Read Across America

Recently, there has been a lot of controversy relating to kids and their television watching habits.  Some people say that children should not be allowed to watch any television before the age of 2, others say that it’s okay.  Personally, my kids would watch television all day long if they were allowed.  When my son was little, he loved Sesame Street, and I didn’t mind him watching it because he learned a lot.  As a toddler, my daughter was more interested in shows that her older brother was watching and never truly grew a liking for our favorite street. As they grow and their tastes change, they are exploring different media such as computers, music and books, and are truly love all of these areas.

On March 2, the birthday of our favorite children’s author Dr. Seuss, the National Education Association (NEA) will hold their 13th Annual Read Across America, a reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading.  Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers and research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school.  Read Across America calls for every child to be reading in the company of a caring adult on March 2, 2010. You can get some great ideas for things to do on Read Across America’s Facebook Page.

There are some great programs that support literacy within our Long Island communities.  Contact your local public library for more information on the summer reading programs.  Each year, the library system chooses a theme and they do many things to get kids excited about reading over the summer while schools are out.  Our libraries also have fantastic event on their calendars for kids that are free or for a very low cost.  Depending on the program, you may have to be a resident of that town, but many libraries will open the programs to non-residents at a later date.  You can find individual websites for your local library for Nassau or Suffolk and most will allow you to reserve books and renew online.  Local bookstores like Borders and Barnes & Noble hold weekly story times for kids.  Check our Events Calendar for locations and times.

As parents, there are a number of ways that we can support literacy within our own families.  Read for 20 minutes each night with your children.  Start a Parent-Child Book Club with a few families (more information here>>).  BookAdventure.com is a great FREE reading motication program for children in grades K through 8 where they create their own book lists from over 7,000 titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they’ve read and earn points and prizes.