DEAR TEACHER
– by Peggy Gisler and Marge Eberts
Helping all parents make their
children’s educational experience
as successful as possible
Doing Summer Reading
Activities Can Pay Huge
Dividends
Parents: Bookworms are typically
good students. The more your children
read, the more likely they will become
skilled readers who love the printed word.
Every summer our Dear Teacher
column offers activities that will keep
your children’s academic skills sharp.
This year our focus is on reading — the
skill that affects every subject in school.
Hopefully, by having fun with reading
this summer, your children will become
avid readers. On our Dear Teacher
website, they will find even more reading
activities under “Learning Activities.”
Start out with Riddle Fun
A riddle can be described as a
question that needs to be solved using
one’s intelligence and reasoning. Have
your children find riddles online and in
books to share for several nights at the
dinner table. There are popular riddles
like Albert Einstein’s riddle that he
estimates only 2 percent of the population
can solve. And there is the riddle in
Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland that
asks: “Why is a raven like a writing
desk?” Hobbit readers might like to find
the riddle that Bilbo Baggins used to
stump Gollum so he could escape from a
tunnel under the Misty Mountains.
Challenge your children to find the
answer to this 4000 BC riddle: “There is
a house. One enters it blind and comes
out seeing. What is it?”
Graphic Novels Can
Entice Reluctant Readers
A graphic novel is defined as a work
of fiction or nonfiction using comic
strips published as a book. Introduce
your readers to classic literary works
54 WNY Family July 2019
by having them read several of them in
graphic novel format. Reluctant readers
can be enticed to read more by reading
graphic novels.
It can be difficult to find graphic
novels that are both good quality and
appealing to specific age groups. Two
good lists found online are those put out
by the American Library Association
and by Common Sense Media.
Make Poetry Reading Fun
There is a definite relationship
between preschoolers hearing and
reading poetry to their becoming among
the best readers in the early grades.
So, read nursery rhymes and poems to
them, as they will learn so much about
phonemic awareness.
Too few older children read poetry.
Fortunately, there are poets who make
poetry reading fun. Introduce them to
the poems of Shel Silverstein, Bruce
Lansky, Jack Prelutsky and Judith Viorst.
Then try to hook them on more serious
poetry by reading to them the poems
of Edgar Allan Poe, Maya Angelou,
Walt Whitman, Robert Frost and Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow. These are poets
with whom everyone should be familiar.
Patriotic Reading Will
Acquaint Children with
American History
This is the month with the Fourth
of July so reading about our history is
appropriate. Then your children can
share what they have learned with the
rest of the family.
Visit readingrockets.org and you
will find a list of recommended books
for children up to 9-years-old. Each
book has information about real and
legendary heroes and heroines.
On history.com, your older children
can look at its “Day in History” and find a
new story every day for what happened on
that day in history. Online at constitution
facts.com, have your children click on
“Declaration of Independence” to find
out more details about the signers and
signing of the Declaration.
For red, white and blue fun, have them
visit our Dear Teacher website for more
science learning activities and find patriotic
activities. They will learn about safe things
that they can do to celebrate the Fourth like
experiencing “Fireworks in their Mouths”
or creating fireworks in a glass.
Word Games Can Be Great
Vocabulary Builders
Your children can have fun and
not even realize that at the same time
they are building their vocabularies. On
television or apps, they can view Wheel
of Fortune and Chain Reaction.
Then there are games in which they
need to arrange letters such as Boggle
and the many variants of Scrabble.
Finally, play some paper and pencil
word games with them to hook them
on crossword puzzles, cryptograms and
word searches.
Reading Check-up Time
Before the New School Year
For our final reading activity
parents should take the time to visit the
DearTeacher.com website, where you
will be able to find out your children’s
reading level before the start of the
school year. Just give them the free San
Diego Reading Assessment on the home
page. This assessment has stood up to
examination by numerous researchers
as a good indicator of children’s reading
levels. It will not give you the whole
picture of your children’s reading ability,
but it will tell you how well your children
are reading words at each grade level.
The advantage of knowing your
children’s reading level is that you will
have an idea before school starts of
whether they are reading below, above or
on grade level. If they are reading below
or considerably below grade level, you
should discuss this as soon as possible with
their teachers. Find out what help can be
given to them at school. For some a test for
learning disabilities will be appropriate.
Parents should send questions and
comments to dearteacher@dearteacher.
com or to the Dear Teacher website.