Supplementing reading at home is one of the most important things you can do as a parent. Here are 6 tips to help you supplement reading with your child.

Have your child read aloud every night.
When you are finished reading point out how to spell and sound out words and patterns.
Stop often while reading and ask your child to retell you what they read in their own words.
You can also ask your child to predict what will happen next.
Pause and ask questions to check for understanding.
If your child misses a word pause and help him or her through sounding it out.

I was delighted again when I substitue taught in kindergarten that the youngsters wanted to read books after they had finished their seat work.  They sat in little chairs or spread out on the alphabet rug, read to themselves or discussed their book with another classmate.
With youngsters so involved in visual arts and video/electronic games these days, it’s wonderful (to me as a reader, teacher and author) to find those who enjoy books, too.  It also says something for their teacher and their parents that so many of these youngsters are interested in reading and take delight in having an …read more

Reading to Children

We often hear about reading to children from infancy to encourage their enjoyment of stories.  What about reading to children while they’re still in the womb?
Marcie has an interesting guest post at one of her other blogs…A Child Chosen.  Her guest tells of being at the birth of the child they adopted and the baby recognizing her voice when she entered the nursery in  A Domestic Birth, Overwhelmed With Joy.
Then the adoptive mother recalled:
It was then that I was reminded of his birth mother’s request, during her pregnancy, that we give her a CD recording of us reading children’s stories …read more

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“But Dad, you skipped some of the story,” Beth admonished Jim, as they sat on the couch where he read to her while I got supper on the table.
Is this a familiar refrain in your home?  Your children want a story over and over.  If you try to leave out any words or phrases, or skip a page, they remind you immediately.  Sometimes you wonder why you’re doing this.
However, if they become readers themselves and develop a love of books and story, your time spent is very worthwhile.  Beth became an avid reader and still is as an adult.  She’s …read more

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We have a winner of the book giveaway, Monkey Trouble. 
Inna C’s name was selected in the random drawing at random.org.  Congratulations, Inna !
This giveaway was run in conjunction with the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival.  There were so many who entered the giveaway, left comments and shared with us about reading to their children, grandchildren, neices and nephews and other children.  It is great to see so many who are encouraging youngsters to read and take an interest in books.
[Amazon image;click for details]
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

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We’ll travel “Around the World” this week, and will include some of more Olympics posts, too.  This continues our summer program of having a different theme each week and tying in with Camp Weary Parent.
Do you have a favorite country you’ve visited or like to read about?  What books about other countries interest you?

I loved reading Heidi by Johanna Spyri and learning about Switzerland when I was a child.  Actually, Mother read this to us four children as a bedtime story.  We’d pile on a different bed each night while she read a chapter. 

Then on rainy days, we might pretend we …read more

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With the Olympics located in China, panda bears come to mind.  There seems to be a fascination with these black and white bears with the black patches around  their eyes.  They’re native to southwestern and central western China. 
Because of their distinctive markings, they’ve been a favorite with artists and photographers, as well as writers. They often become the focus of story books and find their way into art. 
Children enjoy reading about them in books such as those below:
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?
 Zen Shorts
 A Panda is Born/Baby Panda’s First Year
(Amazon Image; click for details)
(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

This week’s theme is the Dog Days of Summer so we thought we would start off with a great read aloud dog book…from Amanda Bynes.
Enjoy The Night I Followed the Dog