Today's guest blogger is not only an author, but a pediatric ER doctor. I don't know how she finds time to do it all! As a doc she has assisted police and prosecutors with cases involving child abuse, rape, homicide and Munchausen by Proxy and has worked in numerous trauma centers, as a crisis counselor, victim advoca
Today, Homer Hickam --- self-taught paleontologist, New York Times Bestseller and the author of the newly released novel, THE DINOSAUR HUNTER --- shares the heartfelt story of a Coalwood Christmas Eve miracle.
Heidi W.
Debbie Macomber is a number-one New York Times bestseller and the author of more than 100 books, including the just-released Christmas novel, CALL ME MRS.
Do you remember when a tweet was the sound a bird made and hash was something you ate for breakfast?
Today’s guest blogger is Raymond Khoury, the New York Times bestselling author of THE LAST TEMPLAR
In today's post, regular contributor Denise Neary shares an amazing program for kids to help them with reading comprehension. With programs like this - kids have so much fun they don't even realize they are learning. Thanks to librarian Heather Wright for your commitment to kids - and thanks Denise for sharing!
It is my personal belief that librarians have magical qualities.
I was trolling my local library’s website when I came upon this posting. Act It Out: for children in grades Kindergarten, first and second grades. We will share stories and act them out. Please register.
Wouldn’t you have had to know more?
I did-----and lucky for me, I was connected with the unquestionably magical Heather Wright of the Rockville (Maryland) library.
Her answers to my endless questions appear in italics.
What made the library decide to offer this program?
A woman named Lenore Kelner came and spoke to librarians a few years ago and demonstrated the technique she uses in her drama classes. She runs a place called "Interact Story Theater" which does after school drama classes using children's literature. I have tweaked her strategy to fit library audiences. I then read a book before I began called "A Dramatic Approach to Reading Comprehension", in which I learned how important drama is in the area of reading comprehension. So the participants are having fun and improving their reading at the same time! (All without actually reading a word)
How does the evening play out?
Kids in Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade are the audience. No parents, no younger siblings, are allowed. The format is: I, the librarian do some warm-up drama exercises with the kids (creative, using-your-imagination kind of things), then I read a story, then I have the kids tell the story back to me in their own words making sure all kids get the gist of the story. Then, I assign parts to all the kids, and we basically act it out. I am the narrator and I move the action along. The kids sit around a rug in the children’s programming room in the library, and when it is their character's turn to say or do something, they stand on the rug. They don't need to say exactly what the character says in the book--they can say something they think that character might say under the circumstances. In this way, the kids are internalizing their characters, truly understanding their actions and motivations. This is an excellent way of building reading comprehension and listening comprehension. After the story is acted out, we do some cool-down exercises to come back to reality. It lasts usually about 45 minutes to an hour.
How widespread it the program?
Mary Jane Clark, the author of several highly addictive whodunits --- including TO HAVE AND TO KILL
At this time of year, our thoughts turn automatically to giving and receiving. How can they not? We are bombarded with emails and commercials both online and off that tell us what to buy and remind us to hurry up and buy it.
