http://www.readtv.com/blog/ Read-TV's Blog en leah@readtv.com Copyright 2010 2010-08-11T18:37:36+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/hamilton-wentworth-district-school-board-adopts-literacy-dvds/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/hamilton-wentworth-district-school-board-adopts-literacy-dvds/#When:17:37:36Z DVD's from the I Love When We... series are arriving at Parenting and Family Literacy Centres across Ontario. Most recently, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) included Tremain Media's literacy, numeracy and language DVD's in all six of their Parenting and Family Literacy Centres.DVD's from the I Love When We... series are arriving at Parenting and Family Literacy Centres across Ontario. Most recently, Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) included Tremain Media's literacy, numeracy and language DVD's in all six of their Parenting and Family Literacy Centres. Parenting and Family Literacy Centres are school-based programs for parents and their children, aged birth to six years of age that operate during the school day. The parent/caregiver stays with the child at all times. These programs help to prepare children for school and encourage families to be part of their children’s learning. Program Facilitators work as partners with the Kindergarten teachers and local community programs, collaborating to create a welcoming learning environment that will help prepare children for school. Centres are free to attend and no pre-registration is required. Drop by any of Hamilton-Wentworth's six Parenting and Family Literacy Centres where you will be able to borrow: I Love When We Count, I Love When You Read, I Love When We Talk or Read-TV. Thank-you HWDSB! We are proud to be a part of your early-learning programs. 2010-08-11T17:37:36+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/bc-association-of-speech-language-pathologists-and-audiologists/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/bc-association-of-speech-language-pathologists-and-audiologists/#When:23:31:43Z Thank-you to the BC Association of Speech / Language Pathologists and Audiologists (BCASLPA). It was wonderful to have you on board as a sponsor for I Love When We TalkThank-you to the BC Association of Speech / Language Pathologists and Audiologists (BCASLPA). It was wonderful to have you on board as a sponsor for I Love When We Talk. Also, thank-you for featuring I Love When We Talk in your montly newsletter "Vibrations." BCASLPA is a non profit association which supports over 1000 speech-language pathologists, audiologists, and supportive personnel in BC. I Love When 2010-08-10T23:31:43+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/grass-roots-press/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/grass-roots-press/#When:22:51:30Z Tremain Media is proud to have Grass Roots Press as a distributor for the I Love When We... series. Tremain Media is proud to have Grass Roots Press as a distributor for the I Love When We... literacy and numeracy series. Grass Roots Press has been publishing and distributing literacy materials to over 4000 individuals and organizations across North American since 1997. The company was founded on the belief that the best resources are those developed by literacy educators. A special thank-you to Dr. Pat Campbell and the Grass Roots Press team. You are a pleasure to work with. Thank-you for distributing over 400 copies of I Love When You Read, I Love When We Count and I Love When We Talk DVD's to libraries, schools and literacy initiatives across North America. Here is a quote from one of their many happy customers: “We love sharing I Love When You Read with our families during our Calgary Reads at Home program. It is accessible and communicates a clear and critical message.” Steacy Collyer Co-Executive Director Calgary Reads I Love When 2010-08-10T22:51:30+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/ministry-of-education-newsletter/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/ministry-of-education-newsletter/#When:17:08:22Z The newest DVD release, I Love When We Talk, is featured in Spring 2010, Ministry of Education, Early Learning Newsletter. I Love When We Talk, our newest DVD release, is reviewed in the Ministry of Education's, Early Learning Newsletter.pdf This newsletter goes out to the early learning professionals and facilitators in every school district in the province of British Columbia. Parents if you'd like to borrow I Love When We Talk you will find it in many Strong Start Centres in British Columbia. By late fall 2010 there will be a copy of I Love When We Talk in every district's Strong Start program courtesy of 2010 Legacies Now. 2010-06-30T17:08:22+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/spark-early-learning/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/spark-early-learning/#When:21:39:15Z The Sunshine Coast adopts I Love When We Count and I Love When We Talk as part of their SPARK program which focuses on the latest research on ways that parents can support their child's learning at home. I Love When We Count and I Love When We Talk will be shown to parents attending School District 46's SPARK program. "The early years of a child's life are critical for setting the stage for success in later life. Parents of children under five can attend a new SPARK! class every Fall, Winter and Spring until their child enters Kindergarten. Classes are FREE and focus on the latest research and ways that parents can support their child's learning at home." I Love When We Count and I Love When We Talk support the latest research in numeracy and literacy and help parents learn how they can best support their children. I Love When 2010-06-15T21:39:15+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/british-columbia-library-special/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/british-columbia-library-special/#When:14:31:37Z For the month of April 2010, B.C. libraries that buy 1 of our literacy DVD's receive 10% off. Libraries that buy 2 or more will receive 20% off. Let's Celebrate To celebrate BC libraries, to celebrate the new release of I Love When We Talk and to celebrate spring (we like to celebrate!) we are offering British Columbia libraries a special on all of our literacy DVD's. April Special for BC Libraries For the month of April 2010, BC libraries that buy 1 of our literacy DVD's receive 10% off. Libraries that buy 2 or more will receive 20% off. B.C. libraries have been wonderful in their support of the DVD, I Love When You Read. You can find I Love When You Read in every library outlet in British Columbia. How to Order Phone 1-888-843-9428 or email sales@readtv.com to place your order or if you have any questions. Leah or Steven will take your order. We look forward to hearing from you! Don't Pay for 30 Days BC libraries don't have to pay ahead. We will send you your literacy DVD's with an invoice - which gives you 30 days to pay. Download the .pdf Download the BCLibraryAprilPromo.pdf Uncategorized 2010-04-12T14:31:37+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/from-text-blog-to-literacy-video-blog/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/from-text-blog-to-literacy-video-blog/#When:21:40:07Z My blog about reading, parenthood and literacy got off to a great start - but then it stopped. What happened?That's me - Leah Tremain - thinking, planning and practising for my on-camera literacy debut A Literacy Blog - What a Great Idea! It looked like a good start for a literacy blog. The Read-TV blog had a serious literacy post, an inspiring post and I had future topics lined up and ready to go. But then the blog stopped. What happened? How Will I Reach My Low-Literacy Friends? After years of literacy work I finally had time to think about the direction I was going. I realized that, with the blog, I was focusing on the printed word. I was putting up literacy information in a text form. The people reading those posts would be....well... they would be literate. Low-literacy friends weren't going to touch this word-heavy, text-based literacy blog. How will I reach my low-literacy friends? Literacy Videos Are A Better Idea I travelled back to an old idea that previously, I didn't have time to pursue. I will produce a video blog about literacy. Videos about literacy makes sense. It makes sense not only for those people with low-literacy but also for all you busy parents. A short video is something you can kick back and relax to and while learning valuable information. It's an enjoyable way to take-in information. I still love text so I'll provide transcripts for each episode for those of you that would rather read or skim the words. So far I have an animated introduction created by the wonderful Darren Heise - and I have tons of extra footage that we didn't use in the literacy DVD's that we can use here. I'm thinking about literacy topics and issues but I'm also thinking about the mundane. Should I host from the top of my desk, from my office chair or should I swing from the ceiling? Is this a reading-glasses-on gig for that smart (or bad eye sight) look or is this a contact lens affair? I know these are trivial matters compared to the literacy issues we will address - but I want to let you know I've been thinking about this blog - a lot. Let's Build a New Road Consider this blog post a text version of that construction symbol. This post is my equivalent of a person digging a new road. That's me and that is this blog right now - under construction. But not for long - we'll see you in the video blog world in May 2010. Uncategorized 2010-04-07T21:40:07+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/seven-easy-steps/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/seven-easy-steps/#When:14:57:07Z It's easy to teach kids how to hate homework. Learn insider tips from old-school industry pros. How to Get Kids to Hate Homework - in Seven Easy Steps Begin assigning homework early in the child's school career. The younger the child, the better. Assign a task that is rote and tedious - for example, copying out words for a spelling test or memorizing number facts. Make sure they are expected to do this repetitive task daily. Change the expectations - only slightly - every two weeks. Continue steps 1 through 4 for 189 days. For extra impact, make the homework expectations bleed into at least one day of the weekend. Convince the child that tedious homework will teach them to become good citizens and workers of the future. This will give the child a feeling that the homework they hate will never end. The homework is still fresh and fun Week 1-10: All is new. The child enjoys their new task. Their work is neat and easy to read. homework help Week 11 - 20: Notice the sloppiness, the scratching out, the experimenting with writing styles - the boredom is starting to set in. The 7 steps are starting to take effect! homework is getting frustrating Week 21 - 35: Look at those deliberate holes in the paper. Look at the obvious frustration! An example of a successful implementation of the 7 steps. the child is totally frustrated with their homework assignments Uncategorized 2010-03-18T14:57:07+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/literacy-never-shame/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/literacy-never-shame/#When:17:38:54Z The heart of literacy is communication. For all the good our literacy work does for children, it can also serve to silence – and it can silence through shame. The heart of literacy is communication. For all the good our literacy work does for children, it can also serve to silence – and it can silence through shame. I don't feel like a person with low literacy. I don't necessarily write like a person with low literacy. But I was scared to start this blog. Why? How dare I be writing a literacy blog without perfect grammar! My childhood experiences with spelling, grammar and penmanship made me feel ashamed before I even started. I’m in a privileged position, though. An editor helps me get this right – he helps me get over my tiny shames. When we share the basic building blocks of language with children – with openness, with the right to explore and express in any manner - it gives children the strength to start building their own quirky literacy houses. It gives them pride in their communication – however and in whatever form that may shine forth. When anyone shames a child because he or she does not achieve within a narrow preconceived view of literacy, then we stifle communication in the very place it where it should blossom. This post was inspired by Toni Morrison’s Nobel lecture from 1993 I Love When 2010-03-09T17:38:54+00:00 http://www.readtv.com/blog/gaming-the-reluctant-family/ http://www.readtv.com/blog/gaming-the-reluctant-family/#When:22:01:29Z There was no way that I was letting my children play video games. Video games, I thought, were bad for my children. Video games were too violent, they ate up time, they were addictive and they made kids fat. For all of these reasons, video games were not going to be part of our household. Ever. We read books here. We have conversations. But then...Parents are more important to children's video game play than you might think. No Video Games Allowed Here There was no way that I was letting my children play video games. Video games, I thought, were bad for my children. Video games were too violent, they ate up time, they were addictive and they made kids fat. For all of these reasons, video games were not going to be part of our household. Ever. We read books here. We have conversations. But then, I was asked to make a documentary about video games. I’ll move forward as an open-minded skeptic, I thought – but beneath that? I was still determined to save my children from the mindless evils of video games. The documentary I was asked to make was called, “The Literacy of Video Games.” I interviewed professors and teachers who talked about all that children learn when they play video games. I interviewed a librarian who talked about how libraries in Canada and the United States are incorporating video games into their collections. Hmmmm… maybe video games aren’t so bad? OK, Maybe Gaming Isn't So Bad I needed to investigate further. We rented a Wii. I thought we'd start with an “educational” game. It was an underwater diving game. We explored the seas, looked for things and flapped about underwater. But the characters seemed stuffed with chalk. It wasn't fun, it was too hard and, with no rewards, we all grew bored. It was “Wii Sports” that got us hooked. It wasn't just the physicality of it – it was intuitive, it was fun, we played together. We rented the console again but with different games. Each rental brought us further and further into the video game world. Now We Play Video Games Together By the end of the process, I was a convert. We now own a Nintendo Wii. My 7-year-old and I cooperatively worked our way through “Super Mario Galaxy.” I watch my children play “Lego Star Wars” – during which they problem solve, they work together, they explore. Video Games are everywhere, my children play and most importantly - I play with them, we have conversations about video games and video games have become part of our technical literacy. What Parents Need to Do Producing “The Literacy of Video Games: What Kids Learn, How We Can Help and Why It Matters” taught me that video games are not evil, but more importantly it taught me that: as parents, it is important we participate in video game play with our children we need to talk about game play with our children we do not give up parenting to technology we set video game limits we do not give up other opportunities for literacy for technological literacy. And, above all else, it taught me the importance of family and connection – even in the video game world. I play with them because I choose to be a part of a gaming world with my children. I choose to spend time on their interests in order to further conversations and build deeper connections. I talk about video games with them and I play video games with them so I am aware of the complexity and nuances of their new world. They may be learning a lot from video game play but I am there with them – not waving from far, far away. Video Games 2010-03-05T22:01:29+00:00