Get Ready for Summer Reading!

By Julie Grimm—Implementation Consultant, Scholastic Inc.

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Julie Grimm

As the school year comes to an end and you reflect on your READ 180 students, hopefully you are feeling excitement about your students' reading growth and progress! However, the dreaded "summer slump" is upon us. Many of my READ 180 teachers ask me how to prevent regression during the summer months and how to motivate students to pick up a book and simply READ! One way to encourage summer reading is to arm your students with exciting, fun book choices to read during the summer.

Once you have your book choices in mind, put on your salesman hat and start advertising! We all know that book talks are a pleasurable way to get students hooked on a book. Did you know that many book talks have already been created for you on the Scholastic Web site? The link www.scholastic.com/librarians/ab/booktalks.htm will bring you to both written and video book talks for countless popular adolescent reads. Worried that your students will not be able to access your book suggestions during the summer months? Arrange a field trip to the local public library before the end of the school year. Most libraries will accept a school ID card as acceptable identification to obtain a library card. Finally, send your students home with a Reading Log to keep track of what they read during the summer. Students can also keep an online Reading Log using the Web site, www.rif.org. Find a way to celebrate your students' summer reading when they return for the next school year, either with a pizza party, certificates, or items from the READ 180 incentive store. Happy Reading!

With thanks to some suggestions from READ 180 teachers in Arkansas and Texas, here are some popular titles that would be excellent for summer reading:

 

Grades 4 - 8

Schooled by Gordon Korman (720L)

Capricorn Anderson had never watched a television show before. He'd never tasted a pizza. And he had never, in his wildest dreams, thought of living anywhere but Garland Farm commune with his hippie caretaker, Rain.

Capricorn (Cap for short) had lived every day of his life on Garland Farm growing fruits and vegetables. He was home schooled by Rain, the only person he knew in the world. Life was simple for Cap. But when Rain falls out of a tree while picking plums and is hospital-ridden, Cap has to attend the local middle school and live with his new guidance counselor and her irritable daughter. Promises to be a laugh-out-loud read!

 

A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban (730L)

Zoe Elias has big musical dreams. As soon as she gets a glossy baby grand piano, she'll be on her way. The trouble is, what Zoe gets is a wood-grained, vinyl seated, wheeze-bag organ. How will she ever be discovered as a prodigy when her lesson book is "The Hits of the Seventies?"

 

 

 

39 Clues #1: The Maze of Bones by Ricky Riordan

The 39 Clues is a groundbreaking new series, spanning 10 adrenaline-charged books, 355 trading cards, and an online game where readers play a part in the story and compete for cash prizes. Various authors will pen the volumes in the series and DreamWorks Studios and Steven Spielberg have purchased the movie rights. Kids can keep track of their points, clues, and "travel" the world to collect artifacts on the Web site, www.the39clues.com.

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kiney (970L)

Middle-schooler Greg Heffley nimbly sidesteps his father's attempts to change Greg's wimpy ways until his father threatens to send him to military school. This series started as an online blog on www.funbrain.com in 2004. Since publishing the first book in the series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid has become one of the best-selling children's series. The series also has a part interactive book, part blank journal titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid Do-It-Yourself. Get your students hooked on the adventures of Greg Heffley and they will be motivated to read all of the books in this series.

 

Grades 9 - 12

 

Begging for Change by Sharon G. Flake (1060L)

This is a sequel to Flake's Money Hungry in the READ 180 Stage B library. Raspberry Hill vowed never to end up living on the streets again. To her, money equals security. But when a troubled neighborhood teenager attacks her mother, Raspberry takes some desperate and disturbing steps. A compelling slice of urban life.

 

 

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork (700L)

Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear—part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify—and he's always attended a special school where his differences have been protected. But the summer after Marcelo’s junior year, his father demands that Marcelo work in his law firm's mailroom in order to experience "the real world." There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. This novel is a love story, a legal drama, and a celebration of the music each of us hears inside.

 

 

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman

There are two sides to this story—one is written, the other is on video. Something mysterious is happening in Skeleton Creek. Something scary. Something sinister. The Web site, www.skeletoncreekisreal.com, contains links to an hour of exclusive video footage. The book is Ryan's story and the videos are Sarah's.

 

 

 

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson (700L)

Kids get hooked on the James Patterson series just like adults! He wrote the Maximum Ride fantasy series specifically for young adults. The Angel Experiment is one of five volumes that follow six genetically altered teenagers known as "the Flock." The teens are half human and half bird. This series is also set to be a major motion picture.

 

 

 

Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber (700L)

For those students who fell in love with Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series, here is another exciting tale of a "wannabe" vampire. Sixteen-year-old Raven is an outcast who always wears black and hopes to become a vampire some day. She falls in love with the mysterious new boy in town, eager to find out if he can make her dreams come true. This book is also part of a series.

 

READ 180 Community Newsletter - Summer 2009
How do you decide what resources best meet the needs of each of your small-groups? This article features steps for setting goals, finding resources, and implementing supports and extensions to ensure you are meeting the needs of all your READ 180 students.

READ 180 Community Newsletter - Summer 2009
Nothing Else to Say But Thank You! With summer rapidly approaching, we at Scholastic and READ 180 want to thank you for what you do every day to raise reading achievement and turn around the lives of students. What you accomplish is incredible. Thank you!

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