The Joy of Reading! 
     

Since 1967, International Children's Book Day (ICBD) is celebrated on April 2nd, Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, to inspire a love of reading. This year's theme is "Many Cultures, One Story."   We encourage you to read the full text of the poem about this year's theme with your student and discuss what it means to you.

   

Instilling the love of reading in a child is the single best way to increase their IQ.   To put it simply - Kids that read for fun do better academically than kids that don't. School performance correlates more directly with children's reading scores than any other single indicator.

 

Reading books expands children's vocabulary exponentially. It exposes them to new ideas than can spark a passion and provides an escape from the stressors of every day life. Everyone needs to curl up with a good book and escape into another world every now and then - and it's never to early too start. The key to instilling the love in reading is to make it FUN.

 

Here are a few tips for helping to inspire a love of reading in your student:

 

  • Let them select the books you read together. Kids will read books about things they enjoy. No one wants to read about things that they don't find interesting.
  • Bring stories to life. Ask your student to act out scenes from their favorite books.
  • Alternate reading pages to each other. By alternating pages you can help your student improve his reading skills. But if he stumbles, supply the word. Don't make him stop and sound things out; your goal is to keep him excited about the book by moving forward with the story. 
  • Don't be afraid to let them read comics. Comics are less intimidating than chapter books and, again, the most important thing is supplying them with things they want to read.
  • Read to your student. It's not your job to teach them how to read - but you will be helping them exponentially if you can turn them on to the joy of reading. By reading to them, you are enhancing their vocabulary, strengthening your relationship and showing them the other worlds that can be unlocked through books.

 

Fun Questions for Conversation

  • What's your favorite book? Why?
    • If you wrote a book, what would the story be about? What would name of the main of the main character be?
    • What would the plot line be in a story about you? How would the story end?
    • If the book about you was made into a movie, who would play the part of you?
  • What's the best April Fool's Day prank you played on someone?

 

 

Activity Ideas                               

Work with your student to create a list of books (or topics of books) that they would like to read with you.

 

Ask your student to draw pictures of their favorite storybook character or ask them to act out a scene from their favorite book.

 

Ask your student to draw or act out scenes from a book about their life.

 

For Easter themed coloring pages, craft ideas, games and puzzles. Click here 

Book of the Month

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale

by Mo Willems 

Trixie, Daddy, and Knuffle Bunny take a trip to the neighborhood Laundromat. But the exciting adventure takes a dramatic turn when Trixie realizes somebunny was left behind

Using a combination of muted black-and-white photographs and expressive illustrations, this stunning book tells a brilliantly true-to-life tale about what happens when Daddy's in charge and things go terribly, hilariously wrong.


Notes and Reminders


We encourage you to post about your mentoring experiences on on your own social media pages or on the Education Elevators Facebook Page using  #Education Elevators.  If you prefer, feel free to email your stories and photos to: allison@educationelevators.org

 

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

- Maya Angelou

   April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014