The Beginning

This past spring, I found out about the book, The Reading Promise, by Alice Ozma from a colleague. I'm not even sure if she knows she was the catalyst behind my discovery of this book. She had added it to her online wishlist and her post had popped up on one of my social media feeds. As soon as I read the description on Amazon, I knew I had to read more. Just the brief summary reminded me of shared reading memories I experienced with my parents when I was younger. Reading and story telling always held a special place in my family. Within a day of receiving the book in the mail, I devoured it, consumed it, loved it.

There were so many things that I loved about this book. Being the ever-zealous teacher, as I was reading, my mind was spinning with thoughts of 'How can I recreate the enthusiasm and love for reading that this special father-daughter duo had with the families of my students?' I have so many cherished memories of reading as a child and the enthusiasm and passion I have for reading is something that I constantly try to instill in my fourth graders. After all, I believe that half the battle of getting your child to become a better reader is helping them to grow a love and appreciation for books. It is something I've already started to share with my recently-born son while reading to him in the special reading corner of his children's book-themed nursery. (Can you tell I'm a bit book crazy yet?)

Once I had finished The Reading Promise, I decided that I wanted to pass along Alice and her father's reading promise to the students at Sinking Springs Elementary. At first, I was thinking of a way to inspire my classroom of fourth graders to create reading promises, then I thought, 'Why stop with just my class, why not try to get as many families at our school to create reading promises of their own?' So after speaking with our principal, Mrs. Miller, and recruiting a few other equally enthusiastic colleagues, I decided to propose the idea of creating a school-wide parent/child book club for the 2012-2013 school year, based on the premise of Ozma's book, The Reading Promise.


It is my hope that by sharing this book with the families of Sinking Springs, along with strategies and activities for reading with children, I will be able to help inspire and educate families on how to start their own reading promises and streaks at home.

The purpose of this blog is to connect all of the families who decide to take on the challenge of the reading promise, and all of the visitors who pop in to check out our blog, so that parents and children can reflect on their experiences, share their successes and challenges, and above all, discuss great books with one another.

Happy Reading!
- Mrs. Hartman