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PowerBook vs. Powerball? Where do you get better odds?
By Rose Rennekamp
The odds of winning the Powerball lottery are about one in 146 million if you buy one ticket. That’s a long shot, at best. The odds of increasing your children’s vocabulary if they read during summer break are a lot better, especially if they join a reading group or regularly visit the local library. There are no magic tricks or fancy probabilities involved, however, there is a secret combination to reading and writing improvement.
Experts claim that if children read one million words a year, at least one thousand words will be added to their vocabulary. You’ll notice considerable improvement if your child reads just a few pages each day, participates in a library reading program, or consistently visits the library during the summer. Research has shown that children who read six or more books over the summer gain more in reading achievement than children who do not.
The Power of Reading by Stephen Krashen encourages free voluntary reading. One summer when my kids were in grade school, I was upset by my daughter’s fascination with teen romance novels and my son’s refusal to read anything that wasn’t about dinosaurs. The librarian basically told me to “chill.” She told me to quit worrying so much about what they were reading and just to encourage them to keep reading. She was right. They improved their reading skills, learned to love reading, and eventually moved on to new topics. Children who read (regardless of the subject) experience improvements in reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling and grammatical development. ACT research clearly shows that reading is a critical skill that influences college readiness in all subject areas.
The following tips might help set the tone for getting your student to visit the library and read this summer:
Plan group visits to the library. Have your student and friends start a book club and visit the library each week. Group members may choose which books to read and then have discussion sessions at a member’s home or the local youth center. Some cities even provide free public transportation to the library during summer months. My local library also has teen parties, complete with free pizza and soda in the break room, to celebrate reading.
Book time at the mall. When you go to the mall, take your student along to meet his or her friends at a mall book store. Turn the outing into a fun, learning adventure. Many book stores have designated areas for people to sit and talk or have informal group discussions
. Incorporate modern technology. Encourage students to use the Internet to research authors and books. For teenagers, listening to someone else read aloud through headphones is a “cool” way to learn. They can have their privacy and really concentrate on what they are listening to. You don’t have to invest a lot of money in audio books. The public library has a variety of material to loan.
Try another language. If your children are learning a second language, encourage them to read the same book in two different languages. Or toggle between a chapter in English and a chapter in Spanish. It’s a great way to improve reading skills in both languages.
Scavenger hunt for books. Visit thrift stores and antique shops to find collector’s items like comic books, old magazines and post cards. It can be fun to search for original Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men and the Hulk reading material at local stores.
Frequently, the merchandise is quite affordable. Even more importantly, your child can have fun looking through vintage items to compare the original reading material with current literature, movies and video games. Why not gamble with your child’s reading improvement? Remember, research shows that students who read books during summer vacation maintain or even increase their skills. Consider the odds. The winning combination is a summer program of reading. You might call it PowerBook learning.
Rose Rennekamp is the vice president of communications for ACT. She is a mom and has a master’s of education in guidance and counseling. For more college and career-planning information, visit www.actparent.org.
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