Sylvan Recommended Reading List: National Black History Month Reading Recommendations

Every February, Black History Month provides children with the opportunity to learn and share in the rich history of African Americans, both at school and at home.

Educators and parents alike know that even with the development of electronic learning technologies, reading still provides the primary gateway into that history, as it does for much of what our children learn.

That's why Sylvan Learning created a new learning system that blends state-of-the-art instructional technology with our proven proprietary approach to supplemental learning. With SylvanSync™, Sylvan’s certified instructors incorporate the use of an iPad® to create a more engaging educational experience for students and extend the learning of reading, math and other skills into the home and onto mobile devices.

Sylvan Learning is deeply dedicated to helping children build their reading skills. In addition to the leading-edge SylvanSync system, Sylvan also offers a range of free resources—including reading lists and online learning aids— aimed at helping children acquire the reading skills they need.

Black History Month provides parents with the perfect opportunity to use reading to bring this important history alive for their child while helping to build their student's reading skills. Each of the books in our recommended reading list offers an excellent window into black history at the appropriate level for each grade.

Elementary School

Kindergarten:	God Bless the Child by Billie Holiday A Picture Book of Rosa Parks by David A. Adler and Robert Castilla
Grade 1:	Big Jabe by Jerdine Nolan I Dream of Trains by Angela Johnson
Grade 2:	I've Seen The Promised Land: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther Kind, Jr. by Walter Dean Myers If a Bus Could Talk: The Story of Rosa Parks by Faith Ringgold
Grade 3:	Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa by Andrea Davis Pinkney Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan
Grade 4:	When Grandmama Sings by Margaree King Mitchell Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges and Margo Lundell
Grade 5:	Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon A Pride of African Tales by Donna L. Washington

Middle School

Grade 6:	Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson Extraordinary People of the Harlem Renaissance by Stephen P. Hardy
Grade 7:	Caleb's Wars by David L. Dudley Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America by Sharon Robinson
Grade 8:	The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words by Milton Meltzer Somehow Tenderness Survives: Stories of Southern Africa by Hazel Rockman

High School

Grade 9:	The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant The Glory Field by Walter Dean Myers
Grade 10:	The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: The Poems by Langston Hughes Narrative of Sojourner Truth by Sojourner Truth
Grade 11:	Giants: The Parallel Lives of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln by John Stauffer The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Grade 12:	A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Parents with children in grades K-8 also can take advantage of Book Adventure (www.BookAdventure.com), a free, online Sylvan Learning reading resource that provides a fun way to motivate children to read. Book Adventure lets children search for books, read them offline, come back to quiz on what they’ve read, and earn prizes for their reading success.

Book Adventure also features Parent’s Place, where parents can monitor their child’s reading progress, track quiz results, approve their child’s prize selection and help them find their next book to read. The site also includes a number of valuable resources, including ideas, informative articles and online tools parents can use to help motivate their child to read.

About Sylvan Learning

Sylvan Learning is the leading provider of tutoring to students of all ages, grades and skill levels with over 30 years of experience and more than 800 centers located throughout North America. Sylvan's trained and Sylvan-certified personal instructors provide individualized instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills and test-prep for college entrance and state exams. For more information, call 1-800-31-SUCCESS or visit www.SylvanLearning.com.

READY, SET, READ: Inspiring Young Children to Have Fun Reading

Understanding and Nurturing Reading Skills for Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Children

Reading is an adventure that begins early in a child’s life and should extend beyond the classroom. Children exhibit certain reading behaviors at a young age. By understanding and nurturing these behaviors, parents can make reading fun and inspire their children to develop a lifelong friendship with books.

For pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children, this is their first introduction to reading. They are just beginning to understand that print holds meaning and use illustrations to give meaning to stories and words. Younger children enjoy listening to stories read aloud, and by engaging children in the world of reading, parents can help their children become more proficient readers. Sylvan Learning recommends that parents spend at least one hour per week – 10 to 15 minutes a day – performing some type of a reading activity with children.

To help parents nurture their children’s reading behaviors, the experts at Sylvan Learning, the leading provider of tutoring to students of all ages, grades and skill levels, offer these tips and ideas for reading at home with pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students:

• Make cookies together. Read the recipe aloud to your child.
• Read directions to your child when completing a project.
• Subscribe to a magazine for your child (Ladybug, Your Big Backyard, Zoobooks, etc.) to learn about topics of interest to him.
• Pick a storybook character (Arthur, Strega Nona, etc.) and pretend that character is coming for dinner. Help your child plan activities that character would like.
• Help your child relate read-aloud stories to events in her life.
• Read stories aloud and act them out.
• Engage your entire family with “Drop Everything And Read” time each day.

The Internet can also provide many opportunities for children of all ages who are looking for new things to read. Book Adventure is a free, Sylvan-created, interactive, reading, motivation program that can be found online at www.BookAdventure.com. Parents can help children choose books from more than 7,500 titles, take short comprehension quizzes and redeem accumulated points for small prizes. Book Adventure also offers teacher and parent resources and tips to help children develop a lifelong love of reading.

Reading on the Rise

For the first time in more than 25 years, North American reading rates are increasing, according to a study released in January 2009 by the National Endowment for the Arts. Reading on the Rise shows the number of adults reading fiction for pleasure has increased for the first time since the organization began studying reading rates in 1982. 50.2% of respondents report reading fiction, up from 46.7%. And, young adults display the most rapid increase - 9% in reading literature.

Educational experts agree that the more young students read, the more they'll enjoy reading and the better readers they're likely to become as adults.

Sylvan Learning, along with Book Adventure, a free, reading motivation program for students in grades K-8, recommends the following books and literary classics based on grade level.

Kindergarten: The Hundred Pound Problem by Jennifer Dussling
Grade 1: Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Grade 2: Ponies from the Past by Jeanne Betancourt
Grade 3: The Boxcar Children series by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Grade 4: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Betsy Bao Lord
Grade 5: Annie and the Old One by Miska Miles
Grade 6: You Be the Jury series by Marvin Miller
Grade 7: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Grade 8: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne
Grade 9: White Fang by Jack London
Grade 10: The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Grade 11: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
Grade 12: The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Interested in finding more books for summer reading? Log onto www.bookadventure.com!

Welcome to Directors' Dish

Hello educators, parents, and interested parties!

The Directors of Sylvan Learning Centers of Flemington and Clinton have decided to begin a blog. We will be posting information regarding local educational trends as well as advice on our most commonly asked questions. Please do not hesitate to email with a question or a topic you would like discussed.

Take time to get to know the directors and learn a little in the process! Enjoy and stay educated!