Summer Reading
This week's post is from Patricia Lynch, Director of the Primary Program.
Summertime means rest, sun, family and, oh yes, reading, reading, reading. We have attached a selection of books for each grade level to keep you wrapped up in text for a long time. As you know, for better or worse, children demonstrate what we model for them, so show them how much you enjoy reading and select a special time when you are all reading and discussing books together. Help your children get to know authors and identify genres. Dust off those library cards and visit several different public libraries for a little comparison shopping. When we help children establish the reading habit early in life, it lasts a lifetime.
We are pleased to announce the family summer reads to you. We are requesting that if you have a child moving into the 4/5s through 2nd Grade, the children come to school the first day prepared to discuss Atlantic by G. Brian Karas. In 3rd through 5th Grades, we would like the children to read The Can Man by Laura E. Williams. (Middle school families: you'll be getting your assignment from the team next week!) Both books support our belief that children can be moved toward empathy and understanding through literature. The books can be purchased on Amazon* or, of course, your local library could find them for you.
*Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Blue School whenever you shop on AmazonSmile. Use this link to select Blue School as your designated organization.
A bit about fostering writing over the summer. Why not keep journals together, especially when you visit new or exciting places here or elsewhere? Sketch tiny findings, add some words to describe the drawing, and voila, you’ve got a pithy little poem. Make lists together, develop characters based on people you see in the subway and on the streets and write monologues for them. Letters, letters, lots of letters written. Grandparents or other family friends always love to get emails and snail mail from grandchildren. Remind children about how fun our Blue School post office was and that we have our own big scale postal system in the USA as well. On the last day, all children will also receive a bag and instructions to collect and describe an object from the summer to bring in and add to our object library display. Great stories to tell can sometimes begin with an object as inspiration!
As E.B. White so wisely wrote: “Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”