Summer Reading

Being I've been both a teacher and a librarian, I know how important it is to read, especially for kids during the summer. Little Man will start kindergarten in the fall, so of course we signed him up for the Summer Reading Program through the library again this year. (We'll probably sign Princess up either next summer or the summer after. Her reading log would probably have the same 5 books on it all summer right now!)

Little Man read the most books last year with 110! And I think we had even signed up late and he didn't read the entire time! So this year, we were the FIRST ones signed up! The children's librarian hadn't even gotten her cute display out yet! So with that, we were off on the reading!

This was Day One of his Reading Log. We actually added 3 more books at bedtime too!

Being Little Man got his first library card in September, we now have two library cards to check out on! Sometimes we use mine, but usually we use his. This means that right now we have books like this:

Yeah, that's like 20+ library books! Princess was actually reading one at the time, so it's not pictured! (And yes, I have been subjected to reading "The Book With No Pictures.") So how do I keep track of all of these library books with their due dates? Easy! I found a printable online here at Aussie Pumpkin Patch. They have "book pages" that have a "Weekly Library List" so I print off one of those and list the titles and the due dates. I cross off books as we turn them in and star the ones that I need to renew.

Little Man loves finding new books that fit his interests. Sometimes though, it backfires on us. He loves trains right now, so the very first week he found a book with a train on the cover. Sadly, it wasn't exactly about trains. It was about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. Went right over his head! Needless to say, that one got turned in the next time we went to the library!

Being this was kind of a disappointment for him, I also found a "Book Wish List" on the page and printed that. Right now, I'm listing "Construction Vehicle" books. I find book lists online and list the books in that category that we don't already have. Then it's on to searching our library catalog. Sometimes they have them, sometimes they don't. But we'll be requesting some here soon!

This year, he has already gotten to around 63 books read/read to and we are barely 3 weeks into the program. He is so on his way to reading 200 books this summer! How does this happen? Well, he goes on reading spurts. Usually after our library trips, he wants to sit down and read ALL the books we just checked out (8-10 of them!). And then, it also helps that I have finally gotten my classroom library books up here. So I pulled all the books that I thought he and his sister might like and it kinda looks like this:

So I don't think my kids will have any problem in the reading department! Especially when they bug me to go to the library! Sometimes I seriously have to tell them that we have to wait because the library isn't open yet! I so love having readers!