Reading

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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 Does ThinkStretch Encourage Kids to Choose What They Read?
Why Does ThinkStretch Encourage Kids to Choose What They Read? 300 218 admin
ThinkStretch does not print reading selections in their workbooks because kids do not like them.

And why would they?  Either the text is too hard, or it is written on a topic that does not interest them. Or, worse yet, it is a poorly written few paragraphs designed to fit a set of follow up questions. To truly get kids to like reading, they need to have a say in what they read. Study after study has shown that kids who choose their own books are significantly more likely to not only complete the book, but to read more often. In fact, 91% of students agree to the statement “I am more likely to finish reading a book that I picked out myself.”

A child’s interest in a book is more predictive of finishing the book than the leveled reading selection.

In other words, a child will learn and stretch their abilities to finish reading a “too hard” book that they have chosen because it interests them.  The researcher, Dr. Worthy, eloquently stated, ““Focusing on children’s interests in selecting reading materials may be more beneficial in promoting reading success than a focus on reading level itself. When children have a strong interest in what they read, they can frequently transcend their reading level.”  ThinkStretch respects kids and their interests, so we let them choose their reading – we don’t choose for them.

That does not mean that parents should not suggest books for their child to read.

In fact, a parent who is in tune with what their child likes to read and is able to point out similar books for the child, are much more likely to have a middle schooler who is still considered a “frequent” reader.  The key message here is to engage with your child about reading.  Listen to what your child likes and doesn’t like, ask the librarian for suggestions for your child, and share ideas for new books with your child.

Because in the end, the only way to be a better reader is to read, read, READ, READ!
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Setting Up A Summer Reading Program
Setting Up A Summer Reading Program 436 275 admin

Most educators are all too familiar with the problem of summer learning loss that occurs each year. A good deal of each fall is spent reviewing old material before teaching anything new is even considered. Summer reading is one of the best ways to minimize such loss and to help students remain active and continual learners.

When setting up a summer reading program, it can be hard to know where to start. Following are some tips for doing this:

  • Get parents involved – You can develop the best program in the world and the most exciting reading list ever but without buy-in of parents, your success rate is likely to be low. Remember that you will not see your students all summer but their parents will. Educate your parents on the importance of summer reading and find creative ways to keep parents engaged. Send weekly emails with summer activities to parents, send a mid-summer postcard, or even send home the library registration form at the end of the school year.
  • Solicit input on reading lists – Don’t put the entire burden for developing reading lists on your shoulders alone. Get input from your colleagues and the local libraries. Asking parents and students for suggestions is a great way to increase participation. A child is far more likely to complete a book that they have chosen from a list of books recommended by people they like.
  • Offer incentives – Let’s face it—rewards work. It typically does not take much to motivate kids to participate, especially the younger crowd. Finding fun rewards can make your job a whole lot easier. Offer a pass to the front of the lunch line for each student who has read at least two books this summer. Or offer 5 extra minutes of recess!

Once you have developed your program, review it each fall to see what worked and what you could change for the next year. Your summer reading program is likely to get better and better each year.

Looking for a turnkey solution? ThinkStretch offers everything for a terrific summer reading program with math, writing and science to complete the summer learning fun!

[cta text=”Download our Program Coordinator Materials to see how quick and easy it is to set up a Summer Learning Program for a group or your school!” link=”https://thinkstretch.com/program-coordinator-materials-download/” color=”orange”] Sign Up [/cta]

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NEW! ThinkStretch Summer Reading Challenge
NEW! ThinkStretch Summer Reading Challenge 208 246 admin

ThinkStretch is proud to introduce our newest feature for schools and families – the online ThinkStretch Summer Reading Challenge. Supporting the ThinkStretch Summer Learning book series, the online reading challenge offers another way to engage students and families over the summer time in fun, exploratory summer learning activities.  Logging reading minutes is just the beginning.

Students are challenged to log 20 minutes of reading five days a week over the summer to earn raffle tickets for a prize drawing.  As students create their personal online logins, they can watch their progress and earn raffle tickets along the way.  The raffle tickets enter kids into a prize drawing with large and small rewards – from an iPod to a brain eraser.

BrainGain questions earn even more raffle entries!  Reading comprehension is key to keeping reading skills strong over the summer.  Every time students log reading minutes, they will have the opportunity to answer a BrainGain question.  BrainGain questions range from “Name five words that caught your attention while reading” to “Summarize the story in 3 sentences.”

Entertain Your Brain activities offer hands on science, math, reading and writing exploration.  On each student’s personal challenge page there is a scrolling bar of Entertain Your Brain activities.  With new activities every week, kids and families will have at their fingertips science activities like “homemade silly putty” and “electricity in your mouth.”  Our reading lists ensure that finding the just right book is never a problem.  And our outdoor games and activities keep kids off the couch.

Customized summer reading challenges offer school and student specific reporting on reading minutes and comprehension activities completed.  Our custom option offers you the ability to report on student reading minutes by school, classroom or grade level.  You can also review the answers to the BrainGain questions by student.  In addition, schools can create special prizes and rewards for kids.  From passes to the front of the lunch line to certificates of success for reading milestones achieved, your school can create a program that works best for your student population.  Contact us if you would like to create a custom Entertain Your Brain challenge for your school.

The ThinkStretch Summer Reading Challenge will begin June 1 and end August 31.  Sign up will begin May 1, 2014. 

Summer reading is more fun with friends! Encourage your friends to sign up by sharing this post via social media.

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Boys and Reading
Boys and Reading 282 424 admin

As a mother of three sons, I have (occasionally!) jealously watched quiet families of girls reading. I imagine all the things I could accomplish with some quiet time.

However, my curiosity and frustration began to rise as I noticed how much better at reading girls are doing today compared to boys. According to the US Department of Education, a lot of boys are having trouble reading. Reading tests for the last 30 years show boys scoring worse than girls in every age group, every year.

As I dug into the research, I looked for specific things I could do to help my boys become better readers. Here are a few reading tips for parents with boys struggling to stay interested in books:

  • Expand my definition of reading – I needed to include nonfiction, graphic novels, comic books and websites.
  • Point out male role models – I have a book club.  My husband has a poker night. My boys do not see reading as part of what “a guy” does. I needed to ask my husband to step it up as a reading role model.
  • Start small – Starting with a short book or a short magazine and then talking about it with me is enough.
  • Give a lot of choice – The books I am interested in generally do not appeal to my sons. I needed to step outside of my comfort zone and ask the librarian for help to come up with a pile of choices that I had never heard of!

The most important thing I can do, however, is to keep my boys reading. After all, the only way to get better at reading is to READ, READ, READ!

Today isn’t just Valentine’s Day, it’s International Book Giving Day, too. Why not celebrate by giving your son (or daughter!) a new book, or reading a new book aloud with them?

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Read Aloud or Read With Me?
Read Aloud or Read With Me? 424 283 admin

As your children transition from beginning readers to more independent readers, how you spend time together reading can change.

One distinction that I have used with my boys is the difference between a “read aloud” book and a “read with” book. “Read aloud” books are usually books beyond my child’s reading level. I am in control of the pace, expression and timing of the reading. My son just needs to sit back and relax into the story and the warm couch with me.

A “read with” book is a story that is at or slightly above your child’s reading level. Instead of you controlling the pace of reading, your child is reading with you. We took turns reading paragraphs or pages. Sometimes I would be the voice of one character and my son would be the voice of a different character.  The important thing with a “read with” story is that your child reads aloud to you, giving you the opportunity to help with new words.

The best part of both the “read with” and “read aloud” books is the time spent together. It’s fantastic to hear a child ask, “Will you read with me?” Don’t waste an opportunity to build some reading comprehension by talking about the book when you are done. Ask a few questions about the story and watch your child’s reading skills grow.

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