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Nikki J

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The Million Word Gap
Parents who take time to read aloud to their children are doing them a huge favor. Not only is it a memorable bonding activity, but it's also a way to jump-start a child's education and put them on the fast track to literacy. Many parents and caretakers know this intuitively, but a new study published in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics reveals just how instrumental those bedtime stories really are. According to Jessica Logan, the study's lead author, kids who are read one short book per day enter kindergarten knowing 290,000 more words than kids whose parents didn't read to them. If you increase the number of books to five per day, that vocabulary disparity swells to 1.4 million words. Logan calls it the "million word gap," and she believes it could help explain why vocabulary and reading ability vary so greatly from one 5-year-old to the next. "The word gap of more than 1 million words between children raised in a literacy-rich environment and those who were never read to is striking," Logan said in a statement from The Ohio State University, where she is an assistant professor of educational studies. "Kids who hear more vocabulary words are going to be better prepared to see those words in print when they enter school. They are likely to pick up reading skills more quickly and easily."

This was an email from my library. So when you gave in to the “ just one more story PLEASE” it was a good thing!
 
Thank you for the great article. At least I did one thing right.
My mother made me a lover of books. I passed it on.

While lying on the couch reading to myself, I learned a valuable lesson about our child.
From behind me, I suddenly, I heard the word, “Boat”. I didn't respond.

In a little while the word "Boat" was repeated louder. I said it wasn’t about boats it was a mystery story. Silence.
Eventually, “Boat” was repeated even louder. I asked, “Do you see the word, “boat?” Silence, and long pause.

Since I wasn’t “getting it”, the word “Boat” was very loudly, emphatically, and angrily repeated.
To my, “Show me the boat”, a little hand pointed to the number 4. It was the same shape as the sail on the plastic bath toy. No matter where we were, “Show me”, became a frequent request to our child.

I never would have expected that type of abstract thinking in a child that young.
While we read to them, and teach them to read, they can teach us about how they see the world. It just takes patience and understanding.

May blessings abound. Keep reading to the little ones and yourself. B. 8)
 

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