I know this last school year has been A LOT for all of us, parents, teachers and kids alike. And you are ready for a break from school and ready to get out of the house for fun! But, if we do nothing else this summer, daily reading needs to continue in order to improve and maintain academic skills over the summer. Here are a few tips to help you find the right books and keep the kids interested in reading all summer. 

Turn reading into an adventure. Right-brain kids thrive when they are actively involved in the learning process and it needs to include opportunities for them to be creative. Pick a theme for the summer and bring books to life with these 5 tips. Watch it. Read it. Research it. Draw it. Act it out.

Improve reading comprehension with Amazon Echo. It’s well accepted that reading aloud to kids has enormous benefits, especially improved vocabulary, proper fluency and reading comprehension. But we don’t always have time to fit it into our schedule. Amazon Echo and Audible takes the burden off of you. And, your kids can to listen their way through their summer reading list.  

Take the guess work out of choosing interesting books- Every year Battle of the Books creates new reading lists. They start at second grade reading level and continue up to college prep. Each list has up to 30 books, 50% on, 25% above, 25% below grade level of participants and interest levels should cover a broad range of topics which may include some non-fiction titles as well as fiction. Some other great lists to get you started are the Caldecott medal winners, the Newberry medal winners and the ALA notable books.

Follow the ‘just right’ rules- You don’t want your child skating by with easy books, you don’t want them struggling with difficult books… you want your child perfectly suited with a book that is ‘just right’.  And yes, that’s a Goldilocks reference. Click to download!

Remember, it takes a lot of practice to become a confident, fluent reader and it’s going to take time. Praise and encourage them to keep taking a few minutes everyday for reading practice. Keep it positive. Make it fun. Keep calm and carry on. And keep providing read aloud opportunities. Let them relax in the comfort of a good story and the sound of an experienced reader.