10 great resources from Reading Rockets:
Keeping kids interested and motivated to read is sometimes a challenge. Learn how to effectively motivate young learners, including tips from kids for teachers and parents, classroom strategies that work, and guidance for motivating struggling readers, reluctant readers, and boys.
- What Parents Can Do: Reading Tips From Kids
Parents can make reading more motivating by letting children choose books and making reading a memorable family event. Find out what children themselves have to say about these guidelines for parents to increase motivation. - Teacher Practices that Impact Reading Motivation
Using Concept-Oriented Reading Instruction (CORI) or practices to encourage engagement, educators can advance the breadth and depth of students’ reading by explicitly and systematically nourishing students’ motivations as readers. - Boys and Books
The statistics are consistent: Young male readers lag behind their female counterparts in literacy skills. This article looks at the social, psychological, and developmental reasons why, and suggests solutions — including the need for more men to become role models for reading. - Hooking Struggling Readers: Using Books They Can and Want to Read
One of the keys to helping struggling readers is to provide them with books that they can and want to read. Fiction for struggling readers must have realistic characters, readable and convincing text, and a sense of the readers’ interests and needs. Non-fiction books, newspapers, magazines, even comic books can hook students on reading. - Building World Knowledge: Motivating Children to Read and Enjoy Informational Text
Exposing young children to informational text early on can help them to handle the literacy demands of fourth grade and beyond. Practical instructional techniques can be used to promote understanding and enjoyment of informational texts. The three techniques described here — Text Impression, Guiding Questions, and the Retelling Pyramid — can help children become familiar with the language and structure of non-fiction books. - When Kids Hate to Read
Children who aren’t motivated to read can benefit from support at home. Learn what parents can do to make reading a more enjoyable experience for struggling readers in this interview with Dr. Marie Carbo. - Reading Motivation: What the Research Says
Researchers have identified a number of factors important to reading motivation including self-concept and value of reading, choice; time spent talking about books, types of text available, and the use of incentives. - To Read or Not to Read — What Is the Motivation?
Reading Rockets’ children’s literature expert, Maria Salvadore, brings you into her world as she explores the best ways to use kids’ books both inside and outside of the classroom. In this entry, she discusses motivation in early children’s literature. - The Importance of Reading Widely
Sharing lots of different kinds, or genres, of books with your child exposes him to different words, different kinds of images, and whole new worlds. This tip sheet suggests some genres to try with your young reader that complement ‘traditional’ fiction. Some are suggestions for read alouds, while others may be ones your child can read on his own. - Family Literacy Bags: A School-to-Home Project
How can teachers encourage reading at home? One way is through the use of Family Literacy Bags — a theme-based collection of books and related hands-on activities that kids bring home from school to share with their family.