William Penn Life, 2005 (40. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2005-07-01 / 7. szám
for Summer Time All-Star Reader, and is a success story for the school district. With this program, students keep a daily log of their reading time, from the day that school ends for the summer, until they return in the fall. And those reading minutes certainly add up! Despite being a rather small school district, Acmetonia students from first through third grade read a combined whopping total of nearly 92,000 minutes last summer. Including the Kindergarten class this summer, the total may add several thousand more minutes by the time the school year resumes. Striving for 100% participation, Acmetonia's reading department finds that incentives do help and one used at the school is particularly sweet. Principal Heavner promises an ice cream party for all students who have logged at least 1,000 minutes of summer reading time. Reading provides sweet rewards in many ways and with an incentive like that, these children are happy to be digging into a sundae with Mr. Heavner. Making reading a fun activity and part of a daily routine around the house, as well as parents modeling reading themselves, instills a positive outlook on reading. Suggesting to your child to read in the car to pass the time during a long trip or providing baskets of books around the home are just several fun suggestions. Reading is a lifelong pleasure that cannot begin soon enough in a child's life. Children's author Rosemary Wells sums it up in this way: "Reading together 20 minutes a day is the most important gift you can give your child." |wpl] How to make reading a fun part of you child's summer Dr. Toni Saul, a reading specialist at the Acmetonia Primary School in Cheswick, Pa., offers these timeless suggestions: • Provide opportunities to read. Read TO your child; read WITH your child; have your child read TO YOU. • Reading should be an enjoyable experience! Choose a comfortable spot where you and your child can curl up with a book. • Provide incentives when reading: a weekly trip to the library; a sticker chart to mark for books read; extra privileges; whatever it takes to motivate your child to read. • Read slowly and with great expression — don’t hesitate to ham it up — your child will love it! • Establish a regular reading time. Read a book to help settle your child at the end of the day. Show that reading is a relaxing activity. • Encourage your child to talk about what he or she has read. This leads to conversations with you as the adult. Welcome any questions or observations they might have. • In turn, ask your child questions about what they have read. By asking your child to predict the outcome of the story or even a TV show this actually helps your child develop a very important reading skill and gets their creative juices flowing. • Don’t forget about your child’s favorite books! Reread them, as well. • Also, read a variety of books. Storybooks help children learn about cultures and people. Informational books, on the other hand, teach children facts about the world around them. • When you read TOGETHER, you are helping your child to learn. They will notice new information and you can help along the way with explanations; background information and even your own personal experiences. You can also find ways to relate the story to things your child is learning or doing in his or her daily life. • Provide and encourage your child with lots of opportunities to WRITE. After all, writing leads to reading. They can write letters to special people in their lives. Or you can write notes to your own child, to which they have to respond. Encourage your child to write stories, keep scrapbooks or journals. • Create a log of all the books your child has read throughout the summer and ask for a sentence or two on each one. William Penn Life, July 2005 5
