Hello!

Thanks Ms. Ward for inviting me to join in. Every night we pile all the kids in our bed and read from a chapter book that they have selected. Right now we are reading: The Wind and the Willows, and The Hardy Boys a House on a Cliff. I look forward to hearing what everyone else is reading with their families.

Mr. Ellis

Just 5 minutes

Hi Everyone,

Tyler and I have been really busy, but we've been good about taking the time to sit down and read for "just 5 minutes" together.  We start with 5 but end up reading 10 or 15 because we get so into the book.  It's a really nice way to connect with him, even if it's for a short time.  As your kids get older, it seems that it's just a little harder to "connect" with them.  This has been a great way for us to sit down together for a time other than dinner.

I hope you are doing well with your own reading streaks.  If you haven't started one yet... there is always today!

Terii

New Posts

Hello Readers,

Tyler and I have switched to Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck.  We are both really enjoying it.  I must admit we had a speed bump this weekend and missed our reading Friday night.  He played in marching band at the Southridge football game on Friday night, got home late and had friends spend the night so we forgot.  I was disappointed in myself, but began our streak again with more resolve.  We decided to read in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays because he is pretty active socially and may not be home on those days.  I'll keep you posted on how our plan is working.

For those of you that have started your own streak, I've posted a picture with directions on how to make your own post.

Miss Ward

The Reading Promise

September, 19, 2012 - A friend of mine recommended the book The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma. She is a teacher too and I admire her greatly so I downloaded the book on my Kindle (LOVE that thing) and started reading it thinking it might be a good resource for teaching reading. I was only 3 pages into the forward when I realized this was a book for me as a parent, not a teacher. As a parent of 3, I believe I relate well to what you want for your child. We ALL want the best for our children. As a busy, single working mom I know that providing what is best for my kids has been an ongoing balancing act. Sometimes I'd rush home from work to get my kids to soccer practice or music lessons or over to a friends house for a play date. There were days when I went to work early, came home late, threw dinner together and did the dishes and well... it was time for bed already. i would be exhausted and ready for bed. But I remember those times when my kids were really little and each night before bed, we would curl up with a book and read and laugh and talk for a few precious moments before we closed our eyes on another day. My two oldest kids are grown now and live in Bend. I just have Tyler left. He's a sophomore in high school, 15 with his driver's permit, very busy with advanced courses, marching band, guitar lessons, lots of practices and, of course, hanging out with his friends. I only have 3 years left and my youngest is off to college. We are both busy people and there are days when we have just a short conversation in the morning and another one at dinner. I've wanted to try and find a way to connect with him on his own level. So, inspired by Alice and her dad, I invited my 15 year old son to read aloud with me every night and start our own reading streak. He looked at me kind of funny, tilted his head to the side and said in his usual teen age fashion, "Huh?" Was I crazy asking him? Could I really get him to sit down with me and listen to me read? What could I do to actually make this feasible? Here is what we came up with: We promised to read a book together for 5 minutes every night. We both knew we could stop our busy lives for 5 minutes and spend a few quality minutes together. He gets to pick out all the books we read (of course I get to make sure they are appropriate for his age). After five minutes we can stop or keep reading if we want to. After our reading time, we promised to take a few minutes to talk about what we read. So, we've started our own reading streak. For our first book Tyler picked Anthem by Ayn Rand. Our goal is just 30 days. We've read one night so far and I'm looking forward to another...and another...and another....