Prevent the SUMMER SLIDE: "Experts agree that children who read during the summer gain reading skills, while those who do not often slide backward." What's worse: "Students from low-income families "...experience an average summer learning loss in reading achievement of over two months." Not only do these students suffer greater sliding during the summer, they also experience cumulative effects of greater learning loss each summer." read the full article
H E Buddy Summer Reading Club has a prize package for readers. Read 10 books, document the titles, have parents initial, complete child's information, and mail form to HEB. The prize package should come within 3-4 weeks. The form found online is from 2011, but should still be valid.
Read 8 books of your choice. Document the 8 books on the Reading Journal. Submit the form to a Barnes & Noble store and pick your free book from a list.
The Austin Public Library has a Summer Reading Program for children and adults. You sign up at a library or online, set your own goal, and document your reading on the form. Once you've reached your goal you can submit your form to any branch where you can pick a book from a wide selection. They have a lot of programming for children and teens. They even have Univision anchors and reporters conducting story times in Spanish!
Half Price Books has a slightly different (better, I think) program. They have blank calendars for June and July where you should document that you have read 15 minutes each day. After adding up weekly minutes and achieving 300 minutes, you can take the calendar to HPB and get Bookworm Bucks to spend at the store. You can do this for both months!
BookPeople has a summer reading program for kids entering Kindergarten through 8th grade. To participate you must pick up a bookmark on which you will document that you have read 6 books. Three of these books have to be from a list specific to your grade range. This bookmark will be your ticket to a pizza party at the end of the summer where students can claim their prize and enter raffles.
Chuck E. Cheese stores have rewards programs including a reading rewards calendar that parents can download and use to track two-week reading schedules. Completed rewards calendars are good for 10 free tokens.
Book Adventure is an online incentive program offered by Sylvan Learning. Parents can register their children on the site. Children earn points for prizes by taking quizzes for books they have read. Prizes include e-books and software.
Scholastic also has an online summer reading challenge. Students can read whatever they choose and log their minutes daily (minutes can be logged manually and submitted when school starts again). They can earn virtual badges as well as books or audio chapters for completing additional challenges.
Miss Ramos's vision for a School Library
A school library should provide access to all students because it will be the foundation of access to information. It is the border between knowledge and navigating the sources of information.
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
--Alvin Toffler
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
--Alvin Toffler