Summer reading at Sonoma County Library

Image source: First Book. Used with permission

Early-childhood and school-age BINGO cards are available at Sonoma County Library as part of this year’s Summer Reading program.

By reading a minimum of six books over the summer, children are being encouraged to defeat “Summer Slide,” that drop in students’ abilities in reading and math when they don’t engage in educational activities.

Students complete activities on their BINGO cards to fill-in five squares in a row. Any square on the grid can be replaced by the activity, “Read for 20 minutes.” All reading counts, regardless of book-format: paper, eBooks, audiobooks or eAudio.

To illustrate this post, I’m using an infographic released in 2013 by nonprofit group First Book, which provides new books, learning materials and other essentials to schools and programs that serve low-income families.

The infographic depicts children’s gain or loss of reading ability as measured by reading test scores: a gain of 24.15 among students from low-income households with access to books, a gain of 15.51 among students from high-income households with access to books and a loss of 9.77 among students from low-income households without access to books.

As a committed life-long learner who relies on libraries, I donate social influence to Summer Reading at the library.

“Build a Better World” is the theme for Summer Reading this year, and Sonoma County Library is offering programs for children, teens and adults.

Sign-ups begin June 5 and children’s BINGO card entries will be accepted through July 29. Prizes will be awarded for the first five BINGOs submitted.