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.
My daughter goes to the library with her grandmother every Saturday and takes part in the kids program there… she loves reading and often checks out 10 books at a time because she enjoys reading so much. The library program of course helps quite a bit as well.
micaela6955 at msn dot com
I often ask my daughter to read a story to me at night-and then we take turns discussing the story and answering questions in regards to the story.
With my son, who hated reading-complete opposite of his sister-I helped him read his stories, tried not to overwhelm him with too much at once, and offered incentives (additional allowance money, a special treat, etc…) in order to get him to read at the level he needed to be in, plus grandma helped when we ended up moving back to Maine when he was 11.
You can’t walk in our house without just about tripping over all the books. It would be impossible NOT to read. Everyone needs access to a wide variety of reading material.
We include reading in our bed time routine!
We make reading a priority. We read during the day and always squeeze in at least 3 books before bed.
I don’t have trouble getting my girls to read, but my son is a different story. I find that I have to find the books for him and give them to him — he will never search out books for himself. If I can find something appealing, he’ll read.
I offer to read books to my daughter. She enjoys climbing up on the couch and curling up with a book and blanket. She’s too little to read it herself so we spend the time together.
learningmama at yahoo dot com
We let the kids buy as many books as they want at garage sales. They do have to donate a like # to charity but we stil have a ton of books for them to read at all times. They think of it as their own library.
I have entered all 3 of my children (ages 5, nearly 2 and nearly 2)in the summer reading program at the library. We will be tracking how much time we read to them and they will get stickers. It’s never too early to start reading! I also let my 5 year old pick out special books at the library for his sisters. He feels really special to be included in their learning process and it encourages him to read too.
I encourage reading by going to library and picking out books for myself. As well as setting aside time that we both read together…our own books, or out-loud.
I have always encouraged my daughter to read because it is my favorite thing to do. I have always told her that you can go anywhere in the world and/or any time in the past or future that you want to by reading a book. We go to the library together and FINALLY! she reads quite a bit now.
One of the best tips is making sure your child sees you reading. It is best to lead by example!
I make my son go to bed a 1/2 hour early every night and have him read a book. He loves it.
I encourage reading by almost always stopping to read a book with my son when he requests it. I also read to myself in front of him to give him a good example. Thanks for the giveaway.
We read to eachother every night before bedtime. It is a great way to end the days. Thank you for the chance
tatertot374@sbcglobal.net
we setup rewards based on books read
Let them see you reading! Children learn by example!
Read to them from an early age – that way it will become a habit/second nature for them to pick up books!
Get involved in the local library summer reading program! (I’m assuming most libraries have these – ours does!)
we encourage reading by trying to read to the kids each evening
We always read at bedtime! To encourage him to read we pick books that he picks out and give him lots of time to sound out words.
We sign up for as many summer reading programs as we can. This really gets my kids excited!
I usually let my kids read in bed before going to sleep. They look forward to this extra time to stay up a little later, and I look forward to them enjoying the reading time.
every night before bed i read to my children to help wind them down. i have done this since they were newborns. daily they ask to be read to and bring me books often. i think this encourages them to love books, and reading. they love finding new adventures and getting engrossed in the stories we get into.
I encourage reading by making our reading time as exciting as possible and really getting my grandson involved in the story.
I Tweeted the giveaway!
http://twitter.com/fishinmom
I bought a boxed set of books I loved as a kid and now my kids want to read them.
my reading tip is to teach by example, i read a lot, by myself and to my kids, as a result my daughter has developed the same love for reading. She is 7 and it is one of her favorite past times!
I encourage both my children to do the summer reading programs and then we read every night (as we do throughout the year) — each kid picks a book and I do also and then read and snuggle
Trips to the library, our local branch, and the larger main branch. Allow kids to explore various kids books. Sometimes, they will pick books about animals, stars, trains, whatever catches their eyes.
Find a subject she is interested in and get books from the library or goodwill
Trips to the library weekly, buying new books at least every other month, reading before bed, asking them if they would like to read, and being an example and reading to them, or to myself. Also my husband has started reading more and of course they want to be like dad. Thanks for the giveaway!
We have books everywhere, and my son just wants to do what I do. I read to him and with him.
We have books all over our house and we read whenever the request is made.
I just read at a constant speed, not too fast and not too slow to maintain my interest.
My kids love to go to the library to pick out the books that they would like to read.
We go to our local library for story time. They have some great incentive programs for the kids there!
My son and daughter each get to pick a book from the Scholastic book order (just like I got to when I was little). They get so excited when their books come.
At bedtime, my kids aren’t allowed to play with toys, but they can read until they fall asleep. They love it!
We try to read every evening a few pages to our son.
I encourage reading by showing my kids that I love to read.
I love to point out the pictures while I read and I like to ask find out questions.
I have many times read and firmly believe that a child’s deepest and longest lasting lessons come from parental imitation. My mom was a big reader, as am I. My son adores books and has since about one and a half years old. I don’t think there’s any better encouragement for a child to read than seeing his parents enjoying a good book.
I make sure that my kids have plenty of new books to read. I shop yard sales, thrift shops and sales. I also take them to the library.
The kids love to read! They read about 30 mintues a day!
We encourage reading by going to the library at least once a week and the library here has a program where the kids can read to the handicap assisting dogs. The kids love that!
My kids always read so I really don’t have to get them to.
we have a set time for reading together and take turns picking out the book.
We visit the library at least twice a week!