Apples-to-Apples, Jr.

Apples-to-Apples, Jr. is a great gift idea for your student. It is fun for the whole family and it provides vocabulary enrichment at the same time. Make sure that when you play the game, you make it a rule that the person who is "it" must state reasons for choosing or not choosing each particular card. This is the part that helps the student to make connections and broaden his/her vocabulary.

Fun with Movies

Books are usually better than movies because our imaginations can paint more vivid pictures than cameras can and because books usually include more details than time will permit in movies. For these reasons, I think it is fun to read the book version with my children first and then watch the movie together. This opens up some interesting conversations about which parts they liked better in the book and which in the movie. What parts were left out of the movie that they wished had been included? What parts did they add to movie which weren't in the book? Were the scenes set-up how you imagined them? So when you have the chance, enjoy the movie more by enjoying the book first!

How to Start a Chapter Book

When reading a chapter book as a family, take a couple of minutes to really study the first paragraph or first five or six lines of text before reading the rest of the chapter. Authors deliberately state important information at the beginnings of chapters. This information, if examined, will prove helpful in understanding the text more fully. Discuss the content of the paragraph and why the author might be telling the reader this particular information. Make some predictions about what will happen in this chapter. Using this strategy will help each reader to gain a better understanding of the chapter.

Take a Look

Are you looking for a good gift or something new for your child to read? Here are some newer books that are on the International Reading Association's notable books list.

Primary fiction
For You Are a Kenyan Child by Kelly Cunnane
Pecorino Plays Ball by Alan Madison
A Place Where Sunflowers Grow by Amy Lee-Tai
Pumpkin Town! (Or, Nothing Is Better and Worse Than Pumpkins) by Katie McKy
The Secret-Keeper by Kate Coombs

Primary nonfiction
Godspeed, John Glenn by Richard Hilliard
Those Excellent Eagles by Jan Lee Wicker

Repeated Readings

Rereading a paragraph of whatever book the child is presently reading, at least three times, will help the child to become more fluent and will improve his/her sight word reading. Pick a paragraph where the child has made several errors when reading aloud. Talk about what the errors were first and then have the child reread that paragraph. Each time the child reads the paragraph, his/her reading will become smoother and they will be able to read the words more easily.

Family Fun!

Enjoy an hour of family fun playing a word game. Scrabble, Upwords, Boggle, Word Seach, Apples-to-Apples, Option, or Hang Man are some of the many options.