Engaging Reading Ideas For Home

As we work, parent, and teach our children from home, we're looking for ways to keep things as "normal" as possible. "Normal" is definitely not the same "normal" it was even four days ago. I believe the most important thing we can do for our children is to provide a loving and positive home environment - play games, sing songs, go outside, enjoy nature, take walks and read together.

We created a "Beebe Family Fun" list that we're adding to as new ideas come our way. One of our favorite activities is reading aloud Call of the Wild by Jack London (the link includes an audio version.) My children asked to see the movie and I don't know about you, but I love to read a story before watching the movie version. In my experience, the book is usally better than the movie. We love discussing various parts of the story and how we think it will look in the movie. It's fun to imagine how the action will play out. We've decided it's probably going to be a pretty intense movie.

Each week, I hope to share engaging reading ideas you can do at home with your children with little or no prep work. On my website, you'll find coloring pages, word searches, mazes, and other fun downloadables. I will also continue to update the Making Reading Fun tab with comprehension conversations if you are looking for a little more information about reading with your children. If there's something you don't see, or if you have any questions or suggestions, shoot me an email or comment here. I want to support you and your children with your at-home reading adventures any way I can!

This week, I've included two different reading activities. The first is a reading choice board, children can use it like a tic-tac-toe game or a reading menu and color in the square after they complete the reading activity. It's open-ended and meant to be engaging and fun! The second open-ended activity includes three weeks of READO (BINGO) boards. Children work to get a bingo by choosing a new way to read each day, a new genre, or even a new author. You can use books from your home collection or search for books read aloud on YouTube, ebooks (from your library, kindle, or another e-reader) or from any other print sources. Here's a list of free sites with downloadable books, audiobooks or ebooks:

• Starfall - Free

• Reading Eggs - 2-week free trial

• Teach Your Monster to Read - free on the computer, paid app

• Free Kids Books - free

• Epic - free for 30 days

• Storyline Online - actors read-aloud children's stories

• Story Time From Space - from the international space station, astronauts read aloud children's stories

• Older Readers - Adult and older readers will find several audiobooks such as To Kill a Mockingbird, Little Women, Call of the Wild, and more.

Happy Reading,

Sarah

#readtogether #makingreadingfun #skbpublishing #readingchoice #bettertogether #comprehensionconversations