San Angelo ISD Summer Book Patrol Delivers Books and Fun with First Delivery of Summer

San Angelo ISD Summer Book Patrol Delivers Books and Fun with First Delivery of Summer

Stocked with books, colorful balloons and more, the San Angelo ISD Summer Book Patrol excitedly hit the town yesterday to deliver books to more than 25 SAISD students. The Summer Book Patrol is an extension of the San Angelo READS! community-wide literacy initiative to continue inspiring a love of reading in the critical summer months and as part of the District’s on-going commitment to our students and community.

“We’re so happy to be able to do this for our students. Although it is summer break and kids need time to relax and play, reading is a great way to keep your child’s brain active so he or she can continue to learn over the break,” said SAISD Director of Elementary Curriculum and Instruction Rikke Black. “Reading is a skill that helps sharpen the brain and improve learning, and is also a fun way to explore and stretch their imagination.”

With the support of SAISD community partner H-E-B, students not only received a bag of books from the Summer Book Patrol, but also activities, snacks and balloons. District administrators, principals, educators and staff came together to make the deliveries with a smile to foster a lifetime love of literacy and summer reading while also making individual children feel supported and special.

“It’s such a fun and wonderful opportunity to make a surprise visit and encourage our students to read during the summer!” said Glenmore Elementary Principal Teri Gould.

We look forward to another round of delivering books to our youngest readers again soon. Community members can join us in inspiring a love of reading by nominating a child in the San Angelo area to receive free books through our nomination form. SAISD also reminds families we have a library of read alouds videos available on our website to enjoy all summer long and on our San Angelo READS! YouTube channel, and we encourage families to utilize local resources like the Tom Green County Library System, which has a number of fun events and engaging activities this summer. Ms. Black also shared these summer time tips for families to make reading fun over the summer break: 

  1. Take your child to the community library - throughout the summer there are scheduled reading events.
  2. Set a family reading goal and even make it a competition.
  3. After goal setting, make a reward system to encourage reading.
  4. Be a reading model for your kids and set family reading times.
  5. Read with your child - take turns reading a book, ask your child questions about what you read and allow them to ask you questions.
  6. Make reading an art project and have your child paint, color, or draw parts of the story.
  7. Let your child read books about things they are interested in like dinosaurs, space, cars, flowers, etc.
  8. Read about a culture and have a cultural night at home.
  9. Don’t make it a chore, make it fun for them and the whole family.

We extend a special thanks to our SAISD Difference Maker team members who took time out of their day to help to deliver for the Summer Book Patrol fun. Follow the San Angelo ISD Facebook, Twitter, and website, www.saisd.org/read, to stay up-to-date on San Angelo READS! and the Summer Book Patrol! Community members are encouraged to share how they celebrate reading all summer long through the hashtag, #SAISDReads.

San Angelo READS!

The San Angelo Reads! community-wide literacy initiative was founded by the District in 2020 to promote and encourage reading and the SAISD future-ready learner profile attributes among SAISD students and the greater San Angelo community. The goal of the literacy initiative is to increase awareness of the importance of literacy and to inspire a love for reading. This exciting initiative is driven by statistics which show how vitally important literacy is to providing all students with the opportunities to succeed at a young age. Children and teenagers who read for pleasure on a daily or weekly basis score better on reading and writing tests than infrequent or non-readers.

SAISD kicked off San Angelo READS! on December 9, 2020 with the first annual San Angelo Reads! Day, a day when literacy was celebrated at every SAISD elementary campus with literacy fun like read-ins, unveiling book vending machines and a gift of a book to all SAISD 3rd graders compliments of the San Angelo Area Foundation. SAISD is focused on building literacy skills that create students who are prepared for future successes, inside and outside the classroom and beyond their time in our hallways. hi