{"id":5445,"date":"2016-07-21T07:53:23","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T11:53:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5445"},"modified":"2016-08-03T08:36:57","modified_gmt":"2016-08-03T12:36:57","slug":"summer-literacy-program-instills-joy-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/summer-literacy-program-instills-joy-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Summer literacy program instills joy of reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brookwood Elementary School\u2019s Camp Read S\u2019more begins the same way every morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, but I\u2019ve been told!\u201d shout 10 campers.<\/p>\n

The other 90 students in the cafeteria echo, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I\u2019ve been told!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSummer reading\u2019s good as gold!\u201d Summer<\/em> reading\u2019s good as gold!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cCome to camp and do your best!\u201d Come to camp and do your best!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe won\u2019t give our brains a rest!\u201d We won\u2019t give our brains a rest!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSummer!\u201d Summer<\/em>! <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cReading!\u201d Reading!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSummer!\u201d Summer<\/em>! <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cReading!\u201d Reading!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cREADING!\u201d shout all 100 students together to end the cheer.<\/p>\n

A different class leads the Camp Read S\u2019more cheer each day,\u00a0but the outcome is the same \u2013 building students\u2019 excitement for reading and not giving their brains a rest.<\/p>\n

\"camp<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe more kids read, the better they read,\u201d said Grace Unger, Brookwood\u2019s reading specialist and camp organizer. \u201cWe also have found that research shows over the summer there is a significant decline in reading if they don\u2019t continue with the process, so this program just allows kids to keep in the swing of reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also is an opportunity to kind of make it fun because it\u2019s a little bit less structured than the regular classroom during the school year,\u201d she continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a way for us to help bring back the joy to reading and also keep them reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they are<\/em> reading.<\/p>\n

They are reading in tents and around paper campfires.\u00a0They are reading on benches and on their backs.<\/p>\n

\"reading<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s just at Brookwood.<\/p>\n

The school division\u2019s summer literacy program is available to rising first-, second- and third-graders at all Title I elementary schools to help prevent what is known as summer slide.<\/p>\n

As Unger noted, during the summer months there is potential for students to lose some of the achievement gains made during the previous school year, especially students who do not have access to high-quality summer learning or enrichment experiences.<\/p>\n

The program is offered in collaboration with the Virginia Beach Public Library and is free to students, including breakfast and transportation. Additionally, the program is supported by\u00a0organizations like the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the SPCA, which provide\u00a0a variety of activities designed to strengthen students’ reading and writing skills.\"activities\"<\/p>\n

While students enjoy a \u201cless-structured\u201d summertime environment, teachers still use reading comprehension strategies they employ throughout the year.<\/p>\n

When reading Not Norman<\/em>, Brookwood teacher Holly Bucholz asked students to predict what will happen to Norman the goldfish when his owner makes it clear he wants to trade him for a pet that does more than float in a bowl.<\/p>\n

\"Bucholz\"<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he\u2019ll get a dog who can play catch,\u201d offered one student.<\/p>\n

\u201cOr a cat,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n

\u201cA cat doesn\u2019t catch!\u201d noted a classmate.<\/p>\n

Down the hall, Kelly Farley asks her young campers to practice initial letter sounds to build fluency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did read\u00a0Henry\u2019s Stars<\/em>,\u201d said Farley pointing to their Read S\u2019More campfire.\u00a0\u201cCan anyone think of other \u2018st\u2019 words?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"farley\"<\/p>\n

\u201cStop!\u201d called out one rising first-grader.<\/p>\n

After waiting for more responses, Farley prompted, \u201cWhat about in my house? To get to the second floor I have to climb up the\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSTAIRS!\u201d said everyone.<\/p>\n

Another student responded, \u201cStand.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d affirmed Farley. \u201cIf I\u2019m not sitting I might be standing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students are engaged in small group instruction, whole group reading, online resources, activity centers and independent reading throughout the summer program.<\/p>\n

\"technology\"<\/p>\n

Using the time to also build social-emotional skills is a focus for Melissa Smith, reading specialist at Parkway Elementary School.<\/p>\n

In addition to having students write in a gratitude journal and hosting morning meetings, she intentionally selects books that help teach different skills such as empathy, humility, persistence and managing emotions.<\/p>\n

My Mouth is a Volcano!<\/em> by Julia Cook is one of Smith\u2019s favorites, and she used it in a recent class to discuss with students how they might interrupt less and listen more as Louis, the book\u2019s main character, has to learn.<\/p>\n

\"volcano\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very engaging text and it\u2019s relatable to the kids,\u201d said Smith. \u201cThey all erupt or interrupt and [Louis] would often interrupt. Then it happened to him. He had to be reflective, \u2018Oh, so this is what everyone feels like.\u2019 I use it to help start a conversation of how do you stop it and then what do you do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students created their own volcanoes leaving space on the side to brainstorm strategies for minimizing \u201ceruptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Down the hall,\u00a0Parkway teacher Richlan Barger\u00a0had students brainstorming questions to answer about mystery animals that eventually will be revealed to them when the capsules dissolve in the cups of water by their seats.<\/p>\n

What is the animal\u2019s name? Where does it live? What does it eat?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI think mine will be a red dinosaur,\u201d said Caleb, who planned to name the animal \u201cRed-osaurus.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"caleb\"<\/p>\n

Caleb continued to explain that his red dinosaur \u201ceats grass and lives where the TRex lives, all the way in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Purple elephants, yellow monkeys and blue fish are being described by other students in their writing journals.<\/p>\n

The day before, rabbits were the real mystery animals at Parkway courtesy of the SPCA, according to Tana Foster, a Parkway teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe read some books about animals and then brought in a cage that was covered,\u201d explained Foster. \u201cThey had to take a guess of what was in there. Then she revealed that it was two rabbits.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives from MOCA also visited Parkway to share lessons about Picasso and lead students in drawing self-portraits.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get them engaged in a fun way,\u201d said Foster, \u201cAt home, they may not have anybody to read with. They may not get a chance to go to the library; whereas, here we have MOCA come in. The SPCA visits every week. We have the youth library come in. They get prizes for the amount of books they read on their reading logs. The kids seem to really love it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parkway principal Krista-Barton Arnold agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got great teachers working here this summer and they\u2019re making it so much fun,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of my students are upset at the end of the school year. They want to come to school.\u00a0This program is important because it\u2019s giving them opportunities they might not have at home and keeping them reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"happy\"<\/p>\n

Christine Alarcon, Brookwood principal, also observed how happy students seem to be at school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey come in with smiles on their faces and skipping down the hallway,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s all about just making reading fun. They are doing lots of hands-on learning. There\u2019s lots of movement and activity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve also tried to incorporate lots of poetry and song,\u201d added Unger. \u201cSo they\u2019re getting the reading but that poetry, song and movement also helps as they\u2019re learning to read.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan, a Brookwood student,\u00a0is enjoying his time at Camp Read S\u2019more.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to read because you get to do all these cool things with reading, and you learn more through reading,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As they like to say at Camp Read S\u2019more, \u201cThe s\u2019more you read, the s\u2019more you know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"read<\/p>\n

Unger hopes Ryan\u2019s perspective is one all students at Camp Read S\u2019more have throughout their school years and as adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cBringing joy to reading,\u201d she said, \u201cthat is what creates lifelong readers and independent readers and hopefully they are getting that opportunity just by having more time to read.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brookwood Elementary School\u2019s Camp Read S\u2019more begins the same way every morning. \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I\u2019ve been told!\u201d shout 10 campers. The other 90 students in the cafeteria echo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[105,31,82],"class_list":["post-5445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brookwood-elementary","tag-literacy","tag-parkway-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5445"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5462,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5445\/revisions\/5462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}