Thursday 6 May 2010

Summer Reading

Aaah, summer! Here you are again! Energy levels are rising, vacation plans are being made, and it's the perfect time to talk about summer reading with kids. We have made some changes this year to our approach to summer reading. Last year, we had classroom teachers help students set summer goals, but there was no way for us to check in on that progress since they go to different teachers the following year. Enter the librarian...

Since I am the only one who sees all the students in the elementary, I am helping them brainstorm and set reading goals for the summer holidays in these last weeks. It has been wonderful and eye-opening. There is a tendency to automatically set a number goal, so we spent some time stretching our thinking to think of deeper ideas. Above are some of the great ideas they had. After brainstorming, each child chose a goal or two and recorded them on a paper star. I'll keep these over the summer, and we'll revisit them again in August.

In addition, I'll be hosting a parent literacy morning next week on tips for summer reading. My plan is to have five areas of focus--Access, Togetherness, Fun, Extension and Modeling. I'm again using the Presentation Zen approach and had so much fun locating images that pop. The cover slide is my favorite, but that might be because I am anxious for my own summer hammock reading in just four short weeks.

1 comment:

Becky Maher said...

Our kids change campuses after second grade, so your goal writing idea is a perfect way to start reading conversation in the fall and help with the transition. Thanks for sharing!