Program supplies summer reading books for ECU Community School

Two East Carolina University College of Education faculty members spearheaded a fundraising effort to ensure ECU Community School students have access to interesting, age-appropriate books this summer.

“Years of research have documented that students who do not read during the summer months can experience as much as two to three months of reading loss each summer,” said Dr. Terry Atkinson, associate professor and executive director of READ ENC Community Literacy Coalition. “This problem, called the ‘summer slide,’ has a dramatic impact on children who are economically disadvantaged, many of whom do not have access to books in their homes or neighborhoods during the summer months.”

Last summer, Atkinson and READ ENC worked with the community to pilot Kids Read Now (KRN) in five high-priority schools in Pitt County, the first district in North Carolina to implement the program. After the successful pilot, plans were made to expand the program in the summer of 2020.

“Don’t Throw it to Mo!” is one of the books that ECU Community School students could select for their Kids Read Now summer reading program wish lists.

Dr. Kristen Gehsmann, chair of the Department of Literacy Studies, English Education and History Education, contacted ECU Community School principal Tracy Cole to see if the school would be interested in participating in this year’s program.

Gehsmann and Atkinson worked to finalize the details of the project, which required a $4,000 in donations to fund participation for the school’s kindergarten through third-grade students. Gehsmann spearheaded and coordinated the fundraising efforts, and Cole’s teachers worked with their students to select books for their wish lists.

Although KRN generally begins after the school year ends in June, the model shifted when the COVID-19 global pandemic closed schools in mid-March.

“Students and teachers have made book selections via a newly designed KRN online platform and book mailings began in early May,” Atkinson said. “Participation in the KRN program by ECU Community School’s K-3 students was made possible due to KRN’s willingness to add our scholars to their summer 2020 book selections and mailings.”

KRN added fourth-grade students at no cost and donated a full set of books to the school’s library.

“Kids Read Now has been a good and giving partner. We are pleased to work with them again this summer and share in their mission to engage children and families in shared reading over the summer months and beyond,” Gehsmann said.

Throughout the summer, students will receive up to nine books from their wish list that will be mailed directly to their homes. When the first books arrived, parents also received a guide to learn more about the KRN program. Families can respond via text, app, phone or email to receive additional books.

“Books in the KRN collection include a variety of multicultural, bilingual, fiction and non-fiction titles. Students get to keep the books they choose forever,” Atkinson said. “Also, families are provided with support to read KRN books together and talk about them, which builds oral language skills and reading comprehension.”

This support comes in the form of “Discovery Sheets,” which contain four questions to support family book conversations. These conversations are important to help students develop their vocabulary, world knowledge and comprehension.

“I’m finding that when it comes to summer literacy, it is not enough to simply provide books to students,” said Madison Wildman, an ECU school psychology graduate student conducting research on the prevention of summer reading loss. “There needs to be a variety of comprehension activities, as well as some parental involvement to ensure children are reading the text accurately and with comprehension.”

According to Wildman, summer reading is imperative for students to maintain or improve their reading skills.

“It’s our hope that the Kids Read Now summer reading program will make daily reading a habit for our scholars and their families year-round,” Gehsmann said. “Reading practice is essential for becoming a proficient reader. Parents are encouraged to read to and with their children for at least 10 minutes each day.”

“The Community School is so grateful for the vision and leadership that Dr. Gehsmann and Dr. Atkinson provided for this project. Our scholars have truly been blessed to receive quality children’s literature delivered to their homes,” Cole said.

The school is still accepting donations to maintain the program and future literacy efforts through the ECU Community School Priority Fund.