Jorea Marple, state superintendent, said children who don’t
pick up a book during the long break suffer from learning loss when they return
to the classroom in August.
“It’s so important that we begin as a society to understand
that learning is 24-7,” Marple said. “It doesn’t start or end at a school day.
It is about having the desire and the support to continue your learning all the
time.”
Marple said summer reading
also helps students do better on
standardized tests during the school year and that any kind of reading counts whether it’s in the form of a book or
informational article.
She recommends
each student set a goal for how much he or she will read and that goal should
include reading something every day.
“The amount and time I think needs to be established by that
student and maybe just setting your own personal goals. ‘I’m going to read five
novels this summer, or I’m going to read five informational texts or literature
this summer,’” Marple said.
“I think the point is that ‘I’m disciplined and I’m doing it
every day and I’m getting smarter every day because I’m doing it,’” she added.
Marple points out students
are more able than ever before to reach their reading goal through technology.
“Lots of kids are carrying phones today, in fact probably
most kids are carrying phones today, and most kids will have access to the
internet through phones and you can actually continue your learning by
downloading informational text through your phone,” she said.
The WV Department of Education has two web sites available
to help students and their parents put a reading plan together, Learn 21 and
Read WV.
Marple said Learn
21 offers games for students in all grades and through the website younger
readers can have books read to them.
Read WV offers links to sites likes Scholastic Books that
offer incentives for reading, and Lexile
which helps students and parents find reading material.
“Which as a parent sometimes you really may not know the
reading level of your students and books that have that particular reading
level,” Marple said. “So you’re going to be able to use that web site and
students can use that web site to find books that they’re interested in based
upon their readability level,”
Marple said using the internet and social media is a great
way to engage students in reading, but for those without that kind of access at
home, libraries across the state offer free internet and the good old fashioned
opportunity to check out a book.