Why is reading in the summer important? Is it something teachers just say because they think they are supposed to? Is it something that parents encourage as one thing for children to do in the summer?

As a teacher, I encouraged reading in fall, winter, spring, and summer. Reading can open so many doors and offer so many great opportunities for learning and enjoyment.

Here are a few things I have recently found concerning the importance of summer reading:

• “The benefits to readers in a summer reading program include encouragement that reading become a lifelong habit, reluctant readers can be drawn in by the activities, reading over the summer helps children keep their skills up, and programs can generate interest in the library and books.” (ALA Library Fact Sheet)
• “Children who don’t read over the summer tend to lose literacy skills while children who do read during the summer actually improve their reading ability.  Summer learning losses accumulate over several years and are an important contributor to the achievement gap.” (State Library of Iowa)
• “The body of existing research demonstrates the critical importance that the early development of summer reading habits can play in providing the foundation for later success.” (New York State Library)
• “The number of books read during the summer is consistently related to academic gains.  Children in every income group who read six or more books over the summer gained more in reading achievement than children who did not.  The use of the public library during the summer is more predictive of vocabulary gains than attending summer school is.”  (State Library of North Carolina quoted in the State Library of Iowa site)
• “If children read one million words a year, at least one thousand words will be added to their vocabulary. (One study found this could easily be accomplished by letting children and teens read any format reading material they wanted, including comic books and teen romances.)  (That’s an average of 2,868 words per day!)” (State Library of Iowa)
• “According to Mc-Gill Franzen and Allington (2004), “Too many children spend their summer with no books to read.”  Their research cites the necessity of finding novel ways to get books into the hands of children during summer breaks.  This idea is supported by research from Barbara Heyn (1978), who found that reading was the most influential factor related to summer learning.  Further studies by Krashen (2004) simply state, “More access to books results in more reading.”  These and other studies find that when schools close their doors, the opportunity to read is often closed with them, especially for those children without access to books.” (New York State Library)

The wide range of books offered on the Big Universe Learning Site can be used as a way to have a library in your home this summer. Big Universe is a way to provide books for summer reading to encourage future success.

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/7752651@N05/3745495331/

When I think about my experiences reading with my child, I think about the great stories we have read, the things we talk about while we are reading, and how much my little one really enjoys it. I don’t think about the amount of time we spend reading. I don’t think I have ever told my daughter, “Ok, we have to read for 20 minutes tonight.” I may have told her, “I can’t wait to see what happens, so let’s make sure we finish this book tonight.”

Thinking about my experiencing reading with my daughter doesn’t seem to match the reading homework that I used to give students. I remember telling students that they had to read for 30 minutes each night. It did not matter what they read … they just needed to read something. I sigh and shake my head when I think about giving that instruction. My instruction was focused on time (quantity) rather than the reading experience (quality).

My daughter and I will read this summer. We have not joined a specific summer reading program (yet anyway). My daughter will start school in the fall. It is one of my goals to help her develop of love of learning and reading. I want to lay the foundation for that even before she starts school. I want her to see reading as an enjoyable experience and not as just one more thing that she has to do.

My plan for summer reading for her (for us) is simply for us to choose books we think we will enjoy and read them. If one book only takes a few minutes to read, then we can choose another one to read if we want or not. If a book takes us 3 days to read, then we will read for days without any worry as to how long we are reading each day.  The teacher in me knows daily reading experiences are beneficial. The mother in me doesn’t want to restrict those reading experiences to a certain amount of time.  I want our reading experience more focused on quality than quantity (as a teacher, I know that quantity of reading time is much easier to keep track of than the quality of reading time.)

I hope that my daughter will want to read a variety of types of books (the mother and teacher in me will probably help “guide” that selection). The Summer Reading Lists now available in the Read Section on the Big Universe Site provide a great place for us to start when choosing books to read. There are book lists divided by age groups and topics. Even though I say book lists, the lists on Big Universe are much more than just lists.  These lists are collections of book covers. I know that my daughter will enjoy choosing books to read when picking from a picture of the book cover better than if it was just a plain list.

I am looking forward to our summer reading times, and I hope she will enjoy it too!

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/12801018@N00/3567108541/

So, it is getting close to summer …

Do you have a list of books that you would like to read this summer? Plans for books to take to the pool or beach? Plans to read on a trip?

Do your children or students have any ideas about what they might like to read this summer?

Big Universe has lots of great options for summer reading (and for anytime reading)!

Here are a few of my ideas on ways I might use BigUniverse this summer with my daughter:

• I might let my daughter pick a certain topic for a week and read as many books as possible that week about that topic
• I could do an advanced search in the sidebar to find books interesting for my child’s age
• My child could pick 3 Categories listed in the sidebar and then we can try to read a certain number of books from each category to compare.
• Have you ever looked at the Big Universe Staff Picks ? We might look at those to see what others like before choosing a book to read one day.
• Although I am sure all the books on the site are worth reading, it might be fun for my daughter and I to look at the Last 150 Books Added to the Site to discover something to read.
• We could read books created by a certain publisher or author one week.
• We might look at the books that others have added to their bookshelves recently to find some good idea.
• We could decide to read fiction books on BigUniverse one week and then nonfiction books another week.

My daughter loves to pick out books to read on BigUniverse. Have certain categories or types in mind to help guide her selection might be helpful for me to make sure she experiences a wide variety of books over the summer.

Do you have any ideas on ways you can use BigUniverse for summer reading experiences? I would love to hear your ideas!

My dad used to call my sister “Miss Fingers,” because she was always touching things. I now know that she was a tactile learner – driven by curiosity and the desire to understand and experience objects up close and in person.

Today she is a renaissance woman of many talents: school teacher, mother, tennis whiz, quilter, seamstress, great cook, scrapbooker and home decorator extraordinaire.

My youngest daughter takes after her creative aunt. When she was really little, I would have my “Miss Fingers” roll up her hands in the front of her shirt, when we walked through stores with lots of breakables. She just could not resist “looking at” all the pretty things with her busy little digits.

She now spends her free time cutting, pasting, gluing, stringing and knitting things together. Her collages cover her bedroom walls, and her friends have been the recipients of homemade cards, picture frames, scarves, jewelry and one-of-a-kind posters.

If you have a child with a hunger for hobbies, check out the craft series by Big Universe’s partner, Rourke Publishing. Written by Tracy Maurer, these well-illustrated books are aimed at the Grade 3-6 crowd. Following the directions for each project strengthens reading comprehension skills and vocabulary – while fostering artistic creativity.

• “Paper Crafts with Pizzazz”
• “Scrapbook Starters”
• “Fabulous Fashion Crafts”
•  “Rock Your Room with Crafts”
• “Fingernail Art”
•  “Cupcakes, Cookies and Cakes”

Paula Willey of the Baltimore County Public Library in Towson, Md., reviewed this series for the November 2009 issue of School Library Journal. Here is what she had to say:

“The crafts in these cheery books are not too hard, but not so simple as to be boring, and are made with a minimum of specialty supplies. Lively, upbeat covers feature photos of regular girls with big smiles. Inside, the subject of each book is first put into context and then illustrated with seven to eight crafts. There is an emphasis on safety and on getting permission and on responsibility. Many projects incorporate reuse of household items that might otherwise be discarded (worn-out jeans, buttons, jars, newspapers).”

 Rourke Publishing also offers an “Explore and Draw” series, which would have been up my other daughter’s alley when she was younger – a combination of reading and sketching! Titles include:

• “Horses”       
• “Dinosaurs”
• “Cars”
• “Monster Trucks”
•  “Spacecrafts”
• “Wizards, Witches and Dragons”
•  “Airplanes”
• “Knights and Castles”

Update: (Sept. 24, 2010) While exploring online, I found another superb crafts book by Kathy Ross, a teacher and nursery school program director with more than 30 years of experience on the front lines. “Crafts for Kids Who are Learning About Weather” caught my eye because Jan Barger’s illustrations are simply darling. The pair also has written a crafts book titled “Crafts for Kids Who are Learning About Community Workers.” Ross has several dozen additional crafts book titles under her belt with other illustrators.

Update: (Oct. 4, 2010) Big Universe has added the book “Crafty Kids ” to its online library shelf. Written by Char Benjamin, this Teacher Created Materials book helps early readers expand their vocabulary and explore mathematical principles (patterns) in a tangible way – making crafts for a school sale.

Update: (March 10, 2011) It’s National Craft Month, and I found a good article by Sherri Osborn at About.com with loads of craft tutorial links to explore with your children.

“This is June, the month of grass and leaves . . . and a new summer is offered me.”

 – Henry David Thoreau

There’s something magical about summertime: new adventures, freedom and beauty that one can almost sip from a straw.

Summer clips the tethers that hold us tight the rest of the year. We stay outside longer, we stop for impromptu ice cream cones, and we get up early on Saturday morning and consider it fun because we are headed to the farmers’ market.

And then, there are the vacations! Off we go to the beach, the lake, the amusement park or to the mountains to camp.

Unfortunately there’s usually some significant travel time involved on vacations, and that can be tricky with little ones in tow. But, that’s part of life, so early on I decided to embrace the inevitable car rides, seeing them as opportunities – rather than something one step above rubbing sunscreen in my eyes.

So, I came up with a kid-friendly strategy that made trips both fun and educational. In my two previous blogs I detailed tips to make long trips easier, including a packing list and some car game suggestions to make the time go faster and to exercise brain cells.

Here are a few more car games to boost your children’s language skills and minimize irritability and whining.

Who Am I?

One child says, “Who am I?” The second child asks, “Are you a person, place or thing?” The first child answers, and then the question-answer volley proceeds until the mystery item or person is guessed. (Are you smaller than a car? Do you make noise? Can you be eaten? Are you scary? Are you soft? This models conversation patterns, teaches critical thinking skills and sharpens listening aptitude.

License Plate Game

If you have a long road trip planned, print copies listing the 50 states. As your child spies license plates from different states, have him check the state off his list. Or, give him some crayons and a black and white map of the United States and let him color in each state that he sees. Reading, geography and small motor skills wrapped into one.

Rhyme Time

Language is made of sounds, and making rhymes is an early literacy milestone. This game involves parent-child interaction, which builds communication bridges as well as a wide vocabulary base. Some of the rhymes will be silly or nonsensical, but that’s OK. Language has its serious side, but words can be a delight, too.

Give a noun in a phrase, pausing so your child can fill in the blank. Start by example:

   The dog and a  ___. (hog, log, frog)

   A star with a  ___.(car, jar, or a nonsense word like “dar”)

   Jack Sprat and his ___. (cat, rat, mat, bat)

Fortunately, Unfortunately

Older kids will love this word play game. It encourages the imagination and a sense of humor. One person starts a scenario by say, “Fortunately…” The second person responds by saying, “Unfortunately…” You alternate between fortunate and unfortunate things. It’ll get the laughter going. For example:

   “Fortunately, we are stopping for lunch soon.”

   “Unfortunately, Mom left your sandwich at home.”

   “Fortunately, I have a bag of peanuts in my pocket.”

   “Unfortunately, the park we are going to is infested with aggressive squirrels.”

   “Fortunately, I speak ‘squirrel’ fluently and will be able to talk my way out of trouble.”

   “Unfortunately, the park is a wildlife refuge and kids aren’t allowed to speak out loud there.”

   “Fortunately…”

And so on.

Would You Rather?

This game is as simple as they come. Start by example, then let the kids have a turn.

   “Would you rather go to the pool or go to the zoo?

   “Would you rather eat lima beans or eat spinach?”

   “Would you rather pet a bear or pet a lion?

   “Would you rather have 12 toes or 12 fingers?”

These are just a few of the many games that can be played in the car. I shared “Horse on Wheels” in my first blog in this series and three other car games in my second posting: “The Great Race from A to Z,” “Sack on My Back” and “Name Game.” They foster communication, build literacy skills and boost family bonding. Check them out.

• The ABCs of Car Games: Part One
• The ABCs of Car Games: Part Two

I’d love to hear about some of the word games your family plays in the car to pass the time. Feel free to post a comment.

Have a great summer.

***NOTE: If you are taking a laptop with you on your road trip and have a 3G Internet card or have Internet hookup at your vacation lodging, Big Universe provides a portable library for children at your fingertips. With thousands of beautiful picture books available 24/7, there is no reason for your kids to experience “summer setback” in reading. Maintain or even improve their literacy skills with a wide assortment of fiction and non-fiction stories.

In my last blog, I talked about summer vacation, traveling in a car and how important it is to prepare carefully when carrying young passengers. If you are going to confine small people in small spaces for hours on end, it’s best to have a plan. “Prepare or perish” were my exact words.

Car games are a good way to pass the time on a long trip, along with a pile of books, a new toy and some snacks. Car games are literacy builders, too – whether players look for letters on billboards, build an expanding story based on the ABCs and memory skills, or sing silly songs with changing sounds.

I shared a new but simple game called “Horse on Wheels” in my previous blog. Here are three more games to foster communication, build literacy skills and boost family bonding while putting some mileage on your car.

The Great Race from A to Z

Have your children look for each letter in the alphabet, using billboards and signs on businesses. See how many times they can get through the alphabet before getting to Aunt Carolyn’s house. Or, use a stopwatch to time the race from A to Z. It can be a group effort or kids can compete, depending on the squabble factor. Add a notebook and pencil to the equation if your children need practice with penmanship.

Sack on My Back

This is a memory game and tongue twister all packed into one! Each player takes a turn reciting the game prompt: “In a sack on my back, I think I’ll pack…” He or she adds a noun each time, starting with A, then B, and so on. Each player will need to listen closely, so he doesn’t leave anything off the list. “In a sack on my back, I think I’ll pack an apple, a basketball, a camera and my dachshund.”

Name Game

This rhyming car game takes some practice, but the kids love it. I never quite mastered it, but children have a special knack to pick up on the playful sound switcheroos, especially when names are involved. You can play it with other words, too. Learn one line; then add another. Here are several examples:

Darby, Darby, Bo-barby

Banana, Fanna, Fo-farby

Fee, Fie, Mo-marby

Daaar-by!

—-

Tom, Tom, Bo-bom

Banana, Fanna, Fo-fom

Fee, Fie, Mo-mom

Tooo-ooom!

—-

Maddie, Maddie, Bo-baddie

Banana, Fanna, Fo-faddie

Fee, Fie, Mo-maddie

Maaad-die!

—-

Dave, Dave, Bo-bave

Banana, Fanna, Fo-fave

Fee, Fie, Mo-mave

Daaa-ve!

(Clue: Note the rhyming pattern. Pick a name. Say it twice, then drop the first letter of the name and substitute the silly consonants and sounds.)

*** NOTE: See more car games in my next post, and read the first in this three-part series:

• The ABCs of Car Games: Part Three

• The ABCs of Car Games: Part One

***  NOTE: If you are taking a laptop with you on your trip and have a 3G Internet card or have Internet hookup at your vacation lodging, Big Universe provides a portable library for children at your fingertips. With thousands of beautiful picture books available 24/7, there is no reason for your kids to experience “summer setback” in reading. Maintain or even improve their literacy skills with a wide assortment of fiction and non-fiction stories.

Oprah Winfrey said, “My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

I’ve always been an optimist, so I appreciate her sentiment. I try to look at the bright side of things and make the best of less than ideal situations – even imprisonment in a smallish vehicle with three other people.

 …That’s 70 cubic feet of space, divided by four – not counting the luggage, the snacks and the pillows. But, I suppose if Oprah and her best friend, Gayle King, can go cross country for 11 days in a little Chevy Impala, I can survive for five in an SUV. 

 Road trips. They can be viewed as either adventures or a stress-packed short cut to Purgatory – especially if children are involved. If vacations involve a lot of driving, parents MUST be prepared. Prepare or perish, I say!

A captive audience

Some of my girls’ fondest memories are of the vacations we took when they were little. It wasn’t necessarily the destination that thrilled them either. I worked hard to make the drive time fun…and educational…to make the most of a potentially difficult situation. I figured I had a captive audience and took advantage of the opportunity.

If you set your children up for a successful road trip, 99 percent of the time, that’s what you’ll get. Plan well, prepare your children, have a positive attitude…and pray like crazy. That was my formula. I desired happy children…but, I also wanted to avoid a nasty case of vehicular momicide.

 We listened to books on tape, and we played word games. (See car game at end of this article…and more in the next blog!) We sang and we TALKED about what we saw out the windows.

Building Blocks for Literacy

A language-rich environment like this helps children develop their vocabulary and their ability to communicate. They learn how to express their observations and opinions, to ask questions, and to listen – all building blocks for literacy. And, if parents engage fully, they can get to know the hearts of their children.

 One for You, and One for Me

Of course, what’s a car trip without snacks? I packed healthful treats in Ziplocs, but crossing state borders was something to really celebrate! One Gummi Worm for North Carolina. Two for Virginia. Three for West Virginia, and, well, when you hit Pennsylvania, you hit the Mother Lode!

What’s in the Bag?

There were always a few brown bags marked “Top Secret,” too. When we reached certain landmarks and IF the children behaved properly, they each got a bag with her name on it. Sometimes it contained a coloring book or puzzle booklet. Other times it had a 50-cent bracelet, a miniature dolly, a little book or a couple of plastic animals. (Note: Don’t forget something for the return voyage!)

NEVER, No Never Ever…

And, of course, we NEVER embarked on a long excursion without a fresh supply of books from the library. We wedged a laundry basket between the girls’ booster seats, which gave them easy access to a heap of books. We left a list of the library books taped to the refrigerator at home with their due dates to make their return easier and to minimize late fees. Our library was good about printing a list for us. 

Now with mobile 3G Internet cards becoming more common, network access on the road is possible. That means websites like BigUniverse.com and all its beautiful children’s picture books can go on vacation with you. Can’t get much better than that!

To help get all you road warriors ready for this summer’s trips, I have compiled a checklist to make your preparations kid-friendly.

How to Survive a Road Trip with Kids

1. Pack comfort items. Pillows, teddy and a favorite blanket.
2. Buy or borrow books on tape/CD. Great for when it gets dark.
3. Bring drinks in spill-proof containers. Pack individual snacks. Dry nibbles are best. There will be crumbs, so choose things that can be vacuumed up.
4. Don’t forget hand wipes to clean sticky faces and grimy hands.
5. Buy or borrow a fresh collection of age-appropriate books to fight boredom and make the trip go faster. Have older siblings read to their younger brothers and sisters. You’ll get twice the mileage from each book.
6. Pick out a few movies for the laptop or DVD player, but use sparingly. I suggest saving them for the return trip or for when it gets dark. Don’t forget headsets – unless you want to be humming kiddie songs for the next week.
7. Tuck Dramamine, ear patches or pressure-point bracelets in the glove compartment.
8. Pack a jump rope, Skip-It or football in the trunk to facilitate some quick exercise at rest stops. Antsy kids don’t make good passengers. Stop often.
9. Give each child their own flashlight. Just take my word on it. It’s a godsend, while en route and once you get to your destination. (Don’t forget a plug-in nightlight, too.)
10. Place a few surprises in opaque gift bags: mini books, Matchbox cars, stickers, word search puzzles, sugarless gum, Polly Pocket dolls, tiny spiral notebooks and washable markers, mazes, string and string games booklet, etc.
11. Prepare a list of car games and pack any necessary props. Many of them are good literacy builders, since they involve word and symbol recognition, playful rhymes, spelling, counting and writing.
12. Add your own ideas to this list.

A Car Game for You

“Horse on Wheels” is a good car game for beginning readers. It involves observation, counting, spelling, writing and stickers. It can be competitive in nature or not. It’s a little like bingo and a little like the driveway basketball game “Horse” – only there is no hoop or basketball…or driveway for that matter! You do spell “h-o-r-s-e” though!

 It’s easy to play and only requires three simple components.

1. One sheet of stiff card stock, matte finish (no shine)
2. One child-safe washable marker or a pencil
3. One sheet of yard sale dot stickers (office supply aisle)

How to assemble: Take card stock and write the word “horse” in big bold letters across the top. Draw vertical lines from top to bottom between the letters. Draw horizontal lines to create squares big enough to fit a dot sticker in the middle. Add a few more horizontal lines to create rows of empty boxes big enough for a child to write the corresponding letter. (See graphic above.)

How to play: The child looks out the window until he or she spots a horse. For every horse, the child gets to add a sticker dot to the chart, placing it first under the letter “H,” then in the “O” column, and so on. After the sticker is in place, the child should write the letter below the sticker. The first child to write “horse” three times wins.

Note: We were driving through Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana, so it was easy to count horses. Not so easy if you are sticking to urban byways. If this is the case, mark the top of your sheet with a different word or phrase: dog, police car, taxi, bridge and so on.

*** NOTE: See more car games in my next two posts – all part of a three-piece series:

• The ABCs of Car Games: Part Two
• The ABCs of Car Games: Part Three

***  NOTE: If you are taking a laptop with you on your trip and have a 3G Internet card or have Internet hookup at your vacation lodging, Big Universe provides a portable library for children at your fingertips. With thousands of beautiful picture books available 24/7, there is no reason for your kids to experience “summer setback” in reading. Maintain or even improve their literacy skills with a wide assortment of fiction and non-fiction stories.

A white rabbit with pink eyes appeared in my driveway two weeks ago. It was a tame rabbit and quite lost.

My property is far removed from suburbia, so I have no idea how he arrived where he did. He stuck out like a sore thumb and would have been better suited for the snowy Arctic, rather than a southern lane lined with kudzu, poison ivy and wild roses.

He reminded me of the three white bunnies my brother, sister and I got one Easter when we were little…and, oddly, of baseball. Weird, I know, but bear with me.

After we had eaten our jelly beans and a couple of chocolate malted eggs that Easter morning, we settled down to name our new pets. It only took about 10 minutes. Their names were “Cherry Blossom,” “Apple Blossom” and “Harmon Killebrew.”

For the unenlightened, hoppin’ Harmon was named after my brother’s hero, a powerful home run slugger for the American League in the 1960s. We had recently moved away from River Falls, Wisc. – not far from The Twin Cities, the home of the Minnesota Twins, whom my brother Glenn loved. In particular, he worshipped Harmon Clayton Killebrew, who had hit 49 homers the previous season, driving in 140 runs and garnering the MVP Award.

…Naming his new rabbit “Harmon Killebrew” was the sincerest form of flattery.

My brother played baseball, so I did too. He charted each game he watched on TV, so I learned as well. He got sports books for his birthday and Christmas as gifts, and although I loved horse books more, I read his baseball stories – because to me a book was a book. I read whatever I could get my hands on…plus my brother was my hero.

He’s still an avid sports fan today, and he still likes to read. My parents were wise, giving each of us books tailored to our interests. They fed our passions and hobbies, while promoting literacy in a natural way. Our interests expanded and so did our reading material. I followed my parents’ example with my children, and they are both book lovers with a broad range of interests and a penchant for learning.

Families with baseball loyalties or who are spending time at the diamonds this summer will be happy to know that BigUniverse.com has just added some online baseball-themed books for young readers. They are a good fit for the sports-minded kid and a perfect way to fight ”summer setback” in the reading department. I think they’ll be a hit. Batter up!

• “Baseball” by Holly Karapetkova. Interest level 3-8. Grade: 1. Reading level: C. (Rourke Publishing)
• “First Basemen” by Tom Greve. Interest level: 6-12. Grade: 3-4. Reading level: O. (Rourke Publishing)
•  “Catchers” by Tom Greve. Interest level: 6-12. Grade: 3-4. Reading level: O. (Rourke Publishing)
• “The Baseball Card” by Jack Siemiatycki, Avi Slodovnick and illustrator Laura Watson. Interest level: 3-12. Grade: 3. Reading level: N. (Lobster Press)
• “Jackie Robinson Graphic Biography” by Saddleback Educational Publishing. Interest level: 6 and older. Grade: 4-5. Reading level: Q, R, S, T.
• “Babe Ruth Graphic Biography” by Saddleback Educational Publishing. Interest level: 3 and up. Grade: 4-5. Reading level: Q, R, S, T.

Also, Embracing the Child, Common Sense Media and Scripps Howard News Service offer their own lists of kid-friendly baseball books. Check them out.

UPDATE: (Oct. 21, 2010) Big Universe recently added “History of Baseball,” a Teachers Created Materials book by Dona Herweck Rice, to its bookshelves. It’s aimed at kids aged 6-12. Word count: 1203. Also new: “Jermaine Dye and the Chicago White Sox” (Bearport), “Jackie Robinson: A Life of Determination” (Bellwether) and “David Eckstein and the St. Louis Cardinals” (Bearport).