Between the Lions Helps Kids Learn to Read

Join 4-year-old Leona and her family of lions as she learns to read in a wonderfully wild and wacky library on PBS’s Between the Lions.  Besides the half-hour TV show which introduces a new story each week, there’s a rich internet site (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/lions). It offers related activities to help teachers and parents playfully link the spoken word to the written word, including resources for those helping the deaf or hard-of-hearing.

The 30 episodes produced by WGBH Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., draw upon the expertise and experience of first-grade teachers, reading experts and the creative talents behind Sesame Street and other children’s programming. The shows are aimed at 4- to 7- year olds who are learning to read and combine phonics and whole-language techniques. Characters like Click the Mouse, who brings books alive; Tiger Words, who plays with vowels and consonants rather than golf balls; and an R&B group, Martha Reader and the Vowelles, who sing the praises of “A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y” make the instruction fun for both kids and their parents. 

“The most important gift that parents, teachers and child care providers can give their children is the time to read together every day, just for fun! Imagine that!” said Ellen Duffy, Youth Services Coordinator. “No fancy kits are needed to give our children that certain key to future success. Between the Lions and your Timberland Regional Library invite you to visit us both often. Your library card can introduce literary friends such as Madeline, Frog and Toad, Amelia Bedelia, Babar, Corduroy and Arthur to your homes and hearts. Between the Lions brings a new cast of favorites into your homes!” she added. 

“Besides nearly all the 150 books recommended at the Between the Lions web site, your local library has thousands of other books to delight, inform and enthuse children of all ages, and their caregivers, too,” according to Barbara Winfree, Youth Collection Development Specialist. “An enthusiastic and knowledgeable youth services staff is available to help you find just the right books for you and your children’s enjoyment. Please ask us.” Remember, the American Academy of Pediatrics prescribes daily reading to children beginning at six months of age. 

The Internet site is updated each Monday, and provides games, coloring pages, and the stories from the show to print out and read aloud. There’s also a “Parents Survival Manual” with literacy tips for the busy parent (see page 3). Your local Timberland Regional Library provides public-access computers so that every family can take advantage of this important resource. While parents will probably want to explore the Parents section on their own, the rest of the site can be explored by child and parent together.

The program takes advantage of the fact that television can reach families of all backgrounds, races and levels of sophistication and uses it to reach its key goals, which include:

• to model reading, writing, speaking, and listening behaviors — all vital to literacy acquisition;
• to motivate children to read and write by demonstrating that both behaviors are a source of deep, aesthetic pleasure and a steppingstone to every other kind of learning experience; 
• to acquaint children with a wide variety of discourse styles and text structures found in stories, letters, newspapers and magazine articles, poetry, plays, songs, non-fiction, reference materials, and more.

Between the Lions is funded in part by a Ready to Learn grant from the US Department of Education through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

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1. Ask your kids to look at the cover and name any objects and characters they know. Read the title and the author's name. See if the cover and title remind you of any other books you've read together. 

2. Flip through the pages and note other objects and characters in the pictures. (This is called "previewing" the book.) Ask your kid to guess what the story might be about. 

3. Point to each word on the page as you read it. Ask questions like, "What do you think will happen next?" Stop once or twice to compare the story to your kid's guesses about it.

4. Afterwards, sum up the story line (plot). Talk about the beginning, middle, and end of the book.

5. Connect the story line to real-life events. Did something like this ever happen to you or your kid? Do the characters remind you of anyone you know? 

6. Evaluate the book. Did your kid like the story? What was the best part? The funniest picture? The silliest character?

7. When you reread the book, ask your kid to hold the book, look at the pictures, and tell YOU the story.

8. Point out details in the pictures. Ask about some of the details each time you reread this book. Try to expand on your kid's answers to help the sentences grow. The best questions often begin with "why" or "what do you think?"

9. Help your child learn to read the words on the pages. Point to the letters and see how they match the sounds in the words. Look for these words in other places. See if you can spot the spelling patterns in other words. 

10. Help your kid take over as the reader of this book. 

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The Timberland Regional Library Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.  Please make your check payable to Timberland Regional Library Foundation. Our address is P.O. Box 7177, Olympia, WA 98507-7177. If you have any questions, please contact our Development Office at [360] 704-4565. This charity is currently registered with the Washington Secretary of State Office, 1-800-332-GIVE, under the charitable solicitation act, registration number 5608.

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