June 25, 2008
One of our school’s goals is to make our students better readers. This is reflected in our learning standards, our School Improvement Plan, and by our implementation of our required Summer Reading Program. It’s been proven that over the summer many students lose ground they’re building at school. Therefore, we are requiring that every incoming 7th and 8th grader read 20 minutes each day. We are encouraging all of our students to pursue readings of their choice, whether it is poetry, fiction, non-fiction, drama, graphic novels, magazines or whatever interests them.
Increased reading has been linked to higher achievement in all subject areas. Research has shown that parents who model and encourage reading and have reading materials abundantly available in the home assist their secondary students in developing higher reading levels. Whether reading is completed for knowledge or for pleasure is not important.
Please visit our library’s website: www.nylearns.org/ekeller and click on Summer Reading Resources (at the bottom of the page) for ideas on how to encourage your children to read over the summer. In addition, our summer reading log is available for download in case the log is lost and a link to our suggested summer reading list.
Our Summer Reading program will work as follows: Every student will receive a log, and a suggested summer reading list. Students are responsible to read for twenty minutes each day. A parent or guardian must sign that this was done. In the fall, your child’s language arts teacher will collect the log and it will be counted as a test grade. If it is completely filled in, then the student has earned a perfect test score. Every 16 days of the summer vacation will equal to 20 points.
In addition, we are attaching a book review form. (Additional copies are available on the web.) Students who have a completed log and review three books or more over the summer, will be rewarded with an ice cream party in the fall.
We wish you a safe, healthy, and relaxing summer and look forward to greeting your child in the fall.