The holidays are a time for joy and family, but they also offer a unique opportunity to keep kids engaged through reading.
The Importance of Reading During School Breaks
Why Keep Reading?
Reading during breaks helps maintain literacy skills and enhance cognitive development and creativity.
- Research shows that students who engage in reading during school breaks maintain or improve their reading skills more than those who do not read often (Cooper et al.; S., 1996).
- Consistent reading fosters a lifelong love for learning and reading, setting a foundation for academic and personal success (Mol & Bus, 2011).
10 Ways to Keep Kids Reading Over Winter Break
- Reading Days With a Theme: Dedicate days to reading books on specific themes, such as snow, holidays worldwide, or winter animals.
-
Reading Bingo: Create a bingo card with different reading prompts, such as "Read a book with a blue cover" or "Read a book by a new author."
-
Storybook Scavenger Hunt: Hide clues within books that lead to a small prize, encouraging children to read and comprehend to find the next clue.
-
Family Reading Time: Set aside time each day for the family to read together or discuss a book everyone has read separately.
-
Local Library Events:Participate in winter reading programs or events hosted by local libraries, often including unique guest readers or themed book nights.
-
Book and Movie Night: Choose books that have been adapted into films. Read the book, watch the movie as a family, and discuss the differences.
-
Create a Cozy Reading Nook: Encourage reading by creating a special, comfortable space in your home dedicated to reading.
-
Read Aloud Challenge:Challenge each family member to pick and read a book aloud to others, using different voices for each character.
-
Winter Story: Encourage children to write their own winter-themed story and share it with family and friends.
- Virtual Book Club: Start a virtual book club with friends or family members who live far away by using video calls to discuss each book.
Accelerate Reading During Winter Break With Just Right Reader Take-Everywhere Literacy Packs™
- 1,000+ evidence-based decodables personalized for each student and customized for every district
- Proven to accelerate achievementand supported by ESSA Level II research.
- Family empowerment tools and fun phonics video lessons in 14+ languages.
- Ready-to-use teacher resources that make small-group instruction easy and effective.
- Writing pages to reinforce decoding and writing skills.
- Research-based activities that motivate students to read.
- Backpacks for students to take their reading everywhere.
