The Country School is an independent, coeducational, Pre-K through 8 school founded in 1934.
Right Start Blog
STAR: Stop Together and Read
Upper School Head Wilson Everhart delves into the importance of a new initiative beginning with the 2017-2018 school year to Stop Together and Read.
STAR: Stop Together and Read
One of the most meaningful moments in your children’s lives is when they learn to read. As a parent, it is a powerful moment to see your child take those first, independent steps into the worlds waiting within the pages of every book.
Our Lower School teachers are remarkable in their commitment to teach your child to read, and it is the avowed goal of the Country School to go far beyond teaching the how of reading. We strive to foster a genuine love for, and enthusiastic commitment to, reading that will run throughout your child’s life and well into adulthood.
To give but a few examples, the Lower School teachers consistently set aside time during the school day for independent reading; Mrs. Orban reads aloud to her library students each week; Mr. Nittle asks the 8th grade parents to nominate a meaningful book for their child to read in their final term of English; and Ms. Amaral has long championed the importance of independent reading in her English classes and during the summer, as well as encouraging all of you to share pictures of your child as you catch them reading outside of school.
Next year, I am pleased to announce that we will add an additional initiative to encourage and ensure independent reading as a part of our students’ daily habits. For at least 15 minutes every day, students, teachers, and administrators will all pause and read independently at the same time. (At first, our youngest students will participate by being read to by their teachers.) This block in the schedule will be known as STAR: Stop Together And Read. The children will bring an appropriate book of their choosing to school, and the adults will commit to putting down their work, closing their laptops, and reading as well; neither the students, teachers, administrators, not even Mr. Mufson, will do anything but read during STAR.
There are three primary reasons we are excited about this initiative. First, numerous studies suggest that the students who do best on standardized tests, including the SAT, are those who regularly read, illustrated in part by this graphic. Second, and more importantly, we believe an outstanding way to foster lifelong reading habits is to allow students to read books they have selected in an ungraded moment. Third, it is important for students to see their teachers, respected adults in their lives, model daily dedication to reading.
As we prepare to launch this exciting new initiative, we will need your support on three fronts this summer and next school year. 1. Please help your children identify and procure books (paper or electronic) that they can read next year during STAR. 2. Please help your child set aside at least 20 minutes every day this summer to read independently. 3. As the most important adults in your child’s life, please make sure that your children are catching you reading books independently as well. I cannot stress enough how beneficial it is for children to read - and see reading modeled - for at least 20 minutes every day, and we look forward to working with you to ensure it happens both in and out of school.
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