Frontier Middle School students celebrated the conclusion of their annual summer reading challenge, trading pages read during their summer vacation for treat bags, gift cards, and raffle prizes.
The Frontier Middle School Summer Reading Challenge encourages incoming sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students to maintain their literacy skills during the summer months.
Patricia Applegate, an English teacher at the school, said the program focuses on keeping students engaged and preventing summer learning loss.
"Just to keep that stamina going throughout the summertime is so important as a teacher," Applegate said. "We do feel like they lose a little bit over the summer, so just knowing that they're keeping that up over the summer is wonderful."
Under the rules of the program, students submit a digital form for every 150 pages they read. Each submission converts into a raffle ticket. When students arrived at the celebration event today, they received their accumulated tickets alongside a participation gift card and a treat bag.
Students then entered their tickets into drawings for themed baskets and $25 gift cards to local businesses selected specifically for middle school interests. Applegate noted that every participating student walked away with a prize.
The 150-page benchmark is designed to push students toward more complex literature as they transition between grade levels.
"Our requirement of 150 pages kind of challenges them to pick some bigger, more challenging chapter books as they're entering middle school," Applegate said. "It just sets the tone for a good beginning for them... They come in feeling like they accomplished something and that they're off to a good start."
Organizers begin promoting the challenge each spring, pitching it to current middle schoolers as well as visiting fifth-grade students during their elementary school orientations. The school also utilizes social media and its official website to keep parents informed while school is out of session.
According to Applegate, the program has proven successful at retaining readers year after year, hooking sixth graders who then return to participate as seventh and eighth graders.
Ultimately, educators hope the program fosters a mindset that extends far beyond the English classroom.
"We try to, no matter what content area, just continue to emphasize that reading is everywhere and that no matter where they go in life, they'll need to know how to be a reader," Applegate said. "A program like this helps them to understand that it can be fun and it can be exciting, too."
Watch our video here: 🎥Celebration of Reading