The Newbery Medal Web Page

AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION NEWBERY MEDAL

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberymedal.cfm

The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children, 1922 to present.

Books are also honored each year.

Tips for Busy Parents of Fives and Sixes

Take turns reading. "You read to me, and I'll read to you."

Fill in the blanks. Reading poetry and verses that rhyme gives you a chance to stop before the last word in a rhyming couplet and allow your child to supply the rhyme.

Play sound games. "Riddle, riddle, ree. I see something you don't see. It starts with a T." A little more advanced: "...and it ends with a K."

Make a calendar. You prepare the page and write numeral 1. Let your child fill in the rest and write special events on the days.

Write a fill in the blank of a familiar story. THE THREE PIGS: "Once upon a time there were _____. They told their _____ they were going out to seek their _____." Let your child write in the blanks. Invented spelling should be praised. (See Post: Five- and Six-year-old Preferences)

Write a biography or autobiography. Let your child fill in the blanks. "______ was born on _____. S/he weighed ______ pounds and _____ ounces. The first visitor was _____.

Make a personal jigsaw puzzle. Choose a poster, favorite picture, or personal picture. Paste it to poster board. Cut apart shapes.

Make a board game. Choose events or episodes from a favorite book as divided steps in the path. Use objects to represent characters. Use a spinner to advance, seeing who finishes the book first.

Start a memory box. Divide a small box into sections. Collecting things that relate to a favorite book is fun. Or collect items from vacation, or a walk in the woods or neighborhood. Labels each item involves writing and reading.

Cooking from a book. Chicken Soup with Rice, Green Eggs and Ham, or Watch Out for Chicken Feet in Your Soup are naturals. Many books include recipes for the character's favorite foods. Look for cookbooks based on Laura Ingles Wilder, Mary Poppins, or A. A. Milne books.

Write an acrostic poem. Capital letters of your child's first name written vertically with words or phrases describing him/her.
S ix
A nd
M arvelous!
FROM: Read to Me: Raising kids who love to Read by Bernice E. Cullinan Ages 5, 6

Five- & Six-year-old Preferences

Five Year Olds
Like stories with animals that talk.
Like simple folktales and some fairy tales.
Like a prince and a princess.
Believe in magic.
Think fairy tale characters lived long ago.
Sometimes confuse real and make-believe.
Recognize some letters of the alphabet.
Can write their name.
Six Year Olds
Recognize the letters of the alphabet.
Can count to 100.
Can write about 10 words from memory.
Are able to read easy-to-read books.
Still like fairy tales.
Like being read to.
Memorize poetry and non-sense verse.
Enjoy alphabet and counting books.
Search for simple informational books.
Like books about dinosaurs.
Write with invented spelling.

As Readers:
Attention span may be nearly an hour.
Are on the verge of reading, asking, "What does that say?"
Are on the verge of independence, school, dressing, and caring for personal belongings.
May be fearful of the dark, strangers, and monsters.
As Writers:
They love to make marks on paper.
They use both pictures and letters.
Invented spelling is a developmental step toward writing words.
Advantages:
Encourages children to figure out the alphabet.
Makes children independent as writers; they don't have to ask others how to spell words; it frees them from depending on others.
Encourages children to write longer, more colorful stories; they can write anything they can say; writing more = writing better.
Moves children beyond words they know how to read; they are not limited to writing only words they can read; it helps them learn to read.
Encourages children to take responsibility for their own learning; they are in control of what they write and how they write it; they make the writing system their own.
Provides extensive practice in phonics; children practice their sounds as they write -- using letters to represent the sounds they hear in words.
FROM: Read to Me: Raising kids who love to Read by Bernice E. Cullinan Ages 5, 6

Preschoolers as Communicators

READING IS GETTING MEANING: What to expect and how to participate.

Pick up a book, ask, "I wonder what this story is going to be about?"

Before you turn a page, ask, "What do you think is going to happen next? or "What is s/he going to do now?"

Invite them to join in on repetitive phrases or fill in gaps of the next word of stories or poetry you have often read.

Children draw first and write later. So, draw a story. Writing development depends upon eye-hand motor coordination, as well as visual perception.

Start with uppercase letters and their first name, as you see development.

Simple things:

Read a bedtime story.
Read the same books over and over.
Give your child markers or paper and pencils.
Give your child a blackboard and chalk.
Write messages to your child.
Label your child's possessions.
Get alphabet books, and make alphabet books.
Put magnetic letters on the refrigerator.

Did You Know?

Young children like to hear the same story over and over again. They need to hear the same story repeatedly to make it their own.
Children like to participate in story reading and story telling. Look for books with flaps to lift or parts that fold out. Let your child turn the pages. Let your child say the words he knows. Children need to see that reading and writing are useful and enjoyable things to do before they begin to work on remembering letter names.
Reading stories and poems to children is the best way to teach them to read.
Children's natural curiosity and desire to make sense of their world are the only motivation they need to learn.
Children learn by doing things -- actively exploring books and print.
FROM: Read to Me: Raising kids who love to Read by Bernice E. Cullinan Ages 1, 2, 3, 4

Tips for Reading Parents

General Activities Every Day
Put books in places your child will be.
Carry books along to appointments. Poetry: Sing a Song of Popcorn.
Put books beside the bathtub.
Keep books and magazines in your child's room.
Have your child help with the grocery list.
Read recipes: Sandra Sanders' Easy Cooking for Kids
Read road signs.
Get taped recordings of books from the library.
Activities Related to Television
Turn on closed captioning from your remote MENU. Exposure to words is vital.
Watch TV shows based on children's books: Reading Rainbow.
Limit the amount of TV.
Know what TV programs your children watch.
Build bridges between TV shows and Books. Borrow books from the library on programs on National Geographic, etc. Movies are often "based on" books, and the books can be quite different.
Talk with your child about TV programs.
Find a quiet place for you and your child to read.
Activities for Special Times
Buy a birthday book.
Make a rainy day book. Write the sounds of the rain and have your child illustrate them. Rain Talk by Mary Serfoza (Ages 5-7). Get Umbrella by Taro Yashima (Age 3)
Read on snowy days: Ezra jack Keats' The Snowy Day, winner of the Caldecott Medal (Ages 3-6).
Read before vacations.
Read during vacations.
Make a holiday book.
Do crossword puzzles with your child.
FROM: Read to Me: Raising kids who love to Read by Bernice E. Cullinan. Ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

My Reading Log Resources

Source Page Free Printables

Six Different Logs in Color or Black and White.

Enjoy!

Getting Started Reading

Keep Books Handy!

Choose books your child likes.
Set a special time for reading.
Read at bedtime.
Don't panic if you miss a day.
Read 15 minutes. Thirty (30) minutes is better!
Let children guess what a new book will be about.
Talk about the story as you read.
Get others in on the reading act.

DID YOU KNOW?
Kids who read do better in school.
Reading aloud to a child raises her self-esteem and reading ability.
Becoming a better reader helps a child do better in social studies and math.
Keeping a diary helps a child become a better writer and reader.
Reading the print on cereal boxes is good practice for a child.
Allowing your child to read in bed is a good habit to start.
Children will read on their own a book that has been read to them.

FROM: Read to me: Raising kids who love to Read by Beatrice E. Cullinan Ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Reading Aloud & Reading Alone

• READING ALOUD

• Is Fun!
• Opens Doors
• Builds the desire to read
• Gives educational advantage
• Becomes part of family heritage
• Establishes bonds of love
  
• Develops ability to read alone
• 
  
• READING ALONE
• 
  
• Expands a child's world
• Develops independence
• Stirs the imagination
• Establishes a lifelong reading habit
• Develops vocabulary
• Develops understanding of other people

Read for
PLEASURE, PRACTICE, PROFICIENCY.
FROM: Read to Me: Raising Kids who love to Read by Bernice E. Cullinan Ages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

My Great-aunt Arizona Ages 5-8

My Great-Aunt Arizona
By Gloria Houston, Susan Condie Lamb
Photographs by Susan Condie Lamb
Illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb
Contributor Susan Condie Lamb
Edition: illustratedPublished by HarperCollinsPublishers, 1992
ISBN 0060226064, 9780060226060
32 pages Ages 5, 6, 7, 8
Arizona was born in a log cabin her papa built in the meadow on Henson Creek. She grew to be a very tall little girl who liked to grow flowers, sing, and square dance to the music of the fiddler on Saturday night. But what she liked most of all was to read - and dream - about all the faraway places she would visit one day.

Echoing Barbara Cooney's fictionalized ...... picture-book biographies of strong, independent women whose stories both challenged and exemplified their times (Miss Rumphius, 1982; Hattie and the Wild Waves, 1990), Houston (her The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree, 1988, was illustrated by Cooney) recounts the story of a great-aunt who spent her entire life in rural North Carolina. Though she dropped out of school to care for the family when her mother died, Arizona was eventually able to fulfill her ambition of becoming a teacher, returning to the one-room school she had attended, marrying, and bringing her own children to school with her but never going to the ""faraway places"" she visited only ""in my mind."" Arizona doesn't have Hattie's individuality or Miss Rumphius's vision, and her story has less energy and unique flavor than either of theirs; still, Houston's simple narrative is warm and exceptionally graceful and clean, while Lamb's settings (which seem to be in watercolor plus color pencil) are well researched. Her impressionistic outdoor scenes are especially attractive; figures are less expert if lively--the young Arizona reading with highbutton shoes aloft, or dancing with skirts aswirl above the knee, are engaging bits of poetic license. A nostalgic but appealing portrait of another generation. Kirkus Reviews Copyright (c) VNU Business Media, Inc.