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Wednesday, June 4, 2008
How do you keep kids reading in summer?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Happy summer! Stay safe and READ!!!” the school sign said.
I wondered how many would do that.
Not stay safe.
How many will read?
Summer reading programs have around as long as I remember. I recall walking to my elementary school library, a quiet and cool oasis, the two window air-conditioning units humming. We’d spend an hour picking out and stacking up our selections.
At home, we’d methodically work through them, logging them on the small, folded, paper sheets that would earn us recognition, if nothing else, when school resumed.
Today there are so many other attractions - and distractions - for kids. How many spend time lying around with books?
According to Denise Auger, community partnership coordinator for the Gwinnett County Public Library, 20,842 children - including teens - signed up for Gwinnett’s summer reading program in 2007.
The program has grown each year — some of that paralleling Gwinnett County’s population growth and the expansion of the library system. The number of library cards issued by Gwinnett is up 60 percent since 2000.
Gwinnett’s system has worked to accommodate and attract summer users, Auger said.
Among its efforts, the library allows online sign up for the summer reading program. Visit Gwinnett Public Library site. It offers separate programs for the preschool ages grade school ages, but offers them simultaneously to help out mothers who may have children in both ranges. Storytellers, puppet shows and a magician are among this year’s scheduled attractions at branches.
Because day care centers - due to liability issues and car seat rules - have cut back on outings to the libraries, the library is sending outreach staff to the day care centers. This year, libraries have added evening programs to better accommodate working parents and working teens.
Sessions directly targeting teens - including one where you learn to apply theatrical makeup — have been added, Auger said. It’s a fun activity that draws teens in and then can be connected back to literature, she said.
The library system also has garnered $285,000 in prizes and sponsorships from local businesses, some given to kids when they sign up and others reserved for those who complete the program and turn their reading logs back into the library. The prizes range from Chick-fil-A and Cici’s Pizza certificates to free passes to local museums and arts centers.
While it’s true there are other interests for kids nowadays, Auger said, and the library has to work “a little harder,” she doesn’t really see those other interests as competition. There is nothing like the summer reading program — it is right in the community, and it is all “absolutely free,” she said.
When my kids were young, we would sign up each summer. We’d start off strong. After a few weeks, however, summer trips, vacation Bible school and other activities would interrupt the effort. Sometimes we would get back on track and turn in the completed logs. Sometimes not.
About 16 percent of the kids who signed up last year turned in their reading lists at the end of the summer, Auger said.
“That doesn’t mean others didn’t complete the program,” she said. Mothers often find it difficult to get back and turn in the paperwork, she said.
This year, they are hoping the prizes will motivate more to do so.
Reading in the summer is more than just an inexpensive pastime. Multiple studies support the importance of reading to student performance. Check out a few
In one, researcher Barbara Heyns followed sixth- and seventh-graders in the Atlanta public schools through two school years and the intervening summer.
Among her findings:
• The number of books read during the summer is consistently related to academic gains.
• Children in every income group who read six or more books over the summer gained more in reading achievement than children who did not.
Do (or did) your children participate in summer reading programs? What’s been your experience? How do you encourage summer reading?
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