Summer Reading

Jaden and Cody's school has an annual summer reading program to encourage kids to read over the summer. Students are allowed to participate in any of the 6 challenges (e.g. reading various genres, reading books set in different continents, reading books from different series, clocking a minimum of 15 minutes per day). Jaden and Cody really enjoy reading and were extra motivated by the Mr. Boldt Challenge (getting a higher word count over the summer than one of our middle school teachers). As the summer kicked off, they were determined to read as many words as possible! 

One of their favorite places to read is hidden away in a closet. I loved finding them in identical positions one day!

New to the reading program this summer was a "Service Reading" challenge. Students could either read to a sibling for a total of 8 hours or to a non-relative as a service for 6 hours. I thought this was a wonderful idea! Jaden and Cody clocked a couple hours reading to Adley.

Most of their service reading hours, however, were earned at a nearby memory care facility. We visited this home twice a month over the summer and read to the residents. What a wonderful experience! Most of our listeners were cute, smiling, attentive old ladies. 

Jaden and Cody really had to learn how to project their voices as they held up their books for the residents. They also had to practice being patient conversationalists when the residents would sometimes interrupt their reading and ask them the same questions multiple times! ;)

On our last day of visiting this facility, I arranged to have Cody and Jaden play some piano songs after they were done reading. The residents seemed to love this and even tried to sing along with some of the boys' pieces! I was very proud of the boys' smooth playing, even with this added challenge.

Cody played The Wheels on the Bus and London Bridge.

Jaden's two songs were Yankee Doodle and Peter, Peter.

Once school started, all of the participants in the Summer Reading Program were recognized at a chapel service. Jaden and Cody participated in all 6 of the challenges and received a certificate and medal for each one. They also earned a free homework pass and a free non-uniform dress day. Best of all, each of the students' names were entered in a drawing for a $20 Barnes and Noble giftcard, and Cody won this! Jaden and Cody didn't end up beating Mr. Boldt in his reading challenge, unfortunately, but they each read close to 1 million words. Wow!! We were quite proud of our little bookworms this summer.