What should the future of reading look like?

Today, was our second visit to the Caillou Library in downtown Jinan. What a marked difference! Kudos to the whole team over there, the changes you made were great! 

Aunt Stephy met us at the door and warmly greeted each child as they came into the womb. As it is a custom here in the east, we all removed our shoes, put on some special slippers and gathered around in the central couch area for a low down on what a library is and the rules:

What is Caillou Library?
A magical place, but where not all can see her magic.

What are the rules?

1. Have fun discovering the magic in every page of every book.
2. Walk slowly and speak softly. Remember the floor you walk on is holy.
3. Put books back on the shelf.  Leave the place nicer than you found it.
4. Take a book to your house and bring it back.

Library Cards fit for K-kids

On our first visit all books had been signed out under my name, the teacher (Lao Shi). This seemed like a missed opportunity to create authentic writing opportunities. This week each of our kids was asked to write their own names and age in a kid-size space provided on their kid-size library cards. Those a bit more ahead in their writing development also wrote the name of the books they were signing out and the date.

Authentic writing upon each visit.

The process of fostering a culture of reading is in full motion. We understand that this is a long term investment. We are anxious to see the results of the decisions we are making with our kids but also confidently patient enough to allow kairology to have its say.

While the kids were fast asleep for their afternoon nap. I quickly jumped online and stumbled upon an engaging entry from one of the sites I follow on Facebook: The Literacy Site  It was a call to help fund a Kickstarter project to bring in the new era of READING RAINBOW. Needless to say my childhood memories flooded back with nostalgic jitters. What I found however was troubling to say the least. As for me, and many of us within the Originateve web of thinkers, we believe the future looks much like a far distant mostly forgotten past.

For now I will hold back any further on our thoughts...but I would like you to check out the  Reading Rainbow Kickstart Video and let us know what you think.