Now that we have an idea of what makes a good aside, it's time to get some practice building them. Melissa Depper, of the blog Mel's Desk, provided this method at an American Library Associaion poster session and talk in 2013 called Anatomy of a Storytime Literacy Message:
- Parents, when you [do foo],
- your children learn [bar].
- This helps them become good readers because [baz].
- [foo] with your chlldren helps them get ready to read.
Here's an example:
Parents, when you sing with your kids, your children learn different words. This helps them become good readers because big vocabularies make reading easier. Singing with your kids helps them get ready to read.
This is one way of constructing a message - if that works with your style, go ahead and use it. If it doesn't work with your stlye, don't use it. Keep in mind your audience and their developmental level when choosing the asides you want to construct.
Okay, time for some practice. Using this method or some other one, bulid some early literacy asides. (If you're doing this at a staff meeting or big grouping, throw your constructions into a big bag and shake it all up when everyone has contributed a few asides to the bag.)