READING

COUNTS!

Central Elementary
Nevada, IA
May 2015
V o lu m e 6 , Is s u e 3

Reading Newsletter

Whats going on at Central

The summer is here and everyone is

ready for a break! Vacations are great and
everyone needs time away, but for beginning
and early readers a WHOLE summer is a very
long time. As beginning readers, your child
has learned many new things this year. If
those new skills are not used over the
summer, they are easily forgotten.
It is very important for beginning
readers, (any readers actually!) to get into
books this summer.
This newsletter will give you many
ideas of things you can do with your children
to keep them thinking about writing and
reading.
If these suggestions dont pump you
up think about this: If students dont read
their level of reading achievement goes
down, AND if students do read their level
of reading achievement actually goes up
over the summer.
Where do you want your child?

Questions from
Parents
What can I do to get my child to
read?
The easiest way to get your child to read
is to read to them and make sure they see you
reading! Children copy what they see their
parents do. Some ideas to make reading fun:
* Take turns choosing books
* Take turns reading. You read a part and your
child reads a part.
* Read joke books. Kids love goofy jokes!
* Read as the character with silly voices. Let your
kids see you have fun with a book.
* Read comic books, magazines, cereal boxes,
the newspaper, anything they can imagine!
* Use some of the websites found in this
newsletter.

How to Avoid Summer Slide

Summer Slide is what happens when students dont read
over the summer. Students begin the next school year
reading at a lower level than they achieved the year before.
This results in lost time in their education. Summer Slide is
not inevitable, but it does require a commitment from
families to help children continue to grow over the summer.
One Minute Reader is an iPad app that you can download
for free. With the download you are able to use six stories at
no charge. There are other stories available for purchase.
We are not promoting this program. We are just suggesting it
as another way to help your child continue to read this
summer. If you are interested, there is a promotional code
to decrease the cost.

Reading Counts! Page 2

Nevada Public Library

Summer Reading Program
The Nevada Public Library has a great
summer reading program. They will have Story
Times for Kindergarten -2nd graders every
Wednesday at 2:00. There will be Story Times for
3rd 5th graders every Tuesday at 1:00. These
Story Times begin the week of June 10 and go
until July 26.
The library also has a reading incentive
program, Dig Into Reading where children are
rewarded with great prizes just for reading!
For more information go to the Nevada
Public Library website at:

www.nevada.lib.ia.us
Happy Reading!

Some Ideas for

Great Books
There are two lists of award winning
books that the children at Central Elementary
are familiar with. These lists are the Iowa
Childrens Choice Awards and the Goldfinch
Awards. These lists are available to you at the
public library. They are quality literature that
you may read to your child or they may read
to you.
In picking out a book that is right for
your child, you may look at the back to see a
reading level (R.L. 2.5). This would be 2nd
grade mid year. For longer books children
choose any page to read. Each time they
come to a word they do not know they put
down a finger. If they put down 5 fingers
before they get to the end of the book it may
not be the best choice for them at this time.
Good Luck!

Something to
Think About

Students who read for fun

score higher on tests than
students who read less often.

How do I help prevent, Im

bored, theres nothing to
do?
There are many activities in this area
that are pretty cheap and will keep the
bored
word
out
of
your
kids
vocabulary this summer.
Story County Conservation has
many summer programs for children.
They are a week long and include
outdoor activities.
Nevada Park and Rec has summer
opportunities for kids.
Lastly, give your kids daily jobs
and spend family time together as a
reward if the jobs get done.

We believe the best reading practice comes

from reading books, but these websites have
some fun games to promote reading also.
Enjoy!!

http://www.abcya.com/alphabet.htm
www.readworks.org
http://www.seussville.com/
http:// www.highlightskids.com
http://www.funbrain.com/
http://www.bookadventure.org/

Winning
Readers
I would love to list EVERY child and parent
that read the books, did flashcards,
completed and returned homework, put
together cut up sentences we sent home this
year, and came to conferences. You have
shown your children how important reading is
by being involved.