (if you know us you know we love books) I went to the home library shelf. There before my eyes appeared, George Washington. The title invited me in- Meet George Washington.

I pulled the book off the shelf and thumbed through the pages. PERFECT! Large type. Pictures on every other page. All nestled in chapters between two hard covers. THIS book had the look and  feel of a book an "older" child would read. I beckoned my want-to-be-reader and proposed we sit together as I read. That is all she needed. A book that felt like a "real" book. Not just some story printed in a graded reader, but a real book. Motivation returned.

So often want-to-be-readers are lost when fluency and practice are needed to feed the reading process. Reading can be just plain hard for some. Lots of practice. Lots of encouragement. Lots of interesting "real books" needed to make it through that tough time when a young child is building vocabulary and fluency to become an proficient reader.

We started together. I read to her. The content was intriguing, interesting, something she wanted to know more about. I read the entire book. She listened. She wanted another. I had no idea where I had gotten the only one we owned. Where to look? The library? No, not there. Google saved the day. Within a short time, I was able to locate another, then another. I read a page. Then she read a page. Soon, she read a chapter, then I read a chapter. Dad was invited to read. Before long (maybe 2 months) she was reading, independently on her own with enthusiasm. The want-to-be-reader had been transformed to the I-gotta-read reader. Currently, she wants to read every book in the series. In fact, the now fluent reader won't move to another series until she reads them all (or at least the ones we can find). Step Up books are that interesting to her. Interest is the prime motivator. It's internal. It's powerful.

A map for reference while reading. Yes! Geography and Reading!

In the process of finding other books in the series, we have acquired "extras" of some of the titles (because we had to buy them in lots). If you have a want-to-be-reader who has gotten lost between simple words and complex sentences, perhaps these high interest books will motivate your child as they have ours. If so, let us know. We know how you can add them to your library.