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Expert: Grace Shanahan
During the month of May, Grace Shanahan answered your questions about motivating kids to read during the summer months.
Read her response to question 3 below.
Question 3:
I am a new 3rd grade teacher, and I work with very low-income students. These children don’t regularly go to the public library. I am sure that most of my kids’ parents have never even been to our city library. Do you have any suggestions for helping me encourage the kids and their parents to visit the library over the summer? I think that they would find the story-hour and other activities that the library provides to be fun.
Reply:
Most public libraries across the country welcome visits from schools. Before school ends I would be sure to make such a visit and be certain that every child in your class has a library card. Then as they are preparing to go off on vacation you can give them one last assignment: be sure to visit their local library and read just one book!
You can also build in some follow up for the fall. How about some kind of incentive? Every child who completes this assignment gets a new pencil? You know something inexpensive but acknowledges the effort that the child has made.
Two series that we find popular with eight year olds are the Time Warp Trio by Jon Szieska and the Magic Treehouse by Mary Pope Osborne. You might consider asking everyone in the class to read one of those and then have a discussion on the series when they return to school in the fall.
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