Parent Portal
Summer is the perfect time to play, explore…and read! How can you encourage your children to use this time away from school to develop their passion for reading? Here are a few summer reading tips:
- Visit your local library!
- When you’re looking through your local library, home collection, or book shopping, have your children select books that they would like you to read aloud. There is extensive research that supports the benefits of listening to stories for improving fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary. Perhaps the best reason of all to read to children, though, is the lasting memories it will create. Don’t underestimate the joy and power of this experience. Even older children love to be read to!
- Encourage your child to read in bed each night.
- Download ebooks or audiobooks to a handheld device. Sometimes the novelty of digital reading or listening can motivate a reluctant reader. Most of the local public library systems participate with Overdrive, a free digital resource for ebooks and audiobooks.
- Consider starting a parent/child or peer book club.
- Lead (and read) by example. Children of readers are more likely to become lifelong readers.
- See more tips in our blog: How to Inspire Your Child to Love Reading
We also recommend the following summer reading resources:
- Imagination Soup Summer Reading 2022 Recommendations
- Reading Rockets’ resources for struggling readers and book recommendations
- Browse recommended books by reading level
- Play Summer Reading Bingo!
- Keep a Summer Reading Journal
What books will your child fall in love with this summer? Check out Willow teachers’ list of summer book recommendations for every age, from preschool to Grade 8.
