It is finally here!
For years, I have been carrying information, ideas and stories in my head-ideas developed over decades of working with hundreds of children and their parents.
This month I launch my mission to share these ideas and stories with others. I teamed up with Tracy Molitors, my long-time friend and colleague, because one of her images really is worth a thousand of my words. Together, we created part one in our series: Trees in the Forest: Growing Readers and Writers through Deep Comprehension.
It is chock-full of ideas I use with children of all ages to enrich their language and language arts skills. This book is to be the first in my series connecting both language and art with language arts. It is a creative entanglement of my busy head (filled with years of language therapy experience) and Tracy's ever-widening know-how as an artist and children's art mentor. We both care that kids are given enough time to delve deeply into literature -enough time to discover their own love and talent for writing.
I named my book Trees in the Forest because of my belief that when we study a piece of literature in depth, we learn about all of literature, just as one might study a tree to learn the forest. I have collected and modified strategies that aid struggling readers and writers who face the greatest challenges in the reading and writing arena. Tracy added her knowledge and talent, creating images and graphics, adding a bit of fun to my ideas! The result of our entwined roots is a book filled with educational philosophies and engaging activities targeted for anyone who teaches language arts: educators, speech-language therapists, art teachers, and homeschool parents.
~ Rita
