Good morning,

At Sage Park Middle School (grades 6-8) in Windsor, we ask students  to read at least 5 books over the summer (30 minutes a day is suggested). Summer reading is recommended, but not required. For every book read and response form completed, the students are entered into a raffle.  Prizes include Beats earphones, Hydroflasks, Kindle device, and gift cards. We provide recommended reading lists and provide information about the Windsor Public Library's summer reading program. We are looking to have the Windsor public librarians come to present in May about their summer reading program--we stopped doing in-person summer reading orientation because of Covid and teachers have requested that we bring the visits back.

Rachel Stieber

On Sat, Feb 24, 2024 at 3:59 PM Kristen Shanley <kshanley@cheshire.k12.ct.us> wrote:
We do not supply the books to the students but did start the library trip to promote reading and getting library cards like you mentioned and also team up with the library to make them aware of our book lists. 
We also encourage students to read 2 books over the summer (recommend nutmegs and other award winners or popular titles). 

I love the poster idea ! Very cool ! Would love to do more to recognize students who really get into summer reading. 

Love sharing these ideas. It’s getting me thinking about it already 

On Saturday, February 24, 2024, Leslie Poulos <l_poulos@yahoo.com> wrote:
Kristen:

This is amazing -the discussions you do-I would love to do this. Do you supply the books to the students?

Right now in Wethersfield at the 7-8 middle school, we ask students to read three books of their choice and log them over the summer. We let them check out books from our school library (if they’re in seventh grade going up to eighth) over the summer, and we take 7th graders to the public library next door for a field trip/tour and help kids get library cards and hear about summer reading from the WL Teen Librarian in May or June. We ask students to log the books, on a summer reading Google form that is jointly shared by the public library and ourselves. They can earn raffle prizes from the public library by doing the Google form throughout the summer (beyond the three books). 

The teen librarian and I also visit the sixth graders at the five elementary schools to talk to them about the expectations and do some book talks. 

Our school has slightly less than 600 students I’d say we’ve had 49-53% participation rate over the last few years. 

We also send congratulatory letters home and do a poster with pics of our top 10 to 15 summer readers in the fall. That poster is hung in the library close to the circulation desk and gets noticed a lot.

There has been some questions about equity for those kids whose parents don’t make them do it… I do feel we provide reasonable access to books because we loan them over the summer out of our library, provide assistance with the library card process at the public library, and all of our students have chrome books which they keep over the summer and through which they have access to our substantial e-book and audio book collection in Sora… but I’ve always wanted to do discussions like Dodd Middle School does, but we’d definitely need to come up with money to purchase books if we were to do that.

Leslie Poulos
Silas Deane MS
 
Sent from my iPhone

On Feb 24, 2024, at 1:51 PM, Kristen Shanley <kshanley@cheshire.k12.ct.us> wrote:

Hello everyone, 

We are at a 7-8 middle school and coordinate summer reading book clubs that meet in the fall once students are back to school. Teachers choose young adult books they are interested in reading and we have about 40-50 different offerings for students in a range of genres and difficulty levels. Students then use a Google form to sign up for the book they would like to join. We use a form limiter to cap the groups at 25 and then use one of our Advisory periods in early September to hold the meetings. Teachers get creative with activities/discussions/etc. 
definitely can’t say that all students read but the accountability of discussion helps. Typically the meeting is well received by both teachers and students. Many asking to meet again. 
Downsides : it’s a lot of work figuring out locations, making sure all students have a room to go to. We always have a chunk of “nonreaders” who never signed up, or students new to the district. We have a few teachers designated to these groups to do a general “reading” activity - sometimes an article about importance of reading, a short story they read together, etc. 

On Friday, February 23, 2024, Loretta Sullivan via CASL-L <casl-l@mylist.net> wrote:
Hello everyone,

I wanted to ask what other districts do for summer reading for students in grades 5-8 (middle levels)?  Do you ask for a reading log?  What incentives do you offer?  Is there required reading or is it voluntary?  If you can share what you have, that would be great.

Our public library also has incentives for summer reading and we advertise these to our students before they leave us in June.

Any thoughts or ideas that have worked is appreciated.  We are trying to get more kiddos reading over the summer as our participation last year needs much improvement.  We would like to do something that is manageable for teachers to assess in the fall when students return (we are a school of approx. 850 students).

We offer a "reading celebration" in the fall for those students that participated in reading over the summer.

Respectfully,

Loretta Sullivan
Library Media Specialist       
Bennet Academy
Manchester, CT





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"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." -Charles W. Eliot

                                                    


--
Kristen Shanley 
Dodd Library Media Specialist

​What I'm Reading Now: 
The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi

Listening to: 
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride 

Recently Finished:
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez 
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell 
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng




Hope to Read Next: 
The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly 

Recent Favorites 
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez 
You The Story by Ruta Septys
 The Prettiest by Brigit Young 


 






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https://mylist.net/listinfo/casl-l


--
Kristen Shanley 
Dodd Library Media Specialist

​What I'm Reading Now: 
The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Notes from a Young Black Chef by Kwame Onwuachi

Listening to: 
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride 

Recently Finished:
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez 
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell 
Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng




Hope to Read Next: 
The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly 

Recent Favorites 
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez 
You The Story by Ruta Septys
 The Prettiest by Brigit Young 


 






_______________________________________________
CASL-L mailing list
CASL-L@mylist.net
https://mylist.net/listinfo/casl-l


--

Rachel Stieber

She/Her(s)

Library Media Specialist

Sage Park Middle School, 25 Sage Park Rd., Windsor, CT 06095

rstieber@windsorct.org 860-687-2030 Ext.3165

https://sites.google.com/a/windsorct.org/sage-park-library/

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” ~Maya Angelou