A Reading Event
As if there aren't enough distractions in life already. This week we have the Olympic Games to divert your kids away from their reading. Not that there's anything wrong with enjoying the Games, they occur only once every four years. Habits and routines you have worked hard to keep in place can easily slide during this widely televised event. Even avid readers may let their usual reading time slide a little. Instead of missing out on either the Games or the routine reading, plan to use this time as a reading event in your household.
Encourage your kids to follow the daily Olympic stories in the newspaper. Make clippings of sports personalities, athletes or particular events they show interest in. Have them report the details to you or simply listen to them read aloud. This activity can be incorporated into Olympic viewing time. Delegate the television program reading to your kids. Let them become the experts on what's on and when. Ask them to read out scores and other information as it's screened during each event. Use the commercial time for this if you prefer. They can read aloud advertisements instead of having to listen to annoying voice-overs.
If they show interest, use the Olympics as a jump off to further reading. Get some use out of your encyclopedias and teach your kids some valuable research skills at the same time. Whenever they have questions, help them look it up and get them to read aloud whatever information you find together. You may discover they have an interest in history, geography, current events or in researching a lesser known sport. Learning to use the atlas is a great way to strengthen spelling and reading skills.
Borrow books from the library covering information and rules on your kids favourite spectator sports. They may become interested in particular athletes. The focus on Sydney is a good chance for your kids to read anything about Australia. Try to find books or magazine articles covering biographies, equipment used, host cities, records broken and the significance it all has on their daily lives. Leave these around to be read at their leisure during the tedious moments when nothing of particular interest to them is programmed.
The potential is endless and may keep your kids reading on the Olympic subject alone for several weeks to come. In particular they'll develop a real taste for current affairs. As your kids read they'll learn the impact the Games have on their daily lives and those of others the world over. They'll learn valuable research skills, improve their spelling and geographic knowledge. Hopefully this interest will be become a life long habit and keep them reading daily for the rest of their lives.
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