Increasing Summer Reading

Getting middle grades students to read during the summer is no easy task. Last spring at the Indiana State Reading Association Conference, I heard about how very important summer reading is. That’s when I began to plan a summer reading folder to give to my students before they left for vacation.

I wanted to include all students who would be at Delta Middle School (DMS) during the 2008-2009 school year, so I contacted the media center personnel at the four elementary schools that feed into my school. They graciously agreed to distribute summer reading packets to their fifth graders.

I assembled several items for the “Only Reading Makes it Real” folders. In the letter to incoming sixth graders, I introduced myself and our school reading programs, stressing the importance of reading during vacation. In the letter to our returning students, I also emphasized summer reading’s significance. .

Another item I included was a listing of the local public libraries. Since my school district lies outside the Muncie Public Library (MPL) area in Delaware County, our residents must pay for library services on an individual or family basis. Although I wasn’t sure how many of my students’ families were subscribers to MPL, I requested information from the nearest branch of the Muncie Public Library and received flyers promoting their summer reading programs which were placed in our folders. I also shared the hours and locations of the Eaton Public Library and the Albany Community Library, the local libraries in two towns in my school district.

Since my school celebrates with a party each spring for students who read at least five of the Young Hoosier Book Award (YHBA) titles, I included lists of both the intermediate and middle grades YHBA nominees for the 2008-2009 school year in the summer reading packets. In addition to giving a jump start on YH reading, the lists also provided students with titles of good books to read.

A few years ago I saved an article by Bill Stancykiewicz of the Indiana Youth Institute (IYI) that I wanted to share with parents. The IYI granted permission to copy and distribute “What I Read During My Summer Vacation.” I also received permission to use another article, “Can Your Child Read This?” Unfortunately, for many Hoosier kids the answer is “no.” Go to <www.iyi.org> for the IYI’s website to view the articles. I also placed copies of them in the summer reading folders.

I included two reading logs for students to use: one from the Middle Grades Reading Network and the other from Scholastic. For variety, I used color paper for most of the items in the folders. I also included bookmarks that I downloaded and printed from the Scholastic website.

In April, I contacted the elementary school media center personnel for the class totals for fifth, sixth, and seventh graders. With the help of my two student assistants and their friends, we assembled over 600 summer reading folders. I delivered the reading packets to the elementary schools for distribution to the fifth graders. Sixth and seventh graders received their reading folders through their language arts classes.

I hoped that many students would record what they reading during summer vacation on the logs and return them to me when school started in the fall. However, only nine students returned logs. It was a start and I was pleased. The nine participants received a treat bag and a $10 certificate to purchase books at our fall book fair. I also publicized the students’ achievement in the school newsletter and on the media center news page on my school’s website.

Last year was my first at DMS, so this gives me a baseline for the summer reading project. I hope to instill more enthusiasm for reading during this school year. In comparison to last year, more students are borrowing books and completing reading slips for our school-wide TEAM READ competition. Every bit of progress on the way to encouraging reading is cause for celebration.