WASHBURN, Maine — First graders at Washburn District Elementary School received a special gift on Thursday morning, courtesy of United Way of Aroostook’s Summer Slide reading program.
For the past four years, the Summer Slide program has provided backpacks with free books to first-graders in Aroostook County to encourage them to retain the reading skills they’ve learned during the school year.
Athena Hallowell, program and volunteer coordinator for United Way, said that throughout their summer vacation children enjoy outdoor activities and often don’t think of reading as a “fun” thing to do. The “summer slide” can occur when students mostly avoid reading during the summer and have to relearn those skills again in the fall.
“One of our areas of focus at United Way has always been education and literacy,” Hallowell said. “We don’t want children to lose the important reading skills that they’ve gained during the school year.”
Hallowell and volunteers from Summer Slide co-sponsor Katahdin Trust Company will provide books to 676 students in 21 public schools and one private school as well as homeschooled children from across The County before the end of the school year.
On Thursday, May 23, they surprised Washburn first-graders with special backpacks that contain three free books, activity sheets, pencils and bookmarks. Students will complete activity sheets for all three books and submit the assignments to the United Way office in Presque Isle. The books are theirs to keep for their home collections.
All Summer Slide backpacks contain different books that teachers select based on each students’ reading level. This year the backpacks also include the children’s book “Just Saving My Money” by Mercer Mayer and an activity that focuses on financial literacy.
Janet Doak, branch manager and retail services officer for Katahdin Trust Company in Ashland, hopes that the additional summer reading can teach students how to wisely save and spend money.
Katahdin Trust Company has been a co-sponsor of Summer Slide for the past three years and employees have volunteered to distribute backpacks to students.
“We’ve gotten a lot of feedback from parents and teachers about how much Summer Slide has made a difference for students,” Doak said.
Washburn 1st grader Portia Wheeler said she was excited to receive the summer books and share them with her family.
“My mom reads to me and my brother after school,” Wheeler said. “I like reading because I can learn new words and know what they mean.”
Wheeler’s classmate Charlie Carmichael also looks forward to getting started on summer reading.
“It’s important to read in the summer so you don’t lose your brain,” Carmichael said.
In their backpacks, students also received three coupons that they can use to obtain more free books during three Reading Celebrations that United Way will host in late summer. The celebrations will occur at the Fort Fairfield Community Center on July 17, the Houlton Recreation Center on July 31 and in Fort Kent on Aug. 6. Each event will feature a bounce house, games and the chance for students to win prizes.
