We all know the importance of reading in the lives of our children. As parents of young elementary school children, we are always receiving reminders from teachers to read with our kids nightly. Most of us even recognize the importance of reading to our preschoolers. But what about our infants? Is it really important to sit down and read to them each day? In short, the answer is yes! Let’s explore a few reasons why reading to your infant is important.
What are your plans for Independence day? Perhaps they revolve around spending time with family, barbecuing, or enjoying a restful day from work. This year, why not consider adding some patriotic themed books to your day? It is so important for our little ones to know why we celebrate this special day each year and sharing a book about our country together is the perfect way to do just that! Red Apple Reading would like to suggest some patriotic books to enjoy with your young reader.
Summer is a great time to take an honest look at your child’s reading progress in school and determine if an intervention is needed before the new school year begins. Here’s the last of the Reading Essentials Series.
As your child is learning to read, you may begin to have concerns about whether or not he or she is progressing at a normal rate. This is completely normal. After all, you’ve been comparing developmental notes with other parents since your child was rolling over and beginning to crawl, right?
It’s hard to believe summer is already here! Most of our kiddos have wrapped up the school year and are ready for summer break. What is your family’s summer plans? Many of us have already started planning family vacations, summer camp, and other seasonal activities, but how many of us have considered summer reading? While summer is a time when most of our kids get a vacation from school, this need not mean they have a vacation from reading. How can you help your child avoid the summer reading slump? Red Apple Reading has a few suggestions!
Did you know that May is Get Caught Reading Month? First launched in 1999, “Get Caught Reading” is a national campaign that reminds us how much fun it is to read! Of course, we here at Red Apple Reading are huge advocates of the written word. So this month we want to join the campaign and encourage parents to pick up a book and Get Caught Reading by their children!
With Mother’s Day right around the corner, our thoughts turn toward our little ones and all the blessings that come with being a mom. Whether you have one child or seven, you have special memories with each that will last a lifetime. At Red Apple Reading, we would like to suggest that this year you consider Mother’s Day in light of the theme of Story. After all, every mom (and child) has a story and each story is precious. Let’s look at a few ways you can make this special day revolve around stories!
In this final installment of our series detailing the 5 fundamental reading skills, we’ll be looking closely at comprehension—the ability to not only read words, but understand their individual meanings and their meanings within the context of a sentence and story. Reading comprehension is, perhaps, the pinnacle of all reading skills. After all, what’s the point of being able to read words if you don’t understand them, right?
We can all remember the fun we had as kids pretending to live in another reality. I spent hours “teaching” imaginary students and playing with my stuffed animals. One day my mom was cleaning my room and put all my stuffed toys in the toy box. I was appalled! Didn’t she know they couldn’t breathe in there? Needless to say, I had a pretty active imagination. It’s good for our kids to have a healthy escape from reality as well. Fiction is the perfect opportunity for our children to take a little reality vacation!
As you may or may not already know, tomorrow is Earth Day. While at first it may seem hard to make a connection between loving our planet and loving to read, with a little creativity, these two loves can be combined! Let’s explore how we can get our kids and our books outdoors!
Can you imagine trying to read a good novel and having to stop to sound out every other word? How frustrating would that be? Well, that’s exactly the challenge your little one faces as he strives to become a proficient reader. In order to truly comprehend and enjoy what he’s reading, he will need to acquire fluency—the ability to read words and sentences accurately, at a reasonably quick pace, and without the need to stop to decode individual words.