Reading to Write
Some teachers and parents complain that their students or children cannot write. Big problem!
Guess what? This is a secret so please keep it confidential. Some teachers and some parents don't know how to write either!
The solution is simple. Read first, write later. Children and adults who read widely are usually well-informed, have a wide vocabulary, and have an instinctive understanding of grammar.
The bridge that connects Reading and Writing is a writing class in which a teacher who knows (1) how to write and (2) how to teach writing allows the students to stumble and fall. But the teacher gives constructive feedback and cheers the students to get back on their feet. Then run and sprint!
Bella's writing ability at this point is at the beginners' level. But she loves to read!
She loves to read so much that she reads her picture books, Bible stories, math books, etc. long after everyone has gone to bed.
She loves reading aloud and acting out different scenes. She had a lot of fun reading this particular book:
Written by Lauren Child, it is a post-modern picture book. No, I didn't tell Bella and the other kids that they were reading a post-modern book. That's the amazing and interesting thing about it. They took to the book like fish takes to water!
I disliked "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Book" at first. When my granddaughter who was 5 years old then checked it out from the library of the National Institute of Education, NTU, Singapore, she pored over the Big, Bad Book. She turned it around. She held it upside down. She read it over and over again. She invented her own story. Each reading was new. She loved it! I mimicked my 5-year old "teacher" and finally understood what post-modernism is!
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