ROCHAMBEAU MIDDLE SCHOOL LITERACY TEAM ENCOURAGES READING AS A LIFE-ENDEAVOR

    This past summer, students and teachers from Rochambeau Middle School (RMS) read books whenever and wherever they could. Now, visitors to the school can view photographs of the readers in a display case entitled, “Where Were You Reading This Summer?”

    The Rochambeau Middle School Literacy Team, implemented last year and made up primarily of teachers, is spearheading projects that will send positive messages to teens about reading.

    “We want to show students that we value literacy as a part of the day. The Literacy Team is promoting reading as a life-endeavor, not just a school-endeavor,” said Mr. Jason Bluestein, assistant principal at Rochambeau Middle School.

     One of the first goals of the RMS Literacy Team, chaired by the assistant principal, was to increase the number of students who participate in Governor Rell’s Summer Reading Challenge.

     Although the students spent much of their summer reading, many did not return their forms to school in September. The Literacy Team decided to inject new life into the summer reading program by asking students, teachers, and staff to submit photographs of themselves as they read over the summer.

     “We increased our response tremendously,” said Mr. Bluestein. “The students were lounging in hammocks, on Cape Cod beaches, and under oak trees.”

     Other projects the RMS Literacy Team is undertaking and reviewing include expanding classroom libraries in all classrooms and thereby giving students greater access to high quality texts; participating in Connecticut Reads Day in February; bringing to RMS a notable author; assessing and revising the school’s “Just Read” silent sustained-reading program; and decorating the school to show a focus on literacy.