Terry Meier

I loved this reading. It really showed the importance of storybook reading in multilingual, multicultural classrooms. It talks about how children relate better to stories that show pictures of themselves and tells about their own lives. African American children see "brown skin" on the faces of the characters and Mexican children read their own language. It makes them feel like they are a part of the story. Or may give them something to relate their lives to while reading. The paragraph about Children using language in powerful ways was funny to read. I do remember doing what Marisa did when her dad asked "Whom are you going to hit?" I remember doing this myself when I was a little girl. We called it the "name game" It brought back a memory that was locked away. "Mama Mama Have you seen my dumpling?" example was a very smart one as well as Lem and the Railroad Track poem. They all showed how reading and poetry go hand in hand. And how it helps children learn. Reading books to young children open their minds to vocabulary, life lessons, family issues and much more. This article is very important. As an Elementary Ed. major it gave me ideas to use in my own classroom. I do remember one that was used in the article and used when my daughter was in 1st grade. It was the puppet and the story books. Her teacher would send a journal home along with the book and a puppet once a month. She did this to encourage parents reading to their children. We had to journal what our child had to say about the story. This process also engaged the parent and the child in authentic conversation as well as with the class. The journal was read to the class the next day and the children and teacher conversed about the comments we made. Great article and awesome references.