The school year came to an end for Wrangell students on May 21, and while they’ve said “so long” for the summer to teachers and homework, they are still invited to pick up a book or two in the interim through the annual summer reading program.
The program—hosted by the Irene Ingle Public Library—is already under way, encouraging kids to continue reading while on break with a variety of prizes and cash drawings for participants.
Its purpose is to help curb summer reading loss, where students lose some of their newly learned or developing academic skills over their three-month break.
“You lose some of that over the summer if you don’t read,” explained head librarian Margaret Villarma.
The program begins with kids reading a book from the local library, which are assigned point values based on their size and difficulty. The goal is for every student enrolled in the program to earn at least 10 points over the summer.
Students then take a Renaissance Learning Accelerated Reader (AR) test afterward with computers on loan from Wrangell Public Schools. The tests can only be taken once for books read between May 18 and July 31. Information is then relayed back to the school, and staff assign coupons and update tallies every week. The coupons are then entered into the program’s cash and prize drawings, up to a cap of 100 for any one student.
“It’s all by chance,” Villarma said of the drawings. Like purchasing raffle tickets, the more points and coupons a reader earns, the better their chance of winning something in the drawing. The library already has 162 prizes lined up, with many on display atop its bookcases.
“We’ve got some really nice donations,” she commented.
The Stikine Sportsmen’s Association and Friends of the Library have made contributions of cash and gifts, as have a number of other businesses and individuals around town. There will be a pair of round-trip, system-wide Alaska Airlines tickets as well, and a grant from First Bank has gone toward purchasing a special gift for participating students. In previous years, the bank’s gifts have included duffel bags and outdoor equipment, but this year’s will remain a surprise.
“The community’s very supportive of the program,” Villarma explained. There will also be cash prizes of varying amounts and an August pool party for all students who accumulate at least 10 points during the program.
Last year’s program exceeded expectations, with 147 students reading around 3,500 books. In part because of the number of participants, high schoolers will not be included this year. Incoming kindergarteners through middle school students have until June 30 to register for the summer reading program.
New to this year’s program, the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has sponsored a local high school student to come during weekday afternoons this summer to help library staff. The new assistant will be on hand to help younger readers find and read books and to aid in AR testing.
This year, students in Bob Davis’ high school creative writing class wrote and illustrated hardcover children’s stories for the library’s collection. The books are currently on display in Irene Ingle’s children section. The class also created accompanying AR tests so students can earn points for reading the stories through the summer program.
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