Your child’s Nintendo DS is a reading tool. Betchya didn’t know that. And maybe your child doesn’t either. And just maybe you’re about to be the coolest parent ever. Well, this week. Your child loves the DS, right? Well, there’s a “PICTOCHAT” function that lets two DSs talk back and […]
Tag: 15-minute ideas
How to get mail
Getting mail is fun. Remember when you were little, and some mail came addressed to you? It was fantastic! And of course, when kids get mail… they read it. Here are some ways to help your child get some mail: *You get mail when you send mail. Help your child […]
Inauguration.
Does your child know what happened today? Talk to your child about the significance of the events of January 20, 2009. Talk to him about what it means to have an African-American president in the US. Explain why so many people were waiting and watching on this day. Why it’s […]
Motivate with a reading reward chart
Kids love rewards. If you’re having a tough time getting your child to read, try a reading reward chart. Make a graph with a week’s worth of days. Your child puts a sticker on each day you read together. (Fifteen to 30 minutes is ideal.) Or, your chart can be […]
Donate your gently used children’s books
Give the gift of reading. Your child is surrounded by books, but just doesn’t want to read. (Don’t worry – we’re working on that.) In Toronto, there are thousands of kids who love to read, but can’t afford books of their own. Fortunately, the Children’s Book Bank gives free books […]
Literacy is more than reading
Have you taught your child how to read a newspaper? I don’t mean the words themselves. I mean how a newspaper works. What a headline is. Where the author’s name is, and how to tell what’s happening in the pictures. Where does the rest of the article go off the […]
Read to your child every night
Every night? Every night. Reading to your child could be the single most important thing you do to turn your child into a great reader. And if for some reason you “can’t” read to your child every night, forthwith are my reasons why, in fact, you can. *He’s too tired. […]
Share your favourite book
What was your favourite book as a child? What were the books that soothed you, that made you laugh, that were your friends? One great idea that will help your child (and you), is to revisit them at the library, and then share them with your child. Your child will […]
Learning to read the signs
One of the first words my son learned to read was “Stop.” He didn’t learn it from a book, but from the neighbourhood stop signs. When I was an ESL tutor, I learned that one of the biggest motivators for new readers is relevance. People are more apt to want […]
