Congratulations to the many Year 7 girls who have made a fantastic start to their reading year by completing the summer reading challenge. It’s the best year ever! However it doesn’t matter if you didn’t do this, as we’re now continuing with the Reading Olympics where you still have the opportunity to record summer reading.
Reading Olympics is a promotion which I devised to try and encourage wider reading, progressing from bronze to silver, then gold level. Many will soon be reading towards their silver level. The scheme will run until the end of June 2008, and continue into Year 8. Certificates will be awarded for each stage, with Gold Certificates presented at Junior Prize-giving, in front of the whole school, in July.
Each girl in Year 7 now has a Reading Olympics record card and will be encouraged to complete any remaining activities. Like the summer reading challenge the record card has spaces for readers to note the author and title of each book. It doesn’t have to be a school library book.
I would be grateful if adults or older brothers or sisters at home could help to sign the record card. All that is needed is a brief discussion about the book or a few simple questions to ascertain the book has been read. Support for reading at home can be a great motivator, and I do hope the scheme will encourage the girls to read more widely and to try new authors and genres. Parents and carers - perhaps you would even like to shadow your child’s reading during the forthcoming National Year of Reading which will run from January to December 2008.
