The end of the school year means the beginning of many things: long days at the beach, picnics and barbecues with family and friends, hours of unstructured, outdoor play time for the kids… and summer reading. If you are anything like me, summer reading is not something you plan for and schedule throughout the summer, but rather it is something you scramble to have your kids complete the last week of August. I know that this is really shortchanging my kids, so I have a few ideas that I am going to incorporate this summer to try to keep on track with summer reading.
- Assemble books in advance: We will go to the library or bookstore early in the summer and get at least 4 books from the summer reading lists for each of the kids. Hopefully this will be a fun activity that will help jumpstart our efforts.
- 1 book per week challenge: I plan to offer my kids a small (e.g. a candy bar) reward for reading 1 book in 1 week. If they read 1 book EVERY week for the entire summer, they will receive a larger reward… maybe a toy or game of their choice, or a dinner out with me and Larry.
- Keep reading on the schedule: We will designate at least 30 minutes per day for reading, just as we do throughout the school year. I like this to be the 30 minutes before bed, because it helps the kids wind down after a long day… and it does not interfere with play time!
- Keep the kids accountable: Creating a chart with each of the kids names, and check marks for every book read, keeps the kids accountable. And, it might help encourage more reading by injecting a healthy dose of competition.
What do you do to encourage our kids to read over the summer?