Reading books: to challenge or not? and other

As school days are coming closer, the Internet is getting flooded with new materials for everyone - teachers, parents, and students - on how to start the new school year and how to make the most successful.

We all had many good days during the break and gained new vigor and strength for new opportunities.

Reading through many articles and blog posts I found some links that I think worth for you to look at:

Study Skills for Middle School and Beyond by GreatSchoolsStaff provides tips on how to help your child organize his and her time, place, and efforts.
Many articles are written about the value of kids' reading. Parents understand the importance of their children being exposed to books. However, often they are unhappy with texts that teachers offer in class. They debate that these texts are easy. The article suggested by Brenda Power explains why teachers don't give their students difficult and thick books. After having learned the reasons, you too may agree with this strategy:Talking with parents about Text Difficulty by Clare Landrigan and Tammy Mulligan.

When choosing books for your kids, don't forget the rule to suggest texts in which students know at least 90% of the words and comprehend at least 75% of the information. In 1946 researcher Emmett Betts wrote that these texts enhance the best both learning and attitude (Betts, 1946, in Allington, 2001).
For struggling readers the library comprises a broad variety of books that can "hook" them: non-fiction, mystery novels, information books, graphic novels, comics and magazines, - all these are reading materials that they want and will read. Check our library catalog for the titles. Tip: to find comic books or graphic novels in the collection, specify what genre you are looking for(for instance, write "graphic novels" or "comic books" to get the lists)in the Search bar and click on Subject.