Great Summer Books and Activities for Kids Grades 3-4

For our third week let’s start by chatting about getting your younger children involved. For our Pre-K crowd, who may be new to reading, get them included in summer reading and activities by having their older siblings, or yourself, read to them. Not only does it get the family involved, but it also prepares your younger children for the task of learning to read once they begin school.

Getting them engaged using technological devices, such as your computer, or iPad, is very easy now. Barnes & Noble offers a section entitled “Online Storytime.” Monthly a different story is added to the site in video form and narrated. Pictures from the book are used along with the narration and create a soothing, yet enthusiastic, story time for your younger kiddos. Books from the past 4 months will be listed at the bottom so your child can engage with more than one book.

Don’t be afraid to play around on YouTube to find your child’s favorite stories. Search by author or title of the book and you will find many are listed in video/narration format. It will also suggest other related stories that your child may enjoy listening to. As a tutor for a family of 7 in the past, I included their younger, new learners with YouTube. Many stories would become their favorites and watched multiple times and I would find they would remember the story and repeat with the narration. When introducing the actual book to them I saw familiarity to the words they had been repeating and it lead to the beginning of their learning the skills to read.

So let’s move on to some other books this week…for a different grade level. I’ve shown you a few great books for those of your children in Grades 1-2, but I would also like to show books for your higher learning readers and those in Grades 3-4. The books listed below are the first novels in a series. Although I do not list activities to join these series, you’ll find that your child will enjoy reading these light-hearted, perfect for summer books.

 

Ivy and Bean by Annie Barrows

 

“The moment they saw each other, Bean and Ivy knew they wouldn’t be friends. But when Bean plays a joke on her sister, Nancy,      and has to hid, quick! Ivy comes to the rescue, proving that sometimes the best of friends are people never meant to like each other.”

 

 

 

I absolutely love these two characters. Basing Ivy and Bean on her own two daughters, Annie Barrows paints vibrant and addicting characters who have found each other. The initial book to this series allows your child, and yourself J, to become truly connected to each character separately, and then together as friends. I’ve found that once I introduce this book to my students, they can’t put the series down. Follow them through their adventures with each other as the series continues on with 8 other books.

 

Nate the Great by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat

“Shortly after a breakfast generously supplied with pancakes, Nate the Great got an urgent call from Annie.

‘I lost a picture,’ said Annie, ‘Can you help me find it?’

‘Of course,’ said Nate. ‘I have found lost balloons, books, slippers, chickens. Even a lost goldfish. Now I, Nate the Great, will find a   lost picture.’

‘ Oh, good,’ Annie said. “

 

I love a great book that tugs at a child’s imagination and sense of discovery. Nate the Great not only makes discoveries, but he uses questions, facts, and suspects to help him do so. He even finds things along the way that he wasn’t expecting. Over the course of 26 short books, Nate finds everything from a picture to a musical note. Whether your child is interested in Halloween or tortoises, Nate the Great uses his crime-dog skills to find anything. Begin this book in the summer and use it all year-round.

Lastly, don’t forget about incorporating incentives to your summer reading fun. Check out your local library for summer programs. In my community, our library offers Summer Reading Clubs and a Summer Listeners Club for those who may not read yet. Activities, goals, and rewards are incorporated throughout the summer.

Next week…. the best books to read when we’re getting ready to go back to school!