May 15, 2025
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”
— Walt Disney
Dear ASRSD Parents, Guardians, and Families,
It’s amazing to think that summer is just around the corner. As folks are planning summer camps, summer retreats, summer vacations, and summer trips, we also wanted to make sure that we leave some room for summer reading.
Most parents and guardians, myself included, are always looking for ideas to entertain and inspire their kids during the summer months. One of these ways is through reading. A good book provides that opportunity - traveling to far-off places, meeting new people, solving problems, or just helping us to relax, or to escape from reality for a moment.
But who would have thought that all these fun things about reading would have an added educational benefit, too? Well, they do. “Summer Slide,” the notion that students actually lose the gains they made in learning as a result of long gaps in their education such as summer break, is a real thing. The good news is that it can be overcome. Summer reading, for as little as 15 minutes per day, can reduce the slide. In fact, students have been shown to make educational gains just by reading over the summer.
Over the past several years, we have partnered with our public libraries in both Ayer and Shirley to provide engaging choices for students to read (or be read to). When students read, or see you reading, they start to develop a love of reading. This causes them to read more, which reduces summer slide. The missing ingredient in this mix is engaging all of you. To that end, in addition to grade specific brochures, we have provided resources on our website for “Summer Reading” to make the materials as accessible as possible to all of our students and families.
At the start of the 2025-2026 school year, each school and each classroom will help our students connect their passion for reading they developed over the summer to the goals of the classroom.
Have a wonderful summer, and happy reading!
Sincerely,
Charlie Caliri
