Getting Kids to Read Longer

Getting kids to read longer is a goal of many parents and teachers.  In this post, we share one idea that will help to motivate children to read.

Have you ever tried to diet? Each week or maybe every day, we step on the scale to measure our progress and hope that we lost more than the day before.  If you are like me, I shed the shoes, and jewelry, and jacket if I’m not feeling overly confident of my success for the week.

Helping kids develop a stamina for reading is a lot like this dieting process.  Kids have to be motivated to read longer.  They need to see their success on a regular basis just like we need to see that number on the scale go in the downward direction each time we step on it.

Eventually, kids will build a reading endurance and that success will internally power them to read more.  It’s similar to the point our bodies get to when we start craving the healthy foods over the sugar packed bag of M&Ms.

But, I don’t start craving salads every day for lunch overnight.  I have to do it one cherry tomato at a time.  Let’s help kids build reading stamina one minute at a time.

BEAT YOUR TIME ACTIVITY

Materials Needed:  Beat Your Time Sheet (free printable down below), timer, marker or crayon

Introduce the Beat Your Time Sheet.  Explain to your child that he will track the time he reads each day.  The stopwatch function on a cell phone works well for this.

Each day after a period of timed reading, he should record the number of minutes read in the next box on the sheet.

Compare the number to the day before.  If the time is longer than the day before, color in the box.  Yay, the time was beaten from the previous day.

Continue trying to beat the time each day.  Every time a record is broken, color in the new box.

After 30 days, reflect on how much progress has been made and celebrate (maybe with a trip to the bookstore!)

Variation

-Instead of each child tracking and beating a reading record, use the sheet for tracking family read aloud time.  See how long you can read together as a family!

Ready to start?  Download the sheet below and start reading.  Don’t forget it’s one cherry tomato at a time or in this case one page of a book at a time.

DOWNLOAD THE BEAT YOUR RECORD SHEET

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