Why Summer Reading?

Why is Summer Reading Required?

Why do we make you do summer reading at the O’Bryant? Is it because we like giving you extra work over the summer? Maybe it’s because your teachers have a desire to keep you busy because they’re mean?

This is probably what some of you think or tell yourselves, but rest assured, those are not the reasons why.

So why do we make you do summer reading? There are several reasons, actually.

1. Many students lose skills during the summer months. Studies have shown for a long time that students lose literacy skills over the summer break. Think of all the hard work you put in during the school year. You spent so much time and effort building your skills…only to lose a bunch of those reading, writing, and critical thinking skills during a couple of months. No way! We want you to come into the building in September as close to (or maybe even ABOVE) your skill level at the end of the prior school year.

2. At the O’Bryant, each year we have a “whole school book” that everyone reads. Students. Teachers. Support Staff. It gives us all a shared topic of discussion as we begin the new year surrounded by new faces, in new classrooms, with new teachers and friends. We love to build community here at the O’Bryant, and having a shared read brings us another step closer to achieving our goal of having a strong and connected community. 

3. Reading is awesome! OK, maybe some of you don’t believe this. Maybe reading has been difficult for you or maybe it’s been a little boring. But, even in a world of millions of hours of music at the tap of a finger and all the TikTok videos you can handle, reading is one thing that helps you grow as a person. It exposes you to new ideas in a way that isn’t just consuming them for a few seconds, but that causes you to think about those new ideas. To determine for yourself whether you agree or disagree - and how much of this will make its way into your own life and belief system. Reading about other people, other experiences, and other lives helps you to become a better human being. It makes you empathetic to other people and their experiences, and it gives you a window into worlds you might otherwise never see.

Here at the O’Bryant, we value literacy and the sharing of ideas. We want you to join in on that belief with us and grow as a student and as a person. We believe reading books over the summer and doing assignments that require you to think about the ideas in those books is a great way of helping you grow as a person. So yeah, that’s the real reason you have to do summer reading. It’s to help you grow. And, honestly, a big part of our job here is to help you grow. So…

Let’s GO!!!