By Carol Koechlin, CSL Journal Editorial Board
As this school year winds down and we turn our attention to celebrations of learning, annual reports and goal setting for next year in the library learning commons we hope to inspire one last investment that may make a huge difference to your students come fall. It is our wish that all students enjoy happy summer vacations filled with sunshine, fresh air, relaxation and also many rich activities and experiences with their families and friends. The reality is not all children will enjoy this wish and even those who do will slip back academically if reading for pleasure is not a part of their summer relaxation.
Addressing the Summer Achievement Gap
We know that excellent school library programs make a difference in student achievement during the school year. The question is how can we extend that influence into the summer months when children are not involved in formal classes. Most public libraries offer great summer reading programs. Many teacher librarians and other school library professionals provide summer reading lists for their students and share these with parents as well. Is there more we can do from the library learning commons to get more books into the hands of students and also spur them to keep on learning over the summer break?
We reached out to our networks across Canada to harvest ideas to share with our readers. We hope you will be inspired by these ideas and extend the learning potential from the Library Learning Commons all summer.
As you create your summer learning extensions we remind you that Copyright Matters. If you are in doubt check it out.
Keep Them Reading!
Create a June display of favourite titles for summer reading. Pair up a fiction book with a non-fiction title.
Check out books for summer reading. “There is no point in having books students want to read sit on the shelves all summer!”
Create recommended book lists with annotations and share with students and their families. Post these booklists on the Library Learning Commons (LLC) website.
Create a page of recommended summer reads on a collaborative site like Goodreads or Pinterest.
Invite students this June to help create the recommended booklists.
Create virtual booktalks and share on the LLC website.
Create book review podcasts that are accessible through an online source such as Soundcloud. See École Marie-Anne Gaboury Carrefour d’Apprentissage.
Create a page on best book review websites on LLC website: Teen Reads, Yalsa Teens’ Top Ten, CanLit for Little Canadians.
Add student booktrailers to recommended book page.
Invite students to make book trailers and share during the summer.
Ask for donations and organize a bookswap or set up a ‘free library’ where everyone goes home with a book in hand.
Lend or give books to struggling readers and mail postcard halfway through the summer to remind and encourage reading those books!
Arrange for presentations from the local public library re summer reading programs. TD Summer Reading Club.
Ensure that your students have public library cards pre-summer break and knowledge of using the physical/virtual public library nearest to them.
Take a field trip and walk or take public transit to the local public library if possible for a tour.
Prepare a reading challenge such as Color as You Go Summer Reading Challenge Bookmark.
Make reading a game: Scholastic Summer Reading Bingo.
Distribute bookmarks with login and passwords for all the electronic resources that students can access from home, including our eBooks, audiobooks and TumbleBooks.
Create a page on LLC website with links to open access reading sites, ebooks and audiobooks: Unite for Literacy.
Create a page on the LLC website with links to popular author websites and videos.
Create a Summer Book Club using social media like Twitter: Sir John A. Macdonald Secondary School Learning Commons SJAM Summer Book Club.
“I have a free library at the lake for kids to use. It is very well used! They may not be my students, but they are someone’s and every little bit helps.”
Look for ideas and share: OLA Summer Reading Toolkit.
Promote summer reading on your school sign, school website and social media sites.
Promote summer reading, thinking and making in your June newsletter.
Prepare a press release for your local newspaper. (You are welcome to use CSL Keep Them Reading, Thinking and Making badge.
How about summer reading for teachers? Share summer reading lists with staff both for pleasure and professional learning: We’re The People Summer Reading List 2018.
Keep Them Thinking!
Encourage students to use online journal software like Penzu to write a daily entry, i.e., books you are reading, highlights of your day, places you are visiting, activities you are doing, etc. The entry level of Penzu is free, simple to use, somewhat customizable, and permits the inclusion of images.
Create STEM challenges related to certain common stories.
Create a page of annotated links to free inquiry type of websites like Wonderopolis and Discovery Education.
Create a page on the LLC website with information and links to public libraries, summer camps, and free activities promoted by various communities.
Pose a school challenge such as “Who can find 10 or more facts about the history of our town/city?” to post as a welcoming display in September.
Create summer challenges. For example, students use problem solving skills to play this geography game. Maybe students could submit their scores on a Google Form and you can have a prize for the winner in September.
Encourage students to explore Kids Math Games and work on some of the activities. Try some of the Sudoku puzzles!
Get summer programming kits from the public library to distribute to students to make sure that they remain engaged.
“This summer, I am creating a digital guide to provide students (and their parents) with positive online experiences that reflect the learning they have done during the school year. It will include familiar links to my school board’s virtual library, relevant links to educational websites, and a list of fun, interesting, and free apps for tablets including Scratch Jr and Lightbot.”
Keep Them Making!
Encourage making projects that students could share in the fall. Collect materials and ideas for students to hand out in June.
Create Challenge Cards with lists of simple materials.
Connect kids to opportunities. Public libraries offer hands on workshops as well as environmental centres like Fort Whyte in Winnipeg, community clubs, Art City & Arts Junktion in Winnipeg.
Code! Students can use the online tool Micro:Bit to create some code and debug it for a MicroBit using the simulator. In September you could have actual Microbits in you LLC for them to try their code in the real world.
Have students put together little bags of crayons for the kindergarten students to take home over the summer.
Set up a “creation station” with recycling materials like paper tubes and small boxes etc., and suggested to students that they have these items at their home as well. Puppets are a fun activity to make in the LLC and students can continue the making at home.
Have students make an electric quiz board and challenge their friends!
See if your public library offers “making” activities for youth – many public libraries do!
Prepare a parent info pamphlet with making suggestions – Make crafts with kids at home, gardening, woodworking, etc. Do things together as families. Cooking, baking, camping, cooking outside, etc.
Invite students to share any trips they’ve taken with other students so that they can learn about other areas. Include photos, videos, Pêcha Kucha, 20×20, etc.
Invite Indigenous students to share their cultural celebrations, language, music, etc with us as we all journey through the 94 calls to action in the TRC.
Create a virtual makerspace using Symbaloo – Fort Richmond Collegiate LLC Virtual Makerspace.
Create an Open Learning Space.
Share websites such as Instructables, Curiosity Machine and Kids Think Design.
We thank the many contributors to this rich idea bank and hope they will inspire many more. When you have your summer initiatives in place please share via Twitter. Be sure to tag @CdnSchoolLibrar in your post! Make use of the badge when sending out communications to your school library community. Let’s help keep students reading, thinking, making and learning for fun all summer!
Recommended sources and articles to inspire your own approaches:
OLA Summer Reading Toolkit
Four Guidelines for Summer Reading by Kylene Beers
It’s Not Complicated by Donalyn Miller
School Libraries Encourage Summer Reading, National Library New Zealand
Summer Reading Programs – Resources, American Library Association
15 Summer Reading Tips to Get (and Keep) Kids Reading This Summer, Booksource
For Parents – Summer Reading, British Columbia Teachers Federation (BCTF)
Summer Reading Poster by Tamara Cox
Carol Koechlin is an experienced educator who has contributed to the field of information literacy and school librarianship writing professional books, articles for professional journals, facilitating on-line courses, and presenting workshops in Canada, United States and Australia. Working with Dr. David V.Loertscher, the team has developed foundations for the transformation of school libraries and computer labs into a Physical and Virtual participatory Learning Commons. Explore their work at The School Library Learning Commons – Future Forward. Carol is a founding member of Treasure Mountain Canada (TMC) and has co-chaired TMC Symposiums since 2010. Carol was a contributing writer for Together for Learning: School Libraries and the Emergence of the Learning Commons and writing coordinator for Leading Learning: Standards Of Practice For School Library Learning Commons In Canada (Canadian Library Association, 2014). She is currently a director of Canadian School Libraries (CSL). Carol’s favourite saying, “Empower students to own the question.”