Reading Is Good

Our Mission

Of all the things parents and educators try to teach young children, reading and writing are by far the hardest.

Think about it. Written language is nothing more than a set of arbitrary squiggles, lines and dots that are combined in sometimes sensible, often incomprehensible ways to represent the full scope of human communication. We then take this archaic hodge-podge of symbols, sounds, and ‘rules,’ and force it upon children in an unfamiliar academic environment, usually at a time in their lives when they are neither socially nor emotionally ready for the experience.

This isn’t to say, of course, that learning to read and write can’t be fun and easy for young children. The trick is that the adult doing the teaching must know a number of important things.

• They must understand how children learn to read; the functions, processes and developmental milestones involved.
• They must understand the best ways to help students tackle and master those functions, processes, and milestones.
• And they must have the right materials to facilitate both of the above.

For the first two, RIG features articles and carefully culled web links to help everyone, from seasoned teacher to well-meaning parent, with the neccesary background knowledge.

For the last, we believe that each year the children’s publishing industry provides parents and teachers with a wealth of perfect material for helping students learn to read and write. Much, if not most, of what publishers put out has the potential to engage students while simultaneously providing educators with the right ‘hooks’ for turning a fun read into a learning opportunity.

In an effort to help parents and teachers use popular children’s literature in this way, RIG features reviews of children’s books focusing on how they can be used to nurture, grow, and develop reading and writing skills. We also provide activities for parents and educators to use with each book that focus on the five key early literacy skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, fluency, and writing). We are also in the process of adding lesson plans for teachers to use when reading each book with their students for shared reading and integrating each title into the science and social studies curricula used by most schools.

Our Philosophy

Learning to read and write is hard for young children, but it’s even harder when the people teaching and helping them don’t know the right way to do it, or how to take the most advantage of the teaching materials available to them. In other words, the right use of books by parents and educators can spell the difference between the creation of a successful, energetic, lifelong reader, and a kid who struggles well into adulthood with the task of decoding written language.

Who We Are

The creator of ReadingIsGood holds a Master degree in Reading Education from the University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and currently serves as a Reading Specialist at a public elementary school in Norfolk, VA.

How to Reach Us

Please see our contact section for information on how to reach us.