Most of us are halfway through the summer already! With that in mind, we wanted to share this list of OLC Literacy Resources for families, tutors, and out of school time providers to support kids’ reading. For clickable links to each resource, you can:
Download the text PDF (longer version)
Download the graphic pdf (shorter version)
It can be challenging to motivate kids to keep reading during the summer. But reading for fun is one of the most important activities that they can do to keep learning and developing their reading skills. A recent article from Education Week says: "As early as the 1970’s, research concluded that reading was the only activity “strongly and consistently related to summer learning.”Here are a few tips for making reading fun.
Give Them Choices
Summer is the perfect time to let kids choose what they want to read. Novels, comics, graphic novels, and magazines are all great choices. Maybe they want to read you all the names on their Pokemon cards or baseball cards? Totally fine - reading is reading! It's ok to break up reading time into smaller chunks throughout the day if that helps them.
Mix It Up
Find ways to change up the routine from time to time. Maybe they read to you one day, you read to them the next day, one child reads to another the following day... or you alternate between reading books and listening to audiobooks. Change up the questions you ask them about their books - here are some ideas to get you started.
Change The Scenery
Summer is a great time to find new places to read. Let your child choose where they want to read - inside the house, in their bed, under a table, or outside at your house or at the park. Try bringing a book in the car or on the bus.
Model Being a Reader
Children often don't see adults reading for pleasure, and they don't associate the work that adults do on their phone or the computer with reading. If you're reading on your phone or reading your email, point it out to them to make the connection for them. Find yourself a great book or audiobook and read or listen to it at the same time as they read. Let them see that you're excited about reading, and share what you like about your book with them.
