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adorable boy reading comic book
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What counts as reading?
What counts as reading? 400 300 admin

Does the Guiness book of World Records count as reading?  About this time every summer, my boys and I start negotiating what counts as reading.  As we haggle over what “counts” for their 20-30  minutes of daily reading time, I try to keep in mind all I have learned from other parents, teachers and researchers.  So here is a list of what my family has decided “counts” as summer reading.

  1. Chapter books of any type – Seems obvious, but when it is the 6th book about a soccer star, sometimes I must grind my teeth and grin.
  2. Graphic novels – Yes, the word count is much lower, but my teacher friends tell me that the comprehension is actually more difficult because it involves so much visual interpretation.
  3. Guiness Book of World Records – Okay, this one may be unique to our household, but reading about the most tattooed man counts.
  4. Audio books – This one was tricky. However, reading experts opened my eyes to the value of modeling fluent reading, teaching critical listening, and introducing vocabulary that is unique to audio books.
  5. Digital e-books – Here I am talking about “enhanced” books, with sounds and gizmos and gadgets. Still counts as reading.
  6. Web surfing – This one is very fuzzy. Our rule is it only counts if you can come and share with me the specific idea or article you read.
  7. Magazines – While I like National Geographic for Kids best, but any magazine counts.
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Great Sites for Free eBooks
Great Sites for Free eBooks 300 200 admin

Finding great, free eBooks for your tablet, iPad or Kindle is a snap. I was especially excited to come across several websites that offer lists and links to eBooks for kids. While my kids and I have gone back and forth on the differences between digital and traditional books, it is the quality of the content – and your child’s interest in it – that is most important.

COMMON SENSE WARNING: As with all websites, an adult should check these out first.

 

Freebook Sifter
Freebook Sifter aggregates over 19,000 free eBooks available on Amazon.com. Notably, it features a children’s list organized by Amazon’s customer reviews. The top pick appears to be “The Secret Garden,” a classic, all-time favorite.

 

Gizmo's Freeware
Gizmo’s Freeware has compiled 72 sites that offer free online children’s books. Again, as with all sites, check them out before you let your students visit them unsupervised.

 

Amazon.com Amazon has made its own list of the 100 best free children’s books for the Kindle. While these are designed for the Kindle eReader, you can download a Kindle app to most mobile devices.

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Listen to a Story Together – FREE!
Listen to a Story Together – FREE! 300 243 admin

Listen to a story read by a trained story teller – it’s a wonderful way to spend time with your child.  In the car, while sorting socks, or simply sitting in the grass, let the story fill both of your imaginations.  Talk together about what you thought the characters looked like or how the reader made each character sound so different from each other.

Try these websites for free audio books and stories that you can listen to today!

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StoryNory publishes a free audio story every week.  Each story is read by a professional actor and ranges from the classics, to poetry to fairy tales.

 

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Light up your Brain offers free downloads so that you do not have to be connected to WIFI when you choose to listen.  Plus, you can click on the story link to follow the text if you want to practice reading at the same time.

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National Summer Learning Day Challenge
National Summer Learning Day Challenge 226 200 admin

Read for a chance to win a Kindle on National Summer Learning Day! Log 20 minutes of reading on June 20 at the ThinkStretch Summer Reading Challenge and earn a raffle ticket for a Kindle drawing celebrating National Summer Learning Day! The ThinkStretch Summer Reading Challenge is a FREE online, summer-long event. Kids log their reading minutes online and earn raffle tickets for prize drawings, including the ever-popular iPods and Kindles!

In addition to racking up entries for reading minutes, kids can earn bonus raffle tickets by answering BrainGain reading questions. Fun science activities are posted every week for kids to explore and learn all summer long.

A great compliment to the ThinkStretch Summer Learning Program, our summer learning challenge is a terrific way to encourage reluctant readers to keep reading all summer long.

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Read a Book, Give a Book! Free Digital Books from We Give Books
Read a Book, Give a Book! Free Digital Books from We Give Books 300 243 admin

We Give Books is a terrific website with lots of high quality, FREE digital books. With a library of popular books, including favorites like Llama Llama Misses Mama, We Give Books is a terrific online reading resource for elementary school readers.

Every book that your child reads at We Give Books, or that you read to your child, brings new books to public libraries this summer. For every Book of the Week read online, We Give Books will donate a new book to a public library. Each week a new Book of the Week is featured, along with reading activities you can download to help with reading comprehension.

So far, over 3 million books have been donated to schools and libraries since We Give Books was founded by the Pearson Foundation.

Enjoy reading digital books for free and feel good about the books you help donate. And don’t forget to log your reading minutes in your ThinkStretch summer workbook too!

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Free Books for Summer 2014!
Free Books for Summer 2014! 300 254 admin

Free books are a summer bonus for keeping up your reading skills.  Log your reading minutes every week in your ThinkStretch workbook and you will also be eligible for a free book at Barnes and Noble, Pottery Barn and a Half Price Books gift card drawing!

 

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Barnes and Noble Free Book

Simply log your books on the Barnes and Noble reading log and you can earn a free book at any Barnes and Noble.

 

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Pottery Barn Summer Reading Challenge

Read books from Pottery Barn’s book list and then visit your local store for your free book!  Plus, earn a reading certificate.

 

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Half Price Books

Turn in a reading log with 300 minutes and earn an entry into a drawing for a $20 HPB gift card.

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Why Are ThinkStretch Medals Free?
Why Are ThinkStretch Medals Free? 225 179 admin
Our free shipments of medals are our commitment to being focused on the finish line, not the bottom line. 

Because when a student finishes a ThinkStretch summer workbook, they return to school confident and prepared to learn, and that is our mission.  I will not compromise on the high quality of the medal. The loud metallic “clank” when a student bangs the medal on their desk, or the heavy weight in their hand that makes them ask every year, “Is it real gold?”  Because when a student reads a minimum of 800 minutes a summer, answers hundreds of math facts, writes a journal entry every week and tries some hands on STEM experiments, I want to say “thank you for all your efforts” in a meaningful way.

We know purchasing processes can be tedious.

The last thing we want is for students who have persevered over the summer to not receive medals.  Our goal is for you to build a culture of summer skill review that culminates in an appreciation of students for their efforts.  By shipping medals for free, with no invoicing, no shipping charge and no hassle, we assure that nothing stands in the way of any student receiving the recognition that they so richly deserve.

Bronze, Silver and Gold are important distinctions.

We would be failing you if we simply sent all gold medals with your books at the beginning of summer and saved ourselves the hassle and cost of additional shipments in the fall.  Of course we want every student to finish his or her workbook – but for some, that may be a struggle, especially the first summer.  If we only offered gold, there would be no encouragement for the student who started too late to finish, or who simply stopped trying.  By offering gold, silver and bronze, you can reward effort and encourage more achievement the next summer.  We ship 10 gold medals for every bronze or silver medal, but we would never want to stop shipping bronze and silver because we want all kids to be recognized for what they were able to accomplish.

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Why Does ThinkStretch Have a Theme Song?
Why Does ThinkStretch Have a Theme Song? 150 150 admin

Kids like to understand why they are required to do something – especially “homework” over the summer.

Rigor and relevance are the adult words to describe meaningful work done with a purpose. ThinkStretch explains the concept of maintaining school year learning over the summer using an animated cartoon in the best tradition of School House Rock. With a theme song, clever and humorous story telling, and a clear message, the ThinkStretch Student DVD entertains, educates, and creates enthusiasm for summer learning for every student.

The ThinkStretch theme song is a great way to catch kids attention.

ThinkStretch is focused on making summer learning attractive to kids.  We want kids to read, write and practice math over the summer.  We want kids to explore and learn while having fun.  And we want kids to understand why it is important to keep learning all summer long.  So we looked at the learning videos, songs and animations that we remembered from our childhood.  The ones we remembered best had a theme song and clear message delivered with humor.  Remember the Bill, sitting there on Capitol Hill?

Music uses different parts of the brain. 

Summer is a unique time for learning in different ways than a structured school day typically allows.  Summer is also a time when critical skills can be lost.  At ThinkStretch, we understand that telling a child that summer learning is good for them is different than singing that message to them accompanied by a mumbling brain.  We are betting that the child will remember the message from the catchy ThinkStretch theme song and the mumbling brain better!

Read, think, laugh, grow!

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Why Are ThinkStretch Covers So Simple?
Why Are ThinkStretch Covers So Simple? 300 258 admin
There is no “advertising” on the ThinkStretch workbooks. 

Other summer learning books blare “Just 10 minutes a day”, “More Pages than Summer Days”, “Common Core Aligned”, “Best Value”.  ThinkStretch recognizes that none of this means anything to a kid – and the kid is the one who perseveres over the summer to complete the workbook. Everything ThinkStretch designs is made to appeal to the child using the book, from the color choice, to the funky brain character, to the style of text.  We want students to keep up their skills all summer long, so we will do what it takes to keep them engaged – including not turning them off with cliched claims and advertising every time they reach for their workbook.

Most covers are used to sell to the parent, ours are used to attract the student.

The cover of every ThinkStretch summer learning workbook is designed to entice the student.  The brain character is just gross enough to intrigue kids.  The objects in his hands just odd enough to inspire curiosity.  The colors of the cover are just muted enough to draw the child closer to look at the design.  We want the student to open the book.  We want the student to be curious about what is inside.  And when they complete their work, we want them to smile with pride whenever they see Brain on the cover, knowing that he is their strong brain, too.

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Why Does ThinkStretch Give Out Achievement Medals?
Why Does ThinkStretch Give Out Achievement Medals? 222 170 admin
Achievement medals are a way to say “thank you for your efforts”.  

ThinkStretch medals represent hundreds of math facts, at least 800 minutes of reading, 8 journal entries, and a dozen STEM bonus activities completed over the summer. Most importantly, achievement medals represent effort. It does not matter if you read the toughest book or simply read the book you like the most – what matters is that you read. Did you take 5 minutes or 30 minutes to complete your math facts? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you finished them. ThinkStretch achievement medals are a way to thank students for persevering over the summer to keep school year skills in tact.

ThinkStretch medals change every year so kids can build a great collection of achievement!  

We all know that kids love to collect things.  Isn’t that the drive behind many of our crazy trends – beanie babies, Pokemon cards, and eraser tops?  At ThinkStretch, we want to see students build a collection of achievement.  Every summer ThinkStretch issues a new medal series featuring the Brain.  We are so proud to have been sent images of  ThinkStretch medals in school photos, local newspaper articles, decorating Christmas trees, and hanging around the necks of lots of smiling children!

Achievement medals celebrate effort, not academic levels.

Awarding medals can be controversial. Academic achievement generally refers to how well a student is accomplishing tasks and tests.  ThinkStretch takes a different perspective over the summer.  We choose to award academic effort.  We believe in grit and perseverance.  We believe making an effort to maintain skills over the summer is worthy of celebration.  If you choose to read the most interesting book to you, whether or not it is the perfect reading level assigned to you, we believe it is worthy of celebration. If you persevere and complete the math problems, even if it takes you longer than it took your sibling, we believe you are worthy of celebration. ThinkStretch wants every student to return to school prepared, confident and ready to learn.  And we want to celebrate all the effort it took to come to school that way!

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