The warm weather has forcefully taken control leaving no more cool spring mornings and pleasant sunshine in the afternoons. We are into the humid and scorching heat of summer. You wake up hot and go to bed hot. These shifts in seasons are notably my favorite time of year. Summer to fall or fall to winter, I love them all. They are filled with excitement and anticipation for my favorite activities. I start rhyming off what I expect to enjoy and accomplish well before the weather supports my enthusiasm. As spring fades I dream of swimming, beaches, berry picking, pie baking, salsa making and vacation taking days. My kids hopes resemble less school, more friends, late nights and campfires. I appreciate their enthusiasm. They don’t approach all transitions with such eagerness, but freedom calls as school finishes. Even though the benefits of summer tend to out way the struggles that transition brings, we do run into rough patches. No school means longer and quieter days that need to be filled with activities. We cushion this transition by implementing a Summer Reading Challenge.
Our annual challenge focuses on reading for entertainment while building lasting skills. You might think children wouldn’t eagerly anticipate such a summer activity, but they do! We have run a Summer Reading Challenge for the last four years. Multiple times prior to finishing our school year the kids ask if and when we can start our reading challenge. There are many things my kids request that I don’t do. You simply cannot fulfill every wish, but a reading challenge is one I will make time for. I think we all secretly have an underlying dream that our kids will love to read. Literacy provides numerous benefits that we want our kids to experience. Implementing a Summer Reading Challenge encourages children to passionately and confidently pursue their dreams.
Finding a way to successfully promote reading without making it a chore can be, but does not need to be difficult. All to often we try to block off time during the school year or promise to read together at bedtime and things just happen. The time gets pushed or rushed. Neither of which encourage reading or demonstrate its value. Spending time working on an area that is a struggle for our kids can feel like pulling teeth. A few steps forward, then a few steps back. Instead of making reading more appealing we emit an underlying tension that our kids pick up on. They push back or lash out. Finding a peaceful way to encourage reading is required. It doesn’t need to be a fight. As a result years ago we decided to take on a Summer Reading Challenge. It began after our local library promoted their program. Mind you back then my kids were little, but that didn’t matter. There was no age limit for participants. The priority was to read. Libraries know that a love of literature isn’t only developed by those who excel at reading. Inspiration can come from hearing stories and seeing pictures. We embraced this. With bags full of books we returned home. Whenever we needed a break or to cool down from the warm weather we read. Some days it meant the kids snuggled in on the couch to see every picture and on others they listened while playing trains or blocks. There is no picture perfect way to read. You do what you can. We read our hearts out and the kids were thrilled to achieve a goal each visit to the library. Their rewards included items such as a pencil, an eraser and a bouncy ball. As you can see the prizes themselves were minimal, but the sense of achievement was great. We built a reading habit together. Moving forward I could see the value of books in our family.
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Reading comes easily to some and is more difficult for others, either way consistency is key. As the kids grew, so did the reading expectations. Developing a consistent passion as we transitioned into independent reading bared its own challenges. My daughter took time and patience while repetitively reading stories to build strong skills. My son quickly picked up the necessary abilities from watching his sister. Once they had the basics down additional consistency and work was required to make it enjoyable. It can be hard to push yourself to work at something that feels like a chore. It is even harder to get your kids to work at something. You tell them, ‘It’s fun! You will love it! Just give it a chance.’ They hear, ‘I want you to spend your valuable time doing what you hate! No sunshine! No video games! No friends! You must work forever! No fun allowed!’ Of course they aren’t interested! We curbed the negatives by making it a goal. Again, goals don’t typically sound fun, but as adults we understand the work we do results in some type of benefit. Connecting the goal to a beneficial new habit typically won’t sway your kids. Adding in a bonus or familiar reward can. Desiring to make reading a life long love we started our own Summer Reading Challenge encouraging fluency and comprehension.
What did implementing and executing our own Summer Reading Challenge look like?
To start I chose an achievable goal. I knew my kids reading level (or abilities) and their relationship with books. We built the plan based on that. Initially I did the reading, then they took over with learn to read books (sometimes only a few pages at a time), early readers, early chapter books and so on. I did not expect them to read 10 chapter books when one appeared daunting or frustrating. I chose the number of books required to reach a star and the number of stars to reach each prize or goal. For example early on in the process the kids would complete 3 early readers to earn one star. The goal was simple and achievable. It wasn’t going to take them a long time to reach. This allowed them to get enough of a boost to continue in the challenge. Keeping it achievable was key. The prizes were and still are things we would do no matter what. There is something special about putting a star beside the activities. Automatically they appear more enjoyable. Early bonuses included extra screen time, cookie baking or a picnic. The real reward was the rush of confidence and success. Now that my kids are older they help me make the reward system and set their own goals. Despite their involvement the rewards are mostly the same. They evaluate what is reasonable to read, the amount of books to reach a star and the number of stars for each prize. Summer Reading Challenges have not only developed my children’s literacy, but it improved their goal setting and planning skills.
Our Summer Reading Challenge has created a long term love of books. Four years after our first time and the kids read daily as a pass time. Each week we bring home bags of books. The kids are always eager to dig through and see which treasures were checked out. Getting these results took time. We started reading repetitively and consistently. Building up slowly. We focused on confidence and encouraging each success. Our reading challenges started out simple. Today both children love to read. It has become a dream like pass time. Prioritizing a Summer Reading Challenge has allowed our home to reap endless benefits and eliminate the reading struggle.
Do not be discouraged if reading is a pain point in your household. Every child is different and each journey is unique. Take time to walk alongside your kids as they grow in their abilities and confidence.
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