Reach Out and Read

1. Reach Out and Read by Alexa Zielinski Promoting Reading in Young Children

2. Why should your child read? • Reading improves vocabulary • Reading exercises the imagination • Reading gives children information on a number of important subjects: • Social issues • Emotions • Morals • What is right and wrong • Math, Science, Literacy, & History • Reading will make your child more well rounded and passionate about his/her interests.

3. Ways to get your child involved in reading • Find books that interest your child • Read with your child • Find books that are a good fit (reading level) for your child. • Make reading fun • Be a role model

4. Find books that interest your child • Most children are turned off from reading because they have never found a book that has pulled them in. For young children, it can be hard for them to find books that relate to their interests. As parents and teachers, it is our job to assist these young children. • Find out what your child’s interests are, then take them to the library and show them how to find books based on what they like. This will allow children to create a love for reading.

5. Read with your child • "Reading aloud with children is known to be the single most important activity for building the knowledge and skills they will eventually require for learning to read." -Marilyn Jager Adams • Reading with your child can help them in a number of areas: • Oral reading (Take turns reading aloud with your children) • Communicating about the story with your child makes them use their mind and they are able to express their feelings and thoughts with you. • Reading with your child makes your bond stronger, spending that time together really will impact your relationship.

6. Finding good fit books • Another reason children tend to shy away from reading is they are trying to read books that are too easy or too hard for them. When looking for books, you should encourage your children to answers these questions: • “Do I like it?”- is this book something that interests me? • “Does it fit?”- is this book too hard or too easy to read? • Too hard- slow reading, too many words had to be sounded out. • Too easy- fast reading, did not have to sound any words out. • Just right- normal reading pace, sounding only a few words out. • “Does it help me?”- is this book right for what I’m wanted to know? • JUST LIKE SHOES, BOOKS NEED TO FIT TOO!

7. Make reading fun! • Reading can be fun! When reading with your child you can try these ideas to get your child motivated and excited: • Create a reading nook in your home for your child to read in, you and your child can create this place together which will make the nook special to them. • Act it out! • After you and your child have read a book, act it out! Have fun with it and put on a play for your family! • Make a day of it! After you’ve read a book with your child, plan a day that is all about what you’ve read. • Ex. If you read about dogs, you and your child could visit a humane society or if you have a dog you and your child can take it to the dog park!

8. Be a role model • We all know that children look up to their parents, so as parents, it is your job to be the role model. Even with reading, you can be a role model for your child. • Let your child see you reading • Let them see you ENJOY reading (fake it if you have to)!

9. Where to find good books? • To find good books, you can search your local library or you can go online and find award winning books. Some useful websites for finding books for your children are: • http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ • http://www.readingrockets.org/books/awardwinners/ • http://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia • http://www.goodreads.com/

10. Award Winning books • Below are children’s books that have received notable awards for this year (2013): • The One and Only Ivan This is Not My Hat • by Katherine Applegate by Jon Klassen • As well as: • Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, by Benjamin AlireSáenz • Martín de Porres: The Rose in the Desert, illustrated by David Diaz • Creepy Carrots!, illustrated by Peter Brown, written by Aaron Reynolds

11. Conclusion • Reading can make learning fun for your child. It can be the key to their future success and it really can change the rest of their life. All we want for our children is to excel, and reading is the key to their future.

12. References • http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=ii • http://www.ala.org/alsc/ • http://www.readingrockets.org/