![]() ![]() Because the devices help children understand words by highlighting and defining those they struggle with, their vocabulary increases. The proof of e-reading success is in front of her every day when she sees how excited her students are the second she pulls out the tablets. Kim Floyd has been teaching kindergarten in Napa Valley, CA, for 24 years and using iPads loaded with books for the last three. When kids see printed words light up as they sound out the words, they’re encouraged. Plus, the touchscreen or buttons on an e-reader can hone a preschooler’s fine-motor skills. While add-ons can distract, they are extremely useful for beginning readers, who can zoom in on unfamiliar words or click links that help make connections to their world, says Guernsey. But what they did find: “The kids were extremely engaged,” says Brueck. It’s unclear whether the results would have come out the same with traditional books it might have been the shared reading experience - a known vocabulary-builder - rather than the device that helped kids learn. After reading the e-book, the number shot up to 54 percent. When Brueck tested pre-K students, a third knew the words before reading the story with a grown-up on an e-reader. Jeremy Scott Brueck, director of the school’s Digital Text Initiative, found that animation and audio in e-books did seem to help young kids identify printed words. For the past four years the Center for Literacy at the University of Akron has been studying how to integrate e-readers into classrooms. PLUS: AUTHOR'S TIPS ON HOW TO GET KIDS TO LOVE TO READīoosting early reading skills. What’s better is when those bells and whistles lead back to the story, instead of just entertaining. “The technology is so exciting that the conversation focuses on what button to push instead of the content,” she says. Her research has found that parents often become more controlling, concentrating more on what their child is doing with the device instead of talking about the story.įocusing a child's attention. The music, animation, and games that are loaded into kids’ e-books can end up being more distracting than useful, says Lisa Guernsey, director of the early education initiative at the New America Foundation. While she thinks e-books are great for independent readers, she’s not as sure how good they are for preschoolers and kindergartners. “These reading experiences can set the stage for later reading success,” says Julia Parish-Morris, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania who studies how young children interact with e-books. “Technology is a beautiful box but it is still a box,” he says.įalling in love with reading. Cuddling with a parent over a book or gathering around the teacher for storytime helps kids associate reading with nurturing. If they’re only exposed to e-readers, kids lose the tactile experience of handling a traditional book, turning its pages, or sharing their faves with friends. Some experts, including Taylor, worry that devices can distance little kids from the real world. PLUS: 7 BOOKS TO TEACH KIDS ABOUT DIVERSITY Here’s how you can inspire your reader with both options. You don’t build a house with only one tool,” says Otis Kriegel, a fifth-grade teacher in New York City and the author of Covered in Glue: What New Elementary School Teachers Really Need to Know. But don’t give those storybooks the heave-ho just yet. Still, there are signs that e-readers can have a positive effect on newbie readers, especially when it comes to targeted learning based on each child’s ability. Since there’s not much research out there, it may be years before we understand the impact of tech devices on young readers. Parents are conflicted, too - 68 percent prefer that their 6- to 8-year-olds read print books, Scholastic found. But should we try to slow it down? When it comes to the youngest readers, some experts are skittish about putting tablets into tiny hands. “We are not going to stop this train,” says psychologist Jim Taylor, Ph.D., author of Raising Generation Tech. Once products targeted primarily at adults, e-reading devices have expanded to include a younger audience: children. What happened next surprised her: From the moment her son held the device and began to scroll through a book, he was transfixed. She wasn’t a big fan of the extra screen time it would mean for her preschooler, but Moore justified the purchase as a stopgap solution. That’s when she reluctantly bought a Nook, loading titles for both of them onto it. But they would be away for a few weeks - how could she bring only a few? He had dozens, and she knew they’d be too heavy to take along. When Maggie Moore, a suburban Denver mom, was literally weighing her packing options for a family trip, she was stumped by her 4-year-old son’s stack of favorite books. ![]()
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