Sunday, April 2, 2023: World Literacy Summit, Oxford, UK
“The Invisible Toolbox: How the First Five Years Frame Future Literacy”
Neuroscience confirms that children who have been read to regularly from birth arrive at school on day one with “invisible toolboxes” full of all the pre-literacy tools that they need in order to be successful in school and beyond.
While it’s generally understood that reading aloud to a child is a good idea, many new and expectant parents don’t fully understand why doing so in the early years is critical for a child’s academic and social-emotional development.
What are these tools? Why do they make such a difference? How can we educate parents, in this age of distraction, to understand that reading aloud to their child is one of the greatest gifts they can give and support them in doing so?
We will explore these questions through the lens of the research of Dr. John Hutton (Pediatrician and Director of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Reading and Literacy Discovery Center), the data of various literacy and government organizations, and my own experience as a teacher of reading and writing for decades in the elementary school classroom.
Saturday, May 7, 2022: University of LaVerne Virtual Family Literacy Event—Open to All
Join me at 9:15 or 10:30 AM for ”The Superpowers We Create When We Read for Fun!”
This inspiration is for kids and their parents…grandparents, aunties, etc. are welcome too!
Details to come!
Friday, November 5, 2021: Read Aloud Nebraska Conference http://www.readaloudnebraska.org/events/2021-fall-ran-workshop/
Keynote: “The Invisible Toolbox: Why Reading to Your Child is One of the Greatest Gifts a Parent Can Give”
Kim Jocelyn Dickson draws on thirty years in the elementary classroom, her own parenting experience, and the latest research in neuroscience to explain the literacy crisis the U.S. faces and how it can be mitigated, one child at a time. She believes every child begins kindergarten with a lunchbox in one hand and an invisible toolbox in the other. If a child has been read to from the beginning, their invisible toolbox will be equipped with all the foundational tools and motivation they need to be successful in school and beyond.
Wednesday, June 16, 2021: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Homecoming Conference
Kim Jocelyn Dickson, author of The Invisible Toolbox: The Power of Reading to Your Child from Birth to Adolescence, believes every child begins kindergarten with a lunchbox in one hand and an invisible toolbox in the other. Drawing on her experience as a parent and educator along with research in neuroscience, Kim explains why reading aloud from birth is one of the greatest gifts we can give our children…and why the work of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is more important than ever.
Saturday, May 1, 2021: PTA Wellness Event, Ekstrand Elementary, San Dimas, CA
“The Invisible Toolbox: Why Reading to Your Child is One of the Greatest Gifts a Parent Can Give”
Kim Jocelyn Dickson, M.A. has over thirty years of experience in the elementary classroom and is the author of The Invisible Toolbox: The Power of Reading to Your Child from Birth to Adolescence. In her presentation, Kim will explain why reading to your child is one of the greatest gifts a parent can give and how it fills their ‘invisible toolbox’ with all the tools they need to be successful in school. You’ll also learn how reading to your child contributes to their emotional well-being, their connection with you, and can even help to mitigate “Covid Slide.”
Saturday, April 24, 2021: University of LaVerne Virtual Family Literacy Event—Open to All
Join Kim Jocelyn Dickson for this free virtual family literacy event on Saturday, April 24th. In her 30 minute presentation with visuals, “The Invisible Toolbox: The Superpowers We Create When We Read for Fun,” Kim teaches elementary school kids (and their parents) that we humans can develop superpowers too—the kind of superpowers that will help us become successful in school and beyond. Students will learn that every one of us carries an invisible toolbox to school each day, and that if we read for fun, it will be filled with all the tools we need to become smart and powerful. Through storytelling, examples, and even a dash of neuroscience, children will learn that reading for fun grows their vocabulary, expands their worlds beyond home, makes school and homework easier for them, and more. Children will be inspired to learn that famous and successful people they know built their own invisible toolboxes by reading for fun when they were young–and that it made all the difference for them.