The Active Reader

Home
Canada
Barrie, ON
The Active Reader

Strong reading builds confident kids. The Active Reader helps parents and teachers along the way.

06/22/2026

What problem does Summer Club actually solve?

Because it's not just about keeping kids busy over the summer.

It's about removing the stress and uncertainty that so many parents feel when they want to support reading at home.

Most parents want to help. They want their child to keep growing. They want them to head into September feeling confident and ready to learn. They just don't know where to start.

That's where Summer Club comes in.

☀️ No more guessing what your child should work on.
☀️ No more searching Pinterest for activities you'll never actually do.
☀️ No more trying to piece together a summer reading plan on your own.
☀️ No more wondering if you're doing enough.

Instead, you'll have a simple, structured plan designed by a reading specialist.

Everything is planned for you.

Easy to use.

Easy to fit into real life.

Pool days.
Cottage weekends.
Campfires.
Rainy afternoons.
Slow summer mornings.

And small reading moments that create real progress.

The goal isn't to make summer feel like school.

It's to help you feel confident knowing you're supporting your child's reading development in meaningful ways.

☀️📚 Summer Club opens soon.

If helping your child become a stronger, more confident reader is on your heart this summer, I'd love to have you join us.

🔗 https://theactivereader.mykajabi.com/summerclubwaitlist

06/19/2026

What if this was the summer your child became a stronger reader?

Not instead of the pool days, the campfires, the slow cottage mornings, but right in the middle of them.

As a literacy specialist, I know exactly what children need to keep growing as readers. So I built Summer Club for my own family first, simple activities that fit into the summer we were already having.

Then I opened it up to yours.

This is our best year yet, and I'd love to have your family join us.

✨ Available for Kindergarten and Grades 1–3

Tap the link to get on the waitlist for early access and $20 off. 📚☀️

https://theactivereader.mykajabi.com/summerclubwaitlist

06/18/2026

Everyone's talking about giving kids a 90s summer.

And honestly, I love the idea.

The bike rides.
The beach days.
The sprinklers.
The popsicles.
The freedom to spend an entire afternoon outside.

But when I think about my own summers growing up, I remember something else too.

Books.
Books tossed into a beach bag.
Books packed for road trips.
Books read under trees, at cottages, and on rainy afternoons when there was nothing else to do.

As a literacy specialist, I want children to keep growing as readers.

As a mom, I want summer to feel magical.

The good news?

Those two things can exist together.

Reading doesn't have to compete with summer.

It can be part of it.

This summer, bring a book to the beach.
Visit the library.
Pack a story for the cottage.
Read under a tree.

Let books become part of the adventure.

Because the best summer reading doesn't happen instead of summer.

It happens during it. ☀️📚

06/15/2026

What if this summer, you started asking one simple question before leaving the house?

📚 "Did you pack a book?"

Not because reading needs to feel like homework.

Not because every outing needs to become a lesson.

But because books that are nearby tend to get opened.

A few pages while waiting for swim lessons.

A chapter on a road trip.

A story under a tree.

A rainy afternoon at the cottage.

Not every book will get finished.

Not every outing will include reading.

That's not the point.

The goal is to help children see books as something that belong in everyday life, not just at school or at bedtime.

So this summer, when you're grabbing the sunscreen, filling water bottles, and packing snacks, try adding one more thing to the list:

📚 A book.

Because sometimes the smallest habits create the biggest readers.

06/12/2026

As a literacy specialist, I know how important it is to keep reading skills active over the summer.

As a mom, I also know I don't want summer to feel like school.

I want my kids to spend their days swimming, riding bikes, visiting cottages, eating popsicles, and making memories.

So our summer reading routine is simple.

☀️ We spend a few minutes practicing a sound or spelling pattern.

📚 We read together.

💬 We talk about the book.

That's it.

Most days, the whole thing takes about 10 minutes.

Just small, consistent moments that help keep reading skills strong while still making room for all the magic that summer brings.

Because reading growth doesn't come from doing everything.

It comes from doing a few important things consistently.

What's one thing you do to keep reading fun during the summer?

06/08/2026

As the school year comes to an end, many parents start asking the same question:

"Did my child make enough progress in reading?"

But here's something I wish more parents knew:

Not all reading growth shows up in a reading level.

Sometimes progress looks like a child who no longer gives up when reading gets hard.

Sometimes it looks like a child who starts noticing words on signs, cereal boxes, and store shelves.

Sometimes it looks like a child who asks questions about a story, attempts unfamiliar words, or realizes when something they've read doesn't make sense.

And sometimes the biggest growth of all is confidence.

The child who once said, "I can't read," now says, "Let me try."

As a literacy specialist, I've learned that strong readers aren't built through giant leaps.

They're built through hundreds of small moments that often go unnoticed.

So before you focus on where your child falls on a chart or benchmark, take a moment to celebrate how far they've come.

Reading progress is about more than levels.

It's about skills.
It's about confidence.
And it's about helping children see themselves as readers.

06/05/2026

Most people think reading is one skill.

A child can either read... or they can't.

But reading is actually a collection of many different skills working together.

For years, researchers explained reading through the Simple View of Reading:
👉 Word Recognition + Language Comprehension = Reading Comprehension

More recently, the Active View of Reading expanded on this idea by recognizing that reading also requires skills like attention, motivation, self-regulation, and engagement.

That's why two children can struggle with reading for completely different reasons.

One child may need support with letter sounds and decoding.

Another may read the words accurately but struggle to understand what they read.

A third may have the skills but lack the confidence or stamina to keep going when reading becomes challenging.

When we understand reading as more than a single skill, we stop asking:

"Is my child a good reader?"

And start asking:

"What skill needs support right now?"

That small shift changes everything.

It helps us move beyond labels and focus on building the skills that lead to confident, capable readers.

06/02/2026

If my child hated reading, this is exactly where I’d start.

I wouldn’t push harder books.

I wouldn’t force long reading sessions.

And I wouldn’t make reading feel like a battle.

First, I’d figure out why reading feels hard.

Are they struggling with:
✔️ letter sounds
✔️ blending
✔️ fluency
✔️ confidence

Then I’d go back and focus on the missing skill.

I’d keep practice short and manageable.

I’d bring in more games, movement, and hands-on learning.

I’d continue reading aloud to them so they still experience the joy of stories.

And I’d make books feel special again.
- Visit a bookstore.
- Browse the library.
- Let them choose books that excite them.

Because building reading skills matters, but so does protecting their love of books.

Confidence grows when children feel successful.

06/01/2026

One of the hardest parts of supporting a young reader is that progress often feels invisible.

Children don’t usually wake up one morning reading fluently. Growth happens little by little, in the sounds they remember, the words they decode, and the confidence they build along the way.

That’s why consistency matters so much.

Five minutes today.
Five minutes tomorrow.
Five minutes next week.

It may not feel like much in the moment, but those small daily efforts add up to something powerful.

Keep going. ❤️

05/29/2026

Summer reading doesn’t have to feel forced.

It can feel light.

It can feel playful.

It can feel consistent.

And it can still lead to real progress.

Imagine your child spending summer:
✔️ building confidence
✔️ playing literacy games
✔️ reading great books
✔️ learning through hands-on activities
✔️ moving through a real reading progression

For early readers, that progression may look like:
- letter sounds
- phonological awareness
- blending
- reading simple words

For more advanced readers, it may look like:
- long vowels
- vowel teams
- fluency
- stronger confidence

Real progress happens when skills build on each other.

And when learning feels fun, children are much more likely to stay engaged.

We’re building something special for summer 👀

The Active Reader Summer Club is coming soon.

Address

33 Mapleview Drive West
Barrie, ON
L4N 9H5

Website

http://www.theactivereader.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when The Active Reader posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to The Active Reader:

Shortcuts

Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company in Barrie?