Summer Reading and Beyond

Can reading be used to travel from place and the person remain in the comfort of their home? Can reading be used to gain prizes and recognition form family? Can reading be used to create recipes from meals found in a book? the answer to all of the answer to the above questions is, "yes!" Reading is the best kept magic trick of all times. It can transport a person to any place, any state of being, or any personality desired.

Experts know there is no age too old or too young to learn the joy of reading. The most important requirement is gaining something from reading that will make a better person. Often times, parents and guardians encourage children to pick up a book and read it. Summertime is the best time to read. Because children's school responsibilities are dramatically reduced is the reason summer is the best time to get on a reading program. Summer, however, should not be the only time designated to reading.

Some people read to help learn a foreign language such as English. They are assigned materials that re-enforce their goals. And they gain a stronger word association of the language through reading. Reading is used to help people academically. They gain a clearer understanding of writing and how to present their views on topics. People also use reading to learn about the world around them . They learn about the Universe. And they learn to build an understand communication techniques through reading.

Parents encourage reading for other reasons too. They've learned children will lose as much as 60 percent of their reading and comprehension skills over the summer break. This is true if the child is not encouraged to read during their summer break.

The benefits children gain from reading lasts a lifetime. Readers learn the meaning of difficult words by the context of the sentence. They better able to use the dictionary. And at a younger age than none readers..

Through reading the reader's creative skills surface. The individual learn to use their imagination and to visualize characters, ideas, and events as they read. A person's ability to express themselves effectively is directly associated with their reading skills.

The ability to effectively express ideas brings added benefits. Self confidence grows with increased ability to communicate effectively. In the case of children, parents may plant the seed of effective communication by becoming a role model themselves. When a child sees parents and guardians reading in the home, the child emulates their parent or guardian. They become readers too.

• People and especially children need motivation to read. They have many distractions in their world that requires a lot less effort than reading. The benefits are far less than reading. But a parent wishes to plan within the child a pleasure in reading, try a few creative suggestions.

• Family Recognition Night. The members of the family are encouraged to read a certain number of pages based on reading age and level. The individuals that read the most pages beyond reading level will receive a family gift. The gift can be any inexpensive item. It could be something found in the home that the individual expressed an interest in. The reading project could be a weekly or monthly project. The culmination of the reading project or the largest gift could be one in which the entire family receives a family night reward. It could be a day trip to the beach; a trip to the matinee, or it could be anything you feel is appropriate for the occasion.

• Reading Olympics.The family could read a book at each person's reading level and age. A weekly check gives the most books read an award. The monthly check is the combined total of books read by family members. the reward could be a day trip to a zoo or amusement park. It could be anything the whole family enjoy. Then at the end of summer have a ceremony to celebrate all the books read. The ceremony will include three trophies. One will be gold, one silver and one bronze medal. The rules for receiving the medal will be based on most books read by a family member. The most books read by a family member beyond the required reading level expectations. Then the individual who helped others accomplish their reading goals and still read the required number of books. The reading Olympics brings out the competitive skills and also encourages helping each other.
• My Favorite Book Contest. The family will be give a certain number of books to read for the summer. Probably a book a month. The in the book must be appropriate to the age and reading level of the individuals. Each month members will report to the family a review of the book read. If they like, they may write a one page summary about the book. the summary will include the book name, the author of the book, number of pages in the book and the publisher of the book. The summary will tell in 1 - 2 sentences what the book was about. The third sentence will tell the lesson learned about the main character in the book. the 5th and 6th sentence will tell if the reader agreed with the ending of the book and why they feel that way. The 7th sentence will tell if they recommend the book to others and why.

At the end of summer each person will tell which book was their favorite book. This is done at a family mean such as a picnic or restaurant.

The Shopping Contest. Children accompany parents to the store and it is not always an enjoyable experience for anyone. A way to distract children is to have their eyes go on a scavenger hunt. The child is to remain at your side at all times and hold onto the shopping cart.

The other rules of the game require the child to look for certain words that are at their eye level. Their job is to find as many words that say ie salad or cake or any word you know they recognize. The child could also look for a certain letter such as "C." The child will keep tract of how many times certain words or letters are found. The winner, if there are two or more children, will have the honor of helping place items on the cash register counter. Or the child gets a free ride to the car on the grocery cart car .The same rules and rewards apply if there is only one child on the shopping trip.

The key to the games is to create an interest in reading. The children will associate good times and good feelings as a result of creative efforts of the parent or guardian. The lifetime benefits will be endless.

So if you would like to give your child a jump inon the competiton. And the competition is other children and life in general.Cultivate your child's interest in reading. Be an example and be a reader yourself. Don't be surprised if you see your children independently radng books without your on. That means they've leaned to read beyond the summer games. You've created in your child an interest in reading.