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Reading: Good summertime activity for kids
| Article published on Monday, June 8, 2009 |
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With another long summer away from school, many parents wonder how to keep their children busy.
While certain TV shows and video games can be educational, nothing seems to beat reading; or, for very young children, being read to. Summer reading programs are a great way to provide children regular opportunities to read books, play writing games and listen to stories. While children might be more focused on the fun and prizes involved, educators know that these programs help little kids get ready to read and big kids to raise scores.
A study conducted by Jimmy Kim at Harvard’s Center for Evaluation found that reading four or five books over the summer months had an impact on fall reading achievement comparable to attending summer school. Another study concluded that “children who read more than a half an hour per day during the summer had significantly higher reading comprehension gains by the fall compared with children who did not.”
In addition, the study showed that “children whose parents read to them at least twice a week over the summer also improved comprehension skills more than children whose parents did not.”
Public libraries all over the country are busily gearing up for the 2009 summer reading program Be Creative at Your Library. The program is sponsored by the Collaborative Summer Library Program, which is a grassroots consortium of states working together to provide high-quality summer reading program materials for children at the lowest cost possible for their public libraries.
The CSLP began in 1987 in Minnesota and has grown to include libraries from virtually every state in the country.
Be Creative at Your Library is not only a wonderful free program that promotes parent/child involvement, but also gives kids an opportunity to have fun while learning valuable skills. Program coordinators often incorporate puppet shows, crafts, skits and other fun activities to help children interact with the characters they read about and make various subjects come alive for them in a meaningful way. To learn more about children’s educational materials, visit www.scholastic.com, www.billygorilly.com or www.pbskids.org.
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Article published on Monday, June 8, 2009
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