Tag: reading

Preventing Summer Slide #read

Summer 2018 Reading
Preventing Summer Slide
Summer Slide? No, not the slide at the playground or the water park. Not the Slip ‘N Slide from days gone by either. Summer Slide refers to the time period when kids are not in school and things they have learned slip from their minds. One area commonly affected is reading.
Scholastic suggests the following in the article Three Ways to Prevent Summer Slide.

  1. Six books to summer success. – Research shows that reading as few as six books can help prevent loss of reading skills.
  2. Read something every day.
  3. Keep reading aloud. – Yes, even to teens!

Since our school libraries are not open during the summer, students will need other options when looking for books to read. Many of our communities have awesome public libraries with summer reading programs. If you live in an area with a public library, please visit often during the summer break.
If you do not have access to a public library, several digital options are available for readers:

OVERDRIVE 

All KPBSD staff and students (Gr. 6-12) have access to our shared Overdrive collection. This collection includes over 2,000 titles in ebook or audiobook format. Titles can be accessed through a browser on a computer at this website: KPBSD Overdrive Collection.
How to use Overdrive video.
There is also a free Overdrive App available for iOS and Android devices. Make sure to choose the KPBSD Schools (Main Collection) when searching for our Overdrive Library.
KPBSD students login with ID number and regular password. KPBSD staff members login using eNumber (change the E to a 9) and regular password.

SYNC 

This is a free summer audiobook program for teens 13+. Beginning April 26, 2018, SYNC will give away two complete audiobook downloads a week through July 25. That amounts to 26 FREE audiobook downloads! Visit the SYNC website for more information. https://audiobooksync.com/ Anyone interested can sign up through email or text. This is an amazing deal!

PEBBLE GO

PG is an award-winning database for reading and research written especially for elementary students. Information can be found related to animals, science, biographies, and social studies. Images, video, maps, activities, and games are also included. Pebble Go also has a read-aloud feature and a built in glossary. This great resource can be found here: https://www.pebblego.com/.
KPBSD student login for summer is as follows: Username: 9999 / Password: jkl
No matter where you go to find books, the most important part is to keep reading!
Thank you to Karla Barkman, KPBSD Librarian and Technology Coach, for contributing this story. Do you have a story tip or idea?
 

The 2017 Book Battles!

The winning KPBSD Battle of the Books teams will represent KPBSD at state battles the beginning of March!
#golden #AKlearns
Congratulations!
Grades 3- 4: Connections Homeschool
Grades 5- 6, and Middle School: Cooper Landing School
High School: Voznesenka School

Soldotna Connections 3-4 Grade Team
Grades 3 – 4 – Soldotna Connections

 
Cooper Landing Grades 5-6
Grades 5 – 6 – Cooper Landing School

 
Middle School – Cooper Landing School
Middle School – Cooper Landing School

 
High School – Voznesenka School
High School – Voznesenka School

Voznesenka HS reading
High School – Voznesenka School

 

The 2016 Book Battle

Many educators think of February as Love of Reading Month, so it is especially fitting that Battle of the Books takes place during that month. Sixty-five KPBSD teams participated in this year’s district competition. All did an awesome job. Most of the battles took place using audio conference technology with the final round teams competing using video conference. All agreed it was an added bonus to “see” the other teams.
Congratulations to the following teams that made it to the final round of competition!

Cooper Landing School
Cooper Landing School

Battle of the Books is a statewide reading and comprehension program sponsored by the Alaska Association of School Librarians. The goals of the program are to encourage and recognize students who enjoy reading, broaden reading interests, increase reading comprehension, and promote academic excellence. All this is accomplished through a game-show style competition known simply as “BOB”.
Lists of books are chosen and questions are written for all the grade levels. Students read the books (fifteen titles for Grades 3-6 and twelve titles for Grades 7-12), quiz each other, learn title and author information, and compete in teams of no more than three students attempting to score as many points as possible answering questions related to the books. Battle questions all begin with the words, “In which book”. Students are allowed thirty seconds to confer with team members and come up with an answer which is always the title and author of a book on the list.
Our district-winning teams moved on to the Alaska state competitions held the end of February. Our teams represented our district well placing as follows.

  • High School – Soldotna High School tied for 5th place (24 teams)
  • Middle School – Nikiski Middle-High School, 7th place (29 teams)
  • Grades 5/6 – K-Beach Elementary, 11th place (35 teams)
  • Grades 3/4 – Cooper Landing School, 3rd place (34 teams)

Book lists for next year’s battles were chosen by members of the Alaska Association of School Librarians at their state conference on March 12, 2016. The list is posted at the State Battle of the Book’s website.
View photos of all the teams on the KPBSD Facebook page, 2016 Battle of the Books photo album
Story contributed by Karla Barkman, District Battle of the Books Coordinator
 

Kaleidoscope School of Arts & Science
Kaleidoscope School of Arts & Science

West Homer Elementary
West Homer Elementary

Meet LOR, the Love Of Reading Dragon

McNeil Canyon Elementary celebrated Love of Reading month in February. Instead of celebrating once on Dr. Seuss’s birthday, students and staff celebrated the entire month. Instead of counting total minutes read, students spent their time sharing, talking, and writing about books they enjoy. Each week McNeil had a school-wide activity which involved cross grade activities centered on the school’s love of reading. Activities included a favorite book share where Kindergarten through third graders buddied up and read a favorite story, while fourth through sixth graders met in small groups and shared an excerpt from their favorite book, a memorable-book share where older students paired with younger students and shared a book that had special meaning for them; and a Readers Theater performance where every student read and performed a play in front of others.
McNeil LOR dragon and Kindergarteners
Students also had an opportunity to document the books they read in February by filling out dragon scales that hung in the hallway on Lor, the giant quilted Love of Reading Dragon. After students read a book at home or at school, they wrote down the title, author and genre in a booklet and then filled out the scale at school. By the end of February, Lor was covered with brightly colored scales representing a book that was read and color-coded by its genre. Having a love of reading is something that will sustain these students for a lifetime. Watching younger students admire and enjoy their older buddies and seeing the wonder in their eyes as they imagined themselves as such fluent readers was something that the staff and students of McNeil Canyon will not soon forget.
Story contributed by McNeil Canyon staff

Reading Comes Alive in Port Graham

2015 Story time in Port Graham
The village of Port Graham has seen a burst of activity in the area of reading this year. Students’ interest in curling up with a good book has been sparked by two programs, Accelerated Reader and the Battle of the Books.
Elementary teacher, Stephanie DeVault had used the Accelerated Reader (AR) program in a previous district and saw how it motivated students to become avid readers. AR is web-based software that allows teachers to monitor students’ independent reading. It does this by providing comprehension tests on an enormous range of books. In short, students read a book at their reading level and then take a short, multiple choice test. Upon successful completion of the test, students are awarded points based on the length of the book. This allows teachers to set goals for students, monitor student understanding of reading, and provides a motivator for students to finish books on their own.
The program, naturally, is not free. Because DeVault had seen it provide the impetus needed for students to dramatically increase their reading, she was determined to implement it in Port Graham. She wrote a grant using a website called Donors Choose. Donors Choose was designed to help teachers access funds from donors for classroom supplies. People wishing to contribute to education can browse the website and choose projects they find meaningful, but all materials are purchased by the organization. Teachers are never tasked with handling the funds. This allows donors to give tax-deductible donations, but protects teachers from showing extra income.
The grant posted in mid-September and donations started arriving from friends and family of locals in the village and even from parents of Stephanie’s former students who had watched AR transform their children into voracious readers. At best, Stephanie guessed that it would take two to three months for the grant to be fully funded. In early October, the grant was complete! A generous donation from Chevron, as part of their Fuel Your School program, had paid the balance.
 
Story contributed by Principal Nancy Kleine, Port Graham School
Connect:

2015 May Storytime