Parental Engagement Reading Series

I recently completed a new series of blog posts on Parental Engagement and reading. You can view the entire series over at the Demme Learning Blog.

Watch the video overview

Part 1 – Books and Academic Achievement

If your children don’t see you valuing books, they won’t learn that books are valuable. If your children don’t see you reading, they’ll assume that reading is not important. Buying lots of books – and taking the time to read them – is an incredibly important way to invest in your child’s education. The bottom line …. books matter.

Part 2 – Why We Need to Read Together: The Magic of Reading Aloud

Reading aloud is about communal relationship, bonding, and expression of love. Read to your children, let them read to you, and have your children read to each other. Remember, years and years from now, your children may forget the specific plot details of the books you read to them — but they’ll never forget that you read to them.

Part 3 – Facebook: The New Reader’s Digest

Facebook is the new Reader’s Digest. Consider how most of engage with our Facebook feed; we enjoy seeing pictures, reading little snippets that make us laugh, and finding practical advice for everyday life. We want to be entertained and also informed and we want it to be in bite-size chunks rather than being hit with a wall of text.

Part 4 – Fiction and Training the Imagination

Introduce fiction early and often and talk with your children about which stories they are drawn to and which stories are their favorites. Go to the library together and discover new books and share your favorite novels with them. Fiction is a great way to train an imagination and a robust imagination is a great skill to have whether you are a scientist or an artist.