Reading Awareness“A Childs Day Out”

Sustainability Project EDUC 204/Spring 2012

Instructor: Evin FoxMarch 23, 2012

Lacy KelseyMaria Velazquez

“A Childs Day Out”

Located at the CSI Boys & Girls Club

Lacy and Maria joined with the Boys & Girls Club and CSI, to bring reading awareness to parents and daycare providers in the community.

‘Our booth’Lacy and Maria

Our Goals:To bring reading awareness to parents ; providing a base for teaching their child to read. Expanding his/her comprehension and reading ability.

Information on reading

Lacy Maria

Interactive

Reading

Fun inter-active books that engage a child's interest and makes reading fun.

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar”By Eric Carle

Healthy Eating & Fun Reading

“The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle, focus on healthy eating and engages the reader to ask questions. Promoting comprehension and building reading skill that will benefit children as they continue on his/her education. We had this book on display as well as a poster to show some highlights of good and bad foods.

Reading to the childrenMaria Velazquez

Maria’s experience When I read the book I had an activity for the children

to participate while I was reading the book. I had a gift bag that represented the caterpillar, and then I handed out the food the caterpillar was going to eat throughout the story. The children were able to feed the caterpillar the food. The food I handed out was made out of paper, so each child had different piece’s of food to feed the hungry caterpillar. At first I did not think the children were going to be so engaged in the story, but they were. The children could not wait to feed the caterpillar. The children seemed to enjoy the story; they were engaged, and laughing. With the toddlers we talked about the growth of a caterpillar.

A Personal ExperienceBy Maria Preschool March 5, 2012

During morning circle I read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” with an activity in which the children participated in. The children were able to feed the caterpillar by placing paper food in a gift bag, which represented the caterpillar. With the Preschoolers we talked about which foods were healthy and which ones were not. Such as an apple is healthy and a cupcake is not. I asked the preschoolers if they knew why the food was unhealthy, and some children said it was because they have too much sugar. While reading the book we also talked about the process a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. (From an egg to a caterpillar, how it keeps growing, to a cocoon, and then into a butterfly.) Some children were interested in counting how many pears, plums, and strawberries were in the pages.

While I read the book both toddlers and preschoolers were interested in the book and the activity.

“A Child’s Day Out” Maria’s Experience I felt the activity made it a bit more interesting to the

children. When handing out the article to the parents and explaining what the article was about, the parents seemed interested, and they would ask questions about how to read to their children. Many parents had read the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to their children. Since the book we had on our booth was bilingual, one parent asked me where she could get a bilingual book, because she was teaching her son sign language, and Spanish. She also said she was going to try out the activity with them. Overall I felt it was a great experience, and that booth went well. Parents seemed to enjoy the article, and the children were interested in the activity.

 

‘OUR BOOTH’

We designed our booth with an interactive reading game Maria had designed along with our parent involvement poster and interactive books and an article on “How to Read to your Child”, by Susan B. Neuman, provided by Lacy.

Reading to childrenby Lacy Kelsey

March 16, 2012 I was a able to read to a group of children in the Buhl

Elementary school. I shared with them the story of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle. I would ask the children if they knew what was going to happen by looking at the front cover, then I began reading. Stopping often to ask questions and give the children a chance to interact with what was going on in the book. We talked about healthy food and unhealthy food. At the end of the story I asked the children what they thought. This was a very fun experience. I didn’t think at the time to have pictures taken while I was reading to the class but the experience was so much fun.

“A Child’s Day Out”Lacy’s ExperienceI was very excited to be giving out books to small

children and handing out information about reading to the parents. We found out a few days prior to that we may not get the books to hand out, and on the day of the event it was confirmed. Maria and I were both really upset; neither of us knew how much of an impact our booth would really make for our community project. It turned out that we both made a HUGE impact. Maria would read to a group of children and demonstrate how to read to a child, while I would explain the article on “How to Read to your Child” to the parents. Maria was able to use her amazing bilingual skills to explain the benefits to some parents who could not speak English, thus spreading the message further. It turned out to be an amazing experience.

‘Moving Train’

The children were able to enjoy the weather and a little train ride before entering the “A Childs Day Out” fair.

Bounce House fun

Play Dough Fun

Many different activities

There were many different learning activities for the children to participate in and many different learning flyers for the parents to help their child grow.

OTHER AVTIVITIES PROVIDED

FISHING FUN PHYSICAL FITNESS

BLOCKS

Playing with children while learning helps to build understanding and comprehension.

More fun

ART BLOCKS

Documentation:

READING Breaking News, Reading promotes education

How to Read to Your Childby Susan B. Neuman, Ed.D.

We handed out this article to every parent/adult/daycare provider and any other person who wanted to learn more about how to read to your child.

ReflectionsBy Lacy Kelsey This was one of the greatest experiences thus far on

my path to becoming an educator. Bringing awareness to parents, educators, daycare providers, any and all adults who were interested in learning the importance of reading and how to do it in a way that will benefit their child for the rest of his/her life. I was very nervous as to how it was going to turn out. We had a lot of fun coming up with ideas and what we should do. In the end it worked out very well and Maria and I had a lot of fun and came away with a great experience.

ReflectionsBy Maria Velaquez When we first planned the project, we were planning to have “The Very

Hungry Caterpillar” books to hand out to the children with a hand out about the importance of reading to a child. When the time came for A Childs Day Out, my partner Lacy and I did not have the books. When we first started I thought the children were not going to be … interested in out booth. Since we had nothing to hand out besides the handouts, and all the other booths had activities for the children. I also took the activity of The Very Hungry Caterpillar to our booth, but I thought I was not going to be able to read to the children and do the activity with them. I felt the children were going to be from one booth to another. I thought I was not going to be to read to the children and do the activity. When children started coming to our booth, and I asked them if they would like me to read to them, the children said, “Yes.” Before I started reading I handed out the laminated paper food to the children, so they could feed it to the caterpillar. While I was reading to the children I would stop and ask them questions, such as, “Do you know what a cocoon is?”, “What do you think is going to happen next?” I was surprised that some children knew what a cocoon was, and some had already heard the book before, and they would say the, “butterfly is next.” When the children feed the caterpillar they thought it was funny and they were laughing. I heard the children say, “It’s funny”, and “It’s silly.’” It was exciting to see how many children were interested in the activity, and how many wanted me to read to them.

How did the children respond when being read to?

Maria: When I first did the activity at the Preschool and Toddler lab the children seemed excited to start the activity. When I read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” book, I also had an activity for the children. I had a gift bag that represented the caterpillar, and the food the caterpillar eats throughout the book made out of paper and laminated. With the activity the children were able to participate in the activity. When I started to read the book, the children couldn’t wait to feed the caterpillar. The children were ready for the story and they seemed interested throughout the story.

Lacy: The children really love being read to, they love how I would stop and question and how exciting it was to see how the caterpillar turned into a butterfly. I could tell that some did not fully understand what was happening but once I asked question and went back through the story they started to understand and even ask more questions.

How do parents respond when asked if they read to their child? Maria: The parents I talked to said they do read to their

children. Some said they only read to their children once in a while. The parents who read more to their children talked about their experiences about how they read to their children. Some mentioned they talk about the colors, numbers, and the story itself from the book.

Lacy: When asking if the parents read to their children most responded yes. When I explained how to read to a child to help build his/her comprehension and reading ability they were surprised at how easy it was and how such a few extra minutes could expand a child’s knowledge base.

Special Thanks to……Evin Fox

Ellen NeffBoys & Girls Club

Thank you all for your advice and support in helping to make this happen. You are all wonderful supporters of our community and amazing individuals.

THE END