Warrensville Heights Summer School Program to Celebrate Student Achievement in Reading and Writing as Students Unveil Self-Published Books to Parents and District Administrators

In an effort to halt summer reading loss, the Warrensville Heights City School District implemented American Reading Company’s Summer Learning Labs for students in Grades 1-8 who were not yet reading on grade level.  This five-week intensive program will culminate with celebrations on Thursday, July 21st, when participating students will showcase books they authored and illustrated to parents, teachers, and district administrators.  The celebrations will be held from 11:00 am-12:00 pm at both Eastwood Elementary School at 4050 Eastwood Lane and Warrensville High School (where the middle school program was held) at 4270 Northfield Road.  

According to Director of School Improvement Debra Campbell, “This five-week program was designed to build upon the reading growth students made during the school year and to engage parents to champion home reading practice throughout the summer months.”  

With Summer Learning Labs, students read independently from fiction and nonfiction leveled libraries and practice the writing process as they draft, revise, edit, and publish their own books on the topics of Animals, Weather, and Geology for elementary school students and Native Americans, Colonial America, and the American Revolution for middle school students.  Students also take books home to read each night to support home reading with parents.  The goal is for every student to log at least 20 hours of independent reading practice.

“By combining high-interest nonfiction titles with a leveling system based on the Common Core Standards, students can access books they can and want to read about science and social studies topics,” said Jane Hileman, Founder and CEO of American Reading Company.  “I congratulate all of the participating students on their self-published books, parents for their daily involvement as home reading coaches, and the administration for their commitment to this intensive summer program to maintain and build upon the tremendous progress made during the school year.”