College Ready

Sharing strategies for student success, college readiness and academic coaching


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5 Reasons Why Just 15 Minutes of Reading a Day Matters!

March is Read Aloud Month. Here are “5 Great Reasons to Read Aloud!”

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By reading aloud just 15 minutes a day, you are “feeding” your child’s brain by building vocabulary and life-long literacy skills. And remember, it doesn’t have to be 15 minutes in a row, and you don’t have to finish the book!

You will be creating a lifetime interest in reading that will help them in all areas of their education, as well as social and emotional development. Pick up a book and #Read!

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#Readaloud #Readaloud15 #ReadingRocks

Read Aloud 15: Every Day. Every Age. Every Stage.

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Six Tips to Keep Kids Reading this Summer and 5 Apps to Help Make it Fun & Rewarding

Make sure your students continue to read this summer. Reading leads to greater success in both college and career, and greater engagement in community events and civic issues that are important to us all. Reading truly is the road to success.

Here are 6 tips and 5 apps to make it easier to hop on the road to summer reading:

Why reading matters.

On Teaching a Love of Reading.

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On Teaching a Love of Reading.

“We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.” B. F. Skinner

This is my truth…always has been. Always will be.

AND, it’s why my son, in 2nd grade, read the entire Captain Underpants series. Even though the school library wouldn’t stock the books, (something about the word booger and/or atomic wedgie in every title, I guess). Even with a mom with an MA in American Literature. Yep. I encouraged him. Heck, I even bought ’em for him!

Because when you want to read…when you love to read…when you can’t wait to turn that next page to see what comes next…You Read.

And that’s all that matters, in the end. The reading.

B.F. Skinner had it right!

           Teach a love of Reading.

                  Amen & hallelujah.

Oh, and PS: Full disclosure–I had to look up the correct spelling of “booger.” Guess it’s been too long since I have read a Dav Pilkey EPIC novel! 🙂

So, tell us…how do you make sure your students or your children want to read? Are there books they would read again and again? Books they love but you hate? We’d love to hear from you in the comments. 

Sept. 2014 Postscript since this post was originally published: Dav Pilkey’s Captain Underpants series has claimed the top spot on the Most Frequently Banned Books list for two years in a row, 2012 and 2013. All the more reason to live dangerously…read!

Feel free to follow me here, or on Facebook, Tumblr or Pinterest, for more short but sweet posts, freebies, teaching ideas and fun images about literacy, reading and education, with a side serving of inspiration. Because we could all use a little more inspiration. Right? Right!


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Students “Just Say No” to America’s Top Colleges. Here’s Why

The quick answer: it’s about the ROI. At least according to this article in The Week, which is trending at the moment.

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So, it seems the trend continues. Students and parents are spending more time digging around the financials and thinking ROI when it comes time to select a college. That’s a smart move in my opinion. Like the article points out, often it is more about the student’s major, than it is about the institution, when it comes time to getting a job and the salary that job pays.

A good rule of thumb: don’t acquire more college debt than a profession’s first year salary. College is still more than worth it when it comes to lifetime annual salary. A degree has also been an effective buffer during a weak economy. Those with degrees had roughly half of the level of unemployment than those with only a high school diploma.

So, yes. Think ROI. Plan, investigate, calculate. When it comes time to select a college, make sure those numbers add up.


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Books, Bedtime and Beyond: Why Family Reading Rocks

Even MORE reasons to read to a child. Reading aloud “builds a child’s WANT to read.” Think your kiddo is too old for you to read to them at bedtime? Think again. Check out the difference in a child’s interest in reading between Kindergarten and Fourth Grade! What was the key difference? Parents stopped reading to kids.

By 12th grade-only 19% of kids asked said they were interested in reading! When you consider that higher levels of college readiness are linked to reading skills, I have just one word for that statistic: Noooooooo….but what can you do about it?

One thing our family started last summer was family reading time. We picked a classic-The Wind in the Willows-and each of us would read a few pages at a time. We read it together each night and enjoyed the simplicity of the words, the comfort of the timeless message and the beauty of the illustrations. Yes, even my Minecraft lovin’ middle school boy unplugged long enough to take part! He loved doing accents and really cracked up at Toad’s antics. So get silly, have fun, and share the joy of reading at any age!! What types of family reading do you do with your kids?

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This beautiful infographic was produced by usborneusa.com and Nancy Ann Wartman