Welcome to the 2024
Community Book Club!
Matunuck Elementary 2024 Community Book is:
Bunnicula
By Deborah and James Howe
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The book was announced and the kits were sent home earlier this week. We have an MES CBC website with audio recordings and so much more.
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Many hours have gone into selecting and planning for Matunuck's Community Book Club. Each year the book is kept secret until the reveal at school. Each family receives a book. This is a VOLUNTARY reading program that will encourage a parent/guardian/adult to read to the children. In the past we entered the worlds of The Adventures of a South Pole Pig, Kenny and The Dragon and Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Each story provided some wonderful family reading as the entire school community is transported to a new world with a new adventure.
Along with the book, you will receive a reading schedule. Generally, you will be asked to read to your child about 15 minutes each night. Children may also listen to the chapters which have been recorded by the Matunuck Staff and a couple surprise readers. You will soon find that your child will take pride in knowing and anticipating the details of the story. They will return to school to share in the conversation with their classmates.
We are asking families to consider returning the book when we finish reading it in the hopes that we can assist other schools in our district to participate in this program! Books were all paid for by a grant from the South Kingstown Education Foundation (SKEF).
Please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns! Happy Reading!
-Community Book Club Committee
Reading Aloud, is it necessary?
Reading to children for 15 minutes a day sounds simple, but the results are complex and permanent. Extensive research has shown that if children hear words for two minutes daily, they will have heard 180,000 words a year, and with five minutes that becomes over 350,000 words in a year.
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Reading aloud sharpens the imagination, creates healthy dialogue, and engenders in children a love of reading. Children who learn to listen eventually learn to read, and literacy skills provide the basis for a lifetime of learning and productivity. When children listen, they learn about their own lives and the stories of others around the globe.
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In addition, reading to children strengthens the emotional bonds between the adult reader and the child, providing those positive parent-child connections is essential to a child’s psychological health and academic growth.