North Andover Public Schools

Elementary Summer Reading

Preschool through Grade 5

June 2006

Dear Reader’s family,

Hopefully you have read our letter to your reader, and understand that our goal for all of our students this summer is to keep them reading! Therefore, we are changing the focus from what they read to how much they read, and of course encouraging them to have fun along the way and pursue their own interests in their reading. Our best hope in nurturing lifelong readers is to provide them with access to a variety of texts, both fiction and nonfiction, and help them to realize how reading allows them to explore what they “know” and discover new ideas and topics.

Don’t underestimate your reader’s interest in nonfiction books - there are so many wonderful informational titles being published for young people today, with fascinating illustrations and engaging text. Studies have shown that when boys are offered nonfiction and action based fiction books they are more likely to become engaged and interested in the reading process.

Another great summer reading idea that helps to increase fluency is the combination of reading the book and listening to it on tape, and public libraries have a good assortment of books on tape to choose from. Enjoy them as a family on a roadtrip, or give your reader his/her own personal cassette/DVD player, (great motivational tool for less enthusiastic readers), widely available at a reasonable cost.

A collection of a few magazines chosen especially for your reader makes a nice “Welcome to Summer” basket - a perfect gift from grandparents, aunties, and such. These offer readers who struggle to finish longer texts the chance to read an entire article, allowing them the chance to experience the beginning, middle and end format that they might otherwise miss. If you haven’t checked out the variety of topics in children’s magazines today you’ll be amazed!

Because we are changing the summer reading format and not supplying specific authors or titles, we understand that you may be wondering how to help your readers find great choices. Remember that our public libraries offer wonderful collections and guidance, but also that the Internet allows you to browse many lists generated for a wide variety of reading interests. Here are a few sites to get you started.:

ALA Great Web Sites for Kids - American Library Association’s Website - click on summer reading links to other sites also.
Nancy Keane’s Children’s Literature Webpage - a wonderful listing by topics, age groups, audience....
Summer Reading List suggestions - A listing of links to great summer reading sites.

Most importantly, we hope that all readers enjoy every minute of their summer reading and are ready in September to pick up where they left off in June!

June 2006

Dear Reader,

We are all looking forward to a great summer, and one of the activities that teachers look forward to the most is reading all of the wonderful books that have piled up because we were too busy with our “school work” to sit down, relax, and read just for fun!! Our promise to ourselves over the next 9 weeks is to keep our minds as active as our bodies, and we want YOU to do the same. To help us all do this, we have come up with a PLAN TO HAVE A BALL READING THIS SUMMER!

Please keep track of your reading by filling in a section of a beach ball for each “book” you read. Color them as you like because they will decorate your new classroom in September.

How many beach balls will you be adding to your classroom display? We challenge you to meet our goals listed below.

Preschool and Kindergarten: Read enough to fill 10 beach balls!
First grade: Read enough to fill 8 beach balls!
Second grade: Read enough to fill 5 beach balls!
Third grade: Read enough to fill 3 beach balls!
Fourth and fifth grades: Read enough to fill 2 beach balls!
Staff: Read enough to fill 2 beach balls!

Do a bit of math to figure out how many books you will need to read...

Remember, ALL reading and being read to counts, at any age! Don’t forget about poetry, magazines, information books, historical fiction, biographies, mysteries, comic books and graphic novels...just “Keep Reading” !!

Let’s make sure our school is FILLED with beach balls this Fall, and
HAVE A BALL with your SUMMER READING!!

Your fellow readers,

Your Elementary School Staffs

P.S. Need more beach balls to complete because you are a reading machine? No problem, just download them here!

Page Last Modified Sun 08-17-2008 00:16