Mission, Texas- Mission CISD (Consolidated Independent School District) officials have been quietly planning and building a literacy push that will be anything but quiet as it goes public. Throughout this school year, the district has been putting things in place for its Read to Lead program that will have two large events in the next few weeks.
The first will take place on April 27 at 9:00 a.m. at each Mission CISD elementary school. Each of the district’s 14 elementary schools will participate in the Texas Reads One Book celebration that will be led, via video feed, by Jason Garrett, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. Garrett will read the first chapter of The World According to Humphrey, by Betty Birney. Then Mission CISD students will continue to read the book in school, and at home with family members over the following days/weeks. Each elementary student will receive a copy of the book for their home libraries.
“I believe we are the only district in the Rio Grande Valley that will have all its elementary students participating in this state event,” said Ricardo López, superintendent. “As the hometown of former Dallas Cowboys coaching legend, Tom Landry, this seemed like a perfect way to really begin our Read to Lead push.”
López said part of what the district is focusing on is creating future leaders, and the fact that leaders are readers. “We are building a program that we hope will not only impact student achievement in all subjects, but we are hoping to impact our community as well by finding ways to involve parents and families in this whole process,” López said.
Other activities are also being created as a part of the Texas Reads One Book program. The district has designated the day of the Texas Reads One Book event as Hall of Fame Day. Tom Landry, the Dallas Cowboys, and some of the community’s history will play a role in many of those activities. Students will continue to read the book, both in school and at home and will be encouraged to read it with members of their families.
The next event will be so large; it will take a whole stadium to hold it. The morning of Tuesday, May 19, all of Mission CISD elementary students will be bused to Tom Landry Stadium for a giant reading rally to kick off the district’s summer reading program. As a part of this program, each elementary student will be given a backpack with two books to be read over the summer, along with an interactive journal for students to complete before school starts again in late August. The book titles students receive will be based upon their grade level. Students and teachers are being encouraged to come to the rally dressed as their favorite book character. Music and fun activities are being planned for the reading rally.
“We want reading to be something students think of as a fun activity,” said Cris Valdez, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction. “These activities are just the starting point of helping our student build their reading skills, but to also discover that reading can be fun. We need help them explore the different genres of books on their own, for pleasure reading; as opposed to assigned reading which tends to take some of the joy out of it for many students.”
Valdez also indicated one of the main purposes of a summer reading program is to help fight the summer slide that happens while students are away from school. Summer programs are designed to help student retain more of what they have learned the previous school year.
Valdez said the district is also hoping to help students and families build their own home libraries of books and are also working on helping teachers build up their classroom libraries to help students explore the many different types of books that are available to them.
“We are also focusing on providing teachers will additional training to help them work with students in this area of need,” said Valdez.
“This goes beyond the fact that reading plays an integral part of learning in all subject areas” said López. “But we are hoping to help transform our community through improving literacy. I am excited to see how our Read to Lead efforts begin to take root in our homes in the coming months.”
Summer reading programs are also being developed for junior high school and high school grades. These will take on combination of traditional print and electronic formats.
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