The SPARK - May 2018

Dear teachers,

1. Webinar: 4-5:30 p.m. June, 6 (Click here to register)
2. Face-to-Face: 3-4:30 p.m. Thursday, June 7, at Colorado Education Association, 1500 Grant St., Denver (Click here to register)

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Each year the Colorado State Library provides libraries across the state with a summer reading program to help teachers encourage reading over the summer and halt the dreaded summer slide, when students lose some of their reading skills.

This year’s theme is “Libraries Rock!” The Colorado State Library has a list of resources, also check in with your local public library for details about participating.  

More resources on reading and libraries include: 

• A fact sheet about the summer slide and the importance of reading over the summer. The information includes research on the summer slide, how to connect with your local public library’s summer reading program, tips and talking points about the summer slide for students and parents.
   
• Additionally, the Library Research Service has compiled a statistical overview of facts derived from a 2014 survey on summer reading in Colorado, showing that families whose kids participated in the library summer reading programs showed increased reading skills and endurance.

 To find your local library and learn about what types of summer reading programs they have available for students, visit this directory to find phone numbers and addresses. 

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Many children in Colorado go hungry during the summer months when they do not have access to school breakfast and lunch. You can help ensure all children have meals this summer by informing families about free summer meal sites available in their local communities.

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provides free, nutritious meals to children 18 and younger in areas with high concentrations of low-income children. Kids who miss out on proper nutrition during the summer are more likely to experience learning loss and develop long-term health consequences. Teachers can be part of the solution and help kids to be ready to learn once back-to-school rolls around by telling families who can benefit from this program.

Free meals are provided to all children at approved SFSP sites operated across Colorado by public and private non-profit school districts, local government agencies, camps and other nonprofit community organizations that have the ability to manage a food service program.

To find summer meal sites, families can visit kidsfoodfinder.org or text ‘Food’ or ‘Comida’ to 877-877.

To help spread the word about free summer meal sites, teachers can visit the Summer Food Service Program Outreach Tools webpage to find posters/door signage, social media images, sample posts and more.

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Every person should feel the joy of going on an adventure with a book, but this doesn’t mean we  all have to read books the same way. This is what the staff at the Colorado Talking Book Library will tell you before naming the various free services they provide to anyone – children and adults alike – who struggle to read standard print.

Director of the Colorado Talking Book Library Debbi MacLeod has been delivering this message since she started 14 years ago.

“Many teachers just don’t know about the program at all,” MacLeod said.  “Or, if they do, they think it is just for blind children. It is for any student who can’t read standard print – physical, visual or learning disability.”

The Colorado Talking Book Library provides thousands of audiobooks and books in Braille and large print. There are even pairings provided with standard print so students and teachers can go on these reading adventures together. 

“We believe this can be a resource to help close the achievement gaps happening in classrooms,” MacLeod said.

So how do you access these talking books? Students just need a filled-out application signed by their teacher and, in the case of a learning disability, their doctor. Once submitted, the Talking Book staff will send a welcome packet, audio player and a couple of books to get started.

Books can also be downloaded so students can have access to them on their phones and tablets anytime and anywhere.  And because summer reading is so important to prevent the “summer slide,” the Colorado Talking Book Library is participating in the national summer reading program.

On July 10, the Talking Book Library will hold an open house in Denver. Check out the Talking Book’s  homepage today to learn more.

Recently, the Colorado Talking Book Library was named the Network Library of the Year for 2017 by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, which is part of the Library of Congress.

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