Usborne Book and More

Wow!  It's hard to believe that summer is gone!  Where did it go?  School is now well underway, and fall is here.  As the days get shorter, you may find that you and your kids are spending more time indoors.  Take advantage of this time to make reading together a part of every day.  Did you know that reading is the most important skill that your child needs to master in order to do well in school?  Think about it.  It's pretty hard to do well in math if you can read the directions or the word problems.  It is difficult to do well in history or science if you can read the book or the test,   It's hard to do well in language arts if you don't understand different types of writing or the vocabulary, all of which is learned, in part, through reading.  So, what does it take to become a good reader?  Practice!  The best readers in the world are those who read--a lot!  This is true regardless of income level,  or where you live--urban, suburban, or rural. 

Practice isn't the only thing that can help your student become a great reader.  Make reading aloud to your kids a regular part of your day.  There are so many advantages to reading to your kids.  First of all, from the time we are born, we seek pleasure.  Think about it, babies cry if they want to be held, eat or have their diaper changed.  When you read to a baby, the baby associates the snuggling and closeness with pleasure.  The sound of your voice is calming and the baby gets the message that books relate to life, and bring peace, warmth,and security.  But what if you are past the baby days?  You can still choose a great book, whether a picture book or a chapter book and read together regardless of the age of your child.  I highly recommend this for reluctant readers.  Kids who think they don't like books just don't like to read either because they haven't spent enough time doing it to get good at it or don't have books they are interested in.  However, many of these kids don't mind if someone reads something to them.  Once you start reading to your kids, you may find that even the most reluctant readers become a little more interested in books.  

Stay tuned for some great read aloud book reviews of books that you can share with the children in your life and help them to Fall into reading!