Ways to Get Your Kids Into Summer Reading

    We've all heard about "summer slide" and the importance of getting kids to read throughout the summer. Data supports that students who don't read regularly over the summer are more likely to fall behind in their skills and we see an increase in the achievement gaps between the students who did actively read thru the summer and those who did not when they return to school. It's like a child who is learning to play an instrument and is use to daily practicing then decides to take a couple months off. What happens? They become very rusty in their ability to play their instrument and it takes extra work and time to get back to where they were before.
    But how do we get kids to read during the summer, especially when kids are so engaged in playing videos games and watching television for hours on end each day. There are actually some different ways to do this that can be fun for kids so let's look at a few ideas:

Ways to Encourage Summer Readers:

1. Provide Incentives: This can be done individually by parents where they can create their own incentives chart or system for their kids or there are many free programs offered during the summer that are already planned for you.

• Local Libraries- check your local libraries for summer reading programs that include playing online games, earning points towards prizes, and story times.
• Camp Book-It- this is a free program offered through Pizza Hut that gives free pan pizzas to kids as incentives for reading each month.
• Scholastic Read-a-Palooza- this is another great program that is free which gives kids the opportunity to play games online, read books, earn special rewards, and earn points towards donating books to others.
• Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program- with this free programs kids read a certain number of books, complete a reading journal off the Barnes & Noble site about the book they read, bring their journal to a local store, then get to pick out their own free book off of the books listed on their Reading Journal.                                                   

2.  Make it a Family Activity: Kids need to see the importance of reading and one way they can do this is by seeing and hearing their parents read. I remember like it was yesterday, my dad taking my sister and I to the library to let us pick out books then we would bring this huge stack of books home and each night my parents would read us a book before we went to bed. That sounds simple but it really is just that easy and it can make a big impression on your children that reading is important and its a great way to spend time with them as well. 

3. Connect Books to Your Family Activities: As you do various activities over the summer such as going to the zoo, the aquarium, the park, or other places include some fun books that go along with those activities. 

Here is a great starter set of books that go great with summer activities:

 Know of some other great summer reading programs? I would love to hear about them. Share your ideas below...