Ted Talk: Nancy Kanwisher: A Neural Portrait of the Human Mind. Brain imaging pioneer Nancy Kanwisher, who uses fMRI scans to see activity in brain regions (often her own), shares what she and her colleagues have learned: The brain is made up of both highly specialized components and general-purpose “machinery.” Another surprise: There’s so much left to learn
Reading Support
Interesting Literacy and Learning Links Round-Up
Brain Teaser:
This one has caused a lot of debate! What do you think?
Take a new test aimed at the world’s English Language Learners. Wondering how your English skills stack up? Try the sample questions at the end of the article on testing ELL students and see how you would fare. Do you agree or disagree with the answers?
10 Great Books to Read Aloud with Young Children
Our Building Blocks coordinator, Brenda Buzzell, has compiled a list of books that are not only fun to read with young children, but also helpful in promoting the three focus areas of the Building Blocks program: Shared Book Reading, Phonological Awareness and the Speech-to-Print connection.
10 Reasons to Keep Reading Aloud to Your Toddlers Even When They Prefer to Climb on Your Head
Do you get frustrated while reading aloud with your toddler? You pick out the perfect book. You get your child all comfortable on your lap. After one, maybe two, pages your little one tries to eat the book, hops off your lap and starts playing with a different toy, starts climbing all over you and in general seems completely uninterested in the story you are reading?
How To: Help Your Child Get Ready to Read Through Games (Part I)
How-To: “Help Get Your Child Ready to Read- Games”, is a four-part series of how-to videos for parents, and early child care providers and educators that shows you different games you can play with your children to help get them ready to read in kindergarten. This week’s How-To is all about rhyming and showcases a great game to play while driving in the car, sitting in the waiting room at the doctor’s office or while grocery shopping.
How To: Help Your Child Get Ready to Read Through Games (Part II)
This week’s How-To is a strategy to teach kids about syllable awareness and how words are made up of different parts and sounds. Children progress from simpler to more complex tasks when working with syllables: