Importance of Reading

Reading is one of the most important part of effective study skills. Effective study skills not only help us to achieve the goal of passing with flying colours but they also make our academic journey rather enriching, enlightening and pleasurable. And hence to improve our efficient study skills one should be adept in reading. One of the very important maxim says, 'Read and grow'. You find your intellectual as well as mental growth through reading. Reading cannot be just considered as a mode of learning but it is also one step that you take towards self enrichment.

Importance of Reading

Reading aloud and reading silently both have their own importance. Where reading aloud helps a child to improve his learning skills and beat the problem of understanding words; silent reading could help improve a child's reading speed and enjoy a book in more sitting and relaxed manner. Reading not only helps us understand the subject matter with much more clarity but it also enhances our knowledge. Reading improves our vocabulary building and pronunciation. The habit of reading helps develop self confidence in one and boosts our self esteem. An exposure to good literature helps a child to improve his intellectual development. Continuous reading helps a child to revise his studies and thus memorize textual content.

Points to Remember while Reading

To improve your reading skills you need to pay attention to certain points. Such few points for enhancing your reading skills are given below.

1. Reading works as a part of a vocal exercise which helps improve our voice modulation. And hence while reading, one should pay attention and work on the pronunciations, pace and grammar.

2. Read so as to develop your speaking voice by making the words sound in it's natural content such as whisper, dramatic speech or mysterious conversation. Never forget to consider the punctuation while reading.

3. If you have a session of group reading, practice and rehearse several times for better preparation.

4. It is necessary to read with proper understanding of words and scenes. Always keep a dictionary handy. Refer a dictionary or other reference materials, if you have a problem with what you are reading.

5. Always pay attention and concentrate on the subject matter. Never lose focus from the passage that you are reading.

6. While reading if you come across any pictures, diagrams, maps or charts, take a proper look at them. Never skip them while reading. These pictures or maps help us to understand the topic clearly.

7. Keep a notepad ready while reading. Whenever possible, highlight or underline certain keywords which you feel important and make notes. If you do not understand or have confusion with any word or sentence in a particular passage, note it down and check with your teachers for better understanding.

Do's and Don't of Reading

Reading is necessary factor for efficient study skills and hence it needs to be done properly. There are certain do's and don't that need to be followed while reading. Few are listed below to help you gain success in reading skills.

Do's of Reading

1. Reading should be carried in a place which is less noisy. Any corner of the house which ensures silence and peace is the perfect place for reading.

2. Sitting posture is very important while reading. One should sit comfortably for best reading experience.

3. Reading should be a matter of choice and hence read only when you wish to.

4. Keep notepad, pen and dictionary available with you when you sit to read. Note making is one of the most important part of reading.

5. Reading should be practiced daily without fail. Allot certain amount of time in your daily schedule for reading practice. Follow your reading schedule obediently.

6. Difficult subjects should be read only when you are in a good mood or in positive state of mind. Such subjects need complete attention and presence for good understanding.

7. Always keep a track of what you are reading to continue efficiently.

8. Allot some time at least twice a week to revise or re-read the study material you already read. Also make it a point to go through the highlighted or underlined content at regular intervals.

9. A splash of cold water helps relieve stress and fatigue. Hence it is advisable to splash cold water on your eyes for refreshing yourself.

10. Rest your eyes for a while if you have been reading for a long time. Just close your eyes and remain so for a couple of minutes before continuing.

Don'ts of Reading

1. Do not read in dim light.

2. Do not hold your book too close to your eyes.

3. Do not carry on with reading if others are forcing you to do so and it is not what you want.

4. Do not read if you are feeling tired and have a headache.

5. Do not read just to forget about it.

6. Do not make reading schedules which you cannot follow sincerely.

7. Do not read a book while watching television.

8. Do not read content which are not appropriate for your age.

9. Do not continue reading a passage if you are not able to understand or follow.

10. Do not lose focus from the passage while reading. 

Putting In The Seed - Poem By Robert Frost

Putting In The Seed

         - By Robert Frost

You come to fetch me from my work to-night

When supper's on the table, and we'll see

If I can leave off burying the white

Soft petals fallen from the apple tree

(Soft petal, yes, but not so barren quite,

Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea);

And go along with you ere you lose sight

Of what you came for and become like me,

Slave to a springtime passion for the earth,

How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed

On through the watching for that early birth

When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,

The sturdy seedling with arched body comes

Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.

The Gift Outright - Poem By Robert Frost

The Gift Outright

- By Robert Frost

The land was ours before we were the land's.

She was our land more than a hundred years

Before we were her people. She was ours

In Massachusetts, in Virginia,

But we were England's, still colonials,

Possessing what we still were possessed.

Possessed by what we now no more possessed.

Something we were withholding made us weak

Until we found out it was ourselves

We were withholding from our land of living,

And forthwith found salvation in surrender,

Such as we were we gave ourselves outright

(The deed of gift was many deeds of war)

To the land vaguely realizing westward,

But still unstoried, artless, unenhanced,

Such as she was, such as she would become.

The Need of Being Versed In Country Things - Poem By Robert Frost

The Need of Being Versed In Country Things 

- By Robert Frost

The house had gone to bring again

To the midnight sky a sunset glow,

Now the chimney was all of the house that stood,

Like a pistil after the petals go.

The barn opposed across the way,

That would have joined the house in flame

Had it been the will of the wind, was left

To bear forsaken the place's name.

No more it opened with all one end

For teams that came by the stony road

To drum on the floor with scurrying hoofs

And brush the mow with the summer load.

The birds that came to it through the air

At broken windows flew out and in,

Their murmur more like the sigh we sigh

From too much dwelling on what has been.

Yet for them the lilac renewed its leaf,

And the aged elm, though touched with fire;

And the dry pump flung up an awkward arm;

And the fence post carried a strand of wire.

For them there was really nothing sad

But though they rejoiced in the nest they kept,

One had to be versed in country things

Not to believe the phoebes wept.

The Transmutation - Poem by Edwin Muir

The Transmutation

        - By Edwin Muir

That all should change to ghost and glance and gleam,

And so transmuted stand beyond all change,

And we be poised between the unmoving dream

And the sole moving moment - this is strange.

Past all contrivance, word, or image, or sound,

Or silence, to express, that we who fall

Through time's long ruin should weave this phantom ground

And in its ghastly borders gather all.

There incorruptible the child plays still,

The lover waits beside the trysting tree,

The good hour spans its heaven, and the ill,

Rapt in their silent immortality,

As in commemoration of a day

That having been can never pass away.

Paper Cutting and Pasting Craft Ideas for Kids - Leaping Frog

Simple paper cutting and pasting ideas always interest kids. Such activities are also part of school projects and usually turn out to be much creative. Cut and Paste craft worksheets are readily available at all leading stationery stores. But it is fun for a child to draw and cut out a craft and then paste it himself on a drawing book and make it part of a whole picture. Such simple cut and paste activities ensure kids to be free from boredom and engages them in creativity.

Making a leaping frog out of paper cutting and pasting activity is one such simple draw, cut and paste activities which kids may enjoy doing. The material required are just few, readily available ones and time required is just a few minutes. It is easy and fun making this leaping frog out of scratch and then pasting it to a drawing paper. Once completed, kids can use the picture as part of a photo frame or could use it as a gift to someone.

Materials Required for Paper Cutting and Pasting of Leaping Frog

Green Card Paper - 1 sheet
White Card Paper - 1 square sheet
White card paper - 2 small round cutout for eyes
Child friendly scissors - 1
Pencil - 1
Black marker - 1
Sketch pens / felt pens - green, blue, brown and any other of your choice
Adhesive or glue

Method for Paper Cutting and Pasting of Leaping Frog

1

Draw a circle on a green card paper and cut out with the help of child friendly scissors.

2

Once done, with the help of pencil roughly draw out the shape shown below.

3

Darken the shape with a black marker, and continue to join the shape as shown below with the help of dotted lines.

4

Now start cutting the shape from both the sides until you reach the dotted lines. Once done, fold this line so that the body of the frog turns upwards and the hind legs of the frog come out from the backwards. You can also cut the whole portion if you like and stick the hind legs behind the back of the frog. Also stick the eyes on the top of the head.

5

Cut two front legs of the frog on the green card paper and stick them to the back of the body of the frog with the help of adhesives.

6

With the help of sketch pens or felt pens of your choice, add some features on the frog, like spots or zigzag lines. Kids can also make use of stickers or glitter if they wish to use to add decorative features to the leaping frog.

7

Now stick the frog in middle of  the white card paper. Do not apply glue to the whole body of the frog, just apply it in the center of it's back and stick it. This gives a 3-D effect. Now draw water, plants, stone or any other drawing of your choice to finish the landscape. Your leaping frog is ready. 

The Road - Poem By Edwin Muir

The Road

     - By Edwin Muir

There is a road that turning always

Cuts off the country of Again.

Archers stand there on every side

And as it runs time's deer is slain,

And lies where it has lain.

That busy clock shows never an hour.

All flies and all in flight must tarry.

The hunter shoots the empty air

Far on before the quarry.

Which falls though nothing's there to parry.

The lion couching in the centre

With mountain head and sunset brow

Rolls down the everlasting slope

Bones picked an age ago,

And the bones rise up and go.

There the beginning finds the end

Before beginning ever can be,

And the great runner never leaves

The starting and the finishing tree,

The budding and the fading tree.

There the ship sailing safe in harbour

Long since in many a sea was drowned.

The treasure burning in her hold

So near will never be found,

Sunk past all sound.

There a man on a summer evening

Reclines at ease upon his tomb

And is his mortal effigy

And there within the womb

The cell of doom,

The ancestral deed is thought and done,

And in the million Edens fall

A million Adams drowned in darkness,

For small is great and great is small,

And a blind seed all.