Don’t let your child fall behind over break!
Winter Break is 17 days long! It is extremely important that children continue to read over break. To help parents and kids keep track of their daily reading over break, I will be sending home a Reading Calendar and stickers to stick on each day after reading is complete.
Tips to get your child to read 20-30 minutes each day:
- Plan to read at the same time each day to avoid forgetting.
- If your child struggles to read for extended periods of time, break the reading into 10 minute chunks.
- Read after breakfast, in the car, on a plane, at bedtime or any other convenient time. Do what works best for your family.
- Encourage your child to show off their reading skills and read to relatives that visit! (And ask relatives to read to your child!)
- Children benefit from listening to reading too. Reading aloud to your child helps them understand story structures and sets a great example for fluent reading.
- Give the gift of books! Take a trip to the public library and get a free library card.
- Finally, balance screen time with indoor or outdoor play. Consider setting a certain time each day for TV, video games, or tablets, and setting a timer. That way your child knows when they can expect their screen time to end, and they will begin to learn not to bug you about it! Pediatricians recommend limiting first graders to two hours or less.
If your reading calendar is lost, you can download, print, and use a marker or pen to check of each day after reading.
