HEAD START
NATIVE AMERICAN CHILDREN'S LITERATURE
CULTURAL SENSITIVITY WORKSHOP
Introduction | Children's Literature Definition | Selection of Native American Children's Books | Children's Magazines | Literature Resources | Ordering Books Online
| INTRODUCTION |
If you want your children to be smart tell them fairy tales, said Albert Einstein. Now it doesn’t take a genius to know that listening to stories and learning to retell stories is pivotal not only to becoming ready for school and academic success in reading. It is what makes us above all human. Dr. Bruce Perry reminds us that we are storytelling primates! Stories help children (as well as adults) vicariously experience the human condition of what it is to be human: laughter, sadness, anger, fright, sorrow, remorse, celebration, irony, empathy and sympathy.
Good teachers tell and read stories. Master teachers tell a great deal of stories in addition to knowing children’s literature well. Become familiar with certain authors and illustrators. Discover what children like and read more of their work. Children will begin to recognize certain authors as well as the style of certain illustrators.
As you tell stories and read books, children will develop a bond with these stories and with you in the process. What a special connection you will develop all through the simple, elegant and natural use of stories. Tell stories orally, balanced with the reading of stories. It is critical for children to listen to words and language a lot before they begin to deconstruct its components in learning how to read. A child by the age of 3 has a listening vocabulary of 3,000 words. This is the time when children learn the best and at a voracious rate! Our goal is to talk, speak, read, tell, sing, chant-thereby using language for children to develop an exceptional vocabulary in two languages. If you speak two languages, you are as smart as two people according to Paul Zolbrod.
With the deluge of information and children’s literature growing exponentially, become discriminating in what you share with your children. Colorful, stylistic images stimulate learning as much as rich,thoughtful and meaningful text and language.
Our workshop presentation will help you recognize quality and authenticity in children’s literature. You will begin to acquire the habit of looking for certain criteria and asking certain questions about each book that passes through your hands as a potential read for your children.
Introduction | Children's Literature Definition | Selection of Native American Children's Books | Children's Magazines | Literature Resources | Ordering Books Online
