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Few children learn to love books by themselves. Someone has to lure them into the wonderful world of the written word; someone has to show them the way.
~Orville Prescott,
A Father Reads to His Children
For many of us, summertime inspires a special love for recreational reading, and we hope our kids are just as motivated to spend hours reading for pleasure as we are. This is one reason we are encouraging all of our SLOCA parents to read The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease (which is where the above quote was taken from). Not only will this book get you excited about reading aloud to your kids, it will also give you a fabulous book list for ideas on what to read to them, and re-ignite your own love of literature. Both reading aloud to kids and reading silently for pleasure in front of our kids are the best ways to model a love of reading and “lure kids into the wonderful world of the written word.”
In The Read-Aloud Handbook, Jim writes: “How can you prevent the traditional summer reading gap? Research gives little support to traditional summer school but a great deal to summer reading – reading to the child and reading by the child.” (page 89)
Plenty of enjoyable summer reading is a great way to keep kids brains engaged and learning informally throughout the summer, and can prevent “summer setback,” or “summer brain-drain.” While reading is rewarding all by itself, if you’re looking for ways to bring a little extra fun to summer reading in your home, here’s one idea for younger children who may need a bit more motivation:
This Summer Reading Star Bingo Board from How Does She? is beautifully made and ready to print and use:
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To get the pdf with all the printables, click on the link above to her blog and subscribe to her newsletter at the bottom of the page. The link will be sent to your email. It’s worth it! You can use the whole kit and caboodle, or just the board and coupons. Whatever works for you. It’s a fun way to add some variety to reading during the summer.
For more great ideas on encouraging summer reading, see this blog post from Mamas Like Me.
Enjoy all the wonderful books you can this summer! We hope you’ll read The Read-Aloud Handbook and then join us for the parent reading group to discuss this book on Thursday, July 31 at 7pm.
We also encourage you to read The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien with your family, and join us for that family reading group on Friday, August 15th at 6:30 pm. Both books can be purchased in our school store, which is open on Tuesdays from 10am-1pm.
What are you reading this summer? Leave a comment and share!
SLO Classical Academy is not affiliated with any of the above mentioned websites or businesses.
