I like to make the most of dinner time (when else do I have a captive audience?), and one way is by including books in the family meal. After all, it just doesn’t get any better than a good book and good food! Here are four ideas for incorporating books into your family dinner time.
Spring has finally sprung! Although parts of our country are still experiencing winter-like weather, we are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. With the arrival of the spring season, our thoughts turn to new beginnings. The beginning blooms of flowers and trees remind us just how wonderful fresh starts really are. Spring is also a great time for your family to start fresh reading habits. In honor of this much anticipated season, Red Apple Reading has five suggestions for how you and your family can “spring into reading”!
With the 2014 Winter Games upon us, many families will be watching their country’s athletes competing to bring home a medal. At the same time, kids all over the world will be imagining what it would be like to be an Olympic champion. While the odds are slim that our own kiddos will grow up to compete in the Olympic games, they can be champion readers! This Olympic season challenge your kiddos to compete in the 2014 Winter Reading Olympics!
With the recent “Polar Vortex” that has hit our country, many of us have taken to staying indoors. Perhaps you and your little ones have been stuck inside for an extended period and are beginning to experience a little “cabin fever”. What is a parent to do with small children who have pent up energy and started chanting that all too dreaded mantra – “I’m bored!”? Don’t despair mom and dad! Red Apple Reading has compiled a list of 10 fun indoor activities fit for a frigid day.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines literacy as “the ability to read and write”. We all want our kids to be successful in life, and literacy plays a major role in achieving that success. Red Apple Reading would like to offer ten suggestions on how you can incorporate literacy into your child’s everyday life.
Every now and then, it‘s a good idea to do a little thinking “outside of the box“. Maybe your little one has lost interest in reading or just refuses to try a different genre of book. Book swaps and book clubs are a perfect way to do something a bit unique in order to encourage your child to read and/or expand her interests. So let’s explore a couple of ways you and your kiddo can have some fun with books!
If you have younger elementary school students in your home, you are probably familiar with the term “sight words”. Sight words are words that our children need to be extra familiar with and know how to read without doing so phonetically. In other words, they need to know them by sight. These words appear frequently throughout most texts we read each day. Therefore, it is important for us to help our children practice these words and become comfortable reading them. Today we will look at some creative ways we can help our little ones learn their sight words!
Most early elementary school students have weekly spelling tests. As parents, it falls to us to help our kiddos prepare. Whether our kids are good spellers or struggling spellers, the studying process can be tedious. According to the article, “How Words Cast Their Spell”, written in the 2008-2009 edition of American Educator, “The correlation between spelling and reading comprehension is high because both depend on a common denominator: proficiency with language….The more deeply and thoroughly a student knows a word, the more likely he or she is to recognize it, spell it, define it, and use it appropriately in speech and writing.” So, spelling is a vital part of the education process. But don’t despair dear parent! With some creativity and an open mind, you and your child can have successful spelling study sessions!
Did you know today is National Family Day? To celebrate, we’d like to share some of our favorite literacy-promoting activities that you can do with your whole family to encourage your budding reader and—well, to just have fun together! Remember, reading books is a great way to help your little one acquire literacy skills, but it’s not the only way!
Most parents of preschoolers and kindergarteners have starting thinking about how they can help their children get ready to read. Hopefully by the time your child is 3 or 4 years old, he has had plenty of exposure to books, nursery rhymes, songs, and the letters of the alphabet. Take a look at my last post, Literacy Activities: Toddler to Preschool, if your child has not yet had these experiences.
As your child becomes more comfortable with the sounds that letters make, you can begin to help her connect the letter-sounds into words….