Tips For Raising A Reader *
Summer Reading = Better Grades *
Family Fun Pages
• Introduce your child to the Birmingham Public Library and register your child
for his or her own library card. Make sure to visit one of the twenty Birmingham
Public Library locations on a regular basis. Attend programs and storytimes
together.
• Check out the local bookstores, A book or gift certificate always makes a
terrific gift.
• Let your child see you reading, whether it is the newspaper, a magazine, or
the latest bestseller.
• Encourage older children to read to their younger brothers and sisters. Or
have the whole family set aside time to read together.
• Show your child how people use reading all the time. Read aloud street and
store signs, maps, billboards, menus. and labels on packages.
• Create a library for your child with new or used books. Look for affordable
books at yard sales, secondhand book stores, and the Library Book Store located
on the second floor of the Central Library.
• Set up an area in your home where a variety of reading materials are within
easy reach. Encourage writing by including paper, crayons, pens. and pencils.
• Subscribe to a children's magazine. Read it with your child every month.
• Carry books to read to your child wherever you go — at the doctor's office, in
line at the store, or on a long car ride. (Recordings of books are available for
checkout from the library.)
• Encourage a love of words by playing rhyming and word games, singing silly
songs, or writing poems and stories together.
• Talk about daily activities or tell stories about your family or culture to
help children develop their language skills.
Kids of all ages are invited to visit their local Birmingham Public Library branch to
sign up for "Catch The Reading Bug."All that is necessary
to participate is to sign up and check out books to read (or be read to) at
home. Research shows that children who read during the summer
months retain what they have learned from the past school year.
The goal of "Catch the Reading Bug" is to encourage children to read for pleasure. Children of all
ages, from infants to teens are invited to read what they enjoy and to read often. Parents, grandparents and other caregivers are
also welcome to participate and to help pre-readers enjoy books and develop a love of reading.
To make visiting the library even more exciting, the Library offers incentives such as stickers, reading logs and certificates. Special guest performers, magicians, puppet shows, live animals, and storytimes are scheduled throughout the summer. These programs are designed to bring stories alive for children and teens. Often the program will spark an interest and motivate a child to find a book to further explore the topic.
Librarians are happy and ready to find such books. When children and teens are encouraged to pursue their own interests they are much more likely to read for their own enjoyment which translates to success in school.
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Balancing Butterfly
Eric Carle's Critters