Empowering Early Literacy with Content and Resources for Young Learners

School-Age Reading Expectations – Reading Essentials #24

Summer is a great time to take an honest look at your child’s reading progress in school and determine if an intervention is needed before the new school year begins. Here’s the last of the Reading Essentials Series.
As your child is learning to read, you may begin to have concerns about whether or not he or she is progressing at a normal rate. This is completely normal. After all, you’ve been comparing developmental notes with other parents since your child was rolling over and beginning to crawl, right?

By Tammy Bennecke, ago

Taking Advantage of Your Public Library

When was the last time you visited your public library? If you already have a hefty collection of books in your own personal library, you may not see a need to make a trip to the library in your community. However, your local library may have a plethora of resources for you and your child that you are unaware of. In this post we will explore just a few of the hidden gems you can find in your local library.

By Jennifer Campbell, ago

Summer Reading: Keeping Kids Interested

It’s hard to believe summer is already here! Most of our kiddos have wrapped up the school year and are ready for summer break. What is your family’s summer plans? Many of us have already started planning family vacations, summer camp, and other seasonal activities, but how many of us have considered summer reading? While summer is a time when most of our kids get a vacation from school, this need not mean they have a vacation from reading. How can you help your child avoid the summer reading slump? Red Apple Reading has a few suggestions!

By Jennifer Campbell, ago

10 Fun Educational Toys

One of the things I appreciate about summer break is that it gives my children some extra unstructured time during the day. Don’t misunderstand me, I am a huge fan of structure and schedules; in fact, my kids’ summer vacation is probably a bit more structured than most. However, included in our schedule is free play. This can look just about anyway the kids want it to – providing it doesn’t involve electronics. There is something wonderful about being able to play and use one’s imagination in anyway one chooses. Of course, this doesn’t mean that parents can’t have options available for their child to choose from. Which brings us to the topic of today’s post: Fun Educational Toys! There are literally thousands of great learning toys available to purchase and enjoy. Today we will look at 10.

By Jennifer Campbell, ago

Four Fun Father’s Day Gifts

With Father’s Day right around the corner, you are probably already considering what to get the men in your life on this special day. If you are like me, you find that special man in your life (father or husband) a little hard to buy for. It can be tricky to find just the right gift to give on Father’s Day, but let’s not give up too quickly and buy the first pair of socks or tie we see! Hopefully, this list of four fun gifts for Dad will give you some inspiration as you and your family prepare for Father’s Day!

By Jennifer Campbell, ago

Help! My Child Doesn’t Like to Read!

We all know the importance of reading in the lives of our children. As parents, we’re constantly getting newsletters from our kids’ teachers containing reminders to read, how many words a minute should be read, what the story of the week is, etc. Reading is the gateway to several different types of learning. Without a strong reading foundation, our kid’s progress in other academic subjects will suffer. But what if your child doesn’t like to read? Don’t despair! With a little creative thinking, you can help your child catch the reading bug. Here are a few hints to help you get started.

By Melissa Maypole, ago

Helping Your Child Thrive Socially

My Kindergartner came home a while back and matter-of-factly told me that she got kicked out of “the Katie club.” There are two other girls named Katie in her class, and they did what kids do—used what they had in common to create an exclusive club. Well, apparently changing your name isn’t the only thing that can get you booted from this particular club. You see, we live in Alabama, football capital of the world where even little girls talk about the game. On this particular day, the “Katies” allowed their fan allegiance to get in the way of their friendship, and the two War Eagles took a stand against my little Alabama fan.

By Melissa Maypole, ago

Creative Ways to Practice Sight Words

If you have younger elementary school students in your home, you are probably familiar with the term “sight words”. Sight words are words that our children need to be extra familiar with and know how to read without doing so phonetically. In other words, they need to know them by sight. These words appear frequently throughout most texts we read each day. Therefore, it is important for us to help our children practice these words and become comfortable reading them. Today we will look at some creative ways we can help our little ones learn their sight words!

By Jennifer Campbell, ago