June 2009

Dear Parents,

Summer is around the corner and I hope that you enjoy the change of pace that comes with July and August. I’ve been talking to the children about their vacation plans- some are heading off to camp, others to local beaches and some are looking forward to staying home and relaxing. Whatever their plans may be for the next ten weeks, summer reading should play an important role. Research has shown that children who don’t continue to read over the summer are likely to lose crucial ground. In fact, children who don’t read over the summer “slide back” on the average  two reading levels, while children who do read during the summer accelerate their reading growth by one or two levels. One summer off can sometimes mean playing academic “catch-up” until January! Growth in readers happens over a twelve month period, which means that reading has to take place during the summer months if we expect our children to maintain the progress they’ve made during the school year. For this reason, we recommend that children read six books at their "just right" level over the summer, and anything more is always a bonus!

The list below includes some recommended websites to further encourage your child's participation in reading activities while on vacation:

www.scholastic.com/summerreading/is a wonderful resource for parents and kids.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/children may read any 8 books and complete their "Summer Reading Journal" to earn a free book. Go online or in person to any Barnes and Noble for details.

 www.bookadventure.com provides over 7,000 titles and offers incentives for the children.  It was created and is maintained by Sylvan Learning. 

http://www.nea.org/grants/13154.htm provides "Teacher's Top 100 Children's Books List"

http://www.summerreading.org/ and http://kids.nypl.org/ are both provided by the New York Public Library and you do not need to be a member to take advantage of the wonderful resources provided on these two sites.

www.nassaulibrary.org/childrens/provides resources for kids and the family.

www.storylineonline.netprovides favorite books acted out by professionals so the children can have a multimodal experience with texts.

I sincerely hope you make time and find many opportunities for you and your children to read independently and together as families. I want to wish you a restful and relaxing summer with lots of good books!

Sincerely,

Sandy Pensak