The “Bridges Summer Program” is based on the premise of dialogic reading, in which children learn most from books when they are actively involved. Also, how books are read to children is as important as how often books are read to them.

Each week during July and August, teachers will use the “Bridges Summer Program” to introduce students to a new book, with which they will lead discussions, ask questions and introduce activities about the events in the story. These conversations will build children’s comprehension and vocabulary skills that will be further developed during the upcoming school year.

For very young students who don’t have the vocabulary to answer questions, the teacher will ask and answer the question, encouraging the students to repeat the responses. This technique helps students use and become comfortable with language, while expanding their vocabulary in the process.

“The ‘Bridges Summer Program has been designed to enable our students to benefit from the joy of the summer, but also help them keep them learning in a structured environment so as to lessen the effect of the back-to-school transition in September,” said Carol Dobyns, executive director of Chesterbrook Academy. “Reading is very important at an early age in order to develop emergent literacy skills. In addition, multiple exposures and conversations about different books and themes help build children’s knowledge base and understanding.”

Since the program is a supplement to Links to Learning, an important component is parent involvement. Each week, parents will receive information about the book their children will be reading, and given tips and examples of questions they can ask their children in order to reinforce what is being taught in the classroom.

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