Sing into Reading: the Blog

Encouragement is having high, but attainable expectations, celebrating every success, and showing compassion in the face of failure.

In How to Talk So Kids Will Listen, and Listen So Kids Will Talk, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish write,  “Let us realize that, along with food, shelter, and clothing, we have another obligation to our children, and that is to affirm their ‘rightness.’ The whole world will tell them what’s wrong with them—loud and often. Our job is to let our children know what’s right about them.” (p.191) (I love this book. Their book, Siblings Without Rivalry is also excellent.) The world can be a discouraging place. Our homes don’t have to be. We can choose to encourage our children.

Let’s focus on progress, not perfection. Focus on the wins, employing a strength model vs. a deficit model.

Recognize your child as a reader. (Check out this blog: https://www.singintoreading.com/blog/recognizing-readers)

When I...

Today is World Poetry Day!

Poetry is all about using words to evoke emotion.
Poetry is about using beautiful language.

I often talk about the importance of reading books to children daily. It is important to expose our children to poetry as well. There are many wonderful poetry books for children. My favorite is "Honey, I Love," by Eloise Greenfield.

Not only do we read poetry to our children, but we also encourage them to write it. Children are natural poets. The world, seen through a child's eyes, is poetry. The words a child uses are often poetry.

Collect your child's words. When your child says something poetic, save it. Say, "That is beautiful language." Write it down and hang onto these precious words.

As a classroom teacher, I had a poster on the wall that was titled, "Beautiful Language." When students said something beautiful, I wrote it down, hung it on the bulletin, and read it aloud to the class.

Here is one of my favorites... When my oldest (now 15) was 4, he referred to the...

If you know me, you know that I am the Creative Director of Sing into Reading, and I teach literacy through music. You probably also know that I write songs. 

Did you know that I write stories. too? You might not know because, until this week, I had never submitted a story for publishing. I have been writing stories for young readers since 2001, when I took "Children's Literature" at Bank Street College. And, I want to share them with the world, so I am (finally) submitting! I made two submissions earlier this week (to a contest and an award) and today I will submit to #50PreciousWords.

50PreciousWords is a writing contest run by Vivan Kirkfield. Vivan is a wonderfully talented author for young readers. Check out her books!

Here is my submission for #50PreciousWords:

THE LIGHT SWITCH

“Mommy, why does the light switch say, ‘No?’”

“The light switch doesn’t say, ‘No.’”

“Yes, it does.”

“The...

Holidays can be a crazy time. There is so much to do and just not enough time to get it all done. 

Let's face it, holidays don't always feel like a Hallmark show. Holidays can be stressful - especially with children.

I invite you to join me in deliberately stopping to breathe whenever you feel stressed.

No matter how much we have to do, we always have time to breathe.

Wishing you PEACEFUL holidays filled with love, joy, and music!

Keep singing,

Risa

Today, I want to talk to you about being kind to yourself. I belong to a writing group. We meet weekly to share goals, accomplishments, work, accountability, and critique. And lately, more than enything else, my writing group has been serving plenty of encouragement and self-care reminders. (Which I desperately need.)

Like most parents and teachers, I spend most of my time giving to others. And I enjoy giving to others. But sometimes, (maybe often), I forget to fill my own tank first. In a Reiki session on Friday, I remembered what it is like to receive - and I highly reccommend it!

In my writing group, a friend reminded me of the metaphor of having to fit some big rocks, pebbles, sand, and water into a jar. If you fill the jar first with sand, water, and pebbles there is no room left for the big rocks. But if you place the big rocks first, then the pebbles, then sand, and then water, you can make it all fit. She reminded me that life is like that and we need...

Just a reminder to “stop and smell the roses.”

This blog is just for the grown ups.

We are dealing with a lot of changes right now. We can prepare our children and ourselves with stories of triumph and overcoming obstacles.

Keep singing,

Risa

Telling stories is how we contextualize and make sense of our world. 

Last week, I talked about the importance of telling fairy tales and folk tales. I referenced Bruno Bettleheim's Uses of Enchantment. Going through difficult scenarios and emotions in stories prepares us to go through them in real life. 

Today I share a small moment story with you from my childhood, "All Sandy." 

Tell your small moment stories. Tell stories to your little ones about when you were little.

Keep singing,

Risa