Tag: story time

Avoid This Summer Slide…

Categories Diary, Kids Book ClubLeave a Comment on Avoid This Summer Slide…

pexels-photo-261348Have you heard of the dreaded ‘Summer Slide’ before? I’m NOT talking about the slide  your kids want to play on this summer! Many children, especially early and/or struggling readers, lose a lot of progress they may have made during the school year if they don’t read over the summer break.  They may ‘slide’ out of practice and find it even more challenging to get back to where they were during the previous school year.  Pretty much every expert recommends that parents prioritize reading as a summertime activity. So let’s do it together!

I found this very informative article from Scholastic with 3 tips to prevent the summer slide:

  1. Reading just 6 books over the summer could help a young reader from losing any reading progress!
  2. Parents need to read something every day! Doing this models great behavior for your kids to mimic. If they see you reading books, magazines, newspapers, cereal boxes, anything and everything, they will too!
  3. Keep reading aloud to them! This benefits children of all ages – yes, it does! Reading books out loud, which are at or above their current reading ability, will build their comprehension skills, listening skills, sharpen their focus, increase vocabulary, among many more wonderful benefits.

So here’s where my Soar Into Summer book club comes into play! In collaboration with RIF, I am featuring the 12 books they have selected for their summer reading program and, I will be reading them aloud on my YouTube channel. It’s a chance for you and your kids to read along with me. If you can’t find the selected book on your bookshelf, at your library, or at your local book shop, don’t worry as I will clearly feature all of the words on screen so that we truly can read along together. Be sure to encourage your little ones to read out loud too!

After reading along with me, visit the Story Time With Michele Book Club group on FaceBook and we can discuss the story. I’ll link to games, activities, and craft ideas related to each book as well. The goal is to stay engaged and excited about each and every book!

Here’s the full reading list for the summer. Stay connected with me via my Facebook page and YouTube channel, and let’s have fun reading all summer long!

Soar into summer full reading list v2

Love to read!

Categories DiaryLeave a Comment on Love to read!

channel-art-youtube-4.pngHi everyone! It’s been a long time since I’ve posted but I’M BACK! And I’m super excited to share my latest project, Story Time With Michele! I’ve had so many fans reach out to me over the past year recounting special, touching family memories involving The Good Night Show. Thank you for continuing to share those stories with me. Sadly, I can’t bring the show back since it was never mine in the first place. I have, however, figured out a way to stay connected to children in a meaningful way.  The Story Time channel on Youtube is my first attempt at creating something, on my very own, for kids.

So, why am I reading books aloud? As a mom, reading is a priority for my family. I am very passionate about the importance of literacy. Did you know that 25 million children in the US cannot read proficiently? This is such a disappointing fact and thankfully there are non-profit organizations like Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) who are fighting everyday to help our kids!

For me, I have always loved reading books and I work hard to nurture that same love in my young children. By sharing stories aloud I hope your kids will be encouraged to read more books and become little bookworms as they grow up!

These stories are meant for anyone wanting a sweet, soothing story read to them – who doesn’t like that?! Beyond the enjoyment of having a story read to you, here are a few more reasons why I’ve launched Story Time With Michele:

  • Reading aloud is an ideal way to model how to read language, by demonstrating when to pause and react to punctuation, for example.
  • It promotes early literacy skills, engages young minds by encouraging curiosity, builds memory, and can even increase attention spans in our little ones.
  • Children are exposed to a richer vocabulary which will help stretch comprehension and language development.

There’s tons of research out there showing us that reading aloud to a child daily is one of the most important activities you can do to ensure future reading success. I hope my short videos are enjoyed by your family and, in conjunction with your time spent reading aloud, together we can spark a life-long love of books!

Please check out Story Time With Michele and subscribe to the channel while you’re there!

 

(sources: http://www.readaloud.org/why.html, http://www.reachoutandread.org/our-story/importance-of-reading-aloud/, https://edsource.org/2015/study-says-reading-aloud-to-children-more-than-talking-builds-literacy/82045, http://www.rorri.org/importance-of-reading-aloud/)