Getting Kids to Read
Use leveled books to help children understand family values and the meaning of friendship…
September 17, 2010
In thinking about the Paxton Hood quote, “Be as careful of the books you read as the company you keep…”, I am reminded how important it is to learn about friends, companions, companionship, and family.
Leveled Reader has selected several books on these important subjects. Not only are they engaging and introduce the subject in an intriguing and varied milieu, but they are leveled for your convenience so you have a better idea of which books would be appropriate to challenge your young reader–and capture their attention and curiosity.
The book, Zelda and Ivy and the Boy Next Door, takes a wry and honest look at the relationships between friends. [Age Level: 5-9 years. Grade Level: 1st-2nd, 2nd-3rd. Leveled Group: L-M.]
For friends of a different sort, the book Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends, a True Story, is an amazing story of Jim and his two dogs and what happens when Jim falls through the ice on the frozen lake. [Age Level: 5-7. Grade Level: K-1. Leveled Group: E-F.]
The True Story of Owen and Mzee is a story about a young hippopotamus and an old giant tortoise after the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami. [Age Level: 5-7. Grade Level: K-1. Leveled Group: G-H-I.]
Or how about Henry and Mudge and the Family Trees? This is a story of best friends—Henry and his 180-pound dog—who are going to their first family reunion. [Age Level: 6-8. Grade Level: 1-2. Leveled Group: J-K.]
Or you can choose from the “Friendship” or “Families” subjects yourself by exploring Shop by Subject and exploring the wide variety of popular literature Leveled Reader’s team of educators and other professionals has selected to improve your young reader’s chances for success through improved literacy, piquing curiosity, and exposing them not only to their world, but other worlds.
Quote: “Be as careful of the books you read as the company you keep.” Paxton Hood
Leveled Reader recognizes “Mental Health Month” by recommending leveled books that help your child understand and build self esteem
April 30, 2010
The month of May is designated to celebrate many things, among them is “Mental Health Month.” According to experts, to have good mental health, your brain needs to be physically fit and emotionally fit. To keep your brain physically fit, keep your body healthy. This will boost your self esteem, mood, and overall mental state.
At least 30 minutes a day of some sort of physical activity helps improve memory, reasoning, and reaction times in your brain. You can do things like walk 100 steps after eating, you can spread the 30 minutes out over the day. A balanced diet helps improve memory, decision making and thinking abilities, and mood. Getting enough rest helps keep your body and brain stay healthy. Exercising your mind is important for good mental health, too. Simple mind puzzles like word searches, cards, Yahtzee or crosswords, or reading the newspaper will help stimulate the brain. Deep breathing, listening to certain types of music, writing, a hobby, or reading helps your emotional state.
Maintaining a healthy self esteem is integral to good mental health. A person with healthy self esteem realizes their strengths and weaknesses, they are confident, able to act independently, be responsible, take pride in achievements, tolerate frustration, try new things, and offer help to others. A healthy self esteem improves your mood, mental ability and enjoyment in life.
To help build self esteem in your child, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Children thrive on positive attention. Encouragement goes a long way. Offer praise, teach them how to think in positive ways, avoid ridiculing or shaming, let them own their problem but teach them to recognize when they have made good decisions, show them you can laugh at yourself.
By laughing at yourself, one thing you are showing your child is that they are not alone. Another way to show them this is by reading about how other children experience similar situations and emotions and ended up okay. Leveled Reader has a Self Esteem section with books for various levels of readers. Read about “A Bad Case of the Stripes,” “Lucy on the Loose,” “Finklehopper Frog Cheers” and others. By reading, your child will be improving their mental health in so many ways!
Quote: “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends and the most patient of teachers.” Charles W. Eliot.
Reading sets the stage for success, reading encouragement starts soon after birth.
April 23, 2010
We know reading sets the stage for success. And becoming a reader really starts soon after birth. If youth can read easily and understand what they are reading by third grade, they can more easily take advantage of the learning opportunities in subsequent grades and beyond.
Before school life begins, youth are hearing the spoken word, then begin to understand the written word when being read to and seeing others reading—this is the beginning. The beginning of forming a habit that will have such great benefit—and provide endless opportunities.
We have already identified some tips to start forming an appreciation for reading, to improve the creative thinking process, to widen the young reader’s world to infinite possibilities. Some of those tips include setting aside time every day to read. Here are some more tips to start forming that habit of reading at an early age—even before school life begins.
Try to incorporate reading activities into the daily routine by:
- Keep various reading materials around your home.
- Let your child see you read—and bring books with you when you go somewhere…reading while waiting in line or for an elevator is a great use of time.
- Read with your children. Point to the words, explain the pictures. Let them turn pages, make up stories, read to you even when they can’t yet read, talk about the story, ask what comes next.
- Building off your child’s interests, then suggesting related articles and books.
- Reward your child with books and other reading material.
- If you are planning a trip, design fun activities that include reading to learn about the destination.
- After watching a show, video, or movie, introduce a book on the subject.
Lily has lots of preschool books selected at Leveled Reader. If your child or the child you are wanting to encourage to read is older, Lily can help there, too. Try selecting books by grade.
Quote: “Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.” Maya Angelou, American Poet, b. 1928.
Encouraging a child to follow the guidelines of their leveled reading program does not have to be “un – bear – able”!
April 19, 2010
Bears…Who doesn’t like bears? I think of a stuffed Teddy Bear, Smokey the Bear, and even Ben, the bear on Grizzly Adams. Well, Leveled Reader has books about a multitude of lovable bears. Even one called “Big Brown Bear.”
Mind you, the bears in “Big Brown Bear” are not like the brown bears photographed by Scott Cromwell Solent recently grappling then wandering off to catch salmon together in Alaska.
No, the bears in “Big Brown Bear” end up finding out that balls, bats, bikes, and paint mix with hilarious results. Young readers are encouraged by the playful rhythms, repeated phrases, strong spoken language patterns and creative story. It also includes enrichment activities at the end of the story. [Age Level: 4-6 years. Grade Level: Pre-School to K. Leveled Group: A-B.]
And what about the bears in the other bear stories? You might select books about Goldilocks, Goldilocks with Chicken Pox, a snoring bear, a princess and a white bear, or…..well, check them out for yourself as excellent options for you and your child as you select leveled books and other books and book sets to supplement your child’s reading program.
After reading these great bear stories, you can relate them back to historic bears, companion bears, amazing bear stories, television bears, or even bears in the news today. Or, simply relish in the time spent with your child reading or being read to: never time wasted.
Quote: “Reading to kids is to ordinary reading what jazz is to a string quartet.” Sean Wilentz.
Posted in Buying Books For Kids, Getting Kids to Read, Making History Fun for Kids | 
Tags: Encourage your child to read, Grandparents, Leveled Book Resources for teachers and parents, Leveled Book Sets enhance your childs reading program, parents and others purchase quality books for children | 
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The keys to coaching your young reader to success through selecting books and reading
April 16, 2010
Whether your relationship to the youth in your life is one of teacher, parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or someone else special, part of what you do can be considered coaching.
As a coach, there are a few qualities that lead to success. Things like patience, fairness, commitment, leading by example, willingness to learn, keeping everyone involved, making it fun, and encouragement.
You can apply these good coach qualities to reading, in whatever reading technique you are using: reading aloud to the child, reading aloud in unison, having the child read the same thing back to you, helping the child while he or she is reading, and having the child read independently. (There are specific things you can do during and after reading, too. Another time we can touch on some of those tips.)
Coaching is important, but so is selecting the book that is just challenging enough; books should be just beyond the child’s reading ability range, but not enough so reading it is discouraging or overly frustrating. That’s where leveled books help. These are books that experts have selected according to criteria such as reading scores. For a handy table and full description of the leveling criteria used by LILY at Leveled Reader, go to http://leveledreader.com/cart.php?page=leveling_guide. Once you find what level your child is at, Leveled Reader can help you select those books to enhance your child’s reading program.
And what is most important? To set aside those few minutes every day to read. Whether you are the teacher, parent, grandparent or other relative or special person, your child will remember that extra effort you made providing those books that were just challenging enough and coaching them with their reading.
Lily says “Way to go coach! You are helping your youth reach for the stars!”
Quote: “Never judge a book by its movie.” J.W. Eagan
[In honor of 'Turn Your Television Off' week]
To dream a dream is to begin the journey to its reality….
April 12, 2010
In a recent Parade magazine, several people were asked what they most liked about their job. A library director answered, “I like creating an environment that encourages people to read more, learn more, and do more with the ideas that spring from the books they find in the library.”
In that same Parade issue, a teacher success story from Bakersfield California told of an unusual problem he experienced in one of his classrooms with students, many of whom were unable to read or were in special education, after he obtained books with a $1,000 grant from Scholastic. That problem? “Books began to disappear from the classroom.”
This teacher was inspired through his life long passion of literature. Growing up without many advantages, once in junior high, he wanted to “read what educated people were reading, so he chose the biggest book in the school library” and subsequently “devoured classics.” His parents were from modest roots, “whatever [his] parents lacked, they made up for in stability.” He motivates his students with his inspiration and his story of earning scholarships to Berkeley and Harvard and planning to return to earn his Ph.D. He is living his dream through his love of literature and helping others realize nothing is impossible, if only to dream.
These stories exemplify the importance of reading and encouraging reading through simple efforts. The teacher got a late start. For the child in your life, providing them with the reading opportunity as young as possible, who knows how they will change the world!
Let Leveled Reader help you choose books and book sets from a variety of subjects to supplement the child’s (or classroom) current reading program and aptly challenge and motivate them. Lighting that spark is inspiration in and of itself
Quote: “Nothing happens until first a dream…”. Carl Sandburg
Posted in Buying Books For Kids, Getting Kids to Read | Tags: Benefits of reading, Encourage your child to read, Leveled Book Resources for teachers and parents, Leveled Book Sets enhance your childs reading program, Leveled Reader supports educators, parents and others purchase quality books for children, Teachers need our help! | Comments Closed
Why read a book? Happiness is as happiness does…
April 9, 2010
Not too long ago, a study was published confirming “happiness spreads readily through social networks of family members, friends and neighbors.” Further, it described how a person’s emotional state depended not only on actions and choices made, but also on actions and choices other people made—even persons unknown. People who are happy tend to live longer. In essence, the study “concluded happiness is like a contagious disease.” Unfortunately, other studies concluded the same for obesity and smoking: they, too, spread among groups of friends and relatives. An interesting finding was that happiness was more contagious face-to-face—not via the Internet or cell phone. The study postulated the reason was that “happy people spread their good fortune directly by being generous with time and money,” enhancing social bonds so “successful groups” were formed.
Why write about happiness being like a contagious disease? Well, it is a wonderful notion to consider. We all want to be happy. But, this is also an example of the benefits of reading. Seeing others around you read, will encourage you to read. Readers spread their knowledge gained from reading, that creates an environment of creative thinking, and, there you go: a chain reaction of the most positive kind, enhancing social bonds and potentially even society. To me, this potential is exciting!
Leveled Reader’s team of professionals and experts have selected books to stimulate young minds to encourage reading in such a way that it enhances their current reading program in an easy, yet challenging and satisfying way. Let Lily help you not only find the book to start your young reader on the road to success within their family and community, but also find some books on being happy, too.
Start the contagion, let your child see you read, get your child reading, and let Leveled Reader help.
Quote: “Books are the legacies that a great genius leaves to mankind, which are delivered down from generation to generation, as presents to the posterity of those who are yet unborn.” Inscription over the Thebes Library door.
Launching Independent Literate Youth – LILY – means encouraging your child to take the necessary steps.
April 5, 2010
We all want the best for the youth in our lives. Developing skills that lead to a child having the best advantages to make the most of their talents, skills, and dreams must be started at a young age. Just like walking – skills were learned incrementally and practiced to the point where walking was easy and, from there, we could run if we chose.
The time to lay the foundation for success is now. To get started, here are some key habits:
- Read to your child. Not only can you set aside 15-20 minutes every evening to read out loud, but you can read out loud all of the things you are reading throughout the day: newspaper or internet articles, recipes, advertisements, signs, emails, instructions . . .
- Point out objects and name them out loud as you go about your day with your child.
- Have your child tell you a story and later read out loud to you.
- Let your child ask questions about, or add to, the story.
- Decrease television time.
- Provide a variety of books for your child to explore independently in the home—or at the library.
- Set aside a quiet time for independent reading.
- Ask about what they are reading in class.
When you engage in the above, you are building listening, language and communication skills; increasing attention span, comprehension, vocabulary, proper grammatical structure, curiosity, and creative thinking skills; and expanding exposure to new words, experiences and knowledge. Armed with reading and language skills and all that comes with it, school assignments (and later work assignments) become easier and the ability of confident and creative self expression is enhanced. And the added plus? Bonding.
Start laying the foundation today. Let Leveled Reader help you select those books and book sets that not only interest your child, but appropriately challenge your child’s reading level and enhance their current school reading program.
Quote: “That is a good book which is opened with expectation, and closed with delight and profit.” A. Bronson Alcott.
Use leveled books to help children understand family values and the meaning of friendship…
March 26, 2010
In thinking about the Paxton Hood quote, “Be as careful of the books you read as the company you keep…”, I am reminded how important it is to learn about friends, companions, companionship, and family.
Leveled Reader has selected several books on these important subjects. Not only are they engaging and introduce the subject in an intriguing and varied milieu, but they are leveled for your convenience so you have a better idea of which books would be appropriate to challenge your young reader–and capture their attention and curiosity.
The book, Zelda and Ivy and the Boy Next Door, takes a wry and honest look at the relationships between friends. [Age Level: 5-9 years. Grade Level: 1st-2nd, 2nd-3rd. Leveled Group: L-M.]
For friends of a different sort, the book Tara and Tiree, Fearless Friends, a True Story, is an amazing story of Jim and his two dogs and what happens when Jim falls through the ice on the frozen lake. [Age Level: 5-7. Grade Level: K-1. Leveled Group: E-F.]
The True Story of Owen and Mzee is a story about a young hippopotamus and an old giant tortoise after the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami. [Age Level: 5-7. Grade Level: K-1. Leveled Group: G-H-I.]
Or how about Henry and Mudge and the Family Trees? This is a story of best friends—Henry and his 180-pound dog—who are going to their first family reunion. [Age Level: 6-8. Grade Level: 1-2. Leveled Group: J-K.]
Or you can choose from the “Friendship” or “Families” subjects yourself by exploring Shop by Subject and exploring the wide variety of popular literature Leveled Reader’s team of educators and other professionals has selected to improve your young reader’s chances for success through improved literacy, piquing curiosity, and exposing them not only to their world, but other worlds.
Quote: “Be as careful of the books you read as the company you keep.” Paxton Hood
Curiosity may be something that you attribute to cats, we have found that it is a corner stone of success in humans
March 22, 2010
We all know the curiosity of a child. So many successful men, like Bill Gates, stress how important creative thinking is and how curiosity is a part of being a creative thinker. In an article on About.com, Bill Gates talked about how to promote creative thinking and innovation. Among his tips were “Read a non-fiction book every week, read …. read with pen and notebook in hand; jot down any idea that comes into your consciousness.”
Leveled Reader has an entire section of non-fiction books for all ages and reading ability. One book is Amazing Creations. This is such an engaging book. With its graphic illustrations and photographs as well as a high-interest topic, the child’s attention is captured from the first to the last page. It is for the 5-7 year old, grades K-1 (Leveled Group: G-H-I) – perfect for children transitioning from early readers to more challenging storylines. The non-fiction format also makes this a valuable resource to have on your shelf.
There are so many other non-fiction books for children to choose from. With many already leveled and ready to enhance your child’s reading program. Choose from books about American frontier heroes, how to be a medieval knight, ocean creatures, bugs, horses and much more.
Helping the child in your life retain that curiosity will be helping them develop the skill of creative thinking – a key to greater success and happiness.
“If we encounter a man of great intellect, we should ask him what books he reads.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.