2012 Book Challenge

[Kimba15]

My next blog http://intellikidsdownunder.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/importance-of-reading-to-your-children.html

[sonya_post]

Kimba, great blog post. I am sure you already know this, but for those who don't, Andrew Pudewa has an excellent spelling and writing program. You can find it here:  http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ .


I have not heard this lecture, so I am not sure if Andrew mentions it, but there is one very obvious reason why readers make good writers. When a child hears and reads excellent sentences and paragraphs, those become part of his/her mental furniture. When the child goes to write a story, they have a storehouse of sentences and paragraphs to choose from. They will then rearrange those bits of information into something that is their own. Not at first, this grows with maturity. Without formal teaching, a child will naturally pick up rhetorical skills from the material they are exposed to. That is why it is very important allow your child access to the very best literature, for their age group, available.

Thanks for the post....karma.

[Kimba15]

My update on the 1000 book challenge http://intellikidsdownunder.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/1000-book-challenge-and-our-3-weekly.html

[hypatia]

Time for a little update on the challenge.
We're still doing well, with many new english books. We've started first readers, a nice change from chapter books.
The only thing I've stopped doing is writing down the name of the books, but I know from looking at the book shelves which ones have been read and approx. how often. We aim to read 30 mn every nights and more during the week-end.

[Kimba15]

I feel off the bandwagon last month and I am now about 85 books behind but I am reading like a trojan to catch up as I am absolutely determied to meetthis challenge!

[waterdreamer]

We were doing really good, until I got sick with my pregnancy. I need to start a new self challenge in the next few weeks once stuff settles down with baby.

Keep up the good work guys!!

[Kerileanne99]

WaterDreamer!
Congrats, congrats, congrats!
Hope you are feeling better

We have sort of modified the book challenge a bit for my toddler...first off, she is a toddler...so she wants new books read over, and over, and over, and over...you get the picture!!!!

So I bought a beautifully-bound journal and simply use it to record ALL of the books we read at nap time and bedtime ( and maybe a note or two about daily progress/happenings as I am hopeless at updating the babybook )

The best bit? Since I know that I am keeping this for her, I can note her favorites, track how many books we read new and repeated, and how many she read to me!

And since I know that she might read it as a mom? Huge incentive to read that extra book!  We are already at over 1300, and we started Jan 15th (although as she is just 2, I would bet the supreme difference in lenth between what many of you are reading makes a whole lot of difference!  Still, we have been averaging about 15-20 books per day, not including bits and bobs outside of nap/bedtime!

Right now her absolute favorite is Stand Back Said the Elephant, I am Going to Sneeze! By Patricia Thomas, and all of the Lynley Dodd books (I can't thank you enough Taniket for the recommendation as they ate not very popular in the US, but have fantastic vocabulary!)

[Mandabplus3]

I have been specifically hunting down books with rich Vocabulary. I decided we were all getting a bit lazy ( especially me as the primary book selector    ) and not challenging our thaughts enough. This past month we are stuck in Fancy Nancy mode, reading a few short stories ( only short by comparison to the original!) adapted from older books like  'The blue fairy' and the 'green fairy'. They retain the rich vocabulary but simplify the story so all three kids can understand it. We have relied on original fairy tales ( I have a massive set of those!) when we run out of library books.
My non fiction commitment is going very well, we are working our way through Osborne's Children Encyclopedia and many copies of  the 100 facts books. the kids are really enjoying this, plus I can start reading while they are still getting ready for bed as the non fiction reads tend to involve more conversation and less looking at pictures.
We are right on track to easily hit the 1000 books. We dropped a bit because we don't get home until late 2 night a week. I try to make up those days by reading while they have a bath. Or having Natalya read to them before school and on the way to school. She is a great story teller!
Great to here all your suggestions, and efforts. Kimba and waterdreamer, a conscious  effort for just 2 weeks will probably catch you up. 3 books for each meal... 9-15 per day!

[Krista G]

I did not officially join challenge, but I did feel inspired to write down the books we read this year.  That has been eye opening to me.  As it is said, "Numbers don't lie."  I did discover that when I have a lot of new books around the house my 5 year old will spend hours reading to herself.  It has been a challenge to keep lots of great books around, since our library doesn't have the best selection.  I did come across the book The New Your Times Parent's Guide to the Best Books for Children.  I like book lists.  I was thrilled to see that we have not read very many books listed.  We can request most of the books through our library, and have been reading massive amounts of books lately because of the selection.  We haven't loved them all, but we have discovered some new favorites and we are not even half-way through the list.  Does anybody else have any lists of books their children enjoyed or lists of best books?  Thanks for the recommendations, Keri.  I just reserved some books based on your post.  We may make it to 1000 books this year,  but if we don't, we have been reading a lot more.  Keep it the good work, everyone!  You are all an inspiration.

[Korrale4kq]

I think I want to set up a challenge like this too.

James is only 2.5. We reread a lot. It takes him several times to understand and remember a book. And I read to him above age level. So I have to take time out to explain certain things. We could certainly do well over 1500 books a year if we were to stick with simple picture books, or stuff levlelled for a toddler. But we don't. 


Instead I think I am going to continue on with the reading challenge that we are doing over the summer, that we started through our local library.   
Over 6 weeks in the summer we have set a goal to read 2500 hours. Books can be repeated, reading James does alone can be counted.
once this challenge is done I think I will set a challenge to read something like 300-500 hours a year.

We read at least an hour a day by default. 30 mintues before nap, 30 mintues before bed time at night. Then there is the extra reading. Reading for fun throughoutt the day, the reading that daddy does. And the reading that is involved as part of James' reading instruction. So maybe 500 hours a year is a nice goal.

[Kimba15]

Okay I have done it!! I am back in front and I just hit this months target today which is 498 books. I have comeback from being 85 behind to about 37 books in front. Holding me in good stead for the next month when I go in to have all 4 wisdom teeth out so I may miss up to weeks worth of reading to them. So I will keep on trojing ahead and I will let you know what I finish on at the end of the month.

Oh and I have not been cheating I have been reading proper chapter books and picture books with alot of words my voice is very hoarse.

[Mandabplus3]

Awesome effort! I am very impressed. Oh and a horse voice can be quite becoming  For the wisdom teeth we could let you cheat and use audio books..but only if you sit with child and finger under the words 

[Kimba15]

im very lucky and my dad and stepmum are taking the girls for the weekend so I can get some proper rest.    Hooray. So I plan on being in front....

I only have one audio book which is a pooh one. Maybe I can play that over and over again. 

What I would love is some french audio books do you know where i can find them????

[knstrick]

You probably mentioned this somewhere, but how many books do you need to read a day to maintain your pace?

[Mandabplus3]

1000 books in one year is 2.77 books a day. Easy enough...the tricky bit is catching up when you fall off the wagon. Have 3 days off and you need to read 11 books in that next day to catch up! We read 3 every day usually at bedtime, so we creep ahead. Somedays we sit down and read 6-8 books we got fresh from the library. Thats how I make sure we stay ahead of the target. I am to lazy to list all the books we read, so each time we read I ask the kids "how many books did we read yesterday?" then we all know we are on track   If they dissagree on how many we assume the lower number as they figured out that means they get an extra bedtime story! 
Of course if you are aiming fo 1500 books a year then you better read morning and night, to get to your 5 books a day. If you have two reading sessions a day 5 books isnt hard to hit. You will notice an increase in your childs vocabulary understanding from this challenge, but of course that is just one of many benefits
French Audio..I have never looked. my local library would have some but a limited number i am sure. SO who on the forum is in France? 

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