Summer Reading Challenge

Join the Gorman Fort Banks 2012 Summer Reading Program For all incoming Gorman Fort Banks Elementary Kindergarten, First Grade and Second Grade Students Sponsored by the PTO It’s free, it’s fun and it’s important. Reading and writing are the foundations of academic success and they can effortlessly be practiced and reinforced at home. Whether it’s a trip to the local library, a book swap with friends or a special visit to the bookstore, you can fit these activities in the busiest schedule. “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.”  Sir Richard Steele

To help motivate you and your child to put reading on your list of things to do, Twist & Shake at 484 Shirley Street in Winthrop has donated one free ice cream cone for every student who successfully completes the program. Here is how it works:

·       Keep a reading log of the books your child reads. You are welcome to download a log template from the PTO’s blog.

·       Bring the completed log to your new teacher by September 21, 2012. Children who read the equivalent of 20 books or more will receive a certificate for a free ice cream cone at Twist & Shake. (It works out to just two books a week!)

·       A bonus prize will be given to readers who have read 30 or more books.

·       Most importantly, let your child read what interests them. THERE IS NO REQUIRED BOOK LIST.

Summer is a great time to explore the library. The Children’s Room at the Winthrop Public Library is open Monday 1-6, Tuesday 1-7, Wednesday 1-6, Thursday 1-6 and Friday 1:30-6 during the summer. There are also many online sources available for books as well starting with our own school’s web site http://fortbanks.winthrop.k12.ma.us/. The International Children’s Digital Library has thousands of books for free. This is a great resource for children’s books in foreign languages such as Arabic, Portuguese, Croatian or Spanish. The web address is http://en.childrenslibrary.org/.

Did you know that writing and reading are related? Each one supports the other. Encouraging your child to spell and write reinforces their knowledge of sounds and letters and their recall of word wall and sight words introduced during our school year. Listed below are some great writing activities you can even relate to a favorite reading:

·       Notes, post cards, greeting cards, invitations for play dates to friends and relatives,

• ·      Lists for shopping, trips, gifts, parties,
• ·       Imaginative stories and poems,
• ·       Recipes, phone messages, telephone directory of friends,
• ·       Journal entries from vacations and daily diaries, and
• ·       Draw signs, posters or pictures with captions that provide detail.

Each page of a book offers opportunities to reinforce sound letter association, vocabulary building, sequencing events, comprehension, conventions of print and the mechanics of writing.

So read on Gorman Fort Banks School families! Happy summer!

Your partner in education,

Ilene Pearson

Principal

William P. Gorman Fort Banks Elementary School