CNN Article

I really love this article on the importance of helping our children develop into proficient readers.

http://schoolsofthought.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/16/my-view-give-a-child-a-book-and-open-the-door-to-a-great-future/

It's Been A While..

It has been a while since my last post because I've added another member to my family and this time it's a little lady! So many new types of "girly" books have been added to the boys' favorites. Fancy Nancy is one of the ones that we received and it's a really fun series. Although I still plan on reading my daughter all of the books that I read to the boys, I still want to add a little "pink" to our collection.

Here is an incredible book list broken down into several categories from Oprah.

http://www.oprah.com/packages/kid-reading-list.html

Chapter Books

Recently, my two young sons asked me and my husband if we could take them to see "Mr. Popper's Penquins". Although we do enjoy the occasionally family outing to the movie theatre, we thought this was a perfect opportunity to introduce them to chapter books. We told them that we would read a chapter each night and when we were finished, we would all go see the movie. So far, we have completed two chapters. My five-year-old is really enjoying it. He will listen to the book and answer my questions as we read. On the other hand, my two-year-old just thinks it's fun to lay in Mommy and Daddy's bed. He will play while I read but I'm hoping he is also hearing the story. Either way, it's a quiet, family time that is opening thier minds and enhancing their listening comprehension.

My goal is to finish this book and start another chapter book. I want to open my children's minds to visualizing what they read, aka "making a movie in their minds" with the words from the pages. This is an important tool that they will use throughout their education and life.

GREAT ARTICLE

Here is a great article I found from Reading Rockets. It tells us how important it is to read to our children and gives a few tips on how to make it a success!

Also, playing games, such as Scrabble or Uno, with your children can increase their letter and number recognition skills. Go for some educational, family fun!

NEW YEAR

Now that we are all making New Year's Resolutions, let's all pledge to read to a child! Reading aloud to children is critical to helping a child learn how to read, make a connection to text and improve his or her listening skills. Most important, it is helping that child see the importance of reading and how fun it can be!!!

New We the Peepers APP for your iPhone, iTouch, iPod or iPod

Check it out!!! An interactive APP perfect for kids! It's fun and children can learn about opposites! It's free until Oct. 1st.

EVERY CHILD NEEDS BOOKS TO READ

While watching Oprah, I learned that Target is taking on reading. You can go to this website, pledge to read to a child and Target will donate books to children in need. Every child needs to be read to as it makes them aware that words connect to meaning and opens up their world to new places! Please pledge that you will read to a child. If you don't have children, you can read to a niece, nephew, cousin or even a friend's child. You will get to see how reading aloud to a child lights up their world!

http://reading.target.com/?ref=sr_shorturl_reading

A World of Reading

With my job as a private reading tutor, I get to learn new information on reading every day. Lately, in the articles that I read, people are discussing the world of information and how to use that as a tool to teach how important reading is to our children. Every day, we are bombarded by information in magazines, newspapers, on signs and on-line. So not only can we read books to children, but we can also read from the numerous sources of information available to us each day. Exposing children to non-fiction material opens up their minds to new experiences and information about the world around them. Next time, you are sitting down to read an article, try to find one that is age-appropriate for your child and share it with him or her!