Great Ideas

Summer Reading Activities

K-5 Summer Activities Calendar
Here you'll find a month's worth of daily activities for your child to do this summer.

Middle School Activities Calendar
Fun daily activities for middle school students, too!

Summer Reading Activities Kit (PDF)
Creative ideas for fun summer reading you and your children can do together while on vacation, at home, or on the road.

Publications

Helping your Child Become a Reader
A helpful U.S. Department of Education publication discussing language-building activities that you can do with your child to help her build the skills she needs to become a reader. Great for ages birth to six.
Traducción en Español

Put Reading First: Helping Your Child Learn to Read
More ideas from the U.S. Department of Education on how to help develop your child's reading skills (preschool to age six).

Reading Tips for Parents
Strategies for creating and maintaining strong readers from No Child Left Behind.
Traducción en Español

What Parents and Family Members Can Do to Challenge Young Minds
19 easy ways to engage your child's interest in reading.

A Child Becomes a Reader
National Institute for Literacy parent guides that give ideas for reading, playing and talking with your child (birth to preschool and preschool to third grade).

Tips for Parents About How to Strengthen Reading Skills
Information about helping children with learning disabilites.

Beginning Reading Instruction - Practical Ideas for Parents (PDF)
Provides information on learning to read and activities for you to use to help your children become readers.
Traducción en Español.

Simple Things
Simple things anyone can do to help all children read well and independently by the third grade.

Why Babies Need Books
From the MSN Family website, a helpful article on the importance of books at an early age.

Websites for Parents

Just Read, Florida!
Governor Bush's reading initiative in support of all children to be able to read at or above grade level by the year 2012. The Parent Section offers links to Clifford's Reading Tips, suggestions to build your children's reading skills, recommended reading lists and much more!

Reading Is Fundamental
RIF is the nation's largest nonprofit children's literacy organization

FCAT Explorer
Contains a Parent and Family Guide that is designed to support parents in their effort to help children strengthen the critical skills that are outlined in the Sunshine State Standards and tested on the FCAT. For enrollment information, please call 1-888-750-FCAT.
FCAT Explorer Brochure (152KB PDF)

Building Better Readers Family Workshops
Building Better Readers family workshops will convene this summer for parents of third grade students who will potentially be retained based on poor FCAT performance. Parents who participate in these workshops will learn about simple activities they can do with their children over the summer to improve reading performance.

Family Day Website
Promotes the idea of families spending dinner time together to strengthen and bond relationships. Parents will find dinner table activities, fun recipes, and ideas to encourage learning.

Some Simple Ways to Help Your Elementary Child Learn to Read
Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) article designed to support parents in their effort to help children strengthen the critical skills tested on the FCAT.

Reading Rockets
Find hundreds of articles on reading instruction here at this informative site.

Florida Education Channel
A program initiative of the Panhandle Area Educational Consortium that provides 24 hours 7 days a week educational programs including reading and parenting on DishNetwork 61.5, Channel 9418, and local cable markets.

Book Crossing
Join a global book club! Here you'll find tens of thousands of book reviews, book ratings, and book recommendations, because each time a book changes hands members can leave journal entries telling the world of their experiences.

Partnership For Learning - New Free Guide Helps Families Find Tutors
A free new national guide for families looking for extra academic help during the school year.

Florida Public Libraries