Last night we hosted our very first Google+ Hangout! At 8pm, a panel of educators, moderator Pam Allyn, and an audience comprised of teachers, principals, and parents came together to talk about a topic that is important to all of us: stopping the summer slide through summer reading.
Pam kicked things off with a rousing call for everyone to promote summer reading, citing it as "the best thing we can do for our kids," and also as an easy, inexpensive, and simple way to prevent summer learning loss.
Pam then turned the mic over to our panel of educators (bios below) who each spoke to the challenges and successes their respective schools faced last summer when it came to implementing and executing a plan for summer reading. Across the board, each of their schools participated in the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge and they shared how the friendly competition, emphasis on establishing a reading routine, and fun prizes and challenges got students hooked on summer reading.
Our panel of educators included:
Katie Nelson: 4th grade teacher at Hillcrest Elementary School in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Last year. She led her school to first place in the state of Wisconsin in the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge.
Misty Haynes: Media Specialist for 7 years at Reedy Creek Elementary.
Sylvia Ibarra: Principal of Andrew Jackson Elementary School in McAllen, TX. Her school was the #1 U.S. school from last year’s Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge with her students logging a total of 6,333,482 reading minutes throughout the summer.
If you missed it, you can watch the replay here. I love the great ideas these teachers shared: from keeping their school library open during the summer months (genius!) to holding students responsible for supporting each other in their reading through skits, "newsdesk" broadcasts, student interviews, and more. Many of their ideas not only excited students about reading, but made them accountable for their own actions, committment to read, and daily progress.
