We live in an amazing age of technology. Never before have we had so much information available at our fingertips (literally). We have the convenience of cell phones, laptops, video phones, instant messaging, texting, iPhones, email and more. If you ever have a question about anything you can Google it, and if you want to keep in touch just Twitter or get on Facebook.

All of these things are wonderful and connect people like never before. They give us access to more information in two seconds than a person in the 16th Century was exposed to in their entire life.

With all the influx of technology, I sometimes wonder if we’re losing some of the essentials. A 13-year-old girl won $25,000 from a texting competition (she averages over 8,000 texts per month to friends and family), but 37% of fourth graders are below a ‘basic’ reading level.

Speaking of fourth graders, many states, like California, use fourth grade literacy rates to estimate how many prison cells they need to build for future inmates. There is a direct link between illiteracy and crime. The average American reads less than one book per year, and 55% of Americans do not read a non-fiction book after high school.

• On average, Americans ages 15 to 24 spend almost two hours a day watching TV, and only seven minutes of their daily leisure time on reading.
• American 15-year-olds ranked fifteenth in average reading scores for 31 industrialized nations, behind Poland, Korea, France, and Canada, among others.
• Money spent on books, adjusted for inflation, dropped 14 percent from 1985 to 2005 and has fallen dramatically since the mid-1990s.

Is it any wonder that literacy is on the decline, with Americans spending more on fast food than books and education combined. Over 1.9 Billion dollars is spent on Halloween candy each year, and over $2 billion on chewing gum.

Well, the economy is not good right now, we can’t afford to buy books. Consider for a moment how much you spend on ‘necessary’ expenses like cell phones, internet, cable, Direct TV, movies, video games and more. Americans easily spend hundreds per month on these expenses. While there is nothing inherently wrong with this, ask yourself, to you have a budgeted amount for books?

Brian Tracy said that you can tell a person’s values by their actions. If you believe reading is important, and you want your children to reap the full benefits of life-long learning, are your actions (and more specifically your spending) conveying that message to your children? If you spend your money every month so that there’s nothing left over for books, then your actions say that books really aren’t that important to you.

But they are important, crucially important. Here’s why:

• Fourth-graders who reported daily reading for fun scored higher on the NAEP reading test than peers who reported less reading for fun (NCES, 2001b).
• Children who score at the 90th percentile on a reading test spent five times as many minutes per day reading books as children at the 50th percentile (Anderson, Wilson & Fielding, 1988).
• Children and adults who read become more intelligent, influential, earn a larger income and achieve higher levels of success

So what determines whether you raise a reader or a texter?

• Families play an important role in their children’s reading success.
• Studies of individual families show that what they do to support literacy in the home is more important to student success than family income or education (Ballen & Moles, 1994).
• When adults interact with young children — talking, singing and playing rhyming games — they stimulate language and vocabulary development and build important foundations for learning to read (Hart & Risley, 1995).
• Reading to preschoolers is the most important thing families can do to prepare them for reading (Adams, 1990).
• Reading aloud to infants stimulates their brains to create new learning pathways and strengthen existing ones (Shore, 1997).

Simply put, give books and reading and important place in your life. Let your actions reflect that it is consequential. Here are some action ideas to get you started:

1. Decide to make a love of reading your most important educational goal for your children. Children who love to read will excel at whatever they do.
2. Show your children you value reading by letting them see you do it.
3. Have a wide variety of books on hand, as well as newspapers, comics, magazines, etc. Build a home library for you and your children.
4. Find books that your children like- an interest in the subject is the first step to pleasure in reading.
5. Spend more on books than you do on Disney movies

Click here to see more ideas.

Books about Adoption

American Indian Heritage Month

National Life Writing Month

November 9-15 is National Young Readers Week

Phonics

First Readers

Young Readers

Chapter Books and Classics

November 9-16 World Kindness Week

Practice Random Acts of Kindness

November 20-26 National Farm-City Week

Books on Farms

November 22-29 National Bible Week

Bible Stories

November 22-28 National Game and Puzzle Week

Family Games and Puzzles

November 20 Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Books

For Preschoolers

1. Take your children o the library often while they are young and eager to go
2. On special occasions, take your children to the bookstore and let them pick their favorite book
3. Buy lots of cheap books at garage sales and flea markets
4. Spend more time (and money) on books than on Disney movies
5. Make read aloud time fun for your child
6. Read whatever books your child wants to read
7. Narrate the story with voices and action, get into it and have fun!
8. Wrap up quickly when your child loses interest
9. Let your child participate as much as possible- let her finish the sentence, read the pictures, take turns reading, etc.
10. Plan play activities that involve books- picnics, crafts, science projects, kits.
11. Act out favorite stories and characters from books
12. Let them ‘read’ stories to their dolls or younger siblings
13. Play bookstore or library
14. Do projects, recipes, crafts and activities from books
15. Play reading games- cross of shopping lists, put name tags around the house, play school
16. Have a reading time after meals
17. Be aware of how your child learns best- visual, auditory, or hands on
18. Do a reading night with popcorn and blankets, instead of movie night
19. Don’t do any activities that your child doesn’t enjoy. Learning should be fun!
20. Don’t buy books that your child isn’t interested in and make them read them
21. After your child learns to read continue to read books to them above their reading level

Elementary School to Teenagers

1. Encourage reading a book series
2. Continue to encourage and participate in library use
3. Don’t schedule so many activities that your children don’t have time to read
4. Continue to spend money on books as well as all their other activities
5. Try reading plays aloud (and acting them out)
6. Have a quiet, comfortable reading area in your home. Make it the most comfortable room in the house
7. Fathers, spend time reading with your kids
8. Keep books and magazines in the car
9. Don’t make your kids turn the lights out at night, let them stay up and read!
10. Only own one television, and never put it in your children’s room
11. Cancel your cable subscription and buy books instead
12. Don’t force them to read something they don’t like
13. Send teenagers to the bookstore with money to buy any book they like
14. Allow them to choose their own books from the Book of the Month Club
15. Read a book together at the same time and discuss it
16. Encourage them to write and share what they read about. Do ‘book reports’
17. Keep perspective. Reading should be the number one educational goal, but not the only goal
18. “It is impossible to sit down to write if you have not stood up to live”- Emerson

My children have rarely been to the doctor, except for a couple of emergency room visits. As a result, they seldom, if ever, play doctor. (Which isn’t suprising, children play what they see, their mimickers).

We received a shipment of books from UPS two days ago (always exciting!) and in it was Daisy the Doctor from the Jobs People Do Series at Usborne. My husband read it to them last night as the went to bed. It’s a simple story about Daisy Flowers and her day as a doctor.

The result? Today I heard the children walking around gathering items- “This can be to listen to the heart. This will be for our x-ray. Mom, we’re being doctors.”

This is one example of the power of reading. It introduces children to new ideas, experiences, and realities about the world. It expands their mind, literally, helping them to grow and develop, and as Oliver Wendall Holmes once said:

A mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to it’s original dimensions

Reading is a powerful way to stretch minds and expand realities- the purpose of education.

And what about imagination? Albert Einstein once said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”

Imagination is what drives invention, creation and progress. Without dreamers with imagination we might still be driving horse drawn carriages and sending letters by mail. Our children need to be dreamers and doers.

Let them recieve as many ideas in their mind as possible. Introduce them to a wide array of concepts, thoughts and notions. Then their imagination will run wild with the endless conceivable combinations and possibilities. They will be the ones who create an even better future.

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.

So let’s introduce our children to the world they live in through live experiences and through reading about the experiences of others, and then let’s let them dream and imagine an even better world.

There are so many tools available to us today to assist in guiding our children’s learning. The internet is one of those.

One of our favorite sites, Starfall.com offers spelling games with simple words. (Go to the page here) They have games to play in which the kids can finish the word- easy words like fox, box, log, dog, etc. It sounds out the letters for them and then says the word.

Additionally, they can print out the words that they completed, and it creates a nice worksheet where they can trace and write the word, and then create a sentence and draw a picture about it.

The interactive capability on the internet is great for combining auditory, visual and kinesthetic. You can then transfer what they do on the computer to a worksheet that carries the learning further. It makes learning a little more fun than doing only worksheets.

Another way to make spelling fun is to make it informal. Don’t require that your child sit down and study their spelling. Take a walk and review the words, spell the things around you, dog, bike, ball, book, spider- whatever you find in the world around you, especially the things that your children takes interest in like dragons, princesses, ballet or karate.

For older children, you can play online Wordfind or Spelling Match. For younger children, sing spelling songs and word games

Allow your children to type on the computer. Let them send emails, or post on a blog, to practice spelling and computer skills (a must for today’s world) (Here’s an idea that incorporates keyboard and flash cards)

Remember that teaching something does not have to be difficult or cumbersome. The more natural you can make it, the more you can relate it to your child’s life, and the more fun it is, the easier it will be for them to learn and remember it. Our purpose is to make learning fun, incorporate it into daily life and develop into a lifetime habit, instead of for only a 7 hours a day, 5 days a week for 18 years. Learning is always!

For more ideas on teaching spelling (on and off line), click here.

Spelling Ideas and Lesson Plans

Spark Interest in Spelling

Spelling Ideas!

Word Find

Create Your Own Spelling Lists or Game

Play Games or Create Lists

Teach Spelling as a “Word Study” instead of unrelated words

Books

Ages: 2 - 12 • Size of book: 9 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches • Pages: 64 + 6 sticker pages

Ages: 2 - 12 • Size of book: 9 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches • Pages: 64

Ages: 10 years and up • Size of book: 6 3/4 x 9 1/2 inches • Pages: 32

Choose from the following topics

October is…

National Book Month

Why not celebrate National Book Month by committing to read-aloud for 20 minutes everyday as a family?

Online Activities

Read Along online at Leading to Reading for Preschoolers or Reading Planet for 5+

Check out Oprah’s Book Club Kid’s Reading List

Celebrate Reading at Reading Rainbow (I can go anywhere! Take a look, it’s in a book…)

Top 100 Children’s Books- from NEA (National Education Association)

Top 10 Best Books to Read Aloud

Celebrate National Book Month by adding to your personal library. Discuss the importance of reading with your children and give them a book.

Babies & Toddlers

Preschool & Kindergarten

School Age

Ages 5+

Ages 9+

Halloween

Online Activities

Apples4theteacher.com

A site that has online games, coloring pages to print, party and costume ideas and even interactive pumpkin carving!

Starfall.com

Our favorite site has some fun Halloween online reading

EnchantedLearning.com

More printouts, coloring, crafts and alphabet and number worksheets related to Halloween

Books that you can get at the library or order for your home library.

Activities and Kits

Books for Young Children

Young Readers

Readers 10+

More Halloween Books and Activities

An excellent way to promote a love of books with your children. Imagine their faces when the kid a package at their door with books just for them. They won’t be able to wait to read them. You’ll send a message to your children that reading is important and special.

Make a list of all the books you would like to receive over the next year (as few or as many as you want per month). Shipping and handling is only $3.00 per month, until you spend $63, then it’s only 8% of the purchase price. The books will come by UPS to your door. We will charge your credit card only once per month. You may cancel at any time. (To see the books, click here)

To order email bookofthemonth@read-aloud.org

Please include your name, address, phone number and what book(s) you would like for each month of the year. I will then contact you by phone regarding payment.

**Special Offer**

Order before October 31 and receive a free Christmas Treasury

Children are sponges. Watch any child in the way that they play, alone or with others, and you’re likely to recognize a few of your own habits and mannerisms. They are they master observers, and they reflect back exactly what they see.

So in a blinding flash of the obvious, if you want your children to be happy, fulfilled, successful and fully functioning, then that is the type of behavior you need to model. That is the type of person you need to be.

Each year, children spend 900 hours in the classroom, and 7,800 hours outside of the classroom. Especially during the early years, much of that time is spent with parents. Which teacher is likely to have the greatest influence? The one in the classroom or the one at home?

Then the question remains? How can I be the most positive role model possible? How can I ensure that I am a success (Earl Nightengale defines Success as the progressive realization of a worthy ideal), and demonstrate successful living for my children?

There are three simple steps to ensuring the success and happiness of your children (and yourself):

First, become a voracious reader. One common denominator among successful people is that they read more than average people do. People who are committed to reading and self-development become the best at what they do, including parenting.

Brian Tracy, best selling author and motivational speaker, says,

” Becoming an excellent reader is mandatory. It is no longer something you can choose to do or not do. It is absolutely essential and indispensable for your success.

A great many people do not read very much. Fifty-eight percent of adult Americans never read a nonfiction book from cover to cover after they finish school. The average American reads less than one book per year. In fact, according to a Gallup study of the most successful men and women in America, reading one nonfiction book per month will put you into the top 1 percent of living Americans.

People don’t read because they’ve not been ingrained with the absolute importance of it. Lifelong learning and reading are the bare minimum for success in today’s world.

Many people also have the false idea that learning is something that took place in school, and stops after high school and college, unless you enroll in more courses.

Learning should be a daily habit, and not something that is only a part of ‘school.’ It is your responsibility to take charge of your own education.

Second, build a personal library. Research shows that having access to printed materials (books, magazines and newspapers) increase the opportunities for and likelihood of reading more often. The more you read, the better you’ll become at it, the more you’ll enjoy it and the more you will do it.

Jim Trelease, in his book The Read-Aloud Handbook says,

Contrary to the doctrine that blames teachers for reading scores, research shows the seeds of reading and school success are sown in the home, long before the child ever arrives at school.

Research was conducted in which:

The numbers reinforce the adage that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Therefore you change the tree if you want different apples.

In essence, children who were successful at reading and had a high interest in doing it, 75-98% of them came from homes that owned a high number of books, were taken to the library often, and were read to on a daily basis.

This brings us to the third step for success; read aloud with your children everyday.

Leonard Pitts, Jr. tells the story of his mother. As he describes her, “She was not a learned woman, never finished high school. But then, it’s hard to be learned when you grow up black in Depression-era Mississippi. Still, not being learned is not the same as not being smart.”

He continues;

“My first reader was a welfare mother with a heart condition. She lived in a housing project near downtown Los Angeles.
“This is circa 1962 or ’63 and technically, she wasn’t my reader back then but my listener. I would follow her around as she ironed clothes or prepared a meal, reading aloud from my latest epic, which, like all my epics, was about a boy who was secretly a superhero, with super strength and the ability to fly.
“Surely there came a point when the poor woman secretly regretted having taught the bespectacled child his ABCs, but she never let on. Just nodded and exclaimed in all the right places and when the story was done, sent me off to clean up my room or wash my hands for dinner.”

“Mrs. Pitts couldn’t afford to spend her son’s 7,800 hours by driving him around to tutoring classes. Instead, she tutored him herself by listening, enthusing, and reading. She couldn’t afford high-priced “eye-contact” tutors but she skimped to buy him a toy typewriter when he was eight, and a used one when he was 14. Loose change? Just enough so her son could buy the latest “Spider-Man” and “Fantastic Four” comic books.

What Mrs. Pitts was doing is one of the great trade secrets in American education.”

Our concern as parents should is not so much with teaching children how to read; it’s about teaching children to want to read. There is a big difference. “What we teach children to love and desire will always outweigh what we make them learn.” Our purpose is to create lifetime readers- children who continue to read and educate themselves into their adult lives

The three most important factors in fostering lifetime learning and a love of reading is by 1) Modeling reading and learning in the home, 2) Providing sufficient access to printed materials through a home library and, 3) Reading with your child(ren) everyday.

These three steps have been proven to develop postive, pleasurable associations with reading and books, increasing the likelihood that self-directed learning will continue into adulthood.

These results cannot be produced in the classroom.