The Round Rock Public Library’s annual Summer Reading Program provides free activities and incentives for children and teens to read while on summer break from school. Any child or teen can join the program by picking up a reading log from the Summer Reading table starting June 5.
The 2013 Summer Reading Program invites you to visit the library frequently and to make reading a daily habit. Let’s see how many days you can read at least 20 minutes between June 5 and Aug. 5.
Students who live outside Round Rock’s city limits but who are enrolled or about to enroll in a Round Rock Independent School District school may receive a free library card good for May 15 – August 15. This card allows them to use library materials all summer, but it does not allow students to earn Summer Reading Program incentives beyond the first goal (10 days of reading for children, or 5 hours of reading for teens).
The Children’s Summer Reading Program (for Ages Birth – 12)
There are two components to the Summer Reading Program:
- The Library has prizes for readers who hit 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 days–and two special challenges for readers who want go beyond the 20-minute per day minimum. Just pick up a reading log to participate!
- They also have a full schedule of performers, movies, and other special programs to pique your interests, and all of the print and digital materials you can imagine to follow your curiousity wherever it may lead. Download PDF of schedule
For more information visit: Summer Reading Program
The Teen Summer Reading Program (for ages 12 – 17)
There are also two components to the Teen Summer Reading Program:
- The Liberary has a reading program which teens can participate in, with coupons and prizes at all levels. Level 4 will be a prize drawing coupon for several prizes, and the main prize will be a Kindle Fire!
- The Library will also have weekly teen events (PDF).
For more information, visit Teen Summer Reading.
The Adult Summer Reading Progam (for ages 18+)
The adults can participate in a great summer reading program with reading and activity components, too!
- The grand prize for the adult reading program is an iPad Mini!
- There’s a schedule of workshops with great topics for adults.
For more information on the Adult Summer Reading program visit: Adult Summer Reading.
Summer readers enjoy more than fun
–they also enjoy a real academic advantage.
The summer setback is real, and it is cumulative. By 6th grade, summer readers can enjoy as much as a two-year advantage over their non-reading peers. So keep your readers well-supplied with items from our great collections of print and digital materials.
“Reading well is at the heart of all learning. Children who can’t read well, can’t learn. Help make a difference.” –From the U.S. Department of Education’s website, Simple Strategies for Creating Strong Readers — Helping Your Child Become a Reader, accessed March 2012.
Study after study confirms that children who read over the summer suffer less–or no–academic loss when school resumes in the fall. Moreover, children who choose their own reading materials are more likely to enjoy reading, and therefore to read more.
“We discovered that about two-thirds of the ninth-grade academic achievement gap between disadvantaged youngsters and their more advantaged peers can be explained by what happens over the summer during the elementary school years…
Statistically, lower income children begin school with lower achievement scores, but during the school year, they progress at about the same rate as their peers. Over the summer, it’s a dramatically different story. During the summer months, disadvantaged children tread water at best or even fall behind. It’s what we call “summer slide” or “summer setback.” But better off children build their skills steadily over the summer months. The pattern was definite and dramatic. It was quite a revelation.”
-Carl Alexander, summarizing a 2007 Johns Hopkins study about the effects of summertime reading on academic achievement.
As children age, their available time for self-selected reading diminishes during the school year; summertime reading is the perfect opportunity for students to explore their interests and to expand their curiousity.
Librarians help children discover their world by helping children discover compelling stories and information at appropriate interest and skill levels.
Following are links to original research on summer reading, as well as analysis of that research. We hope you’ll explore these links, and better understand that summertime reading is a lot of fun, but it isn’t just for fun. It matters in the lives of our children, and in the success of our community.
Summer reading loss, by Maryann Mraz and Timothy V. Rasinski, 2007. Originally published in The Reading Teacher, 60(8). International Reading Association. 784-789.
Study links a lack of academic achievements, high dropout rate, to summertime learning loss, by Carl Alexander. Research in Brief article, National Learning Association, (2007).
Building a nation of readers begins at home, by Dennis Van Roekel. Schools of Thoughtblog, CNN.com, March 12, 2012.
The importance of summer reading: Public Library Summer Reading Programs and Learning, by Karen Balsen and Douglas Moore. New York State Library Research Brief #1, Jan. 2010 (updated Nov. 2011).
Research links summer break, achievement gap, by Larry Abramson. Transcript of Day to Day from NPR News story, July 9, 2007.
The impact of summer setback on the reading achievement gap by Richard L. Allington and Anne McGill-Franzen. The Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 85, No. 1 (Sep., 2003), pp. 68-75.
Stop summer academic loss : an education policy priority. by Malbert Smith III and Dee Brewer. White paper published by MetaMetrics, Inc., 2007.
Prevent summer reading loss, a bibliography of research and activities published by the Alaska State Library, accessed March 2012.
Helping your child become a reader: libraries, tips on using the public library, compiled by the U.S. Department of Education, accessed March 2012.