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Beginning readers often regress over the summer vacation. In the past, individual students were given books for personal use. This year we wanted to increase the impact of the books purchased. The Campbell River Daybreak Rotary Club, in cooperation with the We Wai Kai and We Wai Kum communities including the Laichwiltach Family Life Society, an elementary school having a significant number of students at risk of regression, and Literacy Campbell River, identified five locations that offer summer programs. In these locations, a selection of developmentally appropriate books was housed for the summer. The goal was to create opportunities for beginning readers to practice reading skills throughout the summer vacation.
The literacy, international service and small projects committees contributed funding for a District Community Grant to fund this pilot summer program. Teachers and the staff of Laichwiltach Family Life Society identified age and culturally appropriate books for placement in the summer libraries. These were supplemented with books donated by individual club members. Storage shelves on wheels were constructed to hold and display the books. This allowed these books to be moved where the children were located during the day and into secure storage at night.
Feedback from program staff was overwhelmingly positive. Programs integrated daily reading periods into their schedules. Children often chose to spend time reading when they had free time or were finished other activities. Discussions in the First Nations programs contributed to the children becoming more aware of their heritage, language and history. The children read eagerly with Rotarians when sharing the learning gained from the summer reading program books.
At the end of the summer, the libraries were placed in locations which had year round programs for parents with young children. The libraries have become an on-going resource to the children of Campbell River.
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Mark Berry, photographer