One of my goals as a parent is to raise good readers. While I wish I could say that I’d like to raise children who like to read as well, I am fast learning that it is very difficult to dictate what your children like. At best, I can expose them to a lot of things and immerse them in things that are important to our family, but at the end of the day, it’ll be up to them to decide if they actually like something, no? But back to my original goal. Even if my children end up hating to read, I hope they atleast learn to be good readers: readers who can choose books that are atleast mildly interesting to them, books that occassionally challenge their ability or thoughts, books that provide them with knowledge, a laugh or strike a chord with them somehow. Our children have been read to since they were infants, one of them has had a love for books from that moment on and today, she is often found with her nose in a book. Another took years before he’d sit long enough to hear more than a few words at a time. And yet another reads purely for information. I am grateful that my children have always had teachers who have also placed high value on reading. So when I came across this bit of subway art, I knew it had to be turned into our end of year school gifts.
I started with this cast of characters:
I love this piece because it captures just about every single “expectation” that we’ve set forth for our kids. You can download your own copy at eighteen25.
The piece of wood is actually a cutting board that I found at Daiso. And I used red acrylic paint and glossy mod podge that I had leftover from other projects. Put all together, it turned into this:
I made an extra one for our incredible school librarian too. She’s makes being a librarian a way cool job.
Changing topics only slightly, one of the ways I will encourage my kids to read this summer is to sign them up for different local reading programs. If you don’t do this already, I highly encourage you to check into it! Your local library probably has a program, as do many bookstores. My kids are participating in a minimum of four programs so far. I recently heard a stat (I’m not sure I actually believe, but I will share it anyhow) that claims that if children read just four books at their level over the summer, they will maintain their end of school year reading level over the summer.
How do you keep your kids reading over the summer? And what good reads have they picked out so far?
PS – If you’re stuck finding reading programs, here are two:
Barnes and Noble, Summer Reading Imagination Destination
My Three Kid Circus 