Easy ways to encourage a love of reading

The holidays are coming and one of our favourite online teachers, Mr. Shameer has written this handy guide to encourage children to keep reading during the school break.

Shameer is a strong advocate for building the enjoyment of reading in his students and we have seen first-hand how his passion leads reluctant readers to not only improve their reading but enjoy reading as well.

Shameer’s suggestions for nuturing a love of reading in children are:

• Let children read anything they want, even if it’s something you think is not quality reading, e.g., comic books
• If a child does not like the book they are reading, put it to one side and find a book they do enjoy reading
• Parents – never stop reading to your kids. As well as being a great bonding experience it can help demonstrate reading skills.

Why is holiday reading important?

Numerous studies indicate that students who don’t read or read infrequently during their school vacation see their reading abilities stagnate or decline. This effect becomes more pronounced as students get older and advance through the school system.

If a child reads just 6 books over the summer, or several longer ones, they can prevent the decline in reading comprehension skills.

Every year about a third of our students report not reading a single book over the holidays, while another third report reading just one book. We see this then play out in their reading abilities and relationships as they come ready for Grade 3 and beyond. Simply put, when children don’t read over the holidays, we see a decline in their reading skills which means that they start the next year at a deficit.

How can you help?

While we know many of you already promote holiday reading (thank you!), here are a few more ideas on how adults can help kids make great holiday reading plans:

• Have a to-be-read list: All year we have learnt how to choose books that we would like to read. Let your child exercise choice in selecting books for their to-be-read list.
• Visit places where books are present: Sign up for a library card and make it a routine every week to go and get new books. Bookstores are great too.
• Make it social: We love reading a great book and then talking to others about the book or even better passing the book on to them. Make reading a social aspect of your holidays, have reading ‘parties’ where kids can discuss books safely, create a book swap with other families. Offer up yourself to read with you learner or get more then one copy of a book (if you have access to them) so that others may join in the reading. Offer yourself up as a reading partner or get a friend of your child to be a reading partner.
• Read aloud: Many home adults assume that their kids (especially those who can read independently) do no want to be read aloud to, and yet, our students tell us repeatedly how much they miss it. So why not find a great book and take some time to experience the book together?
• Use audiobooks: We love that we can borrow audiobooks from the public libraries. When your children are in the car, put on an audiobook. Have a copy of the book ready if anyone wants to keep reading once you have reached your destination.
• Find great books: Ask other adults what their kids are reading and use social media to get recommendations. Anything to find out what great books are available!
• Create a routine: Helping your child create and maintain a routine where reading is a natural part of the day means that they will create ownership over the habit, thus (hopefully) inspiring further reading. Whatever the routine may be, sit down and read yourself, it is vital for all of the children to see their home adults as readers.
• Support real choice: School-break is a great time for guilt-free reading where we reach for those books we cannot wait to read because they will suck us right in, where we fill up our reserves so we can perhaps finally tackle that really challenging book that we have been wanting to read. Don’t worry about whether the book seems too easy or too hard, just read great books.
• If possible, surround your learner with books: Again, this depends on how many books you have access to, but leave books wherever your kids go. Have books in the car, in their rooms, in the kitchen, living room, etc. That way the books seem to gall into their hands at random times, stopped in traffic, quiet time before lunch, a sneak read before falling asleep.
• Allow and embrace abandoning books, but ask questions: When a child abandons a book, this is a great thing. They are learning that this book is not for them and they can use their energy for a book that will be for them. But ask questions so that they may think about what type of book they might like. Make sure that there are other books they want to read as well so they can keep trying to find great books.
• Explore new books together: Holiday time can be a great time to try to push your own habits for reading, as long as it doesn’t feel like a chore. Set a reading challenge, compete against each other if you want, challenge each other to read each other’s favourite books and revel in the shared experience.
• Be invested and interested: This does not mean that you ask your child to write reports about what they read, in fact, we would be very careful as to what type of work goes along with reading over the summer besides reading, but do ask questions. Ask whether they enjoyed the book or not. What they plan on reading next. Read along with them or beside them. Make reading a part of your life so it can become a part of theirs.
• Keep it fun: Too often, especially if your child is not a well-developed reader, we can get rather nervous as parents and think that we must keep them on a regimented reading program at all costs. That we must have them write about reading and track it somehow. Have them read, yes, but keep it light and fun. The last thing we want to do is to make reading a worse experience for them or adding more stress to your family.

 

We hope that the school-break is a time for relaxation and joy for you. Thank you for an incredible year of learning, we are excited to spend our last couple of days together with the kids. For more great practical tips from Mr. Shameer follow his Instagram account @shameer_reads.

Contact The Reading Specialists today if you suspect your child may need a little help.