Michael Sivcovich, Nederland.  Woot! Summer vacation is upon us and it’s almost officially time for students to forget everything they learned last year and focus on more important things like Xbox and the awesome new movies I just stocked the juvenile section with!

“Ha, ha, Mike. Not funny, quit joking.”

Wish that I could, but unfortunately, there is some real truth to the ‘forgetting everything they learned’ quip above. While we educators fondly call it the Summer Slide, the fact is that we retain the skills and information we use more frequently. Conversely, we tend to let go and forget the ones we use less frequently. One of the more frustrating parts of the school year is the first 2 months in autumn, when the bulk of students are literally remembering and re-learning all their lessons from the previous year. Do any of you first grade parents out there wonder why there is a spurt in progress between Halloween and Christmas? It’s because we finally got up to speed on the Kindergarten stuff and are ready to tackle the first grade stuff with a full head of steam.

There are a few crucial things that we can do to minimize this slide for our students. The most obvious, and also the best, is to read, read, READ!

While reading to your children and offering incentives to read over the summer helps, the Nederland Community Library will once again offer our Summer Reading Program (SRP). This year, the theme will be “Libraries Rock,” a theme that (as a musician) I very much look forward to!

Part of the SRP is not only to include a guide to reading books for the children, but activities and experiences that deepen their understanding of the content and topics they are reading. Our goal is to engage students from kindergarten through high school in level-appropriate tasks that involve reading, writing, researching, and creating products that will reinforce learning from the previous year and solidify some of the things they are learning this summer. For our elementary-aged friends, there will be the return of the Bingo sheet, a much less daunting approach to not only reading and writing, but interviewing, researching and kazoo bands. We need to have SOME fun this summer! Incentives are offered for varying levels of achievement of the bingo sheet, some as sweet as iTunes gifts cards!

Our older friends will have a bit more of a traditional setup, although I’m not demanding that anyone read 200 books this summer to win a prize. There are several little events happening, such as scavenger hunts that teens can complete for prizes - and it would be SO fun to have a big turnout for the classic album cover re-creation contest!

“Okay Mike. Fun prizes. iTunes cards... what’s the good stuff? Is there a grand prize or what?” Fear not. I have the goods. We have a $400 gift certificate from Tin Shed that can be put toward just about anything in the store! Woot!

Stop by the library and ask about the Summer Reading Program and grab a startup folder. We’ll have them available beginning June 2 at 2 p.m., when we hold our Opening Day Celebration! Happy Reading!

Michael Sivcovich is the Youth Services Coordinator at the Nederland Community Library.