JENNIE: RRE Reading Rangers want to keep kids engaged in reading over summer break

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)– A recent study ranks Georgia #42 in the nation with a literacy rate of 76%. And the results of last year’s Georgia Milestones test suggest more than a third of the state’s 3rd-graders are reading below grade level. The GA legislature has passed two bills to try and help: one requiring schools to screen K-thru-3 students for reading deficiencies. And the other to established the Georgia Council on Literacy.

In the meantime, a couple of Columbia County teachers are doing their part to help on their own time, during summer vacation! Everybody, meet the River Ridge Elementary Reading Rangers: Dawn Jeffers and Lauren Hemerka.

JENNIE: So the whole point is you don’t want your kids to lose the ground they gained during the school year?

Lauren Hemerka: “Exactly. Dawn and I, we worked together all year last year, working with students struggling with reading. And we know that each summer there’s always that summer slide, so we brainstormed to come up with creative ways to keep those kids engaged and enthusiastic about reading.”

JENNIE: I love that. Well, they cannot help but be enthusiastic when they see your uniforms, your Ranger uniforms!

Dawn Jeffers: “That’s right. Lauren said, ‘I wish we could have one of those little, like, busses, you know, like they used to do the bookmobile.’ And I’m like, ‘Oh, we have a truck that I don’t use, a Ford Ranger. And then we said RRE, Reading Rangers. And it’ll go together!” And then I go home and I tell my husband, he said, ‘Dawn, it’s not a Ford Ranger, it’s an F-150.’ I’m like, ‘Well, we’re keeping the name. So my F-150 is full of books, boxed up books– all leveled– from teachers at our school that were either moving schools or moving grade levels and cleaning out their classrooms.”

The idea evolved to meet the kids at the school in the summer. They have a little read aloud time and then a time where they can look through the boxes and take as many books as they want.

Dawn Jeffers: “We want them to sign their name in the back of the book to let people know they read it and then pass it to a friend.”

Lauren Hemerka: “But this is just really been such a great opportunity, not just for the kids, but for the parents as well. So being able to read aloud and model different ways to reach the students depending on their age range has been great for the families too, because they get ideas, which is awesome. And you know, we want the kids to have the opportunity. We have our local library. We have a lot of things that can get kids engaged in reading, but having it at the school just kind of brings them home. It brings that sense of community for them, and we want them to read those books and then pass them on to their friends, just like we do as adults.”

Dawn Jeffers: “And I also want you to know that Reading Rangers, this isn’t just for the summer. This is going to be going into the school year. We don’t have all of our plans set yet, so we can’t say anything. But, we’re working to have reading challenges where when they meet their challenge, maybe they’ll have some experiences they get because they met the challenge. And just cultivating that excitement for reading.”

And if you are interested, RRE, the next Reading Rangers summer reading event is coming up Thursday, July at 6:30PM. It’s at the covered car loop drop off at the school. And it’s for families. So parents, you get to stay and enjoy the reading fun time with your kids!

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