ReadOKC celebrates top summer readers with ReadOKC On the Go! Book Bus visit

Each OKCPS student who made the goal in the Summer Reading Challenge received a medal while top readers at each school received yard signs to recognize their accomplishment. 

Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) students enjoyed a summer of warm weather and reading thanks to ReadOKC’s “Jump Into Reading” Summer Reading Challenge. Willow Brook Elementary was named as the top elementary school and Star Spencer Mid-High School, which hosts students in grades 7-12, took top reading honors for both the middle and high school categories. 

Related: Foundation for OKC Public Schools unveils Read OKC On The Go! Book Bus

To start the fall semester, the top schools in the summer challenge received banners, each student in the district who met the goal received a medal and the top readers from each school received yard signs and other prizes to recognize their dedication to reading over the break. Prizes were provided by OU Children’s Hospital, the Greater OKC Chamber, Scholastic, Raising Cane’s and Full Circle Bookstore.

New in 2021, each school in the district will receive a visit from the ReadOKC On the Go! Book Bus where students will be able to pick out a free book to grow their home library. The book bus begins its school year tour this week, honoring the reading challenge school winners with the first visits.

During each school break, ReadOKC challenges students to read at least 20 minutes a day. Students record their time reading on a ReadOKC paper log or on Beanstack.

During the “Jump Into Reading” challenge, students across the district read more than 1.8 million minutes. In total, 489 students met the goal of recording 1,480 minutes. 

“We are so pleased to see the reading progress our students made last summer and thrilled to see our top elementary, middle and high school reading schools coming out of Spencer! It is also really encouraging to see school leaders promote ReadOKC with their students. The friendly competition between schools is a great way to instill not only the love of reading in our students, but pride in OKCPS,” said Mary Mélon, President and CEO of The Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools.

This is Willow Brook’s first top school win and Star Spencer Mid-High’s second-consecutive win.

“Reading during school breaks is a very important part of negating learning loss and we are so proud of the work our students did during the Jump Into Learning Summer Reading Challenge. We are also very proud of Willow Brook Elementary and Star Spencer Mid-High School for bringing to Spencer the ‘trifecta’ with their top school honors,” said Superintendent of Oklahoma City Public Schools, Dr. Sean McDaniel.

In addition to hosting the reading challenges, ReadOKC inspires the love of reading in OKCPS students by recruiting caring adults to serve as Reading Buddies and improving access to reading for all children through Little Libraries at every school and now through ReadOKC On the Go! Those interested in serving as a virtual Reading Buddy should contact Abbie Vaughan at [email protected].

ReadOKC has a number of ways for community members to be involved and is seeking  support for prizes and incentives for the next reading challenge, which will take place Oct. 9-18 during fall break.