Teachers

Let's send your students to the next grade as the strong readers you helped develop!

Everyone is aware of the effects of not reading over the summer and the loss/setback that can occur. What if you could keep your students reading over the summer to help them maintain their reading levels through your teaching efforts? Well, now you can!

Letter P.A.L.S. Summerfest 2009 is a FREE summer reading program that was created to help offset summer reading loss/setback, engage and encourage daily reading habits, and promote the love of reading among elementary school children.

Summerfest 2009 runs from June 22 to August 2 and features the Pet Shop Pen Pals. The Pet Shop Pen Pals are a special group of pets who love to write letters to students and tell them about the great adventures they go on.

Starting on Monday, June 22, the Pet Shop Pen Pals will provide a new online letter for your students to read every Monday through Thursday when they login on the Letter P.A.L.S. website. Each daily Pet Shop Pen Pals letter will be personalized with the student's name, is three pages in length, professionally written, beautifully illustrated, and reviewed by reading specialists for age appropriateness.

There's more!

To bring the most meaning to each letter, special features have been added to the letters. First, each letter includes a "Paws for Reading" page that follows the third page of the letter and includes specific questions and answers for each letter. Once he/she reads and answers the questions, the student clicks on the Readers Are Winners button, which will place an electronic red paw print on the classroom chart signaling that he/she read that letter.

Next, as a means to promote vocabulary and spelling, 8 key words have been highlighted in red within each letter. Students are instructed to complete a daily crossword puzzle and word search sheet containing the 8 key words for every letter.

As an incentive to complete the entire daily task, a point system has been created where the student can earn 8 points for reading each letter and answering the questions, 8 points for completing the crossword puzzle, and 8 additional points for completing the word search. We are aiming for perfection, therefore, any student who completes all 24 letters, crossword puzzles, and word searches will have earned 576 points and will receive a prize as outlined in the Summerfest 2009 section of the web site.

Your part is easy!

Simply register your classroom, and you will be assigned a unique classroom identification number. Your unique classroom number will serve as a way for only your students to enroll under your classroom. To assist you, we have drafted an official Parent Notification Letter that contains your classroom identification information on it and how your parents/students enroll. This letter can be found by logging in and clicking on the tabbed PARENT NOTIFICATION LETTER section, located within your personal teacher's administrative area. All you have to do is print one off, sign the letter, make the appropriate number of copies, and send them home with your students.

You can check your students' progress any time by logging in and viewing your classroom chart found in your personal teacher's area. It's that easy!

Reading and fun wrapped up in one!