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Summer calendars tend to get very busy, despite many parents' best attempts to give their children plenty of unstructured free time. Quiet time to read might not earn a spot on the family calendar, but it should be highly prioritized nonetheless. Here are some tips to entice your kids to make reading part of their daily summer routine.

In the literacy education landscape, one-minute timings often find themselves at the center of discussion—and sometimes misconception. Critics argue that these timings only foster stress and promote speed reading. It’s true that one-minute timings, when introduced without proper framing, can indeed lead to stress or a misguided emphasis on speed. But that isn’t the whole truth. When used in an appropriate way, one-minute timings can be a highly useful tool. The purpose of a one-minute timing is to measure oral reading fluency. Oral reading fluency is where a lot of misunderstandings around speed reading are born. Oral reading fluency is made up of three components: accuracy, expression, and rate. Rate is only one of three essential components, and it does not equate to speed reading. Rather, oral reading rate is about reading at a pace that is natural and conversational.

Carol Dweck’s groundbreaking mindset research shows that kids with growth mindsets—those who welcome a challenge and believe they can improve with effort—perform better than kids with fixed mindsets who tend to avoid difficult tasks. How can parents help nurture a growth mindset in their kids?

One Minute Reader stories fulfill a specific purpose for developing and struggling readers. For this purpose, nonfiction is the best choice. Here's why.

Why are babies the most effective learners we know? Because they have not yet learned to feel shame about their mistakes. Learn how our brains grow when we make mistakes, and how to help kids learn from their mistakes instead of shutting down.