As promised last week, Gail Terp is back with a wonderful post about encouraging reading and literacy throughout the summer. Here’s Gail:
Summer is a great time to bring home the message that reading is fun. It’s a time for reading just what you want, rereading favorites as often as you choose, discovering new information, and listening to great stories in a leisurely way.
Summer is a time to leave homework and reading instruction behind. It’s all about reading pleasure and practice. Just let it flow….
Although I run a reading tips post every summer, each year I find new ideas. Here are some old and new ideas for you to consider.
Be a reader yourself. Show your kids that you value reading by reading yourself.
Read aloud, read aloud, read aloud! Be creative—read alouds aren’t just for bedtime. Try between chores, while waiting for appointments, dinner to be done, food in a restaurant, standing in line…
Listen to audio books. Car trips are a perfect time to listen to audio books. They give a shared experience and can spark conversation. Kids can often listen to a higher level book than they can read. They’re great vocabulary builders, too!
Ask friends and classmates for reading recommendations. And don’t stop there—ask relatives, neighbors, and other trusted adults about their favorite books when they were kids. This could set your kids down brand new reading avenues!
Allow your child to choose his books. Summer is for fun! Sure, we want to learn too, but fun comes first. Don’t get hung up on the reading level. Let you child choose what is interesting.
Read the newspaper. Newspaper writing can be tricky, but some is very straightforward. Let your child choose a story and you can read it together. See an interesting picture? Try to guess its caption and/or write a new one.
Write new words to a favorite tune. This is a wonderfully creative idea and could be hilarious!
Write stories and plays. This is a time for creativity, not writing instruction. If your child wants help, he’ll ask, otherwise, let it be all about ideas.
Write letters Letters can take all forms: emails, postcards, letters, paper airplanes… Try designing your own stationery and postcards. Create a box or bucket of fun writing materials—paper, cardstock, markers, fancy pens and pencils, glitter… Send to: friends, relatives, authors, experts…
Board Games. Many games have a reading component, and even if they don’t, play them anyway because they’re fun!
Don’t limit summer reading to books. Try magazines. Your library probably has a good selection to start with. Also try brochures, comics, directions, maps, atlases, cereal boxes…
Read a book and watch the movie together. This works for movies in theaters and movies you rent or get from the library.
Reread your favorites Summer is a great time to read old favorites, either independently or as a read aloud. Maybe create a shared book list of everyone’s favorite kids’ books. Then trade books!
Check out reading programs at your library Many local libraries have summer programs. Some schools do, too.
5 more ways to motivate summer reading Click here for ideas from Education.com
Resources used to compile this list: 
PBS Parents
Reading Rockets
North Shore Pediatric Therapy
NCLD
Education.com
Living Montessori Now
Teach Preschool
in children’s writing. In addition to giving the Keynote address on Saturday, Illustrator Floyd Cooper, demonstrated one of his techniques of smudging with an eraser until an image appeared. Amazing!
Have to give a shout out to my friend Ame Dykman who made the 2014 Pen Literary Awards short list. Best of Luck!
Darlene Beck-Jacobson 