Reading for the joy of it!

I have always been a voracious reader. As a kid I would hide under the covers reading with a flashlight late into the night, unbeknownst to my Mother, who thought I was fast asleep. My youngest son seems to share my passion and likes to read before bed. He has just discovered the author Terry Pratchett and is eagerly awaiting his next book delivery from Amazon.

I believe one of the best ways to get your child to enjoy reading is to read to them when they are small - the younger the better. It helps them to relax and will make the idea of bedtime hassle-free and they won't argue when you tell them to brush their teeth and put on their pajamas. Less stress at bedtime is always a good thing for us harried Moms and Dads.

Once your child is able to read on their own they can help with the nightly story time or they can read to you, which is also very enjoyable. You can also take weekly trips to the library together to see what new reading treasures are waiting on the shelves.

So take the time to read to your children. It is a wonderful opportunity to bond with your child and studies have shown that children who are read to at a young age tend to score higher academically.

Happy Reading,

Monicka

Storybooks on your iPhone

Today we'd like to share with you something a little bit different and delightfully festive - a Christmas fairy tale brought to you by "2 Little Piggies".

Anyone with a small child will enjoy watching the little one’s face light up at this delightful fairy tale. It’s a simple storybook app, but unusually beautifully done. What a great way to keep the kids entertained and happy while waiting in the Christmas shopping queues or stuck in the snow!

A Christmas Fairy Tale tells the story of Otto, a young and handsome count with a heart of stone. Follow Otto as he meets the fairies at Fairy Well, where a magical transformation occurs…

The story app has three different modes: “Read myself”, which is a simple book format with nice sound effects; “Read to me”, which combines narrative with word highlights for beginning readers – they still control the speed of page turning, which is important; and “Auto play”, which acts more like a video slideshow for the kids to watch.

The fairy tale also provides super little interactive animations – your child can tap on a shimmering star to start a mini-animation, and gets a chance to decorate the Christmas tree in the Great Hall with all sorts of sparkly wonders.

All in all, this is an adorable little app that will bring a festive glow to children and adults alike!

Reading to Kids

Reading to Kids

Reading with your child is one of the best investments of time that you can make as a parent.

No matter how young your baby, having a cuddle and some quality time looking at a book together will help your child to develop a love of books and to become an early reader - not because he or she is pushed into it but because of the pure joy of reading!

Happy parenting,

Cassie

Reading to Kids

We all know the benefits of reading with our kids, I think the key is to develop a routine that doesn't put too much pressure on you, so that both you and the children can enjoy reading together to the max!

Here are some ideas for doing just that:

READING JUST FOR THE JOY OF IT

Nurturing a love of reading in your kids

Nurturing a love of reading

Literacy is of course a key success indicator for our kids. And the best way for your to enhance your children’s literacy is to nurture their love of reading.

You can start at the earliest age when you read to your baby. Even a tiny baby will learn to love the experience of being read to, the physical closeness and your voice. When he can look at the book, and later hold it, he will link those lovely feelings to the experience of reading.


Happy parenting,

Cassie

Raising a Reader

As a child I spent many enjoyable hours reading for the joy of it and I had hoped that even with video games and computers available to waste away the hours, that my kids would develop the same love of books that I had as a youngster.

My youngest son and I are both avid readers, and I really enjoy the discussions we have about the books we are reading. He will ask me what is happening in my book and then he will tell me about the novel he is reading at the time. When we received the last Harry Potter book, "Deathly Hallows" in the mail we were both anxious to get right into it but to make it fair, agreed to take turns reading it. I would read it at night and he would read it during the day. During this time my daughter Savannah, who has not shown a lot of interest in reading in the past, kept asking us what was happening to Harry and company and my son and I refused to tell her? We advised her to read it for herself. In fact in order to really understand what was happening in the Deathly Hallows book I suggested that she should read the previous one, "The Half blood Prince". I was gob smacked when out of curiosity she actually picked it up and started to read. In fact she became so engrossed in it that she finished the 600+ page book in less than a week and to my delight has moved onto the Deathly Hallows.

Do whatever it takes to raise a reader. By showing your kids how much you love a good book you have a better chance of them wanting to follow suit. Let them see you reading and really enjoying yourself. Discuss what you are reading with them and encourage questions. If your children are too young to read you can read to them and make the book really interesting by changing your voice to suit each character or really emphasizing the exciting parts.

Happy Reading

Monicka

Harry Potter Arrives

If you read Sunday's blog, you know that my ten-year-old son and I have been waiting patiently for our copy of the final Harry Potter book in the series to arrive in the mail. Amazon guaranteed that our copy of "The Deathly Hallows" would arrive on time but due to customs problems it didn't arrive until today. So now we have a bit of a dilemma deciding on who is going to get to read it first. My son and I discussed it and decided that he would read five chapters and hand it over to me and then I would read five chapters. I am pretty sure he will not want to stop at five and have trouble putting the book down. It is great to see my son so excited about reading and I hope that he stays as enthusiastic even when he reaches his teenage years. While there is no guarantee that every child will develop a love for books, reading to your child at an early age can give them a good start until they learn to read for themselves.

Happy Reading

Monicka

Reading and Children

My ten-year-old son and I are both eager for the release of the last book in the Harry Potter series. I have to hand it to J.K. Rowling for making a children's book that is enjoyable for all ages. When I found out about the book being released this year I made an advance order to Amazon to make sure we could get a copy. Now we wait in delicious anticipation for it to arrive in the mail. The only problem is that we will have to figure out a way that we can both read it without squabbling.

Even though the Harry Potter series caused some controversy with religious groups, it did something that not a lot of books have done in the past, it made children want to read and parents want to read it to their children. I believe it doesn't matter what children read, as long as it is not obscene in any way, even comic books are fine if it will get your child to learn to love reading.

Happy Reading

Monicka

Simplified Spelling and Reading for Kids

This is a funny one! Check out the link to see a conversation between a lady from the "Simplified Spelling Society" and an expert linguist.

The Simplified Spelling Society want to "dumb down" the spelling of the English language, for instance:

Beautiful - butiful
Money - munny
More - mor

... saying that it will make it easier for children to learn to read.

How hilarious - there are so many bad points to this suggestion that it's difficult to know where to start!

The comment that struck me as the most important was from someone who had had the misfortune to be taught a simplified-spelling version of English as a child, and had to re-learn it later on. He says, "I ... very quickly consumed all available books at school and at the public library. I can still remember my frustration when I couldn't read the "normal" children's books. Such relief when we moved on to real spelling!"

From the mouths of babes...!

Happy reading with your kids,

Cassie