Holiday reading greetings!

With the holiday season upon us, I hope you will have time to savor the time we have off with your child. Your child was able to pick a book from me as a present to share with you over the break.  I hope you enjoy sharing the book with them. After reading the book encourage your child to answer questions such as, "Who were the characters? Where did the story take place? Would you like to read more books by this author? If so, why?" These questions will encourage your child to interact with text, reread if they don't remember the details, and enjoy sharing quality time with you!  If you are busy, encourage your child to read to another adult in your home, a sibling, a stuffed animal, or even a pet! I recently read an article I'd like to share with you about how reading to animals can help to develop a child's reading skills.

Kids Read To Dogs To Improve Reading Skills

 

 

NEW YORK - Children have a special bond with their pets, but did you know dogs can actually help children learn to read?
The Reading Education Assistance Dogs, or "R.E.A.D.," literacy program, which has service dogs come into schools to help kids learn to read, is an unconventional but effective way to help children improve their reading skills, FOX's Ashley Mastronardi reports.
The program hooks up specially-trained dogs to act as nonjudgmental listeners for young readers.
Reading to dogs helps calm young children and relieves the pressure of embarrassment when they make reading mistakes.
A University of California study found that young children who read with therapy dog improved their reading skills by 12 percent over the course of a 10-week program in comparison to children in the same program who didn't read to dogs.
The R.E.A.D. Intermountain Therapy Animals Program launched in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1999
Right now, the R.E.A.D. literacy program is in 11 New York City Public Libraries and multiple New York City Public Schools, and they hope to expand to more.

(from: http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/22446581/kids-read-to-dogs-to-improve-reading-skills)