USD 489

USD 489 received a $48,440 grant from the Dane G. Hansen Foundation to cover all of the costs for a pilot summer reading program for at-risk students and students who are performing below grade level in reading and writing.

Overall, 120 students will be selected by the district to participate in the pilot summer reading program in June 2018.

Each of the four elementary schools at Lincoln, O’Loughlin, Roosevelt and Wilson will have 30 students who have completed kindergarten, first or second grade during the 2017-2018 school year participate.

USD 489 will work with parents to identify students who will most benefit from additional reading, comprehension, and verbal sharing with other students.

USD 489 believes the summer reading program will positively impact these students who are below grade level by maintaining reading skills that have been learned throughout the school year, and in some cases, increase the reading skill sets of some students.

All of the 120 participating students will be able to take four books to read at home during the summer, which will help bridge the gap of access to books at home.

The schedule for the summer would include three days a week during the month of June from 9 to 11 a.m.

Parents will be given the opportunity to evaluate the summer reading program and provide feedback to the teachers regarding the students’ experiences through a survey.Parents will be allowed to rank and comment on their child’s experiences. The information collected from the parents will be used to re-evaluate the summer school reading program for the next school year.

The grant was written by Shanna Dinkel, Laura Gaughan, Kay Shippy, Mary Straub, Sarah Wasinger and Amy Woydziak.