My Reading Streak

Hi! I'm Lindsey! Last year when I was in 4th grade, my teacher, Mrs. Hartman, read a couple chapters of The Reading Promise near the end of the school year, to my classmates and I. It was about a girl in 4th grade (just like me!) and her dad that made a promise to read every single night for 100 nights! Once they got that achieved, they made another promise to read for 1,000 nights in a row!

When Mrs. Hartman read just the first and second chapters of that book I got inspired to do that with my mom. So on May 30th, 2012 my mom and I started to read the book: Now You See Me... It was great! It was also part of the Poison Apple series. Since I had the first six books in that series we started reading all of them! Each of the books were between 150-180 pages.

From May 30th to November 21st my mom and I have read the 3rd, 4th, 5th and we are almost done the 6th book of the Poison Apple series! We also have read 172 nights in a row, so far! I remember when my mom and I reached 50 nights in a row! I freaked out!

When my mom and I reached 100 nights I couldn't believe it!  Then came 150 nights! I was so happy I couldn't stay still! My mom and I are now trying to reach 200 nights! I think we can do it! If we complete that we are going to go for how long we can go, and hopefully never stop!

Thank you for reading my short story and hopefully you got inspired too!

Read Along With Us?

Hi everyone!  Val here, checking in.

My boys & I are working through a new book - The Number Devil by Hans Magnus Enzensberger.

Care to join us?  If you're into multitasking, this book may interest you because you can check off "read aloud" and "learn math" in one fell swoop.  If you want to know a little more about the book before you decide whether or not to dive into it, here's the Wikipedia link to it & here's the link to my blog post about this book.

I think this "mathematical adventure" is a pretty good one.  Would love it if you'd read it too & write in so we can talk books and math together!

Happy weekend & happy reading!

Strategies to Keep the Streak Alive

Hi everyone!  This is Val from NYC again.  Today was day 80... wow, let me say that again... e_i_g_h_t_y... EIGHTY....80 of our family's reading streak!!  We started out on the first day of summer vacation with a goal to read every day of the break.  A week and a half ago, we met our summer's goal, celebrated over tea and scones, then reset the end date for our reading challenge.  Our new commitment is for me to read aloud to my boys for at least 10 minutes everyday for an entire year.

Definitely a daunting endeavor when I think of the 285 days of reading ahead of us.  Coupled with the busy school year, after school activities, chores, etc., just the idea of one more thing to do everyday can feel overwhelming.  So how are we fitting this one more thing into our everyday?

Here are our strategies for keeping our reading streak alive.

1. Make the commitment to read aloud everyday... or 5 days out of the week... or one book per month.  Whatever the decision, make a verbal and/or written commitment to do this.  If I had to decide each day whether or not to read, chances are I'd put off our reading time to the next day... when I have more energy... when they finish their homework... when there's not karate, piano, basketball, chess...  For us, no formal commitment would mean reading aloud only sporadically or not at all. 
2. Link reading time to something else that happens everyday.  During summer break, we read after breakfast.  Now that we're back in school, we try to read after dinner.  This works well because the kids eat much slower than I do.  Since I sit at the table with them until they finish their meals, reading aloud keeps me from digging into seconds and thirds and provides them with some food for thought.  What about bedtime reading?  If it works for you, go for it!  But I'm grumpy and tired by tuck in time.  The earlier in the day we can read, the cheerier and more patient I can be about it.
3. Designate a comfortable spot for read aloud times.  If we're only reading 10-15 minutes, we stay at the kitchen table.  If we're settling in for a long 45-60 minute reading session, we relocate to the living room couches.  I've noticed we are all able to focus best when we're in our designated reading spots.
4. Keep a selection of books on hand... because we're never sure what we'll be in the mood to read next.
5. Remember it might take a while to warm up to a story.  We've found it difficult to transition from one book to the next.  Sometimes it takes a few chapters before we settle into a new story. 
6. Leave yourselves the option to put a book down.  Our challenge is to read aloud everyday.  It's not to finish every book we start.  We have the option to choose not to complete a book if it's not working for us.
7. Weed out the competition.  By this, I mean that I limit the days and time that my kids can be plugged into electronics (TV, computer, 3DS, etc).  TV on weekends only means my reading to them is the only game in town most days of the week.
8. Be ready to improvise.  Some days are crazier than others.  If we're out and about all day then we just bring our book along & read wherever and whenever .  We've done our mandatory 10 minutes on the subway, sitting in the corner of Central Park (amidst pigeons and tourists), in airports, in the car and in restaurants.  Whatever works, right?

And that's it.  A few strategies and lots and lots of reading.  If you're thinking about starting your own reading streak, I hope our list is helpful to you.  If you have any suggestions or book recommendations for us, I'd love to hear from you!

Resolution 25: Stop Preaching & Start Leading

On one of my most recent searches for other families taking on their own reading promises, I came across a post on the blog 52 Weeks, 52 Resolutions, 1 Mom by Momma Holmes. After contacting her about her reading promise journey, she agreed to submit a guest blogger post about how The Reading Promise has inspired her. Check out the unique twist that she has given her reading promise to share the love of reading with her sons.

Last winter, in a monthly newsletter from my son’s first grade teacher, she mentioned the book The Reading Promise and how it really brought home for her how important reading with your child can be. I immediately went online and reserved it at the library. 

After I read The Reading Promise by Alice Ozma, I felt that I needed to do something. The obvious choice would have been to make a reading promise with my boy. Nope. I was too chicken. I mean some days it just doesn't fit into our life. Excuses, I know. But I just wasn't there. 

However, instead, I took Resolution 25 (stop preaching and start leading) to heart and started a Summer Book Club. I invited friends from all areas of my life, old friends, school friends, church friends, neighbors, swim friends. They all have early independent readers... I decided this was the age when many parents stop reading to their children because the children are now reading to themselves. 

I invited A LOT because I was afraid to invite just a few and have no one show up. Or commit. And I was asking for a commitment: read to your child even though we are encouraging them to read by themselves. It was a good thing I invited many because I only got one family from each of those groups. Read aloud a book I've chosen, and then come to my house for discussion, movie watching and comparison, and snacks. 

If you ask them, they will come. They gathered for discussion and snacks and movie. It was fun! The friends of my son would gather in a circle and take turns answering questions as simple as, "Who are the main characters?" or "What is the setting?" as well as more complex questions such as, "How are the characters in both books similar or different? Why?" They didn't say, "Aren't we going to watch the movie?" rather they seemed to enjoy the discussion. Then, during the movie, I would stop/start it to discuss comparisons between the book and the movie, without a complaint! It was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. 

This summer our books were Winn Dixie and Tale of Despereaux, both by Kate DiCamillo, and James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. After watching James, the kids all asked what was next? I pointed out that we were already back in school and we might be too busy. It was unanimous... we are continuing through the school year. 

This month our choice is Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks and everyone in the group has ideas for what to read next, so now I will have to decide how to handle that because I LIKE CHOOSING THE BOOKS. 

So my promise to my son may not have been to read every day to him, but rather to continue to read to him. My promise was to encourage his friend's parents to continue reading to their now independent readers. My promise to read and lead has turned out to be so much fun! If you are interested in how to start your own group or are interested in discussing great reading options for your reader, please feel free to contact me through my blog. 

I am the author of the blog 52weeks52resolutions1mom.blogspot.com and mom to three young men, ages 7, 17 and 19. I am committed to raising the last son as “all in” as I was with the first two. Although I am no longer reading aloud to the oldest boys, I did convince them both to read for pleasure, and not only for school, during the summer. I consider that an accomplishment. I love reading and discussing books. In January, I pledged to do 52 realistic resolutions and not just one for the year. My blog details this journey and also the books I read along the way. 

Momma Holmes