NYC and Collaboration

Michelle and Suzie continue their adventure in New York City at the National Publicity Summit. Suzie's second picture was of Ground Zero.

When I first saw the title in my e-mail, I wasn't sure I wanted to look at the picture. My memory of Ground Zero is full of images of flames, smoke, loss and sadness. The picture I opened from Suzie was a surprise. It is a building-to-be, surrounded by familiar buildings and landmarks. With a lot of collaborative effort, stone by stone, Ground Zero will become a new landmark.

Helping our children learn to read is like building a landmark. Successful readers have collaborative help from parents, grandparents, teachers and friends. My younger daughter needed her 2nd grade teacher to help her find books that met her unique sense of humor and sense of curiosity. Without her, a lover of books might never have been born.

As we build Learners Lane, we want to be a collaborator in helping parents and caregivers help their children love reading. In order to love reading, children need to love letters. They need to realize that with two and three letters, they can make an endless amount of words. Suddenly, the child is the creator, the reader, the writer. What was once a jumble of letters:

A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H

becomes

BAD, HAD, FAD, DAD, ADD

Oh, wow, a game!! How many letters can I make?

My friend's father just turned 92. He was born blind. Everyday he gets the word of the day out of the newspaper. He sits down at the kitchen table with his Braille tablet and types out as many new words as he can make from the word of the day. I think his current best total is 95 words. He definitely had some collaborators in childhood who helped him love letters, words and reading.

Be a collaborator with your child today. Find a word. Sit down with your child. See how many new words you can make together. Know that you are helping to build a child who loves reading.

Learners Lane Team