What will happen in September?
When we return to school in the fall, we hope to have many informal discussions about all of the books that we enjoyed over the summer. Don't be surprised when someone asks you what you read! 

For our Fall Reading Celebration, all students and teachers in the district will come together in groups at the start of the school year to talk about their STEAM books. To prepare for this, everyone should be ready to share the title, the author, and a few sentences about the book that they chose. There is no worksheet to fill out and there is nothing to sign.  

How can we get the most out of summer reading? 
We hope that everyone in the Wakefield community, children and adults alike, will challenge themselves to read four books and to then share what they've read through conversations, discussions, and social media. 

The following starter questions are often used in book clubs and will help you prepare for the September summer reading discussions. 

​General:
1. What did you like and dislike about the book?
2. Who do you know who should read this book and why? 
3. Did the book change your opinion or perspective about something? 
4. What parts of the book did you find confusing or hard to understand? What could the author do differently?

Fiction:​
1. What was the world like in the book? How well did the author build the world?
2. If you were to write fan-fiction about this piece, what story would you tell?
3. What playlist would you create to go along with this book?
4. If the book were to be made into a movie, who would play the main characters?
​
Non-Fiction:​
1. What is a career that might be related to the subject of this book?
​2. Give us two truths and a lie about the book's subject. 
3. Why do you think the author chose to write this book?

How can parents talk to their children about books?
Ask questions and be a good listener. This Scholastic article talks about the value of listening to children talk about what they're reading. It's not all about building literacy skills -- engaging in meaningful conversations about books with our children gives us insight into who they are and helps them develop important social and emotional skills.

Read books together. As shown in this ​Brightly post, many children enjoy being read to well beyond elementary school. Reading together is a great way to model fluency, introduce children to more difficult books, and spend quality time together both reading and discussing afterwards.