March is National Reading Month, and kicks off with Read Across America Day on March 2, Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Your PTA and families can support reading both at school and in the home. Reading is a critically important skill for students to develop, and children who read 30 minutes each day progress faster and do better academically than their peers who read 15 minutes or less daily.
Host a PTA Family Reading Experience
National PTA has partnered with Amazon Kindle to bring the Family Reading Experience for kindergarten through grade 5. The program provides everything your PTA needs to host the event. At your event, there are six stations with literacy games for participants to play. Games are divided between kindergarten through grade 2 and grades 3 through 5. There are four different themes to use, so your PTA can host different events during the year or rotate themes each year. Most of the resources, including promotional materials, are available in Spanish as well as English to help support English Language Learners and their families. Plan your event today!
Supporting Reading at Home
The Getting Smart blog recently posted an article on four ways that adults can support child literacy. It included suggestions both for teachers at school and families at home. For families at home, the suggestions were:
- Make Time: Have a “Family Reading Time” when everyone in the family grabs their book and sits down to read at the same time.
- Provide Choice: Even the youngest child can pick which book to read, even if it’s just because they like books with red covers. Make sure the choice being made in your house is not to read or not to read, but what to read.
- Read to Kids: Reading to kids tends to taper off the more adept they become at reading, but children can understand much more than they are capable of reading on their own. Hearing words read to them before they come across them on their own can also help with learning pronunciation.
- Talk About Books: Has any child ever provided an informative answer to, “How was school today?” You will likely have a bit more success with, “What are you reading now?” and the answer can provide a jumping off point for further discussion: “Do you like it?” “Why?” “Who is your favorite character?”
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