Read Across America Day: Celebrating and Sharing Power of Reading

Today is Read Across America Day, the largest national celebration of reading! In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday, March 2nd is now a nationwide reading celebration - where thousands of schools, libraries, and community centers participate in bringing kids, teens and adults together. To celebrate, it is customary to read a favorite book with your child. Today is about engaging children in reading and getting them to read on a more regular basis. Whether you are reading Cat in the Hat or Green Eggs and Ham, or another from the list of the best books for kids, today is a day to celebrate reading with the children in your life. If you hope to get more out of your reading time together, try these seven tips from Read Across America. 1.Reading together has no age limit - Read with kids even after they learn to read. Help them get better at reading by choosing books that are too difficult or too long for them to read alone. 2. Pause and ponder - Pause your reading to talk about what is happening in the story. Ask questions like “what do you think will happen next” or make references that connect the events of the book to the children’s lives or other books they’ve read. 3.  Explore preferences - Once children start developing preferences in books, ask them why they prefer the genres they do and talk about other types of books available. 4. Talk about the authors and illustrators - When you start a book together look at the names of the authors and illustrators. This helps children connect to the people behind the stories and can help them find books by the same creators in the future. 5. Point out new things - Pick out one or two new words or ideas in books and talk about their meaning. Talk about an example of the new concept. 6. Identify parts of a story - Talk about stories using the notions of the beginning, middle, and end of the story to organize thinking and discussion. 7. Have fun - The most important thing you can do to help a child become a successful reader is to share how reading is valuable and enjoyable. At United Way of Central Indiana, we are committed to supporting kids so they learn the literacy skills that lead to success in school and beyond. Programs like Read Up help give kids access to books and build the skills they need. Donate today to give more kids these opportunities.