Here are some tips to help you keep up the good work that your student accomplished this school year!
Top Ten Tips for Turning up the Heat on Summer Reading:
1. Make reading a part of your daily routine. Set a specific time - after lunch; while mom or dad is prepping dinner; before bed. Include the whole family in reading time!
2. Be sure to stock your shelves with books. Visit the library and the bookstore, or borrow books from friends and neighbors. Visit readingrockets.org for suggested book lists, and be sure to visit the section especially for parents!
3. Use websites like amazon.com as a tool to find other great books your child will love. Search for a book s/he has previously enjoyed, and browse the suggestions that appear at the bottom of the page. Ask friends for recommendations, too!
4. Encourage your kids to talk about books! Form a casual book club - you and your child can read the same book and talk about it, or your child and a friend could do the same. Encourage your kids to look for connections between what they're reading and their everyday lives.
5. Make sure a book isn't too difficult for your child to read independently: Listen to your child read the first page of a book. If s/he cannot read more than 3 words (out of about 100 words) on the page, the book is too hard for him or her to read independently. Help your child find an easier book and save the harder book to read aloud together.
6. Set a goal - either individually or as a family. Could your child read 20 books this summer? Could your family read 100? Challenge yourself and find out! Consider keeping a paper or online log of books you’ve read, or a paper chain listing the titles, or even a “virtual bookshelf” displayed in your home.
7. Going on a road trip? Stop by the bookstore or the library and pick up a book on CD that the whole family might enjoy. (You might even be so lucky as to avoid the inevitable “Are we there yet?” if you choose several captivating stories to hear)
8. Once your child has finished a book they have enjoyed, invite them to call, email, or Skype with Grandma and Grandpa to tell them all about it. Better yet – give Grandma and Grandpa the book title in advance and they can talk about the book together.
9. Remember that reading is reading. If you have a reluctant reader in your house, keep in mind that any practice is good practice. Encourage them to read an easy book to a younger sibling or neighbor, or the directions off the brownie mix you’re preparing; hand them the comics section from Sunday’s newspaper.
10. The best way to become a better reader is to read. Think of reading as an investment – the upfront cost is free, yet the dividends are enormous.
“TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book.” -Author Unknown
-Tips by Anne Carter
