Read. Read. Read. From the very beginning we need to be reading to your children. We need to encourage our children to read at every age. Summer time we want our children to spend a lot of time outside but during those peak sun hours we could let them stay in side and read.
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill wants to help encourage reading during the summer. So one of their authors Tim Shanahan has some tips to share with us.
Summer Reading Tips from Tim Shanahan, author of Macmillan/McGraw-Hill’s best selling elementary reading program, Treasures. (http://www.macmillanmh.com/reading/)
Dr. Shanahan is also the past president of the International Reading Association.
1. Read Together! Summer usually allows families to spend more time together. This is a great opportunity to read more with your kids to help keep their skills fresh. Children learn a lot when you read to them. Even if your child can read by himself, take turns reading to each other, and be sure to talk about what you are reading. Ask questions, answer questions and explore the ideas together.
2. Share the Experience. As kids get older, help them find books, magazines, or newspaper articles that they would enjoy reading. Take the time to read them too so you can discuss them. The point is to share the reading experience.
3. Ask Questions. Even if you are not reading the same books they are, talk to your children about what they are reading. Ask them questions such as what happened in the story or what might happen next, who is their favorite character, or who is the villain. This builds summarization and recall skills, and your interest helps increase their interest.
4. Designate a Reading Spot. Create a summer reading nook or spot in your home where your child can read. Make sure there is good light and comfortable seating and try to set aside one TV/video-game-free night per week for family reading. Reading night can be a special snack night, too. There is nothing better than reading with a big bowl of popcorn!
5. Use Resources. If your children’s school program provides materials for home activities over the summer, absolutely use them.
6. Find Reading Opportunities Everywhere. If you are taking a trip this summer, send for brochures and maps and have your children read them aloud with you.
7. Leverage Pop Culture. Don’t ignore the value of graphic novels or a popular series like the Twilight books or Harry Potter. These are great ways to encourage adolescents to read more.
8. Plan an Outcome Activity. Whether you are reading to your children or they are reading themselves, plan an outcome event or activity based on the reading. For instance, if the book has been made into a movie, watch the DVD together after reading the book. Book reading can lead to picnics, museum visits, ballgames or even family vacations.
9. Write Letters to Your Children. Writing to your kids is a great opportunity to remind them of experiences that they had when they were younger or to tell them about the lives of older people in the family, like their grandparents. Kids love getting letters and you can even encourage them to write back, helping them practice their writing skills.
10. Mix it up. Don’t just focus on storybooks. Kids often prefer to read about fact rather than fiction, including books and articles about the environment, animals, current events, sports, and other topics. Talk to them about what they like and help them find reading materials that match those interests.
About Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill is an elementary school text book publisher. They are dedicated to educating children and to helping professionals educate with the best materials that they can provide.
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill believes that it is our obligation to:
provide the best value to teachers, and quality instructional ideas and content for all children; provide assessment ideas, approaches and tools; help in reaching all learners; help with communicating results to students, administrators, parents and the community; provide ease of use and manageability of materials
provide all students with materials that are motivating and challenging and that build, encourage and support success; provide opportunities for measurement of progress; provide opportunities for multiple learning experiences; prepare students to be life-long learners and good citizens in a diverse and changing world
To Help Encourage Reading Macmillan/McGraw-Hill is sponsoring a giveaway on Mom Start.
Treasures is a research based, comprehensive Reading Language Arts program for grades K-6 that gives educators the resources they need to help all students succeed. High quality literature coupled with explicit instruction and ample practice ensures that students grow as life-long readers and writers.
Enter to win:
Three of my readers will win an age appropriate set of Treasures Reading.
To Enter:
Leave a comment telling us what your reading tip is. How do you encourage reading?
Extra Entries:
Leave as many tips as you want.
Anyway that you spread the word about this giveaway counts as an extra entry. (tweeting – link to giveaway, e-mailing others – link to giveaway, blogging – link to giveaway, just share the gift of reading)
Leave a comment for every entry and giveaway ends June 25th.
About MomStart
i try to make myself sounds excited when im reading to the kids and i want to make them excited too and we talk about the book after we read and my kids imaginations run wild
We had a set time every evening where they picked out their own books to read. We spent a few minutes discussing the books and sharing what we had all read. They loved it.
We spend time at the library. We also take trips to book retailers like Barnes & Noble and Borders, where there are large selections of age-appropriate books for my daughter (and me!).
We set aside reading time everyday.
We have a reading chart and as my daughter fills it up she gets rewarded.
To encourage my son to read (which he hates), I read one page, then he reads a page. It makes it go by quicker and he learns how to pronounce words that he doesn’t know how to say.
I tweeted your giveaway and spread the love of reading @ http://twitter.com/jettaway75/status/2323228139
We go to the library once a week to pick out books
In the summer, we pick a local place to visit, then go to the library and get a book having to do with we visited. We all read about it, then discuss what we learned!
I thought I had already entered this. Hmmm… anyway, my tip is to read at least one story or book to your child(ren) before/at bedtime.
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com
I enroll them in many summer programs.
Another tip: Join the library’s summer reading program. If they don’t have one, maybe you can encourage them to start!
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com
if they want to stay up late reading books, I sometimes let them do that.
I take them to library, get some books for them to read, and some for me to read to them
I tweeted about the giveaway:
http://twitter.com/HSBSuzanne/status/2329928139
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com
another tip: Chuck E. Cheese will give a child 10 tokens (I think that’s their promo) for summer reading.
roseinthemorning [at] gmail [dot] com
I encourage my kids to read about whatever they are interested in — dinosaurs, trucks, horses — anything that will get them reading and keep them reading!
Start readingto your children early.
I have taught them that reading can take you all over the world in just one book
we have reading time every night. They love being able to pick a book that they want to read
The lib. is your friend. My son has his own lib card and he says that he is a book helper. I just love that
Making reading fun. We read a story sometimes and then act it out in the house on rainy days. It is lots of fun
Have them make their own book. My daughter loves doing that
Join a book exchange so that you are always getting different stories to your kids but not have to spend the money for new ones all the times
Go to the thrift store. they always have books for so cheap and have the kids pick out the ones that they want
Snuggle up on the couch and read them a book. they are never to old for you to read to them. My mom still reads to be parts of the book that she is reading. I love that to.
Starting reading to them as soon as you find out you are pregnant and continue to
Have a book made that is made just for them with their name in it. My son still has his book that he got when he was a baby. He loves being able to read his name in his own book
We love books and my husband and I are both avid readers. We read to our kids on a daily basis. Thank you so much for the great contest.
i try to have my son read for a half hour before play or video games
Find new places to read – like the backyard or at the park.
I read myself so that’s all it took to first get them interested. I also keep books at home and in the car
When I see that my kids are interested in a certain subject, I like to take them to the bookstore to choose books on that subject. They appreciate my interest in their likes and they can’t wait to explore their new books.
I have 2 granddaughters, ages 2 and 6 and they love books. My daughter and I started a library for the firstborn before she was even born! We all have always read to the girls, they have a bookshelf at their level in the living room, a bookcase in their bedroom. When I visit them, I bring a surprise, and often these are new books. I live a distance from them, and when I spend the night, we snuggle in the bed and read books and laugh and have the best time. Books were a big part of my life, and my daughter always loved reading also. I hope that we all have instilled the love of books into our little ones lives.
We make it a fun experience. From the time the children were very small we always had books around. My husband worked out of the city a lot so the children and I spent evenings cuddled together in my big bed while I read to them. After they got older they read to me.
My husband and I love to read, so it’s definitely something we want to pass on to our children. We read books all day long and then before naps and bed, we read at least three
Thanks for the great giveaway!
annasmama0702@gmail.com
I tweeted!
http://twitter.com/annasmama0702/status/2370572068
annasmama0702@gmail.com
We used flash cards with our son from the time was two-years old (he will turn four in Sept.). Before he was three he was able to recognize many words in the books that we would read to him each day.
From a very early age, we would point out words in our son’s books and ask him how they were spelled. Eventually, he learned to recognize the words and would show us when we asked him to point out and spell certain words on the various pages. Many people are impressed with his ability to spell so many words (now without looking) at the age of three.
We have books in lots of places I always have a book with me in my purse so we can read while waiting. I read a book to my kids everynight and so does my husband. thanks
This summer, I’ve incorporated reading into our daily routine. The kids are recording which books they’ve read, and once we get to a certain number, they’ll get a special treat!
We gave our daughter a Tag reading system for her birthday last Saturday to encourage her to read. Let’s just say it has worked so far! She is very interested in the Tag reader and the library of books that we got with it.
Sometimes I read to my daughter while she’s in the bathtub or eating lunch to reinforce the fact that reading can be done anywhere and everywhere, not just at bedtime.