So your kids are on Facebook, they text like crazy and to be honest they know more about online networking than you do. Well, here is some good news. With the new service Class-Connect students can network with other students and teachers across the globe.
Why this is cool…
Kids can learn from others as well as share their knowledge with those in say, France. Its kind of like a new, techie version of the foreign exchange student program.
Also students can send texts to receive their homework as well as talk with others about the work they are doing in class.
There is nothing more valuable to the mind of a child than information. If we as parents can broaden their information highways by sharing the world with them, it is said to increase IQ by 10-20 points; Just from giving them a worldly perspective.
This week I have been talking with some young people about what reading is to them and what they like to read about. They had some very fun and very funny things to say.
Catherine, age 4
“I like to read books that are pink and have sparkles that have princesses and girls in them with a prince who loves pink princesses.”
Hank, age 6
“Books are fun only when my mom makes voices and my dad does the actions of the people inside the books.”
Jackson, age 3
“I just like books, they are fun when they are colorful.”
Ryan, age 7
“Books are good. My teachers makes us read for 20 minutes everyday but if I like to book I will read longer. My favorite book is Captain Underpants.”
I love hearing kids talk about books. You get such a wide description of their experiences. Ask your kids, or cousins, nieces or nephews what they like to read and what they do to prepare to read. Do they like quiet, alone time, bedtime, long books, pictures, or do they like to make up stories? Let them show you how they read. Then come share!
Reading is not just about the story being told. Reading incorporates imagination, focusing skills, interpretation, and reasoning. Literacy starts at birth, and with a head start of vocabulary and language skills the transition into pre-school and kindergarten is easier with a strong foundation for learning.
Some Thoughts:
1. eBooks are interactive. They capture the attention of children, by means of sight and sound. They are able to participate in the flow of the story. Turning the pages by clicking the mouse. Hearing the words and sounds of the chimes, clicks and knowing that they made those things happen. They are in control of the story and where it goes.
2. Access is easier. I know that when my 5 year old wants to read a story and it has been returned to the library, it is war until we get it back. The ability to ask your child what they want to read about, then be able to log on and get it, fantastic.
3. Maintaining motivation to read. There is a big difference between being able to read and enjoying reading. The idea that reading is enjoyable is set at an early age. If it is a pleasurable experience, such as time alone with mom or dad, or a time in which the child has all the attention it is remembered as a happy time. Later when reading is required, those memories are instilled that reading is enjoyable. Even though the child is grown, it still is a happy memory and therefore an activity they are more apt to engage in.
4. eBooks are updated more often, and they come with more features than a print book. Such as, an online version may have bonus material, as well as different endings possible. You may pay a different price for the two but you get more than the traditional print.
5. Portability. The ability to download a book to a laptop and carry that file with you, gives you the possibility to use it while traveling, or long bouts of downtime where the use of toys or other means of distraction are not available. If you have ever had to entertain a young child while experiencing a layover, you know what value a eBook would bring. Even if you are trying to get some work done, it is a easy way to keep track of book for easy access when you take a work break and spend some time with your child.
6. Going Green. We are facing a more conscious environmental state. The use of green products are becoming more and more accessible and user friendly. The cost to print and maintain paper resources is coming at a higher price as the economy is changing. It’s becoming fashionable to be “green.” The nation is taking notice that we have options to stop doing the kind of damage on the environment we have been.
7. The technology will get better. Advances in technology will bring more options as well as more information to be utilized. Children now are preparing for the jobs of tomorrow. Technology will be such a big part of their world, it will be their first instinct to Google before Encarta. I mean, my 8 year old has friends with iPhones and Blackberry’s. Amazing.
8. Device. With Wizz-E there is not a need for another device. You just use your PC/Mac. You don’t have to buy another device to use the eBooks. You can browse using your iPhone then download to your PC, and there they remain.
9. eBooks are not a replacement for reading to your children. They are a way to enhance the learning and attention of children to get them involved in not only books, but computer use and technology.
10. The possibilities are, as they say, endless. You can browse so many interesting topics, search international books, and use hyperlinks to read about something and then go see the pictures, or watch a video. The use of college textbooks online would be great. The ability to read the text online, discuss with others, get insights from other professors using the same text. The learning that would come from a community of readers would be priceless. It opens up a whole world of learning, and seeing the world from outside the bindings of a book. You can teach a child to read, but teach a child to learn and they will always have the confidence to teach others.
Check out some great books online at Wizz-E and be watching for updates here.
Great things are being written and available to discover.
