Metford Public School

Introduction

Metford Public School has participated in the Holiday reading is rad initiative which encourages primary students and family members to read together over the summer holidays. The Support Teacher Learning (STL) at Metford Public School shares her story about the implementation of Holiday reading is rad and the success of the project in the school.
 

A teacher's perspective

Holiday Reading is really 'rad' at Metford Public School.

The school has been taking part in the program since it began in 2002. Our evaluations about the program have always been positive and have shown that the students and families who participate really enjoy the experience. We decided to have a deeper look at what it is that parents love about the program so we could use that information to encourage more families to participate in the program in 2008. As a Support Teacher Learning (STL) at Metford, I am always looking for ways to increase engagement in learning for kids and I coordinate Holiday reading is rad each year because it works to keep student reading levels on track.

Holiday reading is rad is a project designed to encourage adults to read with children every day of the Christmas holidays to prevent children “forgetting” their reading skills during the long summer holiday break. Students who choose to be part of the project are pre and post tested to accurately assess their reading ability before and after the holidays.

Making a difference to student reading

At Metford Public School we have found that the children, who participate in the program over the holidays maintain their reading levels and in some cases improve their reading by one level or more. A few students have had outstanding improvement in their reading levels and we wanted to see if we could find out what contributed to this success.

To do this, we invited three parents whose children had increased their reading levels to talk with us about what it was that worked for them and what they thought of Holiday reading is rad.

Kathy and her daughter Sarah read daily during the holidays after learning that although Sarah read well, she found it difficult to comprehend what she was reading. Kathy felt one of the reasons it worked so well for her, as a busy mum, was because they could read different things like newspapers, catalogues and magazines as well as spending time reading recipes together. She felt the reason Sarah had improved so much was because they had time to re-read things and talk about what they were reading, where during the school term things are more rushed. Since participating in Holiday reading is rad Sarah is reading more books because she can read more fluently and understands what she is reading more easily.

Kathleen’s daughter, 10 year old Brooke, improved her reading level, comprehension and her accuracy rate. Kathleen says the improvement is partly because Brooke is an aunty, who spent a lot of her in the holiday time reading to her niece, and that this extended to neighbourhood children and friends. Because Brooke spent so much time reading to other children she read lots of different books and had the other children read to her as well, while playing “school”.

Brooke’s brother, Brendan, also maintained his reading level and Kathleen says both children absolutely love the K-Zone magazines that they have kept from Holiday reading is rad in previous years. The children love the magazines because they are something different and they enjoy telling their mum about what they have read. As the mother of 8 children, Kathleen says she always tries to find time to sit down and read with the children but in the holidays it is so much easier because they have more time. Kathleen believes it was a combination of interesting magazines, extra time to relax and being able to sit for 10 to 20 minutes to listen to them reading, that contributed to the success of the program for her children. She said it isn’t just the kids who have all the fun. Kathleen used the paper voucher to purchase the Sun- Herald and everyone now reads the paper at home.

Cristine’s two children, Tim aged 10, and Lauren aged 8, both showed huge improvements in reading after taking part in Holiday reading is rad. Cristine said both children absolutely love the Holiday reading is rad kit and agreed with Kathleen, that the magazines were something new and interesting for the kids to get into during the holidays. Cristine said her children read so much more during the holidays because of the magazines and took them everywhere, including their two week camping trip. Cristine said as a result of their increased interest in reading, the children joined their local library towards the end of the holidays. When his grandmother asked Tim what he would like for his birthday he said, “a book”, which is very different from his usual requests. Lauren is now much more confident and actually wants to read more often. She has been attempting chapter books instead of the usual picture books. Cristine’s older daughter, Jessica, who is in Year 9, thinks high schools should run Holiday reading is rad.

Parents' perspectives

The parents agreed on the things that made Holiday reading is rad successful.

• The children had magazines they wanted to read.
• The children had free time during the holidays to read.
• The children didn’t have to be hassled to do reading.
• The parents spending quality time with the children.

New directions with Holiday reading is rad

Talking with these parents has actually given me more ideas for Holiday reading is rad this year. I haven’t previously worked with the Community Liaison Officer at the school, so this year I plan to work more closely with her to run more information sessions for parents about the program.

I think we need to give more feedback to parents about their child maintaining or improving their reading level during the holidays which will increase the value of the participation in the program.

Mostly, I think we need to have the parents whose children have improved or maintained their levels, to talk at the parent information sessions. That way, parents are hearing first hand from other parents, who are also busy and working, that the program is fun, and that is easy to listen to and read with your child while making a difference to their learning.

Our parents thought we might also think about more incentives for parents as well as for students. Perhaps we could give the parents a certificate as well, or a subscription to a magazine to show we value their contribution to their child’s education.

Whatever we do one thing is certain: Holiday reading is rad keeps kids connected to their learning and can assist to increase reading and concentration levels and provides children and parents with real quality time that can positively impact on student learning outcomes.

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