Encouraging Kids To Read

1. Encouraging Kids To Read Creative ways to encourage students to read

2. Positive Reinforcement • Positive reinforcement from parents and teachers helps • Children need to know that adults in their lives care about reading

3. Book Allowance • Provide an allowance for books • Encourages reading

4. Magazines • Buy from a good magazine rack • Easily accessible • Affordable • Exercise some judgement on reading material

5. Subscriptions • Subscriptions to a magazine are a good idea • Promotes the excitement of “ownership”

6. Model Reading • Provide a good example • Children who see their parents reading, often become readers • Acceptance that reading is an everyday activity

7. Read Aloud • Reading to children is one of the best ways to encourage an interest in reading • Delegate older kids to read to younger siblings • If nothing else, simply read newspaper articles aloud

8. Special Book Place • Establish a special place in the child's room for his or her books • A feeling of ownership is important

9. Library • Make regular family visits to the library • even if your child doesn't seem interested in taking out books

10. Meet The Librarian • Introduce your child to the librarian • Most librarians will be only too happy to help your child find interesting material to read

11. Recommend Books • Provide your expertise • Tell the child how difficult or easy the books are to read • let the child decide if he or she wants to read them

12. Book Abandonment • Accept that a child may abandon a book halfway through. Hasn’t that happened to you? • Some books are not worth struggling with (for you) • Some advice suggests you abandon a book after 60 pages if it doesn’t grab you

13. Advertise Your Purchases • Buy books for yourself and let your children know you do it

14. Reading To You • If your child decides to read something to you, be patient and let him or her read to you.

15. Amazon • Amazon is a great repository of books • Use customer reviews and ratings to find books your child likes • Affordable

16. The Internet • The internet can be a great resource • Help your child find the information you need • Implement parental controls for their protection • Be discerning when filtering out inappropriate material

17. Hobbies And Interests • Encourage kids to have hobbies and interests • Help to develop such interests by finding relevant reading material

18. Praise • Praise the child for his or her reading, when appropriate: • Long books tackled • Hard books conquered

19. Topics Of Interest • When a topic of interest develops for your family (like a vacation), bring home books on the topic • Share with the family

20. Discussion • Discuss with your child any book he or she is reading for a class at school. • Read the book yourself.

21. Opportunities • Spot opportunities for reading: • Ingredients on food • Instructions for assembling something • Cooking recipes • Rules for a new game

22. Display Good Books • Display good books somewhere in your home • Let children know that books have an important place in the home • have a generous selection of a wide variety of books

23. Ownership • Have your child put his name in his books • Ownership is important