Whether your relationship to the youth in your life is one of teacher, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or someone else special, part of what you do can be considered coaching. As a coach, there are a few qualities that lead to success. Things like patience, fairness, commitment, leading by example, willingness to learn, keeping everyone involved, making it fun, and encouragement. You can apply these good coach qualities to reading, in whatever reading technique you are using: reading [Read More]
Buying Books For Kids
Launching Independent Literate Youth – LILY – means encouraging your child to take the necessary steps.
We all want the best for the youth in our lives. Developing skills that lead to a child having the best advantages to make the most of their talents, skills, and dreams must be started at a young age. Just like walking - skills were learned incrementally and practiced to the point where walking was easy and, from there, we could run if we chose. The time to lay the foundation for success is now. To get started, here are some key habits: Read to your child. Not only can you set aside 15-20 [Read More]
Use leveled books to help children understand family values and the meaning of friendship…
In thinking about the Paxton Hood quote, “Be as careful of the books you read as the company you keep…”, I am reminded how important it is to learn about friends, companions, companionship, and family. Leveled Reader has selected several books on these important subjects. Not only are they engaging and introduce the subject in an intriguing and varied milieu, but they are leveled for your convenience so you have a better idea of which books would be appropriate to challenge your young [Read More]
Curiosity may be something that you attribute to cats, we have found that it is a corner stone of success in humans
We all know the curiosity of a child. So many successful men, like Bill Gates, stress how important creative thinking is and how curiosity is a part of being a creative thinker. In an article on About.com, Bill Gates talked about how to promote creative thinking and innovation. Among his tips were “Read a non-fiction book every week, read …. read with pen and notebook in hand; jot down any idea that comes into your consciousness.” Leveled Reader has an entire section of non-fiction books for [Read More]
Does the controversy over rating teachers according to student test scores bypass the underlying issue of why teachers become teachers?
Recently, the USA Today newspaper printed pro and con editorials on rating teachers according to student test scores. As a result, letters to the editor have appeared. There is agreement with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), that teachers need to be well-prepared. But, there are other influences affecting teacher competence: resources, policies, class size, community, economics and population to name a few. In one letter, an ex-teacher from Missouri [Read More]
Lily says "3 R's just aren't enough when you want your kids to get excited about reading!"
It is Women in History Month. There are so many famous women in history to consider. One who comes to mind is Florence Nightingale…..and that reminds me that nurses are taught the five “R’s” as a way to avoid medication administration errors: right patient, right time and frequency, right dose, right route, and right medication. Well, when you think of it, the same can apply to elementary school age readers. To set the stage for success, you must provide the right book to the right child at the [Read More]
LILY—Launching Independent Literate Youth
Whether you are a teacher, parent, or supportive person in a child’s life, you want the best for that child. Part of offering the best is providing opportunities. One way to do this is through reading. Books open up the world, the universe to readers. They can be transported to different areas and times—or to their own area and time, knowing they are not alone. When choosing books for the child in your life, you might feel overwhelmed with the selection. Which book will be appropriate and hold [Read More]
Leveled books and music – March is "Music in Our Schools" Month
As educators, teachers know how important music is to the development of our youth. As a leveled book store, you may wonder why we would encourage teachers to acknowledge a month that celebrates music. Becuase we are more than a bookstore. We truly care about providing information to teachers and parents that will help them support the children in their lives to embrace reading with passion. There are a multitude of studies and sites dedicated to the value of music and music in education. [Read More]
Leveled reading resources for teachers celebrating February and Black History Month
February is quite the month for celebration. Not only is there Valentine’s Day, but it is the month in which two presidents are honored—and also to be honored is the history of African Americans. February is Black History Month. From our Leveled Reading selections, readers have an opportunity to learn about two famous African Americans, Sojourner Truth and Jackie Robinson. Did you know that Sojourner Truth’s birth name was Isabella Baumfree? She became an itinerant preacher during the [Read More]
We believe in the Teacher's dream!
I have spoken with many teachers and most of them tell me that when they started out they said “If I can help just one child I will have accomplished something in this lifetime”. We feel the same way at LeveledReader.com. With school budgets getting tighter and classroom sizes larger, teachers have less and less time to do the things they would like to do. Usually, k-12 teachers have to spread their time out over all subjects and this can mean reading does not get the attention it [Read More]