One of my goals in parenthood is to raise lifelong readers. I want my children to love books, and love reading! This Spring I watched a Google hangout (a video chat) titled
Spring Into Reading: Reading Questions Answered by Kid Bloggers where numerous awesome bloggers discussed how to instill reading and literacy into our children.
Here are a few of the questions they covered:
- How do you foster a love of reading in your home?
- How do you decide which books to read with your kids?
- How do you get kids to sit still when reading?
- How do you keep kids focused when reading?
- When do you start reading chapter books to kids?
- What are storytime rituals at your house?
- What are simple ways (that don't involve any extra materials) that you use to engage your children as you read stories aloud?
You should totally click on the link above and watch the videos! I LOVED it! It was so fun to listen to other mommies and bloggers discuss how reading occurs in their homes! I had many "ah-ha" moments and was able to take away so much from watching this video that I thought I would share what I learned with you. I implemented so much of their ideas right away.
-One idea is to read to your children all times of the day: at breakfast, lunch, or dinner, while they are taking a bath or anytime you can. I started doing this and love it. I now read to the boys at lunch time. I also now read to the boys while they are in the bath. They are splashing and having fun and they can't go anywhere! I now keep a basket of books in the bathroom to grab while they bathe. I also got really tickled one day when JP and CA both picked up books to read while using the bathroom one day!
-One blogger gave the idea to have books in every room of the house. I already had books the boys rooms and our front room, but I found baskets to put more books in each room of our home.
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| This is a new basket in our living room that I love! I found this new item at Micheal's and just couldn't resist buying it. It also fits quite nicely inside our coffee table. |
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| TC loves the new basket too! |
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| I love Sandra Boynton books so I made just one basket for this collection. |
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| These are the books in TC's room. |
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| This a reused book holder from my teaching days that we use to hold our library books. All of these books stay in one location of our home (on a good day). |
-Another idea was to start reading chapter books when you think your child is ready. They advised if your child can sit still for 10-15 minutes and understands story elements to begin and see how it goes. I have done this with JP(age 5 1/2) and he is loving it!
I hope these ideas inspire you as much as they did me! Happy Reading!
Looks great! Of course I share this goal too. Even my 3 year old will listen to some chapter books, but he does come and go.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Brittney! I am loving reading chapter books, my used to be "teacher brain/now Mommy of 3 brain" forgot how fun they can be! Hope you and your 3 precious ones are great!
DeleteHi, Trina.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled onto your blog from a blog carnival. It's always been one of my main desires to foster a love for reading in my children. The best way is to read to them an to let them see me reading for my own pleasure. I also have a basket in each bathroom and in the living room with books. I change the books around every few weeks. I've gotten some great book suggestions from HomeschoolLiterature.com They have book reviews and book clubs with studies. What I like most about the site is the books they have with stories about homeschoolers! Isn't that a great idea?
Thanks for your great post! :)
Hi Janet! Thanks for your sweet comments! I too love reading to my kiddos and I too plan on changing out the books every few weeks. Thanks for the tip about the site. I'll have to check that out. Thanks!
DeleteTrina