Whole language is a philosophy of reading and a discredited educational method originally developed for teaching literacy in English to young children. The method became a major model for education in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK in the 1980s and 1990s, despite there being no scientific support for the method's effectiveness. It is based on the premise that learning to read English comes naturally to humans, especially young children, in the same way that learning to speak develops naturally.
A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images.
The Letter People is a children's literacy program. The term also refers to the family of various characters depicted in it.
Eric "E. D." Donald Hirsch Jr. is an American educator, literary critic, and theorist of education. He is professor emeritus of humanities at the University of Virginia.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is an American children's picture book written by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by Lois Ehlert, and published by Simon & Schuster in 1989. The book teaches the alphabet through rhyming couplets, and charted The New York Times Best Seller list for children's books in 2000.
Walter Dean Myers was an American writer of children's books best known for young adult literature. He was born in Martinsburg, West Virginia, but was raised in Harlem, New York City. A tough childhood led him to writing and his school teachers would encourage him in this habit as a way to express himself. He wrote more than one hundred books including picture books and nonfiction. He won the Coretta Scott King Award for African-American authors five times. His 1988 novel Fallen Angels is one of the books most frequently challenged in the U.S. because of its adult language and its realistic depiction of the Vietnam War.
William Ivan Martin Jr. was an American educator, publishing executive, and author of more than 300 children's books including The Sounds of Mystery,Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?, and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?. The Bill Martin Jr. Award, which is the Kansas state award for best children's picture book, was established in his honor in 1996.
The Dolch word list is a list of frequently used English words, compiled by Edward William Dolch, a major proponent of the "whole-word" method of beginning reading instruction. The list was first published in a journal article in 1936 and then published in his book Problems in Reading in 1948.
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? is a children's picture book published in 1967 by Henry Holt and Company, Inc. Written and illustrated by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle, the book is designed to help toddlers associate colors and meanings to objects. The book has been widely praised by parents and teachers and placed on several recognition lists. In 2010, the book was briefly banned from Texas’ third grade curriculum due to a confusion between author of children's books Bill Martin Jr, and author of Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation philosopher Bill Martin.
Marilyn Singer is an author of children's books in a wide variety of genres, including fiction and non-fiction picture books, juvenile novels and mysteries, young adult fantasies, and poetry. Some of her poems are written as reverso poems.
Kari-Lynn Winters, née Moore is a Canadian children's author, playwright, drama educator, and literacy professor. She taught children's literacy, literature, dance and drama education at the University of British Columbia from 2004 to 2009. In 2010, Winters became an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Brock University (Ontario) and co-editor of Teaching and Learning. She advanced to associate professor in 2014, and to full professor in 2021.
Margaret H. Lippert is an American author of books and anthologies drawing from the folklore and storytelling traditions of cultures from around the world.
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of sight or touch.
Weston Woods Studios is a production company that makes audio and short films based on well-known books for children. It was founded in 1953 by Morton Schindel in Weston, Connecticut, and named after the wooded area near his home. Weston Woods Studios' first project was Andy and the Lion in 1954, and its first animated film was The Snowy Day in 1964. In 1968, Weston Woods began a long collaboration with animator Gene Deitch. Later, they opened international offices in Henley-on-Thames, England, UK (1972), as well as in Canada (1975), and in Australia (1977). In addition to making the films, Weston Woods also conducted interviews with the writers, illustrators, and makers of the films. The films have appeared on children's television programs such as Captain Kangaroo, Eureeka's Castle, and Sammy's Story Shop. In the mid-1980s, the films were released on VHS under the Children's Circle titles, and Wood Knapp Video distributed these releases from 1988 to 1995.
Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 is the title of a children's picture book written by Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson, and illustrated by Lois Ehlert in 2004 by Simon & Schuster. The book features anthropomorphized numbers.
A sighted child who is reading at a basic level should be able to understand common words and answer simple questions about the information presented. They should also have enough fluency to get through the material in a timely manner. Over the course of a child's education, these foundations are built on to teach higher levels of math, science, and comprehension skills. Children who are blind not only have the education disadvantage of not being able to see: they also miss out on the very fundamental parts of early and advanced education if not provided with the necessary tools.
John Archambault is an American children's book author, poet, story teller, and musician. He is known best for his best selling children's book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (1989). Among his most recognizable children's books are Knots on a Counting Rope, Barn Dance, Boom Chicka Rock, Here Are My Hands, and The Birth of a Whale. Archambault was an avid reader from a young age, ultimately sparking his interest in writing. Throughout his career he has enjoyed collaboration with Bill Martin, Jr., also a children's book author. Archambault currently resides in Yorba Linda, California.
James Robert Martin is a Canadian linguist. He is Professor of Linguistics at The University of Sydney. He is the leading figure in the 'Sydney School' of systemic functional linguistics. Martin is well known for his work on discourse analysis, genre, appraisal, multimodality and educational linguistics.
Brian Vincent Street was a British academic and anthropologist, who was professor of language education at King's College London and visiting professor at the Graduate School of Education in University of Pennsylvania. During his career, he mainly worked on literacy in both theoretical and applied perspectives, and is perhaps best known for his book Literacy in Theory and Practice (1984).
Susanna W. Grannis is a retired American academic, and the founder of CHABHA, a nonprofit organization that supported orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda, Burundi, and South Africa from 2004 to 2014. She was professor and dean at the University of Illinois Chicago, Queens College, and at the Bank Street College of Education. She is the author of Hope Amidst Despair: HIV/AIDS-Affected Children in Sub-Saharan Africa and two self-published children's books. Writing as Susanna W. Pflaum, she is the author of books and academic papers about teaching and education, with a particular focus on advancing academic opportunity for disadvantaged students. She lives in Stuyvesant Falls, New York.
