ALL.THE .THINGS. with Jonathan Dolce August 2022

Done with 2022 summer library program fun? We're sure it's with big sigh of relief, a satisfaction for a program well-done and kids and families well-served, a time for a little summer R & R, and a chance to enjoy a bit of respite before fall. But wait!

Jonathan Dolce throws down the gauntlet.  He encourages us to think big picture about summer 2023 and ways that we can include even better ways to stop the summer learning slide of kids. His resource and information rich ALSC blog post encourages use of STEM to, er, stem the tide of reading/learning loss.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

Stop here to read the post. [Planning for SRP 2023 STEMming Summer Slide. Dolce, Jonathan. ALSC blog. August 1, 2022]

We Are Warriors Fighting Summer Slide

In the spirit of work at the national level through ALA’s State Ecosystem Initiative and the new Public Library & School Library Collaboration Toolkit done through collaborative efforts of AASL, YALSA, and ALSC, WEMTA, WLA, and DPI are working together to support and foster communications and collaborations among Wisconsin public and school librarians in order to better support the communities we serve. Each quarter we will share a resource, strategy, or example with you that could be used as a talking point in your community. Please use these ideas to initiate or continue to build relationships with public and school librarians.

Click here for Full Size Graphic

We all know “summer slide” can affect school-age children during the summer months – especially children who lack access to books. Schools and public libraries are powerful partners to help engage kids both prior to and throughout the summer.  Summer learning, summer reading, opportunities for discovery, experimentation and exploration are all ways libraries can support youth and families during vacation time.

Here are a few ways to collaborate between school and public library peers and support kids in their summer learning adventures:

• Work with your schools to create a summer lunch site for children at the public library. This an opportunity to present both active and passive programs for families to engage in while at the library. There are several libraries that have already put this in place, i.e. Neenah Public Library, T.B. Scott Free Library (2019 will be their first summer).

• Create summer learning adventures with kids at the public library– and include not just active programs but passive programs that families can engage in any time they come to the library: STEM programs; coding; discovery stations; literacy areas (word games; puzzles; challenges; scavenger hunts).
• School library collaborative ideas focused ideas/conversation starters:

• Can we schedule a library card sign-up day, either before the end of the school year, or during open house evenings at schools in August/September?
• Can we schedule time to promote our public library summer reading programs before the end of the school year?
• What kind of STEM/Makerspace/Coding Clubs do you have? We would like to compliment the learning with continued opportunities throughout the summer at the public library.
• What type of summer school programs are happening at your school? We would like to compliment the learning with continued opportunities throughout the summer at the public library.

If you’re looking for more information on summer learning/reading, here are two organizations with great resources:

• The National Summer Learning Association offers online resources, research, and practical tips related to summer learning and preventing summer slide.
• Summer Matters is a California organization that provides research and tools on preventing slide that are relevant nationwide. Check out their Learning Recruitment Guide and follow the Twitter hashtag #whysummermatters  to keep the discussion going.

This message is brought to you through the collaborations of Wisconsin Educational Media & Technology Association (WEMTA), Wisconsin Library Association (WLA), and DPI School and Public Libraries. If you are interested in working on future tidbits or have other suggestions for collaborations, please contact Marge Loch-Wouters (WLA) or Michele Green (WEMTA) .

Focused Summer Reading Groups in Augusta

Thanks to Leslie LaRose, the director of the Augusta Public Library (an institutional YSS member) for this guest post!

Early last spring a parent asked about a reading group for her primary-age son to help him stay motivated to read all summer.  After talking with the reading specialist for our school district, I decided to create book groups for children entering 1^st through 4^th grade during the next school year.  I wanted to focus enrollment on those kids who were in the lower reading levels for their grade, though anyone was welcome to join.   I got teachers to send a letter home with the children that could most benefit from some extra reading, and the school put the program into their summer school program catalog. 

Early on I had been encouraged by the reading specialist to stick to the schools reading levels (Fountas & Pinnell) when choosing books.  I looked into this as an option, but decided that I wanted to choose books that were probably not being used in the school's reading groups to also allow me to share some titles and characters with the groups that they may not have discovered previously.   I wanted to have the kids talking about their reading, about the authors and illustrators, comparing the books to others they had read--all of that great stuff that a Book Club does.  

Once sign up began, I realized that a Book Club atmosphere wouldn’t work because I had just two kids, both from the same grade but drastically different reading levels, sign up. I didn't realize until I was implementing the program just how much reading and preparation I'd have to do--I would order five books in as possible books for each of the 12 weeks we met and only one or two would suit the group.  I ended up reading maybe 50 books total for the summer!   I had a low level reader (somewhere around a 400 Lexile) and a high level (800 Lexile) both in second grade, these two were competitive.  They were active and spent all day together because one’s mother did summer child care for the other.    Neither wanted the group to feel like school, they were okay with reading on their own, but didn’t want to spend our group time, one hour a week, focused primarily on books. 

Instead, each week a new book was handed out; although, due to the size of two of the books, we did double up a few weeks.  Our group time was spent playing various games with sight words.  Pictionary, hang man, password,  for the weeks with Goldilocks weather we went outside and I had them collect words by racing to them and calling them out before turning them into me.  It kept the kids reading and willing to read through the entire summer.  Both mothers said that it was the first summer in many that they didn’t have to struggle to get the kids reading.  They wanted to read the assigned books so that they were ready for the next meeting. 

This interest and willingness to read was a key objective of what I had wanted for the summer and so I am able to say I accomplished what I had meant to in the program.  I do think that I want to offer the program again next summer, planning games as well as more discussion into each week’s meeting.