Year in the books
Eastside Elementary School top in state for summer reading
Reading takes you to different places. It helps you learn, and it gives you confidence. At least, that’s what three Eastside Elementary School students in Cabot said about one of their favorite activities.
Fourth- grader Chandler Ford, third-grader Emma Durham and second-grader Gavin Hock were some of the top readers over the summer, logging thousands of reading minutes in order to help Eastside Elementary School earn the title as the No. 1 school in Arkansas in the 2015 Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge. In total, Eastside students logged 217,457 minutes of reading over the summer.
“Reading is important because it takes you to so many other places and opens your mind up to a joy,” said Chandler, who read for 21,021 minutes this summer. “It’s just so important.”
This is not Eastside Elementary’s first time to be on top in Arkansas for summer reading. The school also earned the award several years ago, and Eastside Media Specialist Pam Sowell said many of the students remembered the celebration
following that success.
The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a “free reading program dedicated to stopping the ‘Summer Slide’ and inspiring kids to read every day throughout the summer months,” according to the program’s website. Children from all 50 states and 28 countries participated this year, and out of 6,229 schools, Eastside Elementary ranked 214.
Sowell said she is proud of the students and their families for being dedicated to the summer challenge. Throughout the year, Sowell said, she tries to emphasize to the students how fun and important reading is, and she has seen students encouraging each other to read by suggesting books and participating in book-centered school projects.
“My goal, when I came to the library, was to make it the heart of the school,” Sowell said. “I want reading to be the most important thing to every child.”
Eastside Principal Stacy Allen said this award affirms that the school is succeeding in making students good readers, whether or not school is in session.
“It shows that our students and our families value reading,” she said. “It shows that they value becoming the very best people that they can become and know that reading is a big part of that. Readers are leaders.”
Parents were a big part of the summer success, Sowell said, and it is encouraging to have supportive families who help students reach for their goals throughout the year.
“Their parents are dedicated,” she said. “We did something three years ago where we challenged our parents to read with their child 100 nights in a row for at least 20 minutes. That has really carried on. We have families who [have] read together more than 365 nights. … They loved The Reading Streak. All of this builds on each other. It didn’t just happen one summer.”