JULIA KNEELAND
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The Importance of Children Reading

2/4/2021

2 Comments

 
When my son was in early elementary school he hated reading!  It broke my heart because I loved to read.  We had always read aloud to him.  But unfortunately, he had a teacher who only focused on the rules of Phonics.  After doing pages of Phonics worksheets, he simply did not want to practice his reading.  Finally, I decided to pay him to read.  I know how unprofessional of me!  But I made him a deal.  I told him I didn't care what he read and that included his favorite Garfield books.  For every book he read I paid him twenty-five cents.  He felt that was a good deal and he started to read.  I held up my end of the bargain and paid him for each book he read.  It did not take long and he was reading and enjoying it! 
I truly believe that children need to experience the joy of reading and not just learn the mechanics.  Finding a good series can definitely make a difference.  I wrote my Jig series with my grandchildren in mind.  I wanted them to have an opportunity to enjoy their early reading experiences.  Also my hope is that other emerging readers will be captured by the different adventures of Jig! 
2 Comments
Marianne Bech Nowak
2/4/2021 04:10:00 pm

2 of my boys were having trouble reading. One summer I told them I would give them a dollar when they finished a book. One said if I read half can I have 50 cents? I said fine. They both ended up with a $ 1. Then I found out that Encyclopedia Brown was a book boys liked and bought some of them. They are adults and like reading. Whatever works is worth it.

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Julia Kneeland link
2/5/2021 09:52:18 am

Marianne,

Thanks for sharing your experience with your boys. I'm so glad they discovered Encyclopedia Brown! When I was teaching 5th grade many parents asked for recommendations for books to encourage their children to read. I think that students pleasure reading books should be at an appropriate level. So even going down and choosing something a bit easier for them to read makes sense!
Sometimes my students enjoyed non-fiction books. They enjoyed biographies and other books. I had a collection of easy reader biographies in my classroom. I often encouraged them to start with the biography and then do some research about the person's life. They really seemed to enjoy this project!
The goal is to keep children reading!

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    Julia Kneeland

    I have enjoyed writing the Jig series. I look forward to publishing more of the series soon.

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