Book to Movie

Some of the best children's and young adult books have been turned into movies. While our children are certainly not lacking in the movie category turning a book into a movie isn't a bad idea. By turning a book into a movie more children and young adults are willing to read the book that the movie is based on.

With so many schools dismissed for the COVID 19 virus right now introducing children and young adults to books that have also been made into movies is a great way to get children interested in reading, and books that have been made into movies can be found on all different reading levels!

Many local libraries have databases of online children's books that you can stream from your computer and because of the COVID 19 virus shutting down so many schools across the nation right now many other online book databases such as the National Emergency Library are now available for free! Parents can help students get access to many of these books all from a computer or tablet, and with movie streaming services like Netflix, Disney +, and Hulu in almost every home several books and movies are available for kids to access from the safety of their own home. 

Some great titles to introduce children to that are also movies are The Lorax, Horton Hears a Who!, Where the Wild Things Are, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs just to name a few. For Young adults there are many titles available such as The Hunger Games series, the Harry Potter series, Alice in Wonderland, and one of my personal favorites, The Hobbit. 

Parents can have children read the book before they watch the movie and then ask them if they noticed any differences between the book and the movie, and if they noticed differences what were they? Did the differences alter the story line? Or were the details that were altered minor and not necessarily relevant? By doing this not only are parents getting their children to read but they are helping them to learn to think critically about the books that they read and the movies that they watch. 

 

Are Audio Books Beneficial for Children?

It is commonly accepted that reading is a fundamental building block for education and continued learning. Children who struggle to read often struggle in many other areas in school as well. I work as a Head Start teacher, teaching a class of three and four year old students. At their age my students are too young to read themselves, which leaves me wondering what I can do to help them continue their learning outside of the classroom. I try to come up with creative ways that parents can help their students continue to learn at home, and a simple way to introduce my students to more books and is through audio. Audiobooks can be easily incorporated in school and at home by parents, but the question is how effective are audiobooks? How much do children really get out of audiobooks? Are there any benefits at all? I decided to do a little research to find out.

I was pleased to find out when researching the benefits of audiobooks that research actually suggests that audiobooks can be just as beneficial as reading books in print. The National Literacy Trust states, "listening to an audiobook requires the same cognitive skills as reading in print and supports language comprehension skills and the ability to understand and retain information in the same way reading a book does." 

Listening to audiobooks can have additional benefits for students by also giving students the opportunity to hear speech patterns and rhymes that might be missed when reading print. They also teach children about voice and expression as audiobooks allow children to really listen to how words can be voiced to create feelings and express emotion. Audiobooks also expose children to new vocabulary at an elevated reading level. 

Knowing that audiobooks can be so beneficial for students it is not surprising to find out that audiobook sales have increased exponentially over the last 10 years. Audiobook sales have more than doubled in the last 10 years and of course that has caused an increase in the production of audiobooks. Production of audiobooks today has increased almost 10 times the amount that were produced in 2010. 

With increased audiobook production and sales comes new websites and ways for educators and parents to access the material. One great resource is called Epic. This website allows educators free access to thousands of audiobooks all available with the click of a button. Epic also provides access through a subscription for families. This is a great resource for parents to instantly stream audiobooks all with the click of a button.

After doing my research to confirm that audiobooks can be beneficial for young children, I am absolutely going to make sure to encourage my students' parents to provide access to audiobooks. I will continue to suggest websites like Epic as well as local public library audiobooks. I am also going to do my part and try to increase my classrooms audiobook library for use in the class as well as for children to borrow and listen to at home. 

STEAM Literature for Children

As a head start teacher I am always on the lookout for ways to get my students interested and involved in their learning, and I get so excited when I find a new way to inspire them. My latest discovery was a book called Fairy Science by Ashley Spires. I was flipping through books at my local library looking for a few books for another project when this book caught my eye. Of course STEAM is always a big topic in classrooms, even in my class of three and four year old students. So a book with a fairy on the cover and little science lab equipment on the cover made me stop flipping through books and take a closer look. After reading I was even more excited to share this book with my class, and will absolutely be ordering this book to have a copy to keep in my classroom. 

This book is a full of so many lessons, which I love because when my students find a book they like it is not unusual for them to ask me to read the same book everyday multiple times a day for weeks! I don't really mind rereading the same book over and over because to me it just shows that I have found books that my students enjoy and hopefully will instill in them a love of books and learning.
Fairy Science will provide multiple learning opportunities for my class. Of course the book is about science and teaches students about the scientific method and how science can help us to solve problems and answer questions, but it is also teaches about how it is ok for people to have different ideas or opinions. Books that teach my students about diversity and how to get along with others are always a huge bonus in my opinion.
Fairy Science would make a great addition to any young classroom or child's personal library especially those ages 3-8. It will teach them to love science as well as how it is ok to be different from your peers and you can still be friends. I highly recommend this book!