I picked up my local newspaper (The State, Columbia,SC) and was happy to see a headline on the front of one of the sections that read “Raising a Reader”.  Reading has been such an important part of my life, and I’ve enjoyed it so much, that it is very important to me that my 7 1/2 year old son be a “reader”, too.  Since he was born, we have been reading together almost every day, mainly at bedtime.  It has been a goal of mine that he enjoy reading and that it be an important part of his life, too!

The story in the newspaper was a feature because a special day is coming up, and that is Read Across America Day.  The day is officially Tuesday March 2, 2010, but can certainly be celebrated at any time.  The special day was created by the National Education Association, and they are encouraging schools all across the U.S. to focus on reading with the goal of motivating people of all ages to read.  If you go to www.nea.org/readacross, you can find all kinds of ideas to help you put the focus on reading in your school or at home.

The article in this morning’s “The State” newspaper was full of tips from some various area District Teachers of the Year that could definitely help you as you work to “Raise a Reader”.  The teachers who contributed to the article were Sarah Bowers of Richland (SC) District 1, Becky Krantz of Lexingon-Richland(SC) District 5, and Kimmy Varner of Lexington (SC) District 4.  The article also stated that some of the ideas came from http://www.rif.org/, which is the website for Reading is Fundamental, which is the Nation’s Largest Children’s Literacy Organization.

The newspaper article stated that in order to raise a child who loves to read you must “Create a (reading) Culture At Home”.  I definitely agree with that.  Kids need to see you, the parent, reading.  The newspaper article stated, “Young people are more likely to model behaviors they see regularly.  Don’t worry about what you are reading.  Everything from newspapers and news magazines to biographies, fantasies, and classics will show your young person that reading is important.”  Another suggestion, which I definitely find is helpful, is to “Leave all sorts of reading materials around your home, including child-oriented books, magazines, newspapers and colorful catalogs.”  I make sure that we always have plenty of reading material around the house, particularly in our den.  I also make certain that we subscribe to at least a couple of child-oriented magazines.  My son is particularly interested in science and nature, so I subscribed to “National Geographic for Kids” and he seems to really enjoy it.  I am always thrilled when I see my son with a book or magazine in his hand and he is reading on his own, outside of the times that we read together!

As I mentioned earlier, my son and I definitely read together.  We have done so since he was born (of course, I did the reading for many years!).  Now he is doing much more of the reading when we read together and I love that.  The newspaper article in “The State” said “Read aloud with and to your child every day.  Experts recommend 20-30 minutes a day, but even as little as 10 minutes a day can help build skills - or, restore confidence for a child with poor reading skills.”  It is important - very important - to pick books that are on a topic or subject that is interesting or appealing to your child.

It is really important for children and teens to make regular trips to the library and to bookstores.  I remember how thrilled my son was when he got his first library card for our public library.  He likes to go the library and always manages to find a lot of books that he wants to check out.  He always manages to find TOO many books, but I generally let him check-out all of the ones he picks, as long as it is within the library limits of course, so he will have a good selection to choose from when he gets home.  He is very good at finding books in the library that are on topics that interest him, such as construction, animals, nature, machinery, etc.  He also likes to go to bookstores and we do that from time to time.  For Valentine’s Day, my wife and I included a gift card to a local bookstore and he seemed pleased with that.

A final suggestion that I would like to pass along, that came from the article in ”The State” newspaper, was to “Introduce the bookmark.  Remind your youngster that you don’t have to finish a book in one sitting; you can stop after a few pages or a chapter, and pick up where you left off at another time.  Don’t try to persuade your child to finish a book he or she doesn’t like.  Recommend putting the book aside and trying another”.

Reading is a wonderful way to add to your life.  I hope you will make it your goal to “Raise a Reader!”. 
 

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