Read to the rhythm for summer reading

Published June 23, 2015
By Airman 1st Class Rose Gudex
21st Space Wing Public Affairs

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- When school lets out for the summer, there is nothing further from the mind of a 10-year-old than sitting still to read a book. The summer reading program at the Peterson AFB Library is doing everything it can to change that.

The Peterson AFB summer reading program is sponsored by the Department of Defense, which allows the library to create a more exciting program. Registration began June 8 for "Read to the Rhythm" and will end July 18 with a party to celebrate the success of each reader.

The purpose of the program is to get kids to read throughout the summer, but more importantly, to prevent summer slide, said Kathy Kucharski, Peterson AFB Library director.

"It's a fact that during the summer, kids slide back from where they were at the end of the school year," she said. "So at the beginning of the new school year they have to spend three weeks or even a month catching up."

To keep kids from losing progress, and even help them advance, the library offers a program to get them pumped about reading, said Kucharski. Prizes are available once a week for the children who continuously read.

"Our program is based on the amount of time read," Kucharski said. "For every half hour read, you get to cross off one circle on the reading log. You bring the log into the library every week. As long as some reading time is logged each week, kids get a fun weekly prize."

When playing video games sounds much more entertaining than reading a book, she said the prizes help to get kids at a young age excited about reading. As they get older, the delight in toys gives way to the satisfaction of a good book.

While only the younger children get weekly prizes for reading, the program is open to all ages, Kucharski said. For the young adult and adult categories, names are put into a raffle each week they bring in their reading log. All the adult reading hours are also added to the total reading hours for the program.

In 2014 there were a total of 753 people signed up for the program, including 218 adults, 48 young adults and 307 junior readers, who read for a total of 6,231 hours. With 573 people signed up in just the first week this year, they are well on the way to beating those numbers, she said.

"We keep these stats so we know how many people were impacted," Kucharski said. "It's exciting to see kids this excited to read."

Whether you're an Airman in the dorms needing to do something besides play video games or a military spouse trying to get your kids involved in something educationally beneficial for the summer, read to the rhythm this summer.

For more information, please call the base library at 556-7462 or stop by building 1171.

Read to the rythm