Teachers
Library and School Partnership
The role of teachers and assistants
Who is in a better position than teachers and assistants to encourage parents to make use of the Club and help the children who need it most?
Your co-operation as teachers and assistants is highly valued! You are very familiar with the needs of each of the children in your class. You see their strengths and weaknesses. As a result, you can help them by advising their parents and accompanying librarians in supporting children's development all summer long.
Promoting the Club at school
Schools and day care centres are contacted by public libraries in May or June; at that time they are provided with posters and invitations to be given to parents.
By giving these invitations to all parents, and especially by promoting the Club with parents whose children would gain most from it, as teachers and assistants you are helping consolidate and improve what children have learned throughout the school year. By using this approach, the Club hopes to make it easier for children, parents and teachers to come back to school.
Do you want to boost Club membership? Invite staff from your local library to come and make a presentation on the TD Summer Reading Club to your class. This presentation could increase the number of Club members, thus conferring the advantages of an extension of the school year during the long summer vacation. During the presentation, library staff could show pupils the reading kit and introduce summer programming at the library.
Who should become a Club member?
All children are invited to become TD Summer Reading Club members. Good readers may be more likely to register spontaneously. Children who are experiencing some difficulty reading and who take less enjoyment in books may be more hesitant to join the Club. The Club is specifically designed to break this vicious circle. The more children associate reading with pleasant activities, the greater their chances of reading more and developing their reading skills and enjoyment.
In your class, do you have children whose first language is neither English nor French? Do you teach an immersion class? Are you part of a school in one of Canada's official language minority communities?
The TD Summer Reading Club can help you. By bringing public libraries, schools, day care centres and families together under the auspices of this program, the Club provides follow-up and consistency in children's learning process. By becoming involved in the Club in June, you help smooth children's learning process when they return to school in September.
Because the Club is available in almost all the provinces and territories of Canada, in both official languages, free of charge and backed by professional library staff, it overcomes the financial, linguistic, cultural and social barriers that in many communities so often constitute limits. As well, the Club's Internet site offers children ongoing access to interactive games and Canada-wide exchanges.
To learn more about the Club, please consult the other pages of this section for teachers. There you will find information on the program and the benefits it offers.
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