Raising a Rock-Star Reader

Why is Reading so important for kids? Reading for pleasure can benefit a child’s education, social and cognitive development, their wellbeing, and their mental health. When children read, it provides them with a deep understanding about their world and fills them with knowledge that they use make sense of what they see, hear, and experience. A book can take kids anywhere - to a different city, country or an alternate world widening their imagination and sparking creativity. It allows children to develop empathy through seeing the lives of other characters and how they are feeling. In addition to this cognitive and emotional development, reading helps create a larger vocabulary, improve academic performance and self-confidence. Allison McDonald is the founder of the popular blog No Time for Flash Cards. She is passionate about Early Childhood Education and says “Whether in a classroom or family room I want to help adults make learning fun and meaningful for the children they care for”. Allison co-wrote the book Raising A Rock-Star Reader as a must-have parents' guide to raise lifelong readers and learners. She followed this with the book, Setting the Stage for Rock-Star Readers, as an important resource for teachers in daycare, preschool, and kindergarten, explaining the whys and hows of early literacy to help teachers better develop young readers. In this episode, Allison discusses the importance of reading early and provides us with easy-to-implement tips and activities to create a literate environment and build your child’s early reading and writing skills. Allison McDonald has been teaching children in various capacities since 1993 – from teaching pre-school age kids to leading a pre-school, as it’s Director. Through her journey, she has partnered with wonderful brands like Melissa & Doug, written pre-school curriculums for Itty-Bitty Bookworm and MeMeTales, and today shares hands on ways to learn on PBS’s new Adventures in Learning blog. Visit https://wishslate.com/podcasts for Episode Transcript & Links to Resources