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Yahoo
8 minutes ago
- Yahoo
5 Expert Tips for Making Reading Time the Best Part of Your Child's Day
After a summer of obligatory reading lists and extra screen time, getting your kids to crack open a book might seem impossible. Here's what experts say. After a summer filled with outdoor play, screen time, and relaxed routines, getting kids back into the habit of reading can be a challenge. For many families, the transition from summer break to the school year brings a renewed focus on academics, but rekindling a child's love for reading goes beyond homework assignments. This is especially important given that kids' reading skills are at historic lows and even some elite college students can't read full books. With summer reading wrapping up and back-to-school in the fall, it feels like a good moment for this topic. Whether your child lost interest in books over the summer or just needs a gentle nudge, Parents spoke to five experts for practical tips and creative ideas to help you raise a reader, not out of obligation, but out of genuine excitement and enjoyment. Finding Their Niche Charlie N. Holmberg, WSJ bestselling author, thinks that a big part of getting kids interested in reading is to emulate a love of reading. Not only to be seen reading, but to share what you're reading. 'I'll often share interesting things in my reading with my husband, so why not share them with my kids, too? We like to share highlights of our day at the dinner table, and I think the twists and turns of current stories make for a great highlight.' For Holmberg, raising a kid who loves reading also means understanding exactly what your kids like to read. 'My son has recently gotten into the typical middle-grade novels and will crack them open before bed, but my daughter doesn't connect with those. She's not a big lover of books—reading and writing are her least favorite subjects in school. But through some trial and error, I've learned she loves nonfiction books, especially ones with photos, graphics, and other visuals. Finding titles at the store or the library with subject matter she's presently showing interest in makes a big difference, too. Last year it was rocks and minerals, this year it's astrology and feathers.' Lastly, Holmberg thinks it's great for kids to have their own library cards and have opportunities to pick out their own books, as well as take responsibility for those books. That sense of ownership and independence places value not only on the books themselves, but on the identity of being a reader. Don't Skip Read Alouds Marisa Ware, MSEd, literacy specialist and consultant to Charge Mommy Books, understands that weaving reading into daily life can feel challenging, especially for busy parents, but there are many small, meaningful ways to do it. 'Reading aloud at bedtime, sharing articles on topics their kids are curious about, listening to audiobooks together, or keeping a book or magazine in the car.' She suggests during the summer to avoid letting reading become a chore. Research indicates that allowing students to choose their own reading materials significantly benefits their reading motivation, comprehension, and overall academic performance, so let kids choose materials they enjoy – graphic novels, joke books, how-to guides, or sports articles all 'count' as reading and help build positive associations. 'Some parents may find it helpful to establish a daily reading routine,' she notes. 'Set aside a specific time each day during which the whole family reads and then discusses what they read. This may be independent reading, or may be a few minutes in which your child reads aloud to you.' Meet Them Where They Are Maya Payne Smart, author of Reading for Our Lives: The Urgency of Early Literacy and the Action Plan to Help Your Child, acknowledges that too often parents mistake a love of stories for a love of reading. 'But the reality is: enjoying being read to and feeling excited to read on your own are two very different things, and kids need both. When children struggle to sound out words or make meaning from them, reading feels hard, not fun. That's when screens win, with games and apps that deliver immediate gratification, dopamine hits, and nonstop stimulation.' She says that reading to kids builds vocabulary and background knowledge that support comprehension (as well as story love), but for kids to love reading on their own, they need the skills to do it successfully. So if you have school-aged kids, summer is the time to shore up their independent reading skills. 'Even in the midst of packed schedules and long workdays, parents can weave in quick reading moments—asking kids to read aloud during errands, over breakfast, or before bed,' Smart advises. 'These short check-ins offer a valuable window into how they're progressing. Notice where they're smooth and where they stumble.' If you're unsure how their reading compares with the expectations for their age or stage, Smart says that summer is a great time to check out your state's reading standards or get a screening from a local learning center. 'Use the summer break to get a sense of what your child needs to start the next school year strong,' she advises. Smart wants to remind parents that literacy learning happens everywhere. So every time parents talk, play, or explore with their children, they're building the vocabulary and knowledge that will power reading comprehension later on. 'For my family, nearby Lake Michigan offers sand dunes carved by ancient glaciers and stories of Indigenous communities like the Ojibwe, Menominee, and Potawatomi. We can explore the lake's ecosystem, spot native fish (and invasive ones, too), investigate shipwrecks and lighthouse legends—or just enjoy beaches and parks while learning how to protect this freshwater treasure,' she says. She further says to remember that reading doesn't start—or stop—with books. 'I was reminded of this when my daughter attended a soccer camp in Colorado. Coming from the Midwest to discover this new terrain together, our conversations suddenly included words like altitude, elevation, and dehydration. And her reading included scouring the camp's packing list, digesting weather reports, and poring over oxygen canister instructions. It wasn't storytime, but it was reading—driven by real needs, genuine curiosity, and the excitement of new experiences,' she recalls. Try a Little Tech Kristy Woodson Harvey, NYT bestselling author, believes that a big part of getting kids interested in reading is meeting them where they are. For kids who love screens, ebooks can be a more appealing alternative, and for kids who don't think they love reading at all, audiobooks can bridge the gap and make them fall in love with story as well. Watching movie adaptations after a book can be fun as well for kids who prefer TV to books. 'As a writer, I obviously adore reading and find it to be one of the most enjoyable and foundational hobbies we can pass along to our children. But, as with so many things in life, we can't make our children love to read,' she notes. 'I feel like modeling reading is one of the most important things we can do as parents. It's also hard to scold our children for preferring screens when we're constantly pulling out our phones, so I think practicing what we preach and modeling a love of reading is paramount.' Harvey has a web show and podcast with three other New York Times Bestselling authors called Friends & Fiction, where they have interviewed hundreds and hundreds of writers. Almost across the board, they say that their parents didn't censor their reading much or focus on what was educational over entertaining. 'I love this approach. Whatever the genre, the more words the better,' she advises. Lean Into Listening Erin Beers, a middle school language arts teacher, acknowledges that life is fast-paced, and kids (and families) are seemingly always on the go, especially during the summer. One way that she has tackled five books this summer is by using Audible. 'My students love read-alouds – it is one of their favorite times within my class where they get to listen to a book that I read that they voted on as a whole class,' she says. 'I often think that people only view reading when a book is in hand,' Beers continues. 'However, with access to audiobooks using apps like Audible, books are more accessible than ever. Listening to texts is just as valuable because kids are still using metacognition as they are listening. Parents can use technology to their advantage by encouraging audiobooks as an on-the-go way to navigate summer reading or even to engage a family in a common book during a long car ride." Read the original article on Parents Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
10 minutes ago
- Forbes
Gee's Bend Quilts From Alabama Now On Display In Upstate New York
The Spencertown Academy and Austerlitz Historical Society Church, in Columbia County, N.Y., are presenting an exhibition of the famous Gee's Bend quilts. Gee's Bend quit exhibition, on display through August 3 at Spencertown Academy Arts Center Peter Blandori Gee;s End QyuiOn display through August 3, this exhibit features over 30 quilts created by six quiltmakers; second and third generation descendants of the celebrated Alabama women whose works exploded on the art scene in 2003. It is the first time these quilts have traveled outside of their community in recent years for such a major exhibition. According to the academy, 'the small community of Gee's Bend, Alabama, has been creating their extraordinary quilts since the 1800's. . .These quilts constitute a crucial chapter in American art. Gee's Bend quilts are today in the permanent collection of over 30 leading art museums around the world. 'When enslaved women from the rural, isolated community of Boykin, Alabama—better known as Gee's Bend—began quilting in the 19th century, it arose from a physical need for warmth rather than a quest to reinvent an art form. Yet by piecing together scraps of fabric and clothing, they were creating abstract designs that had never before been expressed on quilts. These patterns and piecing styles were passed down over generations, surviving slavery, the antebellum South, and Jim Crow, the academy explained. 'During the Civil Rights movement in 1966, the Freedom Quilting Bee was established as a way for African-American women from Gee's Bend and nearby Rehoboth to gain economic independence. The Bee cooperative began to sell quilts throughout the U.S., gaining recognition for the free-form, seemingly improvisational designs that had long been the hallmark of local quilt design. As awareness grew, so did acclaim, and the quilts entered the lexicon of homegrown American art. 'Since then, quilts from Gee's Bend have been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and others. In 2006, the U.S. Postal Service even issued ten commemorative stamps featuring images of Gee's Bend quilts,' it concluded. The Spencertown Academy opened its doors as a teacher training college in 1847, one of the first United States facilities to accept women as well as men. Its founder was Timothy Woodbridge—pastor of St. Peter's Church in Spencertown, champion of universal education and nephew of Aaron Burr. A decade later, the academy became a two-room schoolhouse for Spencertown and Austerlitz area children; in 1970, the school was closed permanently. In 1972 local residents formed the Spencertown Academy Society to save the academy and recreate it as a community arts center, spearheading a 10-year restoration of the historic Greek Revival building. Today the academy offers concerts, lectures, classes and gallery shows. The curator of the exhibit, Lisa Bouchard Hoe, is a local real estate broker and quilt collector; she worked with the Freedom Quilting Bee Legacy to bring the exhibition to Spencertown.
Associated Press
10 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Crème fraîche creates a creamy broth in this recipe for briny-sweet steamed clams
A big bowl of steamed clams and juicy-crisp corn is summer eating at its finest. The combination is fresh, sweet and briny, almost like a chowder made for eating with your fingers. In this recipe from our cookbook ' Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year,' we finish the clams and corn with a small measure of crème fraîche (or whole-milk yogurt); the briny-sweet liquid released by the clams becomes a subtly creamy broth that's as delicious as the clams themselves. Fennel perfumes the broth with anise-like notes. Scrub the clams well before cooking and be sure to dispose of any with cracked or damaged shells. Give any clams with open shells a gentle tap and toss if they do not close within a few seconds. If you can, use corn kernels cut from freshly shucked ears (you'll need two good-size ears to get the 2 cups kernels called for in the recipe), but frozen corn works in the off-season. When buying corn, look for bright green husks and supple silk, and avoid ears small brown holes in the husk. To easily remove kernels from the cob, place the ear flat on the cutting board and slice, rotating as needed. Serve with oyster crackers, or with crusty bread for mopping up the broth. Steamed Clams with Corn, Fennel and Crème Fraîche Start to finish: 30 minutes Servings: 4 Ingredients: 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 medium fennel bulb, halved, cored and thinly sliced 1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced 2 teaspoons fennel seeds Kosher salt and ground black pepper 2 cups corn kernels 2 pounds hard-shell clams (about 1½ inches diameter), such as littleneck or Manila, scrubbed ¼ cup crème fraîche OR plain whole-milk yogurt Directions: In a Dutch oven, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the fennel, onion, fennel seeds and a pinch of salt, then cook, stirring, until the vegetables are lightly browned. Stir in the corn and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and add the clams. Cover and cook over medium, stirring once or twice, until the clams have opened. Stir once more, then remove and discard any clams that haven't opened. Off heat, stir in the crème fraîche and ½ teaspoon pepper. Season with salt. Optional garnish: Hot sauce OR chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley OR lemon wedges OR a combination EDITOR'S NOTE: For more recipes, go to Christopher Kimball's Milk Street at
