Summer reading key to student success

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy said, “There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.”

Reading is foundational for education and under the current coronavirus shutdown that has compelled “Distance Learning” for students, getting books into the hands of young people may be more important than ever.

Parents have expressed concern about their students falling behind. Warburg sees the reading programs as a way to mitigate that concern.

“As a parent, encouraging reading is the single best way to help your child progress academically over the summer,” said Sisters Elementary School Principal Joan Warburg.

Warburg said, “Research shows that the best way for a child to become a better reader is to read books that interest them. As adults, we read to be entertained and to learn new information. It is important that our students begin now to engage in this practice of reading.”

To help get kids connected to books, Warburg wants students and their families to know about three easily accessible resources to accomplish that.

Locally, Paulina Springs Books has created a link on its website for students and their families to access books specially collected for young people. That address is https://bookshop.org/lists/sisters-elementary-school-catalog.

According Warburg, this link connects to the catalog and shows a breakdown by subject that allow customers to click through to view books on the list, which initially will include 200 titles. Each of these featured titles can be purchased at a 15 percent discount for Sisters Elementary School students.

The entire inventory of titles the bookstore offers is available on the regular website as well at https://www.paulinaspringsbooks.com.

Warburg said, “I am excited about the opportunity to support a local business and give our students options of obtaining some fresh and new reading materials.”

Lane Jacobson, owner of the store said, “We view Paulina Springs Books as a community-building business, and one of the most essential ways of doing that is to support the youth of our community! This can take a lot of different forms, like our Festival of Books Scholarship for instance, which was $2,000 this year, or providing discounts for orders from the school district.

But in the case of this partnership with Sisters Elementary, it’s just something that makes sense, especially given current circumstances.

Providing a discount on a curated list of our favorite kids books is really the least we can do — and we hope that it helps to make it a little bit easier for families to keep their kids entertained and taking a break from screens.

And, hopefully, some kids will discover some great new books in the process!”

Jacobson wants the public to know that while this program originated as something just for SES students, the discount on the catalog is available to all customers.

“It’s really just a teeny tiny example of all the ways in which the community has come together to support each other through all this,” he said.

The program will run through the end of July. To place an order for pick-up at the store or delivery direct to their home, families can order through the website. Contact information for the store is [email protected] and 541-549-0866.

Another local asset is the Deschutes County Library. Until the library opens again, perhaps in June, access to the summer reading program for kids can be found at https://www.deschuteslibrary.org/calendar/summer.

“Our local library is a wonderful resource for students and families,” Warburg said. “This is an easy, cost-effective way to access books and other reading material.”

Finally, most students are familiar with the Scholastic Company, which has sponsored book fairs at schools for decades. According to Warburg, Scholastic is offering a summer program that can be accessed at https://www.scholastic.com/site/summer/home.html.