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<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nThere is a reason for that. Just ask Elijah Stevens, a rising first-grader at Diamond Springs Elementary.<\/p>\n
\u201cReading helps you learn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
And continuing to learn during the summer months by keeping students engaged in reading and other activities is the goal of the school division\u2019s Title I Summer Slide Reading Program.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a chance for the kiddos to stay, kind of, in routine for the school year \u2013 to keep up those good habits of reading and have a little bit of fun as well,\u201d said Meghan Mosher, math specialist and Summer Slide program coordinator at Parkway Elementary.<\/p>\n This is Sania McMillan\u2019s second year attending the program at Birdneck Elementary and she is a fan.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are good teachers, you get to read, you get to learn, and you get to see your friends a lot of times,\u201d McMillan said she told classmates to encourage them to attend the program.<\/p>\n McMillan also likes a challenge.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you read easy books, you should go harder,\u201d she advised. \u201cIf you read harder books then you\u2019ll learn more and if you read harder books it will be easier to read. Then you can read hard books over and over again so they get easier.\u201d<\/p>\n Reading over and over and over again is exactly what Summer Slide program teachers and coordinators want students to do.<\/p>\n They also are engaged in STEM and makerspace activities, arts and crafts, and visits by special guests from organizations like the Virginia Beach Public Library, the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA).<\/p>\n Mosher even arranged for the Southland Dairy Farmers to visit Parkway Elementary with a dairy cow named Violet, who was joined by dairy farmer Amanda Griffith.<\/p>\n \u201cThey bring in a whole milking system and they teach the kids about the nutritional value of milk and where milk comes from.\u201d Mosher said. \u201cThey drink milk every morning for breakfast. It gives them some real-world experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n Rayani Jones, a rising fourth-grader at Williams Elementary, thinks the Summer Slide program offers the perfect mix of experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very fun and educational at the same time,\u201d she said. \u201cWe do a lot<\/em> of activities: Homophone bingo, calligraphy, plays, skits, animal research, bookmarks, MOCA, library prizes, TumbleBooks, the robot dance \u2013 that\u2019s my favorite.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re having a great time,\u201d said Stacy Lupia, first-grade teacher and Summer Slide coordinator at Diamond Springs Elementary. \u201cIt\u2019s structured but it\u2019s not as structured as we are in the classrooms, and it really does keep them engaged in the reading and learning process all summer so we don\u2019t see them slide as much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a STEM station, a concept of word station, a writing station, a technology station and a reading station,\u201d continue Lupia. \u201cThey really seem to enjoy all of the different activities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really just to encourage that love of reading. That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d said Megan Petermann, third-grade teacher and Summer Slide program coordinator at Birdneck Elementary. \u201cSome of the teachers are doing Reader\u2019s Theatre and the students are kind of forgetting that they are actually reading. But they\u2019re doing something fun and they all have a speaking part. It\u2019s another way for them to read and to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n Koriya Morris, a rising third-grader at Newtown Elementary, is excited about her part in a play that she and her classmates are preparing to share with parents and other invited guests as a culminating activity for the last day of the program.<\/p>\n \u201cI have three parts because I\u2019m an elf,\u201d she said. \u201cAll I do is sing. I don\u2019t have to hold anything. I fix the reindeers. I get them ready.\u201d<\/p>\n Morris\u2019 classmate in the Summer Slide program, La\u2019Prince Fowler, also enjoys all the activities and \u201cart and library time,\u201d he said. He also recognizes that his time in the program is important because it is preparing him for third grade.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more I read, it helps me read better and better,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n Adajah Wilson expressed a similar thought.<\/p>\n \u201cThe more books you read, the faster you become a better reader,\u201d said the Williams Elementary rising fifth-grader. \u201cMs. Acuna said if somebody is reading to you and you follow along, you can be a better reader that way, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n