Reading Is First

Learning to read is a major mile marker in everyone's life. So much of a child's success in school and after depends on an ability to read. For children who are encouraged to read and have their skills reinforced, reading can become a lifelong passion. Geared toward teachers and librarians, this book presents twenty themes designed to promote reading and reading programs, especially to children who may need extra encouragement and motivation. The themes range from ice cream and pizza to baseball and football to farming and ecology, and were primarily developed for use with the Reading Counts and Accelerated Reader programs, but could be easily adapted for other programs. Each theme includes ideas for wall displays to chart reading progress, possible assemblies to correspond to the theme, related Internet sites to explore, rewards or incentives for achievement, ways to coordinate the theme to other subject areas, patterns for making display items, and tips for how to do it all on a tight budget.