Ten Reason Your Kids Should Participate in a Summer Reading Program

by Rebecca J. Gomez When my kids were young, summer reading programs were a sure thing. For the most part, my children were avid readers, especially my girls. A summer reading program wasn't necessary to encourage them to read, but we participated because it was a fun addition to summer. And the free pizza, books, and water park tickets definitely didn't hurt! There are lots of reasons to participate in a summer reading program or challenge, and here are ten of them: 1. Many summer reading programs offer prizes. And while we all know that reading is its own reward, some kids haven't figured that out yet. For those kids, a prize is just the incentive they need to stick their noses in a book now and then over the summer. 2. It's a fun way to reward those kids who will be reading no matter what! 3. For some families, trips to the library may help break up summer monotony.  4. Summer reading programs promote reading together as a family, especially for those with very young

National Poetry Month Celebration: List Poems

 

Read, Discuss, Do! is celebrating list poems this week! List poems are exactly what they sound like -- poems written as lists! A list poem can be a list of anything real or imagined. They can be lists of people or places, ideas, things, actions, even emotions. Many list poems are silly. Many of them rhyme. But they can cover all sorts of topics and themes, and rhyming is completely optional. We hope that you will read some examples of list poems this week and try writing one or two of your own.

It's Raining Pigs and Noodles by Jack Prelutsky, illustrated by James Stevenson, isn't specifically a book of list poems, but it's got some great examples of list poems in it. And the title poem is a silly, rhyming list poem that you'll be sure to enjoy.

Underneath My Bed: List Poems by Brian P. Cleary, illustrated by Richard Watson. This book is all about list poems! What they are, how to write them, and a lot of fun ones to read as examples. 

Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems, edited by Georgia Heard. This is a diverse mix of list poems of all sorts of topics by a bunch of different poets.

Example of a list poem:

"Sick" by Shel Silverstein

"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.

Read the whole poem on poets.org. 

For more on writing list poems, see this post on poetry4kids.com








Comments

Julia said…
I love Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout by Shel Silverstein!