A Letter from Community District 2 Superintendent Daria Rigney
Reading the Summer Away vs. Summer Reading
Dear District Two Families,
As the school year ends, we all remember the glorious feeling of being a kid perched on the brink of vacation with weeks of summer stretched ahead as far as the eye could see. Whether looking forward to city park sprinklers, summer camp, family outings, cartoon marathons or endless days of riding bikes, skateboard and double-dutch there’s something magical about the long, hot summer days that give families a break from school routines. For kids, these days give them time to daydream and imagine, to play for long stretches, to learn new games and skills and to absorb the world around them without the structure of school determining their schedules. We all know that “down time” can be the time when we do our best, most imaginative thinking because we are free to let our minds wonder and wander as we explore new possibilities.
Summer Reading lists have also been a memorable part of summer for many of us and our children. Conscientious and diligent, our principals and teachers often prepare lists of books for children to read during the summer that reflect carefully selected titles and authors. In some cases, books are assigned because teachers plan for a September book talk that will launch the year and encourage students to make social connections through literature. In other cases, principals and teachers want to make sure that students read during the summer and don’t lose any of the ground they gained during the year in reading. Educators know that, in order for students to become avid, proficient readers, volume matters and kids need to read every day regardless of whether they’re in school or not. Becoming an expert reader takes the same kind of daily practice that’s required of someone learning to master an instrument or excel in a sport.
In our book-rich classrooms, we teach students the value of choice in selecting reading material and encourage them to develop their own personal reading plan with favorite topics, authors, series, genres and writing styles. We ask them to keep lists of the books they read in order to understand their own reading preferences and identities. We ask them to analyze the list of books they’ve read (logs) to understand which ones make them want to read more on a topic or by a particular author and which ones still linger in their minds and keep feeding their imaginations. When we distribute Summer Reading Lists, some students who have been working hard to develop their own personal reading identity are faced with books that might not have been their choice to pick up. I know from my experiences as a teacher, a principal and a mother that assigned reading, if it becomes burdensome because a child is not interested in the book, can prevent kids from reading the variety of books and materials that they might have read on their own.
So, here’s a little bit of advice when it comes to Summer Reading….if your child is not too keen on the book(s) assigned, why not read that assigned book along with your child as a read-aloud. In school, if we think children would love a book that might be too hard for them to read, we make it a read aloud book…a win-win situation for adults and kids. Reading aloud to your child (not asking the child to read it to you) will give you time to share a book that just might become well-loved because of the experience of talking about it together and discussing what made it worthwhile or not. Oftentimes, my own sons just needed me to “jump-start” a book for them with the first couple of chapters. After that, they were on their own and deep in the book.
The most important thing to remember about summer reading is that kids need to have lots of choices and a variety of kinds of reading materials at hand. Kids need to be immersed in magazines, comics, manuals, field guides, catalogues, poetry, schedules, playbooks from ball games, newspapers and every kind of book on topics they love. This is the time for kids to read about the fireflies they catch in jars, the grandmas who make them chicken soup and kids like them who live behind apartment doors. This is the time to write letters, keep secret journals, examine box scores and make team lists. It’s the time to catalogue spiders and be inspired by the stories of history. Rather than feeling the pressure of keeping our children reading, we can open up the world of print for them and, taking their hand in ours, explore the richness and variety of summer reading together. Have a safe and joyful summer.
Daria Rigney
Community Superintendent
District Two