This
summer marked the eighth consecutive year of the Hopkinton Recreation
Summer Read Aloud Program! The program invites Chariho staff members to
volunteer an hour of their time to read aloud to the camp's participants.
(The reading program also took place in Charlestown!) The students get
so excited when they know one of the people who has shown up to read
to them!
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| We were joined the first week by Mrs. Potter, 5th grade teacher at CMS, and Ms. Sorensen, PE teacher at Ashaway and Hope Valley |
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| guest reader Mrs. Allen, 5th grade teacher at CMS |
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| guest reader Mr. Scanapieco, principal at Ashaway School |
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| guest reader Mrs. Pierce, teacher assistant at CMS |
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| guest reader Mrs. Bliven, 3rd grade teacher at Ashaway School |
Like last year, I started off the first session by introducing the children to
the available books with a short "book talk". Then each child
was allowed to select which reading group to join. In the past we split
them up by grade, but we've decided that it's even better to offer them a
choice. Not only did that increase their excitement, but it also
introduced them to titles that they might decide to pick up and read on their
own!
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| This year's chapter book selections from the list of RICBA
nominees! |
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All three came from a list of books nominated for the
Rhode Island Children’s Book Award (RICBA). During the school year,
students are encouraged to read at least three of the books from the list in
order to vote for the winner. In addition, several of the schools
(including Ashaway) hold competitions called the Rooster Games based these nominees. By
selecting books from this list, the children participating in HopRec will already
have one of these books completed by the end of the summer or, at least, will
have gotten an extended preview!
In addition to our "chapter book" groups, I also bring along a bin of
picture books with related activities for the younger kids. Miss Lindsey, one of the HopRec counselors, did an awesome job presenting these and I'm grateful to her for always being willing to jump right in!
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| Miss Lindsey leading an extension activity for Caps for Sale |
No matter which group a child joined, every one of them spent an hour each week
interacting with some excellent books. It truly is a wonderful program,
and I'm very proud to be a part of it. My sincerest thanks go out to the
fabulous staff at the camp who were so accommodating in order to make it all
possible and to the staff members who volunteered to participate!
