Love Those Books! Tips for Reading Success.
Kathryn McBride, Director of McIvers Grant Public Library gives us some nuggets of information on why we should read along with and to our kids. We chat about who is responsible for early literacy, AR reading and reading vs comprehension...Enjoy
Early childhood literacy is such an intimidating phrase; however, it is something that parents and guardians from all walks of life can confidently develop in children, and experience joy while doing so.
Tips for Reading Success:
Incorporating reading within your daily homelife, as part of a lifestyle. Ask them to read aloud signage, product labels and instructions while putting together their toys or flat-pack furniture.
Model reading time with them: pick up your own book while they read theirs.
For younger children, make reading stories aloud to them part of play time, before bath time, during waiting time and before bed time.
Help them to feel connected to what they read by asking lots of questions, and questions that require different levels of processing in order to answer.
It’s also great to check in with the child throughout the story, to help them process all the events, vocabulary and information they’re getting and to help them delve deeper.
Here are some questions to ask during the story:
What do you think might happen
next?
Look at that! Where have you seen
something like that before?
Here are some questions for when the story is finished:
Did you enjoy the story? Why? Why
not?
Did ____ remind you of an
experience you’ve had?
What was your favorite part? Why?
Is there anything you would have
written differently?
How would you have changed the
ending? Why?
A general rule of thumb is to stick to questions that use the words ‘How’ and ‘Why’ and to avoid questions that use ‘What’ or could be answered with just a ‘no’ or ‘yes’. If your child gives one-word answers, go ahead and challenge them! They are capable of so much, with a little stretching. Anyone can do this and have such a great time talking with their child. You don’t need to have a doctorate in child development to help your child become their best literate self, so don’t let self-doubt stand in your way. You are the greatest expert in your own child and they know and trust that. Have fun!
McIvers Grant Public Library
Transcript
Marsh Naidoo (00:00):
<silence>
Marsh Naidoo (00:15):
Welcome to this episode of the Raising Kellan Podcast. The podcast to motivate, inspire, and educate parents, raising kids with special needs. I am your host, Marsh Naidoo and today's special guest is Kathryn McBride. Kathryn is the library director here at the McIvers Grant Public Library in Dyersburg, Tennessee. Welcome to the show Kathryn
Kathryn McBride (00:41):
Thank you so much for having me.
Marsh Naidoo (00:43):
This library is at the heart of the community. I love the programs that you have going on throughout the year. Let's just talk more about the programs that you offer here at the library.
Kathryn McBride (00:55):
Absolutely. So I know probably the first thing that's coming to mind for most people in the community and for you is our amazing Kid Zone. It is a beautiful area, so well kept and gorgeously decorated by some fabulous volunteers that we have, but also by Vanessa Cain, our children's services and youth director. She is incredibly talented. She is excited about her job. I think that just translates beautifully into programming. So she will run a weekly story time for folks. We have all sorts of one-off events that are focused around major holidays. She also designs and implements programming around school breaks, typical school breaks, but we have also a very healthy homeschooling community that comes and uses that area. And so she'll often create events and programs aimed for them as well. And it's not that we have set programs that we have got to follow it's that we are trying our best to be responsive to the people who use that area. So yes, I say we have that strong homeschooling group that comes, but as soon as we see another group with other special interests is in our nature, it is our prerogative to make sure that we're developing programming for those folks. So that's just a little plug for anyone who wants something and doesn't see it yet. We wanna know that. Please tell us so we can design something for you.
Marsh Naidoo (02:23):
You guys have been extremely helpful to us because y'all have actually provided a venue for our BUDS group to get together. BUDS is basically an informal playgroup for kids with disabilities. However, it's inclusive of anyone. So if you just wanna come and hang out, you most welcome to. We meet on the first Saturday from 10 to 12 at the library. Thank you all for that opportunity for creating a place for us to meet
Kathryn McBride (02:52):
Of course, of course. But whenever someone thanks me for something like this, I have to remind everyone that it's our purpose. It's the point of the library, it's yours, you've paid for it. If you weren't using it in this way, we would be just shriveling up and floating away. <laugh>.
Marsh Naidoo (03:09):
Okay, so let's talk a little bit more about Early Literacy.
Kathryn McBride (03:14):
The subject that we try to address all aspects of at the library, which I know is a huge challenge. A lot of folks I think especially these days in this digital age, are starting to see a change in the usage of the library and a heavy focus on programs like we were talking about before, while at the same time a drop in our print circulation. But that's all natural and it still serves the needs of literacy in youth, in young folks, in developing minds. So even if you are coming to a program, there's always that story background to it. And our hope is that people then get excited about that material and take it home and find ways to implement it with their own families. So even though these days people don't think about libraries in the traditional way, we still have that traditional role which is trying to encourage literacy in developing brains. It's such an important part of how a child's brain grows and develops and affects the rest of their body. Amazing. What just exposing babies and toddlers to larger vocabulary does for how their brain processes nutrients. It's mind blowing the way the mind works.
Marsh Naidoo (04:27):
I'm gonna actually move a little bit into that. I'm a big promoter of early literacy, early intervention, and especially for the purpose of encouraging the development of that young brain. For our listeners out there the brain actually consists of nerve cells, which are called neurons maybe is anything from 200 million neurons. And these neurons send out little roadmaps called D. So what reading does is that it actually promotes the development of those D rights going out and synapsing and fusing with other nerve cells to create communication highways in the brain. That is how knowledge is actually transferred. So the more experience reading that we promote with our kids, it's actually establishing their knowledge. It's actually creating the foundation for them being lifelong learners.
Kathryn McBride (05:34):
Whenever folks start talking about early literacy, my mind automatically jumps to a couple studies that you might already Marsh be familiar with. When I heard about them, they just blew my mind. One in particular was done at a children's hospital, and I'm going to get this wrong. I know a Midwestern children's hospital, I wanna say maybe Cleveland. And there doctors who are participating in this study exposed children to three different types of entertainment. They got to watch an animated movie, listen to a story, read out loud to them while watching silent animated scenes in front of them. And then they got to just have that story read to them. And they discovered that those children who only had a story read out loud to them with a book in front of them and no animation whatsoever, larger swaths of their brain lit up with activity because not only were their issues that were being addressed regarding language processing, but then that child was also being required to make visual leaps to really recreate environments within their imagination.
(06:48):
And you were talking about those pathways. The idea is that the more pathways you give you can create help create. The deeper that knowledge settles the more quickly language is adopted by the child. And in fact, this was one side note that the researchers touched on and they weren't able to go into in the study, is that they suspected if you had read that story to the child with only the print book, but then we're actually holding the child now you are also incorporating physical touch and you're lighting up another area of the brain and creating more neural pathways. It's just so important. It's just so important to talk to your child to express full coherent thoughts and sentences use pick words around them. Don't worry about whether they're gonna understand it or not. It doesn't matter. They're just gonna watch you those big old eyes and just be entranced by what you're saying. But you are exposing them to things that are going to have lifelong consequences In a good way. In a good way,
Marsh Naidoo (07:56):
Absolutely. And I think it also touches on the points of you creating a multisensory development, <affirmative> you incorporating all the senses, you're creating an experience and that is how that knowledge gets stored. The more experience, the more variety that a child is offered, as you said, it's firing up the brain basically, and you're feeding that brain <affirmative>. We talked about the neurological impact of early literacy having on the developing mind as well as the social implication of kids also learning how to share interacting with their parents and as well as on language development. What about the psychological benefits of
Kathryn McBride (08:44):
Reading? Different children have different responses to their exterior environment. So some might not find a totally silent environment while reading to be conducive to focus. But in general, when you are reading a story, you are transferring yourself into that story out of your physical space because so much of you is focused on that, not only because you're, because your brain is being lit up in all those different areas. And so you're really almost taking yourself outside of your body and it can be a very calming quieting experience. Absolutely.
Marsh Naidoo (09:19):
What would you suggest in terms of reading? I know Berg Primary School suggests 20 minutes of reading a day a parent doing that for their child, but for that mom that has a one-year-old, two-year-old, that child that might not necessarily be going to preschoolers yet, what would you suggest in terms of reading for that child?
Kathryn McBride (09:44):
One of the easiest ways to get a child to adapt a new behavior like that is to model it yourself. If we are doing some really tough stuff, examining about how we spend our free time, about how we relax and considering maybe finding ways to incorporate reading into that for ourselves, then automatically you are bringing your child in with it because your child's living under your house, under your roof in your house, and your child's gonna see you modeling that behavior. So for example, if you get back from work and one of the very first things you do is kick off your shoes and turn on the television, consider maybe spending those first few minutes doing something else after you've brought the child home from school or kindergarten or what have you. Maybe model a different way of "relaxing". So perhaps if you already have the newspaper coming to your house, sit down on the sofa and spend a few minutes reading an article out loud to anybody maybe every once in a while.
(10:46):
And of course my mind is automatically going to those older children. So I need to refocus what I'm saying and go back to the younger kids. If you break up that story time, that's important as well. And again, even just reading that story out loud to the child that still is serving a purpose and a function rather than just, one thing I would say not to do would be to say, Okay, we're gonna set your timer and here's your book. You're gonna go over there and you're gonna leave daddy alone. You're gonna leave mommy alone. I gotta do da da da da. And when the timer beeps, I'm going to and basically release you from your corner of torture. So that's probably something that we want to avoid if at all possible
Marsh Naidoo (11:37):
Reading is just not reading the words on that page as well. It's about the comprehension.
Kathryn McBride (11:44):
Yes. So one is you wanna build as much vocabulary as possible as soon as possible. And that can actually happen before even comprehension. In fact, that's how comprehension happens, is first through that exposure. There are studies, multiple studies at this point that show the larger size vocabulary a child is exposed to before kindergarten, the greater their chances of classroom success of success with socialization with other children. And so that's a matter of talking around the child, exposing that child to your conversations with other people, focusing your questions to the child as well, regardless of whether they understand what the heck you're talking about. That's not the point, it's just that's right, getting them exposed. But then now separate from that for true engagement. Cuz of course also another ultimate goal is to have the child enjoy reading. You want them to enjoy what they're doing and that will be difficult to achieve if the child is not comprehending.
(12:51):
So that's one reason why it's a little bit of a delicate advocate balance. And that's one reason why, especially for example, when you come to the library, we really don't focus on genres and we don't focus very much on what many school-age families are familiar with, which is ar accelerated reading where you have an outside company dictating the reading level comprehensions and then school systems using that as a guide for what your child should be consuming that has its role certainly, but nothing will ever take the place of a guardian's understanding of their child's developmental level. And so you really need to it's a bit of a balance. You want to choose stories that your child will enjoy that will engage your child because it covers their favorite subject or content if they love stories or excuse me, dinosaurs or unicorns or trucks or whatever that is.
(13:49):
So there's a little bit of that, but then you also wanna push 'em, push 'em, push 'em, just challenge 'em just a little bit. And it's only you who can truly interpret that. So when families come in and they wanna know about the AR levels of each book and the easy and the juvenile sections of our children's zone, that of course is important part of their school life. Their teacher has said, Here are your levels. You've got to make sure you're selecting books that match that level. But I always say push 'em to read more than they can. They can handle why not challenge. When I was younger, I was reading books that I didn't quite get. I read Tale of Two Cities when I was way too young to get it. But at the same time, there will still be elements of it that sweep you up and carry you away and engage you.
(14:37):
And if you are struggling to figure out what that is, it will be a little bit of an interview with your child, Did you like this? Did you not like that? But then also too, that is absolutely one of the key roles that librarians can fulfill is getting that reader reading material match what we do. So bring that kid in and we will grill them until the cows come home and they will walk away with some books to try. And that's also part of the element too, is giving them just lots of different kinds of things to try.
Marsh Naidoo (15:14):
What I've taken from what you've just said right now is that it tackles the question of whose responsibility is literacy? And it's the parents, isn't it? It's the parents, it's the guardian.
Kathryn McBride (15:27):
It really is. And even if it is also other people's responsibility and other positions and roles in the community, and it surely is it does fall on librarians, it does fall on teachers. But you cannot escape the fact that you are the expert in your child. You are the voice of authority and the source of knowledge about your child and what your child needs. And so why would you want to supplant that? Why would you want to rely on someone else to know your child better than you? Our responsibility as professionals is to make sure that we are fulfilling the needs as you the adult communicate them to us. I'm gonna make a quick plug for public teachers. They have a supreme challenge in front of them and I cannot give them enough praise for what they do on a daily basis which is give all of themselves.
(16:23):
Now of course there are bad apples in absolutely every profession and it's unfortunate that there would be bad apples in public education because obviously you are interacting with children at crossroads in their lives and the things that you say and do with them can have a lifelong impact. But by far and away these amazing men and women are working within constraints that I can't imagine handling. And they have so many cooks in their kitchen. They have so many stakeholders that they have to refer back to and defer back to, excuse me. And they have so many standards to meet that are fluctuating and changing, thank God for them and we couldn't do without them. But given all of that and given again the fact that our public education system me reflects the goals and the ethics and priorities of each changing administration, that should be that much more reason and motivation to keep it at home. Keep your focus, keep your responsibility inside your own four walls, send that child off to school knowing that that schooling is a supplement to the meat and potatoes of their homestyle life.
Marsh Naidoo (17:39):
Katherine, it's never too early to start reading, is it?
Kathryn McBride (17:43):
Never, Never from birth. Absolutely. You want to be exposing that child from the moment they open their eyes to new experiences and reading is a huge part of that. I love what you're saying earlier, Marsh, about creating an experience with multiple sensory input. That's what it's all about. So when you are holding that newborn baby, that is the time to start speaking with them. And yes, of course I do it to little babies coming to the library and I do a little baby voice cuz they're just so cute with the big old eyes. You can't help it, you can't help. I understand that. But talk to them in full sentences. They don't know what you're saying and that's okay. That is not the point. You want to expose them to that vocabulary. So tell them what you're doing in the kitchen while you're cooking. I'm gonna take this knife, I'm gonna chop these into small little pieces and then I'm gonna saute it and that three-month-old child, <laugh> catch any of that, especially saute. But again, you're exposing them to it. And that brain I tell you, is working faster
Marsh Naidoo (18:55):
Than you ever imagine, than
Kathryn McBride (18:57):
You can imagine. Oh there is a world of activity and processing happening there. And so don't give your child any doubt, expose them as much as you can and have faith that will be absorbed cuz it will absolutely. Their child is capable of an incredible amount.
Marsh Naidoo (19:15):
Y'all give us so much as a community, what can the community do for y'all at the library?
Kathryn McBride (19:23):
A whole lot. Absolutely. There's a whole lot because it's a symbiotic relationship. We need you just as much as you need us. But I will reassure listeners all these different things I'm about to describe, they're all about just being vocal, vocal with us, vocal with the rest of your community. If you like what your library is doing or if you think public libraries in general are an important part of American communities, please tell the people, please tell your neighbors because of course we are entirely tax-payer funded. So we rely on your choices regarding your elected officials, who you elect and how they interpret the library. Obviously they are listening to their constituents and they're listening to the pressures of outside business and whatnot. So be vocal with them too. If you happen to live next to one of the mayors and you see them out getting their mail, say Hi, I wave and tell them that you love me McIver's Grant.
(20:20):
I'm telling you it makes a difference. It really does. And then also, of course, be vocal with us. Yes, we're incredibly understaffed and so creating a diversity of programming is a challenge for us. But it's an important part of our role and it's one that we want to fulfill. So you can help us by telling us about the areas that we are not reaching or the subject matter or the audience that we are not addressing. We wanna know about that. We wanna hear it from you so that we can incorporate it into what we're doing for you. And in fact, actually I'm very excited you will have a unique opportunity to be very vocal and we hope you will be about your opinion about your library and what you're looking for. Because I will be launching a comprehensive community survey. It will take place mid-June.
(21:09):
It will last for the survey will be open for two weeks. We are going to have special pages on our website. We're going to have it connected to our Facebook page. And we're also gonna be doing some just old fashioned down and dirty community canvasing with clipboards. We're gonna stand outside a couple businesses and ask you for five minutes of your opinion. And we sure hope that you'll take that time and stop because of course, again, this is your library and what you say in that survey dictates will affect what we do in our future goals and directions. So we want to do this. It's very important. We haven't done anything at this level in this depth or breadth in years and years and years and in its high time. So we sure hope you are looking forward to that survey being launched mid-June. And when it's open, you go ahead and click on those questions. Won't take about a minute.
Marsh Naidoo (21:56):
Kathryn, for members of the community that wanna reach you guys at the library besides popping in and checking you all out, how else can they keep on track as to what activities are being offered?
Kathryn McBride (22:07):
Oh, that's a great question and yes, of course we love a visit but if you are an armchair patron and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that cuz we have a whole world of digital collections that you could be enjoying from your home, eBooks, audio books, movies, et cetera for free with your library card. But regardless, you can get to that. And then you can also get to our event calendar on our website, which is our full business name, nice and long. It's McIverGrantPublicLibrary.org. You can also go to our Facebook page. We're pretty darn active on there as well. So please like us and follow us and we post lots of notices about different upcoming events and then follow up to those events. So let's say for example, you already know about our Facebook page and you did go to a library event and you wanna see some of those pictures of your cute kids and family. Go back to the Facebook page and you'll see that follow up stuff. And then that survey that I mentioned, of course that'll be on the website and the Facebook page as well.
Marsh Naidoo (23:04):
Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Kathryn, you have given us a wealth of information. Oh,
Kathryn McBride (23:10):
It was my
Marsh Naidoo (23:10):
Pleasure. And thank you for spearheading the library. As I said it, it's deeply weaved into the fabric of this community.
Kathryn McBride (23:17):
That is an honor to hear and it's an honor to be here. Absolutely.
Marsh Naidoo (23:21):
I would like to end off with Nelson Mandela's coat and that is, "Education is the most powerful weapon to change the world". And guys, this is where it starts. It starts with early literacy. So until the next time, remember guys, get to the top of your mountain. This is Marsh Naidoo signing off.