I realized with grief that purposeless activities in language arts are probably the burial grounds of language development and that coffins can be found in most classrooms, including mine. Mem Fox More Quotes by Mem Fox More Quotes From Mem Fox The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading. It isn’t achieved by the book alone, nor by the child alone, nor by the adult who’s reading aloud—it’s the relationship winding between all three, bringing them together in easy harmony. Mem Fox reading inspirational children Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they’re four years old, they’re usually among the best readers by the time they’re eight. Mem Fox eight heart children When I say to a parent, "read to a child", I don't want it to sound like medicine. I want it to sound like chocolate. Mem Fox medicine reading children Reading aloud and talking about what we're reading sharpens children's brains. It helps develop their ability to concentrate at length, to solve problems logically, and to express themselves more easily and clearly. Mem Fox reading talking children The fire of literacy is created by the emotional sparks between a child, a book, and the person reading. Mem Fox reading book children If every parent understood the huge educational benefits and intense happiness brought about by reading aloud to their children, and if every parent- and every adult caring for a child-read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the children in our lives, we could probably wipe out illiteracy within one generation. Mem Fox educational reading children If we are always reading aloud something that is more difficult than children can read themselves then when they come to that book later, or books like that, they will be able to read them - which is why even a fifth grade teacher, even a tenth grade teacher, should still be reading to children aloud. There is always something that is too intractable for kids to read on their own. Mem Fox reading teacher children The fastest way to teach a child to read is to teach them to write. Mem Fox writing children way If you are not a writer, you will not understand the difficulties of writing. If you are not a writer, you will not know the fears and hopes of the writers you teach. Mem Fox teach difficulty writing Books don't harm kids; they arm them. Mem Fox arms kids book You experience other cultures to give you a kind of shock that makes you look at your own culture. You appreciate it more as a result of being out of it, but you also realise there are some things lacking in your culture. Mem Fox other-cultures appreciate giving You're not lonely when you're teaching, you're not quiet, you're laughing most of the time, you're having a wonderful time interacting with young people. It's the best fun in the world. Mem Fox lonely teaching fun As everyone knows, nothing is sweeter than tiny baby fingers and chubby baby toes. Mem Fox toes tiny baby Writing a picture book is like writing 'War and Peace' in Haiku. Mem Fox writing war book I was the most Australian child ever in the world, even though my home was in Africa. Mem Fox home children world I made a lot of friends at school, and they were all Africans. I could have felt very different. I didn't feel different, I didn't notice the color of their skin, I didn't notice the color of my skin and I have remembered that all my life. Mem Fox color skins school I think that my favourite animal is a baby possum, or a joey. The face of a really little joey is so divine - so, so gorgeous. Mem Fox animal baby thinking I don't go to church much anymore, but Methodist values still wind me up and send me ticking into my daily life. Mem Fox daily-life church wind I have very little patience with children. Mem Fox littles children Putting babies as young as two weeks into child care for the first year of their life, for 60 hours a week, will cause their brains damage. Mem Fox baby children years
