Schools promote literacy by getting students hooked on books
Published 12:50 pm Thursday, July 21, 2016
Faculty and staff at S.P. Morton Elementary School held their “Getting Neighborhoods Hooked on Books” program on Thursday. They visited several neighborhoods in the Franklin area and gave out books to students to help prevent the summer slide. Pictured, front row, are: Liz Burgess, LeAnne Baker, Principal Dr. Sherie Davis, Amy Pitts, Ashley Rickert and Cherlene Walker-Brigs; back, Greysen Baker and Superintendent Dr. Willie Bell. – Rebecca Chappell | Tidewater News
FRANKLIN
Franklin City Public Schools are making it their priority to promote literacy before the school year even starts. Faculty and staff from S.P. Morton Elementary School came together on Thursday morning to give out books through a program they have created called “Getting Neighborhoods Hooked on Books.”
“We want to promote literacy throughout the schools, starting in the summer to prepare the students for the upcoming year,” said Dr. Sherie Davis, the new S.P. Morton principal. “Literacy needs to come first and we are taking a school-wide initiative to make sure that happens.”
Greysen Baker, left, and LeAnne Baker help a rising second-grader pick out a book from the table. – Rebecca Chappell | Tidewater News
Faculty and staff went to several neighborhoods within Franklin to give out books to children. These included Forest Pines Apartments, Berkley Square Apartments, Dorchester Square Apartments and Pretlow Gardens in Newport Village. Not only did students come up to the table to get books, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles all came and collected some for children who were not able to attend the event.
Information sheets were also given out on various literacy topics and way to help children improve on those skills. These included:
• What is Family Literacy?
• Educational Apps for Kids
• Ten Ways to Build Vocabulary
• Ten Word Games
• Ideas for Summer Reading
• Summer Reading Loss
• Tips for Preventing the Summer Slide
The hope of this program is to help students get away from what is known as the summer slide. This occurs when students who do not read or have access to books during the summer lose up to two months of reading performance.
To counter this phenomenon, some of the ways the school staff suggest are taking the children to visit the local library, making sure the student reads at least 20 minutes a day, setting a good example by reading to the child, reading with the students, reading for different purposes, playing games with words and addressing phonics and early reading skills through internet games if available.
Understanding that not everyone would be able to make it to the event, the teachers still wanted to get the word out to a larger audience, letting them know the summer slide is a real thing that they see each year and there are ways they can help prevent it.
