AEP Online
Featured Columns
Blaschke on Fed. Funding
A+ Advice for Parents
    Archives
Archives
    Education
    Legislation
    Technology
    Market Trends
    Misc. Topics
About

A+ Advice for Parents

Reading: Use it or lose it

By Leanna Landsmann

Q: My two sons' well-intentioned teachers sent home a plea to "Make this a summer for reading!" with a list of books. Well, my boys, fourth and fifth grade, aren't buying into it. They are "wired," though, and love to spend time on the computer, so I'm thinking we can sneak some reading in that way. Is there a source to find appropriate Web sites we can explore together?

A: Thank those teachers! They encourage summer reading because the research is very clear: Reading is a "use it or lose it" skill. Students who take the summer off are likely to forget many of the skills they developed over the previous semester. Don't let your boys off the hook. If they won't crack books, get them to click on Web sites to boost their reading online.

One good resource is Great Web Sites for Kids from the American Library Association (ala.org). You'll find site about animals, arts, history and biography, literature and language, reference desk, mathematics and computers, sciences and social sciences. Either enter "kids Web sites" into the ala.org search box or go to ala.org/ala/alsc/projectspartners/Websites.

Commonsensemedia.org, founded to help parents choose appropriate books, movies, games, TV, music and Web sites for their children, has ratings and reviews of hundreds of sites.

Kids.gov, with links to hundreds of U.S. government kids' sites, is good for Web "treasure hunt" activities. Of course, sites adults think are wonderful aren't always beloved by kids. To generate a "kid-tested" list for you, I turned to Bill Laraway's class at Silver Oak Elementary School in San Jose, Calif., deep in the heart of America's hi-tech country. What sites would they choose for summer surfing? Here's their list with reviews. (Thanks, Krista, Prithvi, David, Simran, Taylor, Enja, Tiffani, Jenna, Parth, Molly, Matthew, Dylan. Excellent work!)

Funbrain.com
Have a great time on funbrain.com all day! Find hilarious comics, puzzles, math, vocabulary, spelling, reading and geography games and a whole lot more! You can choose easy to harder levels. For children 6 and under, click "Playground," and there are games to play with their parents.

Clerkkids.house.gov
These fun games, quizzes and other activities all based on the White House and U.S. History can teach you a lot about our country's presidents.

Kids.yahoo.com
You can play games, which are mostly educational, listen to music, watch movie clips, hear jokes, read about the latest news on sports and much more. There's a study zone to help you with homework next fall. Learn to use it now!

Millsberry.com
These games make you think! When you sign up, you create a character, then feed it, buy clothes and, give it lots of exercise to keep it healthy and happy. If you do not take care of the character, it will become very sick! This site helps you prepare to take care of yourself when you are older

Hhmi.org/coolscience
A great educational science site for kids created up by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The site gives you a chance to do hands-on experiments, perfect for free time.

Timeforkids.com/TFK
This site has news, articles and action games that happen to be good for you. If you don't like games, you can use the homework helper. Just click on the subject and BAM! Instant info! The articles are amazing and fun to read.

Ipl.org/div/kidspace
This kids' site, from the Internet Public Library, gives you good reading about everything!

Amazing-space.stsci.edu
If you like space exploration, this site, created by the Space Telescope Science Institute's Office of Public Outreach is for you! It takes you to galaxies far, far away.

Socialstudiesforkids.com
Learn all about maps, presidents, language and culture. Spend some free time here.

Kidsgames.org
Play jigsaw puzzles, card games, coordination games and lots more. Great for younger kids.

Crosswordpuzzlegames.com/create.html
With thousands of puzzles, this site never gets old! You can even create your own puzzles and test them on a friend.

Niehs.nih.gov/kids/home.htm
Want to train your brain? Visit National Institute of Environmental Health Services kids' site. You'll find Brain Teasers, Optical Illusions, Flash Mind Reader, Rebus Puzzles, Puzzling Numbers and more. Hours of entertainment.

Shockwave.com/home.jsp
This site challenges you with enigmas, mysteries, word puzzles and strategy games! You can be a sleuth, motorcycle racer, diver or a gold discoverer. Try the daily jigsaw or the superb "Writer's Block" where you connect letters on a cube to make words.

Nick.com
This far-fetched, out-of-this-world Web site is only for kids - need we say more?

Teacher Tip

"My students learned so much selecting these sites," says Bill Laraway, fifth grade teacher, Silver Oak Elementary, San Jose. "In addition to finding a summer's worth of good reading and brain-boosting online, they found plenty of homework help, too. Make a list of favorites and bookmark them: When school starts again, your sons will be all ready for that report due Monday morning that you only learn about on Sunday night

Copyright 2007, United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

A-PLUS ADVICE FOR PARENTS         6-4-07

Submission inquiries? Contact Dave Gladney at 856-241-7772 or dgladney@AEPweb.org.

© 2008 The Association of Educational Publishers
510 Heron Drive, Suite 201 • Logan Township, NJ 08085 • P:856-241-7772 • F:856-241-0709 • Email: mail@AEPweb.org
 
Satellite Offices:
Two Bala Plaza, Suite 300 • Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
C/O Knowledge Alliance • 815 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 220 • Washington, DC 20006