Popular Reading Tips from Share a Story-Shape a Future 2009

One of the most commented upon aspects of this year’s Literacy Blog Tour was the collection of reading tips and ideas. In this post we’ve pulled together blog posts, references to websites, and some creative ideas offered by participants and their visitors. There were tons of ideas, but the list below focuses on ways to help you “sneak” reading into your day.

We welcome more ideas, so if you leave a link in the comments, I’ll come back and add it here.

2:00PM: updated to fix the list snafu

Websites with Reading Ideas

Reading Tips – a one-page set of easy-to-use ideas courtesy of Reach Out and Read

14 Fantastic Hints on Reading Aloud by Mem Fox – a post by Susan Stephenson (The Book Chook)

20 Ways to Incorporate Literacy Into Your Own Kids' Lives - Valerie Baartz (The Almost Librarian) offered these in an interview at The Book Chook.

Tif Talks Books has posts about Sorting and Roaming Around the Known – Tif says these are two tools she learned about in a Parents as Teachers workshop.

Ideas for Mixing Reading into Your Day

Bathtub Fun - One of our favorite "pre-reading" activities was playing with foam letters in the bathtub. William would line them up from A to Z and then hide his eyes. I would remove a letter and he would try to guess which one was missing. Sometimes instead of removing a letter I would rearrange them. As he got older, we would spell words for each other and then read them. (Tricia Stohr-Hunt, post at The Miss Rumphius Effect)

Letter Art - Kids love to make art using all kinds of media. I invested in alphabet rubber stamps so that William's art could be adorned with letters and words. In the beginning, the artwork contained his just his name stamped on the page. Then, the objects in the scenes were labeled. Now, the art is fully described or sometimes forms the pages of a story. (Tricia Stohr-Hunt, post at The Miss Rumphius Effect)

Write Stories - When you find a book or character your child loves, try to imagine together what the next adventure might be. (Tricia Stohr-Hunt, post at The Miss Rumphius Effect)

Sign Poetry - Travel is actually a very good time to practice reading skills. We keep a pen and paper in the car and often play a game where we collect words and phrases for poetry. We read and write (not me silly, I’m driving!) words we find on signs, billboards, bumper stickers, license plates, etc. Once we have a decent list, we make up silly poems using the words. (Tricia Stohr-Hunt, post at The Miss Rumphius Effect)

Never Leave Home Without It - Anytime we leave the house for errands we carry a bag that holds plain paper, crayons or colored pencils, and a few books that William has selected. Now the mantra before heading out is "Go to the bathroom and then grab a book." There always seems to be time to read in the car, the doctor's office, the restaurant, you name it. (Tricia Stohr-Hunt, post at The Miss Rumphius Effect)

Light Up the Night - Buy your child a flashlight or book light and let him/her read under the covers. William will actually go to bed early if I tell him he can have time reading AFTER lights out. Reading undercover is fun and helps build independence. (Tricia Stohr-Hunt, post at The Miss Rumphius Effect)

Make a List - Keep a running list of favorite books or authors in a spreadsheet or table or use an online service like Goodreads.com. Before you head out to the library or to the bookstore, bring a print out. This list lays out your groundwork. You have information to provide those librarians when they ask what you've liked in the past and you've got solid sources to go back to in case you aren't able to find anything new during that trip. (recommended by Valerie Baartz)

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