The team at READ USA is thrilled to be releasing a brand new Read Aloud series very soon!
What do books, art, servant leadership, and diversity have in common? We can’t wait to tell you!
Read Alouds are part of READ USA’s Multicultural Literacy programming, a key component of our evidence-based, four-pillar approach to solving the literacy crisis in our country.
We launched our first Read Alouds in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic prevented us from hosting our annual Book Fairs. Since that time, we have expanded this important literacy resource to include more local leaders who volunteer their time to share a favorite children’s book in which they identify with the character(s). The READ USA Multicultural Literacy library also now includes additional tools and resources for parents and teachers to inspire young readers and promote more cultural awareness, inclusion, equity, and understanding in our community.
Click here to watch our Read Alouds and stay tuned for an exciting update!
“READ USA has provided every opportunity, for every student, to have access to what they need to have that gap bridged.”
In case you missed it, watch Tracey Brown, a teacher at Don Brewer Elementary School and a READ USA Site Coordinator, explain the power behind READ USA Literacy Tutoring:
Your support is closing the literacy gap in Duval County and beyond, and we only have until Dec. 31st to secure a $1 million donation matching opportunity to help keep our momentum going.
Will you help us achieve this goal? Click here for more information and to make a match eligible, four-year donation commitment of any amount by the end of this year.
Illustrated by David Slonim
As Moishe receives a disappointing gift from a stranger, he begins to realize the promise that comes with it. From a dented and unimpressive pan, he will realize all his Latke dreams! If the pan is on the fire, it will bring forth as many Latkes as his heart could hope for. But this comes with limits. The latkes are only for Moishe. What will Moishe learn from this parable? A perfect picture book to begin Hanukkah this year, Moishe’s struggles, joys, and bright emotion spreading across the page will surely get you ready to celebrate!
Submitted by Tabetha Cox, Tutoring Program Director
“One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment."
-Hart Crane, American poet
This week we will be looking at the Vocabulary component of reading and ways to help students grow in this area.
Infants and toddlers who do not yet have command over the English language have a very large receptive vocabulary. They understand many commands and simple sentences. Parents of infants who read and talk to their infants and toddlers know exactly what they are doing to build their small one’s vocabulary! Consider a beginning reader who comes to the word “fly” in a book. As they begin to figure out the sounds represented by the letters f,l,y, they recognize that the sounds make up a familiar word they have heard or said before. Add to that the multiple meanings of the word fly and it’s easy to see why it’s harder for a young reader to figure out words that are not already part of their speaking vocabulary. The children who have been consistently read to and talked to are those who are better equipped to quickly decode and comprehend new vocabulary.
The diagram below illustrates the four parts of Expressive and Receptive Vocabulary:
|
Receptive (Recognition) Vocabulary |
Expressive (Productive) Vocabulary |
Speech |
Listening vocabulary |
Speaking vocabulary |
|
Reading vocabulary |
Writing vocabulary |
Our receptive, or listening, vocabularies are often far advanced of our speaking, reading, or writing ones, especially in the early grades. Students may know they are talking about a dinosaur but are unable to read or write the word. Students’ receptive vocabularies can be at least two grade levels higher than their expressive vocabularies (Biemiller & Slonim, 2001). We can expand students’ receptive vocabulary by reading to children from texts with more difficult vocabulary than they use themselves. Because the range of oral vocabularies students bring to school is so wide (Hart & Risley, 1995; Graves, 2006), enrichment of oral vocabularies through read alouds with complex texts is an important component of all elementary curriculum. Obviously, we want to develop all four vocabularies: oral, expressive, reading, and writing, so instruction needs to be tailored toward these different kinds of vocabulary as well as immersion in a content rich curriculum (Cobb & Blachowicz, 2014).
Here are some fabulous ways to boost your child’s vocabulary from Understood.org.
For a quick, very informative read on best vocabulary instruction practices, look for this title: