Caregiver Letter Summer Reading 2020

Caregiver Letter Summer Reading 2020
Greetings CSUS Families and Caregivers,

The CSUS ELA Team including ELA teachers and Special Educators Grades 6 - 8, Reading Teacher and Interventionist, and our Library and Technology Specialist have collaborated to produce a 2020 Summer Reading Program that will meet the unique needs facing scholars during remote emergency learning. Please take a look at the attached documents to learn all about it!

In the past at CSUS we have enjoyed an annual tradition of beginning each school year in small group discussions with scholars about one common book per grade. We have particularly enjoyed full-staff support of literacy, as each staff member led small group conversations about books in the first few days of school. We had to make a difficult decision this year to temporarily depart from this tradition, as we do not know if we will be in the same physical space in the fall. We hope to return to this model in the future.

Attached is a slide show of twenty high interest books which were offered to scholars as a choice for summer reading. They each took a survey and selected their top three books. We are excited to be able to provide scholars with a personalized and screen-free reading experience this summer!

I want to thank a few members of Team CSUS who made this opportunity possible for our scholars. When I told Mr. Fernandez there might be an inequitable situation in the district, he quickly responded. "Let's get the books!" He and Ms. Sohn championed this process providing the funding and logistical support to make it happen. Our Librarian, Ms. Connolly, curated high-interest titles that represent our Scholar-values and provide our scholars with windows and mirrors in text.

Finally, The ELA team looks for titles for summer reading all year. Our teachers choose books that bring scholars together and build community and help us all get to know one another in the beginning of the year. They had already done this ground work and had to shelve some good titles this year. I want to thank them for their continued work in providing culturally responsive virtual instruction. If you need a great book recommendation, these are your people. Shout out to the CSUS ELA Team!

Debra Cerundolo
Norah Connolly
Kathryn Copley
Connie Henderson
Karolyn Maws
Maura Mullowney
Asya Myers
Betsy Preval
Sarah Symes


CSUS Summer Reading 2020 Highlights and Logistics

All scholars will be provided with three books of their choice, and are encouraged to read for 20 minutes each day.

Scholars are asked to respond in writing upon completing a book by filling out a GoogleForm. Teachers are excited to meet new scholars and read their thoughts about books. There are many choices for prompts, including writing a letter to your new teacher.

Scholars are also encouraged to read nonfiction this summer by participating in the New York Times Summer Reading Project in which teenagers are invited to choose any article, essay, photo, video, graphic, podcast or illustration published in 2019 or 2020 on NYTimes.com and explain why it got their attention. At the end of each week, judges from the Times newsroom will pick favorite responses and publish them.

Scholars entering Grades 6 - 8 have been provided with classroom codes for a Google Classroom to access Summer Learning for Math and ELA. Links to these classrooms will also be posted on the CSUS Library website and the CSUS School website.

We are hoping that books will arrive soon! Please look for an email to coordinate pick up of summer reading and math materials.

For your information, the attached documents contain the summer reading expectations for CSUS 2020.

Please ask me any questions at [email protected].

Thank you,
Laura Smith,
Literacy Coach


CSUS 2020 Summer Reading Titles

2020 Summer Reading Info Flyer

CSUS 2020 Summer Reading Response Log

For Graduating 8th Grade Scholars here is information regarding the CRLS Summer Reading Program:

CRLS Summer Reading 2020

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