Up first on the list of ideas is… baking! This is a great activity that calls for getting one’s hands messy in the kitchen with the result being a sweet treat that can leave one satisfied for the days to come! Literacy skills can be promoted in this activity through the reading and writing of ingredients. If more than one sweet treat is made, writing up a menu is another fun way to promote literacy.

Secondly, designing and writing a picture book is a fantastic way to get your child to express themselves creatively and chat about what interests them. Using colourful paper and different types of stationery, as well as buying stickers to add to the picture book is definitely going to add an exciting touch to the whole process!

Gardening is another activity that encourages research and the reading of labels in order to ensure that one’s plant is planted correctly and kept alive. It is a fun interactive activity that can be documented through the taking of photographs and even writing a weekly journal update.

Finding different objects around one’s home through a little treasure hunt and then using them to create a sensory bin, enables children to have fun guessing what the object they are holding is through their senses. This activity is also wonderful to get your kids to use their imagination and have a good laugh.

Lastly, attending a theatre production that is based on a book your child has read or enjoys, is a spectacular way to encourage conversation and the urge to re-read the book after watching the play. Prepare some questions on a separate piece of paper to see how much they grasped from the story.

Happy holidays everyone!

At Book Village, we will not allow these statistics to persist and part of our mission is to help end the literacy crisis in South Africa. Our hope is that our digital app and library will allow for reading to become more accessible to all young South Africans and that this can help directly target some of the gaps in our educational sector.

This Youth Day, we continue to be inspired by the determination of the youth of 1976 in their quest to advocate for equal education for all. This tragic day is a reminder of where we have come from and our responsibility as a country to continue to advocate for the rights of children, particularly their educational rights.

We have spent the first half of the year teaching the necessary pre-reading skills to the Grade Rs and Grade 1s at Cosmo City Primary and they have been making great progress.  If you’ve got a little one, it’s never too soon to start helping them to acquire these skills too.

Through the course of their reading development, a child will go through 4 reading stages:

• Emergent reader (cannot read yet) 
• Beginner reader 
• Early reader
• Fluent reader

Throughout these stages, there are skills that children develop in order to become fluent readers. 

1. Interest and motivation to read 

In order to learn how to read, children must have a desire to read. They must be motivated in order to develop new skills, which will help them grow as a reader.  

A way to inspire interest and motivation in your children is to read to them everyday and allow them to choose the books.

2. Visual perception

This is our brains’ ability to process what we see and what our eyes have picked up. 

When children learn to read, their visual perception needs to be accurate so that they can distinguish between foreground and background, and discriminate between colours, shapes, sizes and positions in space. This helps children to visualise and process words in the long term. 

If your little one is having visual perception difficulties there are many activities that will help improve these skills.

3. Book and print awareness

Before learning to read, children will pick up books and enjoy the pictures without realising that the letters on the page can be deciphered to create meaning.  

Children need to develop an understanding of how letters create words and these words can be put into sentences to create meaning. 

Playing word games, pointing out words around children in their environment, modelling the correct way to handle books and using your finger to follow the text as you read a book to them are ways to improve their book and print awareness. 

4. Narrative and listening skills

When listening to a story, a child is able to focus on what the story is about, use their imagination and develop expectations of how the story will end. 

Through this process, they are able to develop their comprehension skills, vocabulary and memory. Good narrative skills allow a child to describe things and retell events. Both narrative and listening skills are essential for a child to learn how to read as they assist in improving vocabulary, predicting, understanding, concentration and memory.

5. Letter Knowledge

In order for children to read words, they need to understand that letters have names and sounds, and can be uppercase and lowercase. 

Ways to help improve your child’s letter knowledge are to read alphabet books,  teach them the letters in their name and make them aware of letters in their environment by looking at license plates on cars, recipe books, labels on groceries and other items. 

6. Phonological and phonemic awareness

This is the ability to hear that words are made up of smaller sounds and these sounds can be manipulated. When a child hears a word like ‘pat’, they should be able to identify the different letters and their sounds – /p/ /a/ /t/. They should also be able to hear sound patterns such as rhyme and syllables. 

Singing nursery rhymes, breaking down words into sounds, counting syllables, and changing the beginning sounds of words are some of the many activities that can help improve phonological and phonemic awareness. 

7. Vocabulary

Lastly, knowing the names of things is an essential skill in order to learn how to read. The greater your child’s vocabulary, the easier it will be for them to learn how to read and enjoy reading. 

When reading stories to your children they can hear the words and connect them with pictures in the storybook. This is a great way to improve their vocabulary. 

Other ways you can improve vocabulary include having conversations with your children and explaining unfamiliar words to them, asking them to describe things such as their toys or food, reading stories everyday and playing word games. 

Photo by Gautam Arora on Unsplash & WoodenEarth.com

But why is it particularly important for you to be reading to your children? The answer lies within the developmental process of a child.

Assisted cognitive development is the first reason why reading to your child is important. Cognitive development refers to “how we perceive and think about our world in reference to our intelligence, reasoning, language development, and information processing” (https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/why-is-reading-important-for-children/). It’s true, a baby’s brain is like a sponge – easy to absorb the information it is given. Thus, through cognitive development, a child is able to make sense of the world around them and be able to problem-solve better.

Secondly, reading to your child allows them to become more empathetic as they are constantly put in front of different characters and situations. Developing empathy is important as it allows one to understand emotions better and how to respond to certain situations.

Thirdly, reading to your child allows them to feel validated and loved. By spending time with them you are building your bond.

Creativity and concentration skills are also improved by reading as it encourages your child to sit still and listen for long periods of time. Did you know that “Multiple studies have found a correlation between reading for pleasure and higher academic achievement in every subject, not just English?” (https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/why-is-reading-important-for-children/)

Some tips for reading to your children:

• Read as much as you can and consistently: whether it be for 10 minutes a day or an hour, the most important thing is that you are reading!
• Be patient: reading is an activity that requires you to fully engage with what you are reading as well as your child’s responses.
• Make it fun and interactive by using different voices, pointing out connections and asking questions to test their understanding.
• Encourage language exchange through conversation or verbal storytelling.

Reading is a wonderful form of entertainment and your children’s vocabulary will expand. It is important that they are surrounded by books. If you do not have the means to always purchase a new book, consider joining a public library or even using the wonderful resources available on the internet. Let’s continue to create a culture where we encourage the people in our lives to read more to their children as they are the future of this world.

If you live in Gauteng, or probably anywhere in South Africa, you don’t have to look very hard until you find school children who have never accessed the internet.  For most of the little Grade 1s at Cosmo City Primary School outside Johannesburg, the first time they did was when they used the Book Village digital library through the Sora app from Overdrive.

And for these children, Library Time is a real treat!  We use some of the enriching material available on the internet all the time to liven up our lessons – but most importantly, the internet is a platform that enables the children to connect with the outside world like never before. With the Book Village app, we are extending the reach of one teacher in a classroom of over 60 children, to giving every child their own individual tutor so that they might learn at their own level and pace.

Apart from overcrowding in schools, many children start Grade 1 without having any pre-school education. There are only 50 places in Grade R at Cosmo City Primary for example, yet there are about 200 Grade 1 children. To help catch them up, we’ve designed a pre-reading programme that can be digitised and worked through with an individual online tutor when the children start school. We’ve been through this with the Grade Rs and Grade 1s this year, and they are making fantastic progress. We will include this programme in a future version of the Book Village app.

Finally, from the same UNESCO report, “School connectivity must also be about empowering those who are online by providing them with high quality, meaningful, inclusive and relevant content that is accessible through safe and secure platforms and delivered by innovative methods of instruction.”

And at Book Village, we are doing just that.

Freedom Day is an important day to acknowledge because it was the start of a reformed society that began to embrace difference and welcomed notions of freedom of expression and choice. People of colour were finally able to express themselves freely through their writing and certain books were unbanned. Works such as ‘And a Threefold Cord’ by Alex La Guma, ‘I Write What I Like’ by Steve Biko, and ‘Amandla’ by Miriam Tlali were a few of these books that were unbanned.

One book that every South African child should read on this day is Nelson Mandela’s ‘A Long Walk to Freedom’ abridged by Chris Van Wyk. This book details Mandela’s journey in a beautifully illustrated work that makes the concept of Apartheid and the significance of freedom easily understandable. Another way you could teach your kids about this day is by taking them to one of the many museums that have wonderfully curated exhibitions. Learning through live interactions and experiences is one of the best ways to ensure that your children remember what they are learning. Robben Island and The Apartheid Museum are good options to visit, and if you’re lucky, you might even receive free entrance if you go on the day!

The 27 April is a day that we should remind our children to shoot for their dreams as anything is possible if you put your mind to it. The freedom fighters that resisted Apartheid are a prime example of this.

Kahlil Gibran’s famous quote: “Life without liberty is like a body without spirit” is a moving description that sums up the importance of freedom.

Human rights serve as a trajectory for the way people should be treated and should treat others. One particular right that should be focused on in a South African context, is the right to education. Although human rights are enshrined in our constitution, there is still significant work to be done to actualise these rights and not just ensure that everyone can access an education, but further, a quality education. According to a 2016 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), eight out of ten grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning across all languages in South Africa. These statistics are concerning, but it does not mean that many South Africans are not trying to change the course of these statistics. One of the key areas affecting literacy rates is the provision of resources. Book Village aims to combat this and hopes to make reading more accessible to young South Africans through our online literacy programme.

We, at Book Village believe that education is the tool to empower the youth to live comfortable lives filled with opportunities. Book Village is dedicated to honouring the right to education by giving children the skill of literacy. Being able to read, not only allows for a sense of enjoyment, but it also enables children to grow their understanding of the world and make it a better place for all.

Happy Human Rights Day from Book Village!

Libraries continue to be affected by COVID and many are still unable to provide services to the communities they serve.  With this in mind, the theme for Library Week 2022 will look at the ways in which libraries are having to reimagine and repurpose their services and spaces so that communities will rediscover and see the benefit of their libraries.

The traditional hard-copy book library at Cosmo City Primary 1 school (where we are conducting our trial), was refurbished and re-opened in 2015 with funding and support from (the now closed) School Aid charity and the Peter Cundill Foundation. The Bookery NPO catalogued and covered the books that can be accessed in the library, as well as contributed towards the librarian’s livelihood for 3 years. The library was a thriving and much loved part of the school from 2015 until the beginning of 2020, when it was closed for book lending due to COVID. The book lending service of the library remains closed, and this has probably been the fate of many libraries across South Africa.

But the Cosmo City Primary library has been re-imagined!  It is still a busy, thriving space and it’s still devoted to books and reading.   In one corner the government’s Reading Champions take small groups of grade 2 and 3 learners and help them catch up on some of the learning time that’s been lost due to COVID. We work in another corner of the library, surrounded by lovely books, which sadly cannot be borrowed anymore, but the children often get a story read to them which they enjoy.  All children and teachers at the school are able to borrow books from the Book Village digital library at any time – and they’ve been loving it.  We’ve been focusing on the grade 1s this term, and they have become wizards at logging in, navigating around the library and borrowing their own books. We’ve been amazed by their progress in interacting with technology.

The Cosmo City Primary community really values books, reading and their library space, even though the library has gone digital. And for this, we think the children there are lucky to be surrounded by individuals who will encourage a safe space for learning and furthering the education of these young students.

Fiction Books

1.The Tale of Peter Rabbit, set in the wonderful and frightening vegetable garden of Mr. McGregor is probably one of the first books many children will remember being read to them.  Peter is told by his mother not to go into Mr. McGregor’s garden, but of course he did and – you know the rest!

2. The children in The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett work together to plant their own garden of happiness. The magic of the growth and new life in the secret garden will make every child want to go out and experience the wonder of growing something for themselves.

3.  Alice is desperate to get into the “loveliest garden you ever saw”.  “How she longed to get out of that dark hall, and wander about among those beds of bright flowers and those cool fountains” as she peers out through the tiny door. From Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

4.  In The Tree Doctor, Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat and Dr Twiggles help Sally and Nick discover why their tree won’t grow.  This is written for children learning to read and is perfect for Spring reading and Arbour Day celebrations.

5.  We love Richard Scarry, and Lowly Worm Meets the Early Bird is another book for beginner readers to enjoy.  Early Bird looks and looks for a worm to play with.  He is about to give up searching when he meets Lowly Worm. 

6.  The Garden Thief by Gertrude Chandler Warner is a book in the Boxcar Children Series, perfect for children in grades 2-6 to read by themselves. Something strange is happening in the community garden!  Who is stealing all the veggies?

We have many interesting non-fiction books that we hope might inspire children to think about nature.  Here are three that we think our children will really enjoy.

Non-fiction Books

7.  Counting Birds by Heidi Stemple is the award-winning story behind the first annual bird count in America.  It is a beautifully illustrated book that introduces children to the idea of bird counts and hopefully will inspire them to get involved in conservation at home.

8.  Eavesdropping on Elephants.  Patricia Newman takes readers behind the scenes at the Cornell University’s Elephant Listening Project to see how scientists are making new discoveries about elephant communication and how they are using what they learn to help with elephant conservation.

9.  South African children might have their own experiences of vervet monkeys and will surely enjoy Nicko, the Tale of a Vervet Monkey on an African Farm by Penny Haw.  This is the true story of Alice Kirk and the adventures of Nicko, the baby vervet monkey that was found abandoned on her home farm in the Kwa-Zulu Natal midlands.

There really is a story for every season, and most of the books mentioned are available from the Gauteng Provincial Online Library. 

Women’s month is a time where we look at who we are, what we believe in and how to pursue our goals. 

Many girls might not have role models around that they can relate to, but fiction provides a large variety of strong female characters.  By reading these books, they might find one to identify with to give them energy and wisdom to make the choices needed to succeed.

We had a look at the books that can be borrowed from the Book Village library, and came up with these ideas:

Strong Female Characters in Books

Roald Dahl has two great girl characters. Matilda is misunderstood by her awful family, but is a brave book lover who taught herself everything from library books and uses her magical powers to overcome the evil Miss Trunchbull. 

Sophie from The BFG is an orphan, resilient and brave and heroically helps the BFG to stop the, man-eating giants.

Our library has many audiobooks of the Nancy Drew series. Nancy drew is the original super- girl sleuth, and as a cultural icon is cited as a formative influence by Hillary Clinton and the US supreme court justices, Sandra Day O’Connor and Sonia Sotomayor.

Many girls will relate to Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. At first teased for being an outspoken know- it- all, she became the heroine of Hogwarts with her intelligence, hard work and ability to always do the right thing, even when that made her unpopular.

We could not put down The Hunger Games trilogy when we read it, and the main character, Katniss Everdeen will appeal to many older girls.  A brave and daring hunter and survivor, she is a symbol of rebellion against the oppressive Capitol.  Book Village has both audiobook and e-book copies that may be borrowed by our students.

There are of course, also young, living, strong, female role models around today who have inspirational books:

Books Written by Strong, Female Role Models

Greta Thunberg , the 17 year old Swedish climate change activist, has a book of her speeches, No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference.

Malala Yousafzai’s I am Malala has been recognized by the world as an inspired activist for girls’ education.

By encouraging our girls to read, they might just see the possibilities in their lives.

Most of these books may be borrowed online from the Gauteng Provincial Library – and will appeal to girls, boys and adults alike as we admire and celebrate women from all walks of life this women’s month.