May 23, 2013

Dear Friends,

As you know, all school year the children are working hard to improve their reading skills and strengthen their use of comprehension strategies.  Their teachers require that they read a lot because reading a lot is the only way to become a better reader.

In order to maintain the level of reading achieved during the school year, daily reading must continue during the summer.  In other words, your child needs to read every day during the summer months when school is not in session.  Now is the time to begin planning for the summer recess and we want reading to be a part of your plans.

To make this a little easier for you, we are introducing our Summer Reading Challenge. In the envelope with your child’s final report card you will find the booklet for our Summer Reading Challenge. Within this booklet are weekly reading logs for each week of our summer recess.  If your child reads for 30 minutes a day at least six days a week and completes this log, he/she will be awarded a prize. It’s as easy as that.  If he/she does this all summer, when school begins in September he/she will be awarded a bigger prize and will be acknowledged at a school-wide assembly.

Please encourage your child to take 30 minutes each day to read.  Then have him/her record the titles on a log in this booklet.  Every Tuesday, come by the elementary school during the day or the Putnam Valley library in the evening, with the booklet to have the log signed and to receive a special reward.  If you do not have appropriate books at home, we will have books available for you to borrow.

Enjoy the holiday weekend.

Best,

Jamie