The recently-released study indicated that within an experimental group of children exposed to the Between the Lions curriculum, students’ letter sound scores, one of the more sophisticated and challenging early literacy skills, improved by nearly 300 percent.

“Ten years ago, Between the Lions was brought to life by producers armed with the goal of addressing the growing problems with reading literacy,” said Executive Producer Judy Stoia. “Nothing could be more rewarding than entering our 10th anniversary season with research results that underscore our educational mission and prove that Between theLions continues to make an impact by successfully teaching key literacy skills to preschoolers.”

On screen this season, the lovable lions–Theo, Cleo, Lionel, and Leona–experience new adventures both in and out of the library, where they’ll learn all about art and creativity, transportation, animal homes and pets!  In the all-animated premiere episode, “Three More Little Pigs & The Ants and the Grasshopper,” Lionel, Leona, and the Wolf each try their hand at writing a sequel to The Three Little Pigs, and Leona finds a way to combine work and play.  And, in the episode “City Mouse and Country Mouse & The Happy Hocky Family Moves to the Country!” famed comedian and television personality Rachel Dratch lends her voice to the narration of a tale about two mice living in two very different worlds.

“It’s wonderful to know that in this ever-evolving television landscape, we have continued to make a difference in the world of children’s media,” said Chris Cerf, Executive Producer for Sirius Thinking, co-creator and co-producer of the series.  “After ten years, we’re so proud that Between the Lions continues to uphold the gold standard for children’s television while effectively translating its success into the classroom.”

“Endless opportunities exist to utilize the series’ proven methods to target groups of preschool through pre-kindergarten students in our communities,” added Nikki McCelleis, Deputy Executive Director for Education at Mississippi Public Broadcasting, a co-producer of the series.  “We already have plans underway to implement these programs in more classrooms across Mississippi and are eager to see the path of success grow.”

Between the Lions debuted when Jordan was starting first grade and it was a wonderful show to reinforce the reading skills I was teaching him. When I told him it was the 10th anniversary season for the show my 11th grader said “Between the Lions rocks!” What do your kids think about this show? Leave me a comment and let me know.

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Summer’s here and you’ve started making your annual checklist: Sunscreen? Check. Sandals? Check. Beach towels?  Got ‘em. But while you’re going over the must-haves for the season, don’t forget the single most important thing your kids will need: something really great to read.

While relaxing on the beach with a good book is one of life’s most delicious pleasures, study after study has shown that reading is one of the most essential things that kids can do when school’s out. A 2002 report from National Summer Learning Association states that children lose approximately two months of learning over the summer, meaning that come September, teachers will spend those first few weeks re-teaching kids what they already learned the year before.

“Motivating children to read throughout the summer is essential to building lifelong readers,” says Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation’s largest children’s literacy nonprofit. “And reading is the doorway to all other learning.” With that in mind, how do you convince your kids to build reading time into their summer plans? Fortunately, RIF has come up with a number of ideas to help you make this summer a season of reading.

• Combine activities with books. Going to a baseball game? Head to the library and check out a biography about your child’s favorite player. Is summer camp on the agenda? See if the camp has a blog you can follow.
• Lead by example. Show kids that you love to read by picking up the newspaper each morning or sharing about something you’ve read, and they’ll understand that reading is important to everyone.
• Relax the rules. Summer is a time when children can read what, when, and how they please. Don’t set any requirements, and don’t force kids to read something they’re not interested in.
• Visit the library. It’s got thousands of books and audiobooks to borrow, computers to use, and magazines to leaf through. Make the library your “go-to” destination for the summer.
• Think outside the book. Recognize that reading can happen in many formats, from eBooks to magazines to online read-along stories. Check out www.rif.org/kids for great read-alongs and other fun games and activities designed to keep kids reading.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to this: read. Read together, read separately, read anywhere, read everywhere. It’s the surest way to make certain that your kids will start the school year off right.

Rebecca Burton is a writer/editor at Reading Is Fundamental and has been working in the children’s literacy field for the past twelve years. She loves to read, travel, and hang out on the back porch with her husband and their two-year-old daughter.

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When a child is reading an assigned book he often is reading purely to hunt down information, find the answers to the questions on the worksheet or what they think will be on the test. Children who discuss and digest what is read, how it made them feel and what they think about the situations brought forth in the book will better retain the material and enjoy what they are reading.

In the beginning of the book there is a list of ways you can help children love what they read. Some of them are:

• Read what you love and love what you read
• Respect your child’s taste
• Read aloud
• Encourage your child to read a book more than once

Next she explains how to read conversationally, getting the conversation started. This is the key to this entire book and a skill parents and teachers should master. Next, the meat of the book, is the story pages. There are 101 children’s books that are broken down by age group and have discussion starters you can use with your own children. My children and I have read hundreds of books together and I was surprised to find that we have only read 5-6 on this particular list of books. There is a lot of great children’s literature out there and once you master the skills taught here they can be applied to any book. If you would like to see what the story pages look like click here. The back section of the book is filled with subject conversations-ways you can prolong the conversation on topics like: Attitude, Choices, Disappointment, Fear and many more. If you want to raise children who love to read you should read Reading Together: Everything You Need to Know to Raise a Child Who Loves to Read

I am giving away a copy of Reading Together to one lucky reader of The Mom Maven. I am making this giveaway simple, but please make sure either your e-mail, blog URL or Twitter handle is attached to your comment so I can let you know when you win!
To enter: Leave me a comment with the title of your favorite children’s book and tell me what made it special for you.
Bonus Entries:

• Tweet about this giveaway using the Tweet Meme button on the post. Leave the Tweet’s URL in your comment
• Followers and Subscribers get 1 entry each for subscribing and/or following.

This giveaway is for US residents only and will end on 9/18/09 at 9:00pm. Winner will be chosen by Random.org and I reserve all rights to delete entries that do not follow the posted rules. Winner will have 48 hours after  announcement to claim their prize Good Luck!

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Thank goodness for Google! I searched Kindle and was whisked away to Amazon.com to read about what was becoming their signature product. I was amazed at the technology, and as an avid reader, I thought “I have to have that.” I didn’t put the Kindle on my Christmas list though. I already had an iPod Touch on my list, and I’ll admit that owning that piece of technology has helped assuage my iPhone envy for the time being. Today I got an e-mail from Amazon.com telling me the Kindle 2 has been released. I checked it out and decided that I needed to share this piece of amazing technology with you-just in case you, like me, have totally missed hearing about this tool.

The Kindle 2 is a wireless reading device. It uses 3G wireless technology to deliver books, blogs, newspapers and magazines to you in less than 60 seconds! You don’t even have to pay for the network connectivity-Amazon does. It only weighs 10.3 oz, which is less than a typical paperback book and it is only 1/3 of an inch thick which makes it much easier to hold than some big, bulky books or huge newspapers. The Kindle 2 has 6 font sizes so you can customize it to your reading preferences and the extended battery life will allow you to read for days between recharging. The Kindle 2 will hold over 1500 books at a time so you can carry your entire library with you where ever you go. The Kindle 2 to is available for $359 from Amazon.com.

The Kindle library has over 230,000 books, international newspapers, blogs and magazines for you to purchase and download. Your Kindle 2 even remembers where you left off reading so you won’t have to worry about losing your bookmark. With Kindle 2 you can make notes about a book passage, look up unknown words in the built in dictionary or learn more about the subject by accessing Wikipedia. Most books cost $9.99 to purchase through the Kindle library, that is a lot less than the bookstore price for a book, not to mention the trees you are saving. I don’t read a lot of mainstream books so I searched the Kindle library for my favorite authors: Karen Kingsbury, Beverly Lewis, Tracie Petersen and John Bevere were all available for Kindle. Magazines, newspapers and blogs are available by subscription and the prices vary but are all considerably less than the news stand or regular subscription price.

If you are an avid reader-or the loved one of an avid reader I suggest you check out the Kindle 2. They will be officially released on February 24, 2009 but you can order now and get in the virtual line to receive this amazing piece of technology. For more information on the Kindle 2 you can click on the Kindle banner on my left side bar or clicking here.

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