When fathers read, talk, and explore with their kids, a love for learning blooms. This is especially true for boys, who need positive male role models for reading. Learn how to become more involved in your child's literacy development, even if you are not a confident reader yourself. For teachers and family literacy program directors, browse our top tips for engaging dads for a wealth of practical ideas.
…Would more boys be interested in reading? The statistics are consistent: Young boys lag behind girls in literacy skills. Discover the social, psychological, and developmental reasons why, and ideas for strengthening reading achievement.
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For the busy dad who wants to learn more about literacy, what good reading instruction looks like in the classroom, and award-winning children's book authors, check out our new DadCast podcast series. Just download to your iPod and watch or listen during your daily commute or treadmill run.
DadCast podcasts >
Chris Gabrieli, co-chair of the National Center on Time & Learning is co-author of a new book, Time to Learn: How a New School Schedule Is Making Smarter Kids, Happier Parents & Safer Neighborhoods. In this Reading Rockets video interview, Gabrieli talks about how a longer school day can support achievement in reading and math while providing a richer, broader curriculum. Hear about extended day success stories in public schools throughout the country, the impact on teachers and families, and benefits for English language learners and children with learning disabilities.
Excerpt from Time to Learn >
More about the extended day model >
Help your child avoid summer slide and be prepared for the coming school year. Before the school year ends, talk with the teacher about your child's needs and ways to provide the right amount of academics balanced with a healthy dose of play.
If tutoring is recommended, find out how to locate the best tutor for your child.
If you are still on the hunt for a great summer program that will keep your child engaged and active, here's a useful checklist from the Center for Summer Learning that can help you evaluate a program's quality.
We're interested in finding out what you think about the Reading Rockets website, and hear your ideas on how we can make it more useful for parents and educators. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. For taking time to help us improve the site, you can enter a random drawing to win a new, blue 4 GB iPod nano, pre-loaded with Reading Rockets podcasts!
Take the survey >
Kate DiCamillo had collected more than 400 rejection letters before her first book, Because of Winn-Dixie, was published. Just as 10-year-old Opal — the spirited protagonist of the story — found her place in the world, so did DiCamillo. That book won a Newbery Honor Award and her life changed. DiCamillo's advice to young writers? Read. Listen. Write.
Summer brings longer days - and more time for reading! Slide into a comfortable chair or a hammock under the trees and enjoy some of the wonderful new stories from this BIG list of books recommended by our children's literature expert, Maria Salvadore. Browse online or download and print the age-appropriate lists, for kids up to 9 years old.
The Big Summer Read book list >
In July, we plan to offer resources to help educators improve their practices. In addition to articles and research, we're developing booklists for teachers, administrators, and other professionals. Have you read a book that really informed your classroom practice? Got you motivated? Helped you work more effectively with colleagues or parents? If so, we want to hear about it.
Contact us with your book recommendations (select Books for Educators in the drop down menu) and include the follow information for each:
- Title
- Author
- Who should read this book (i.e., elementary school teachers, principals, librarians)
- Please include 2 or 3 sentences explaining why you recommended this book.
Check back with us in July, to see our booklists and resources.
Approximately 7% of young children struggle to speak and understand language. New research suggests that the particular format of the intervention may be less important than the actual intensity and duration of the intervention. Results published in the Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing demonstrate gains for students participating in "intense interventions."
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The Doing What Works website now contains information about two practices for use with very young children: phonological awareness and interactive/dialogic reading. Handouts and video describe strategies and can be useful when working with new teachers and parents.
Doing What Works preschool resources >
There are several ways to evaluate Pre-K programs. Researchers at the University of Virginia consider the quality of the emotional and instructional interactions between teachers and children to be one of the most important ways. In their research, the children who develop greater academic and language skills are the ones who had higher-quality interactions within the classroom. Other more commonly considered features, such as level of education and class size, were not directly associated with development.
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A new study of 5-17 year olds and their parents, conducted by Scholastic and Yankelovich, reveals that kids still prefer to read books printed on paper rather than on a computer or handheld device. The study also showed that teens and tweens who go online to extend the reading experience are more likely to read books for fun everyday. And 89% of kids in the study said "My favorite books are the ones I picked out myself."
Read full report >
Lots of families find time during the summer to catch up on movies. Here's a site that provides ideas that promote literacy, learning and service based on favorite movies. Activity guides available for Charlotte's Web, Because of Winn Dixie, Flicka, and others.
F.I.L.M. website >
You may be interested in the Parent's Choice travel picks, based on age. For 8+, they recommend Nerdy Wordy, in which parents and kids try to construct as many 2 to 5 letter words as possible. Portable picks for kids recommendations range from infant to 12 & up.
Parent's Choice travel picks >
Reading is Fundamental's summer reading program encourages kids to follow the motto of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China by reading more swiftly, with higher comprehension, and with stronger vocabularies. There are directions on their site for ways to host a summer reading Olympics in your own neighborhood.
RIF Summer Reading Olympics >
Radiowaves is a site from the UK that gives schools and students a voice using Internet radio, video, and podcasting. This subscription-based service enables even very young students to create and upload their own podcasts. The possibilities are endless! Follow this link to see examples of what some primary aged students have already created on BearWaves Radio.
Radiowaves website >
Our friends at Choice Literacy shared this resource: a table designed like the periodic table of elements, but this one is all about visualization strategies. The table includes examples of data visualization, concept visualization, metaphor visualizations, and more. It's quite a site!
Visualization chart >
If you're considering a new system for organizing your classroom library, you might want to look at this teacher's system. Lots of pictures, downloadable basket labels and links to similar resources make this a terrific place to start your thinking!
Full article >
Coming up in July: ASHA's annual conference on speech, language, and hearing services in schools. Rick Lavoie will open the conference and share his perspective on the state of special education and learning disabilities — and lessons learned from some of the thousands of children with learning disabilities, parents, teachers, and specialists he has worked with.
ASHA conference >
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