That's the Spirit - Episode 2

On this week's episode of "That's the Spirit," Kelli Broaddus and Jenna Goddard discuss ways to get children interested in reading. They emphasize the importance of reading aloud to kids of all ages and the positive association between reading and feeling loved. Jenna shares statistics that show the benefits of reading, such as increased vocabulary and imagination. They also provide tips for engaging primary and lower school students in reading, including making it fun, asking questions, and allowing children to choose their own books. Hello listeners, this is Kelli Broaddus, Head of School at Holy Spirit Episcopal School and this is That's the Spirit. On this week's episode, I have a guest, Jenna Goddard. She is the librarian here at Holy Spirit Episcopal School. We're going to be talking to you about ways to get children of all ages interested in reading. We'll be going through tips for primary, lower school, middle school students. Know that all of these tips are actually really good for kids of any age, but we will be hitting all of those different ages. We'll be talking about a variety of ways to get your kids interested in reading and loving reading. One of the things to start off with, I just want to let you know that all kids associate reading with the closeness and being loved of the person that they're with when they're reading. That starts from the very beginning. It can be reading to your child in the womb. It can be reading to your infant or cuddling up with your toddler or even your elementary age student still needs you to read to them. Research actually shows that all people of any age need to be read aloud to. We all associate a love of reading and of the person that we have memories with and that closeness when we're read to. That's the biggest thing that we want you to take away today is that just read with your kids. You really don't need to worry about the things that are right or wrong with it. Just read to them and read with them. We'll go ahead and get started a little bit. Jenna, I know that you have some statistics to share as well. If you want to start us off with some of those. Yes. Hi. I'm happy to be here and talk with you all today. One of the first statistics that I have for you all is just reading 10 minutes a night with your kid equals roughly one million more words a year. If you think about that and the vocabulary that they are getting just with one or two simple books at night, kids who hear more vocabulary words are going to be better prepared to see those words in print when they begin to read. Yes. Actually, research shows that that is the best way to expand vocabulary is reading. Not vocabulary books, not like SAT study words. It's reading. That's exactly right. Then another one is 55% of children between birth and five years are read to every day. I was surprised at that number. I thought ... Do you think it was low? I thought it was a little low. Yes. Especially from birth to five years. I don't know about you, but one of my most fun memories is reading with my mom and dad at night. I got to pick the book which gave me the choice of what I wanted and the voices that they would do. That was just our routine. I know kids thrive on a nightly routine. Yes, I thought it would be a little bit higher. The statistic that really shocked me was that only 14% of kids in the ages of reading read for fun. That was crazy to me. It drops off so drastically. It's on an all-time low. It's also what I was reading. If we start the love of books and we model that love for books, I think our kids are going to be helping that presented out. They're going to learn the love for reading and they're going to read for fun on their own. Absolutely. I remember, too, when my daughter was learning to read, she was three when she was starting to sound things out, which was really cool. She was the first grandchild on one side and everybody wanted to hear her starting to read when she was three and four. She actually said, I don't want you to stop reading to me, though. She didn't want to model her reading to them because she thought it would mean that they would stop reading to her. I do wonder that sometimes, too. Do kids, like we talked about, since they associate reading with being loved and with that really positive feeling, are they stopping that feeling of loving reading and loving books because they're not being read to anymore? Yeah, that's interesting. I never thought of that. I think that another way to get them excited about it is to have them choose what book they're reading. Absolutely. When I was a classroom teacher in pre-K, I always had books on my shelf that were a good mixture. A mixture of books that I wanted them to read and a mixture of books that I knew they loved. Maybe it's Paw Patrol. Maybe it's Peppa Pig. I knew that the kids in the class would gravitate toward it and they would have a book in their hand and they'd be flipping the pages. They'd be looking at the pictures, creating their own words, which is beginning stages of reading. Looking at pictures, creating words, and memorization are all beginning stages of reading just to get those hands in those books of kids that might not be ready to read yet but still like to look at books. They want to, right? Since you're on that topic, why don't you go ahead and give us some tips for primary school students. What gets them interested in reading and really wanting to pick up those books off of a shelf? Right. I think having them available is huge. I know our classrooms have books available everywhere, but having them at home and, like I said, having things that they like. Also, making it fun. Talking to your kids during it, after it, asking them questions, making those silly voices. They love that. Acting out, too. We act out in library here with primary school. You don't even have to read the book to act out The Three Little Pigs. That's right. We all know that one by heart. I think as they get to the older pre-K, even the twos can act out, but even as they get into pre-K four, letting them know we can create our own stories, too. That helps them with wanting to learn, oh, how does this story end? How could my story end? Finding out as they read, their imagination grows and all the different possibilities. Yeah. The imagination is so important with reading. They really can go anywhere as they let their imagination take them forward. They can explore different places. They can make up different worlds. It's so great. You mentioned, too, asking questions as you're reading to your kids. What are some of the questions that you can ask your kids? That's a good question. A lot of times when I'm reading books to a whole group, I'll say, well, stop. It's probably in the middle of the book where something is going to happen. I'll be like, what is your prediction? What do you think is going to happen next? If they've never read the book, hearing their ideas of what could happen next, some ideas I would never have thought of. They're so great. I'm like, that could be a whole other book. This is so smart. Or just talking about sometimes there's a word in a book that I don't think is in their vocabulary yet. I'll read the sentence and I'll say, what does that mean? What do you think that means? Just getting them involved in the book instead of just flipping pages, every single page. Have a conversation with them. Then once the book is over, ask them what the story is about. Ask them what their favorite part was. If they would do the same thing, if they were the bear, would they chase after Goldilocks down the road? What would they do differently? It's also great to get them to identify with the feelings of the characters sometimes. How do you think this character felt when that happened? Why do you think that? How would you feel? Then you're also bringing in those really great empathy skills as they're reading too. When I taught middle school, those are some of the same questions that I asked also. When you ask those prediction questions, you're engaging their brain in what's coming up. They have those expectations. They want that question answered. Then they're looking for that as they read. The same thing with the vocabulary word you were talking about. Let's really have that skill of looking at what this word means based on the context. Just because you give the correct definition of a word doesn't necessarily mean you know how to use it. When you read it and you understand the context that goes along with the book, then you really do understand that word a lot more. Right. To your point of learning more vocabulary words, like I said before, there's a million more words that those kids have in their vocabulary when they're starting to read. Those are even more words that when they're sounding out words, one kid might have never heard this word before. When they're trying to sound it out and when they're learning how to read, they'll be like, oh, I know this. I've heard this in a book. They start to fill it in. Yeah. Which is also part of the predicting text. Right. Those rhyming words and books are so good for kids to be able to start to predict what's coming next. They feel that pattern. They start being able to add to that. What about kids, because we know a lot of primary kids want to read the same book over and over again. How would you kind of help a parent out who feels like, oh, this is the same book they want to read every night? I think it's okay. You know, it is that they are going to that book out of however many you have on your bookshelf, that means something to that kid. So you could read it. You could also, if they've read it multiple times, they can read it to you. They can look at the pictures and tell you the story that they think from the pictures. You can see word for word what the book is, but don't discourage that. This is how they're telling the book. And that is the beginning stage of reading also, memorization. You can also try to, you know, change up the book a little bit. Say their favorite book is Jack and the Beanstalk. You can say, well, what else would Jack do? What else would you go up the Beanstalk? Like, just make it, extend it. Make it more fun for them. Yeah, what else is up in that cloud city, right? Is there a castle or is there more? That's a great point. Where did that food come from? That's a giant ad. That's a great, great idea. What about for lower school students? So what are some ways to get kids that start into the, you know, kindergarten through second grade as they're still kind of learning to read, but then even as they get from into second, third, fourth and are really able to start reading for themselves, what are some ways to get all of those kids into reading? Well, I've noticed with those ages, especially, I'll go back to kindergarten first, but really second and third, even first, they gravitate towards series. If they find a series that they love, they will read it in one night, come back to the library the next day and say, Ms. Goddard, Ms. Goddard, I'm ready for the next book in the series. So excited, they're just eating it up. And I love that. So finding a good series also helps with kindergarten and first grade because you could read with your child at night or whenever you have time. Maybe you read a page and they read a page or you read a chapter, they read a chapter. Or you can read the whole chapter to them and that will get them excited about the series and excited about reading. And when the kids come into the library, I never ask them or their teachers what their reading level is. If their kid is interested in that book, their reading skills will grow because they want to read it that fast. That's exactly what research shows, that if a kid is interested, they will rise to the occasion and they naturally raise their reading level because they want to read whatever they're reading, whether it's nonfiction, whether it's fiction. Yes, that interest is powerful. It is, and it's so fun to see, too. I think some other good tips for lower school is always I do this. I'm a librarian, so I keep a book handy, whether it's in my car, whether it's in my purse. If I'm not driving in traffic, I'll pull out a book. If I'm at a doctor's appointment, wherever you can, just pull out a book. You could get hooked in one chapter. How much more powerful is that for our minds than scrolling on social media, right? Oh, yes. You get a lot more information, right, and our brains are more focused. Also, reading for kids increases their concentration level. Yes. Also, making it fun for them. You can read at the beach. You can read by the pool. You can read with a flashlight. You've got to make it fun for them and to get excited. Also, modeling is huge. Modeling is huge. It's the key, right? Right. We've got to be showing the kids that we read, too. We can't just tell them to do it. We've got to show them that. I totally agree with that. What also do you think about graphic novels? I think they're great. Those are some of the best series that hook kids. I have had multiple parents, even my own sister, who's raising two elementary-age daughters, I don't buy my daughter's graphic novels. I'm like, why? They're words on a page. They're interested. They're hooked. They're flipping the pages. It's just the same as a normal book but with more pictures. If that is what's going to make a kid interested in reading a book, they're not going to read graphic novels for the rest of their life. They're going to move on. When it's time and when their interest sizzles, they're going to move on to novels because they're going to want to consume more literature and more words. I liked comic books, too. There are actually studies that comic books are good springboards for reading, also. But graphic novels are the next level. Brain research has shown that the same process in the mind happens when reading a graphic novel as the same comprehension process for a regular novel. Sometimes kids just need the picture to go along with the words just to keep their focus, to get them interested in the first place. Sometimes I know I would have a kid come ask me for a specific graphic novel. I didn't have it, but I had the regular version. They're like, okay, I'll read that instead. It really is just a good springboard for reading in the first place. I agree with you. Go for it. Not just don't worry about it, but I say go for it. It's a great way to get kids reading. It does not hinder their reading comprehension. In fact, it improves it because they really are practicing those reading comprehension skills the same way that a regular book would. You talked about choice as well. That was kind of like primary, so that's a key thing for lower school students, too? Yes. Oh, yeah. A lot of times when they're looking for a book in the library, I'll say, okay, what are you interested in? Let's see. Do you want a graphic novel? Do you want a novel? That's where we start. What are your interests? Do you like football? Do you like animals? Also, seeing themselves represented is also huge, too. Thank goodness in the world of children's literature and young adult literature, they are so inclusive now. It's nice to see all sorts of different people on covers of books. Choice, like we said, is huge for that age as well. Absolutely. Yeah. You know, it was interesting, too, because you also mentioned just different places to read and you mentioned modeling. As a language arts teacher and reading was my focus, I do remember a time when my kids were a little bit older, upper elementary and middle school, and they weren't choosing to read on their own. It was one of those things that they knew that was a routine we did before bed, but that was about it. One time, I think it was a Saturday, and I just turned off the television and I decided, you know what? The fire's on. I'm just going to read by the fire. The next thing you know, my daughter walked in with a book and sat down next to me. Then my son walked in with a book and sat down next to me. Then my husband picked up a book and sat on the couch. All of a sudden, I was putting my money where my mouth was, right? I had always said you need to model reading. I knew how important it was, but it happened. I didn't have to ask anybody to do anything and we all sat there. I mean, it was 20 minutes. I'm not going to say it was like hours of reading together, but it was so great. It was such a really fun family moment. We weren't on our phones. I mean, it's so important. We do a lot of reading on our phones. Our kids have to see us reading an actual book or even an e-reader, something that they know is dedicated to only reading a magazine, a newspaper, but they have got to see us read actual books and actual pieces of paper or, like I said, an e-reader. I know a lot of times my husband will find articles on his iPad. I even look at him and I'm like, what are you watching on that? He's like, I'm not watching anything. I'm reading articles. I'm like, for me, just having a book and actually physically turning the pages is my way of reading. Sure. Well, and you assumed that he was doing something else, right? Right. That's what we've got to realize. Our kids assume the same thing, so they have to see us modeling reading, knowing that what we're reading is a book or is a magazine, right? Right. Yeah. Then let's talk about middle school students. I know personally I loved reading. I have the most incredible memories of reading, as long as I can remember, until I got to middle school. I will say, for me, I, in hindsight, can completely trace it all back to lack of choice. When I hit middle school, I was suddenly assigned books I had to read. I was told how fast. I can't read very fast, even to this day. I prefer to read slowly. I like to take in all the details, and it's been that way my entire life. In middle school, I was all of a sudden pressured to read a certain number of pages each night to be able to come in and talk about them the next day. That's where my love of reading dropped off until I was in college and reading on my own again. Again, it came back to choice. You had mentioned that before. How do you see the aspect of choice coming into play with middle school students? It's funny you say that because I've had just recently a kid come in and say, no, that book's too long. I need a certain number of books. We want kids to pick books because they want to read more and learn more. We don't want them to pick books because of certain parameters. A lot of times, there's teen movies coming out, and a lot of times, they're from a book. Most of the time, they're from a book, honestly, when it's that age group. That's been big for our girls, even our boys. It's amazing that Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, those are all still our most popular and well-loved books because I don't care what age you're starting to watch it, you want to read the book, too. It's excellent writing. It really is. In my opinion, the book's better than the movie. It is. It's fun to have those middle school kids come in and say, oh, this is on Netflix. They made a series of it, and they're like, no way, and then they just eat the book up because they love the series. They love the book. I will say, just as a former middle school teacher, about some of the edgier topics that can be in young adult fiction, they're wanting to explore those topics more. If you're nervous about those topics, I recommend you reading parallel to your kids. What that means is while they're reading the book, you read it, too. Then you naturally bring up those topics. You just kind of say, hey, when this happened, what did you think about that? This is what our family values are. You can even say that, as well. Then it's a natural conversation. Instead of having to awkwardly sit your kid down to talk to them about some of these situations, whether it's bullying or whether it's just other topics that can be more adult, it's a great way to engage your child in those topics in a natural way and not make it so awkward. Yes, as they get older, the topics do get a little more uncomfortable, but they're wanting it. I will tell you, the best way to get them to read it is to tell them you're not allowed to read it. That's that age. If they're told they're not allowed to read something, they're going to pick it up. They want to know why. Why am I not allowed to read that? Instead, I highly recommend reading it at the same time and having a conversation with them about it. Sometimes, too, you'll find out, oh, that wasn't as bad as I thought, right? It's just a great way to talk to them about all of those graphic novels. Also, a huge thing for middle school students, that is a huge springboard, as I've said before, as you've said before, of getting them to read more. It is easier for them to, because they are getting older, they don't read picture books anymore, but they still need that picture to help. Part of comprehension skills is building a mental movie in your head. Sometimes they need that. They need that help. I know. My genre that I prefer is historical fiction, realistic fiction, mysteries. When I do read a fantasy or science fiction novel, I have trouble picturing that world. Sometimes having something to attach to, that then I can let my imagination go wild, helps a lot. Those graphic novels are hugely important. Don't be afraid of those. They are not going to drag your child's reading comprehension level down. In fact, you will see improvement in their reading comprehension levels because they're reading, right? Because what's the alternative that they don't read at all a lot of times? We do want them reading those graphic novels. A lot of times, too, I see kids checking out those graphic novels when maybe they have a project in English that they're having to read a nonfiction. That's a really easy book for you to read two books at one time. Absolutely. You can hop in and out of a graphic novel pretty easily. They go by pretty quick. It is another added source of reading, too. I did want to say, when you were saying that about picturing, I remember I read Harry Potter before the movie came out. That was in high school. I loved the chapters that had just a tiny little picture of what was going on because I could be like, okay, I can imagine the Wizarding World of Harry Potter now. I can imagine Hogwarts. They have the movies now that they can rely on. Right. At least have a little bit of an idea. But those pictures are so helpful. They really are helpful, especially with kids who might be struggling reading. Like I said, I've never been a struggling reader, but I just read slowly, and sometimes those pictures help me get through it a lot faster and continue to read. And same thing with middle school students modeling. I mean, I think that's probably the biggest thing we both want our listeners to hear. You've got to model that reading is important, especially at an age where developmentally, they naturally want to push back. They want to. That is, by the way, parents, let me just encourage you if you have a middle schooler, that is developmentally appropriate for them to push back. They want to. That is, by the way, parents, let me just encourage you if you have a middle schooler, that is developmentally appropriate for them to push back. But if they're told they have to read, a lot of times, they're going to push back on that. So giving them all of the choice that you can, making it fun, same thing, just like we were talking about before. You know, maybe they want to read on their bed, read on a swing outside, read by the pool. It doesn't have to be the exact same place every single time. And sometimes it's about making their own little space where they can read and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun and have fun