:Mrs. Kozaka’s Library Blog

Summer is certainly a time to relax and enjoy the great outdoors, but it is also a great time to read.  In fact, students who read during their summer vacation are much less likely to experience the dreaded “summer slide.”  This happens when students, who have worked hard all school year to develop their reading skills, forget to practice and lose some of what they have learned.

During library classes throughout the school year students have also practiced some helpful strategies for choosing “just right” books.  These strategies include: pursuing personal interests, following favorite authors, exploring literary genres, and getting hooked on series.  In addition, students have learned how to browse bookshelves and carefully examine books to decide if they are interesting to them.  A student may recognize the author, make predictions based on the title, do a picture walk, find a summary, or read a page using the five finger rule.   These are sure-fire methods for finding great books to read.

As you can see, the students in the South Portland elementary schools are ready and able to make personal decisions of what to read this summer.  To guide their choices, the library department has also created some summer reading lists.  Please feel free to download or print these lists and use them to Super Charge Your Summer with Books!

Have a safe and happy summer,

Mrs. Kozaka

2009 5th Grade Summer Reading List

2009 K-4 Summer Reading List (page 1)

2009 K-4 Summer Reading List (page 2)

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  The final Mainely Girls book club meeting of this school year is being held on Tuesday, June 9th.  At this time we will discuss the book “The Sisters Club” by Megan McDonald.  In this story, sisters Alex, Stevie, and Joey are spunky members of a family who is heavily involved in local acting groups.  According to Kirkus Reviews, “Using a combination of personal journals, family-life scripts, and first-person narratives from each sister’s point of view, McDonald paints the picture of an entirely normal family in a somewhat unusual line of work” (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2003).  Sounds like a fun read, huh?

Girls, please share some remarks about this book. 

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