Children often find amusing characters and plots in their books. They tend to relate these characters with those in their real lives too. As a teacher, you should try to use the children’s book to support your students. Kids have emotional needs, too, and they tend to feel alone due to the lack of social interaction. In many nuclear families, both the parents work, and the kids don’t get the kind of emotional guidance and support that they crave for. Your responsibility increases towards these students as they seek warmth and comfort in their classrooms. The below tips will help you use children’s books to build a responsive and engaging classroom:
International Children's Book Day
The International Children's Book Day is celebrated across the world on the 2nd of April every year. It is a special day that can be used to instill the habit of reading books in kids. You can introduce the kids to new storybooks that can inspire them to learn new things and languages. Choose the books that highlight the qualities like self-management, discipline, and honesty. Also, see to it that the children understand the role played by these traits in their academic and professional lives.
Stories with morals leave a lasting impression on the kids. Use storybooks that inspire the kids to maintain a positive learning environment in the classroom. Teach the importance of concentration and focus through mythological stories. On this International Children’s Book Day, introduce the kids to science books to enhance their scientific temperament. All these things will help you to make your classroom sessions lively and engaging.
Let the children play with the characters.
The characters in the storybooks that contain tales of history, mythology, the modern world, and inventions have a deep influence on the minds of kids. They tend to follow the heroes and their ideals. For example, Aesop's fables encourage students to be loyal, honest, punctual, and talk about different values. The thought-provoking instances and incidents inspire them to lead their lives with dignity and self-control. The tales of Mahabharata give them the wisdom of politics and helps them to differentiate between the good and the bad.
As a teacher, you can use these stories to seed great qualities in the minds of children. The younger the children are, the stronger is the influence of these stories in their character and overall personality. You can arrange short plays on the important events of these stories. By assigning a character that boosts positivity and calmness to the naughty kids, you can inspire them to exercise self-control and discipline.
The kids should also be allowed to choose the characters with which they relate. They can dress up like the characters to replicate their behavior and mannerisms perfectly. By enacting different characters, the kids will be able to learn voice modulation techniques. It will teach them to acquire stage presence and present themselves confidently before the crowd. Interaction with the other characters will build their social and communication skills. All of this would make a huge difference in shaping their personality.
Also, you can ask some kids to play characters with negative shades, but don’t forget to explain the drawbacks of these characters towards the end of the play. During the next play, assign roles with positive shades to these kids. By switching between positive and negative characters, the kids will be able to analyze the good and bad sides of both types of characters. It will eventually help them to develop their mindset, personality, and character. They might behave more responsibly in the classroom after engaging in various plays with the help of children’s books.
Understanding Cultural Differences and Unity
Children’s books can be used to spread awareness about different religions, cultures, and strata of society. These books can make them understand the social evils that prevailed in our society in the past and the malpractices that are still prevalent in some sections. By reading the books that highlight the social differences, you will encourage the children to accept kids with disabilities and those who come from economically and socially weaker sections. Through their inspirational stories and strong morals, the children’s books can also boost the identity of underprivileged kids.
The history books highlight the importance of unity and encourage the kids to behave affectionately with other kids. This would ultimately help you to maintain the decorum in the classroom.
Reading Essays and Stories
On International Children's Book Day, you can organize a reading event in your classroom. The students can read their favorite stories, and you can invite the family members to participate in these reading sessions. Also, ask the students to prepare a small speech where they have to describe why they like a particular story or essay.
It will inculcate the habit of reading in the kids. You can also ask a few questions towards the end of the story reading session. The questions could be about the characters, the plot, and the morals that the stories provide. Doing this would enhance their listening skills as they would pay attention when the other kids read. Organizing this activity on International Children’s Book Day would eventually increase the concentration and participation of kids in the regular classroom sessions.
While reading the children’s books, the kids will also reflect on the hardships faced by the characters and develop a positive attitude towards tough times. It could ultimately enable you to build resilience in the kids, which will play a huge role in their professional and academic careers in the future.
Conclusion
It is necessary to make the kids understand the benefits of reading children’s books. However, as a teacher, you must teach them how to draw positives from different types of stories. They shouldn’t engage overtly with stories as it can make them replicate the activities that a particular character indulges in. Therefore, on International Children’s Book Day, pledge to expose the kids to different types of books. These children’s books can include mathematical puzzles, biographies, books about birds and animals, and much more. It will help you inculcate multiple qualities in kids without leaving an overwhelming impression on their minds.
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