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The goal of summer reading
in the Collegiate Lower School
is
to continue building a student’s love of and skill in
reading. For young children (emergent and early readers)
the enthusiastic, guiding adult and interesting, engaging
texts are the primary inspiration for learning to read well.
As children grow older (fluent readers) they can read on their
own but continue to need a mature mentor to encourage their
reading. For these reasons, the Collegiate Lower School Summer
Reading List is grounded in three different types of reading
experiences: Learning to Read, Reading Together, and
Reading to Learn.
Learning to Read books are
those that children can read to an interested and guiding
adult. They are a primary component of the first, second,
and third grade lists. Learning to Read books are written
to teach children how to read by limiting the vocabulary,
spelling patterns, word structures, and print-to-illustration
ratio, depth of characters, and plot development. These books
are very useful for students to practice how to read, but
they are not, as a rule, satisfying to the young child’s
developing mind.
Reading Together
books –
high quality picture books, meritorious chapter books, and
children’s non-fiction – contain well-developed
characters and settings; lively and resonant language; artistic
illustrations; engaging plots; interesting, up-to-date information;
and/or relevant life lessons. When the enthusiastic and guiding
adult reads aloud to children and talks conversationally about
the texts, he/she provides several important functions that
the child cannot yet provide for him/herself.
First, the adult reader can read more
fluently and with greater expression, enlivening the text
and creating appeal for the listener.
Second, the adult reader can read
more complex books exposing children to more advanced vocabulary
and higher-level understanding.
Finally, the reading adult provides
the model of a competent, enthusiastic reader that is crucial
to a child’s growth into that role. We learn what we
live.
Reading to
Learn. To build independence in reading, children need
to select books that interest them and to practice reading
on their own. Many children who are independent readers have
already become attached to favorite authors or series, carry
books anticipating an opportunity to read, and naturally converse
about something they have read.
Reading to Learn books can also be read together
as a family – take turns reading and/or talk about the
book after each section, or listen to an audio-book while
traveling. Reading to Learn books can be chosen from the Learning
to Read list or the Reading Together list, but they should
match the reader’s interest.
Learning
to Read, Reading Together, and Reading
to Learn books can be found in every genre (for example,
non-fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, or poetry) and in
any format (picture books, illustrated books, chapter books,
graphic novels). There are “classics” –
works that your parents may have read as a child – and
“favorites” of young children of certain ages.
Books can be purchased, borrowed from the local library, or
listened to in the car on the way to a vacation destination.
We hope that these guidelines will help you
guide and support your child to read this summer in ways that
will create a lifelong love of reading.
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