Summer Reading for Fun

Summer Reading for Fun is a program implemented and coordinated by Laubach Literacy of Canada through the Field Services Office of Newfoundland and Labrador. The goal of this project is to provide supplementary reading, writing, and numeracy activities to students from Kindergarten to Level II as well as fun activities for preschoolers. Both individual and group sessions are used to achieve these goals. The program is cost free to parents. The focus is to create a summer learning culture, thus bridging the gap from June to September.

In this, its ninth year, Newfoundland Laubach Literacy Councils and the Field Services Office submitted 20 applications to Human Resources Development Offices (HRDC) under the Summer Career Placement Program and were successful in obtaining 19 grants. A total of 47 tutors were hired to help children in reading, writing, and math skills. An application for office support staff was also granted at a later date.

Training was held at Silver Birches in Pasadena, June 26-29, 1998. Marilyn Forward, Sheila Robinson, Jocelyn Jacobs, Maureen Kennedy, Paul Merrigan and Bessie Merrigan, all Corner Brook Laubach trainers, gave freely of their time and expertise to prepare the tutors for their summer positions. Many, who had been apprehensive upon arrival, felt confident about fulfilling their duties at the conclusion of the training.

Tutors and Steering Committees were extremely pleased to receive books from Scholastic again this summer. We thank Wendy Seys for submitting the proposal to this company on our behalf. The success of this program is made possible by the continuous support of the College of the North Atlantic, community businesses, organizations, and volunteers. Thank you to all who continue to help make this an extremely productive program.

Last spring, the Literacy Development Council decided to host two workshops on family/early literacy. The goal was to share ideas that have been successful in other parts of the country or in other countries. Part of the workshop was also to be devoted to proposal writing for Council grants. Dr. William Fagan, Chairperson of the Council, agreed to facilitate the workshops on a volunteer basis.

The first workshop was held in St. John's on June 9 and 10, 1998 for literacy stakeholders on the Avalon Peninsula. There were 25 people in attendance. Topics covered included: understanding one's orientation towards reading, types of children's books (including a book display), strategies for shared book reading, making environmental print books, setting up literacy play centres with a local theme, and positive reading practices. The latter part of the second day was devoted to proposal writing. Draws for book prizes were held continually throughout the workshop. The overall outcome was very positive. Attendees found the experience most helpful and suggested that the Literacy Development Council provide more service of this sort to literacy stakeholders.