Read, Play, Win this Summer with Readopoly
The Manawatū District Library has created ‘Readopoly’: a summer reading challenge to keep young readers active and engaged throughout the summer months.
School is almost out for the summer but that doesn’t mean that reading, writing and literacy needs to be a slippery slope until February. The Manawatū District Library has created ‘Readopoly’: a summer reading challenge to keep young readers active and engaged throughout the summer months.
Similar to Monopoly but with a Manawatū District spin, readers are given a game board, a reading list and the pieces required to play. Players roll the dice and work their way around the board landing on a colour coded streets, that correlate to a challenge to complete. Challenges range from visiting the library, to visiting a StoryWalk®, to more reading focused challenges like reading a funny book or a poem. Once the activity is successfully complete, readers log their accomplishment on the back of the board. With two different achievement levels, readers can work towards a smaller or larger challenge based on their engagement before the challenge finishes and boards need to be returned. Readers have until 16 January to complete the challenge.
“The summer slide is a well known issue educators face over the summer months”, says Marie Willis, Community Hub Programmes Leader. “A student who does not actively read, will exit a school year at a particular reading level but when that same student enters into the next year group in February, their reading level has slipped to a lower level.”
Although Readopoly is in its inaugural summer, it’s a programme that Library staff plan to keep building on year after year. The challenge can be completed throughout December and January. With four different age groups (under 5, 5-7 year olds, 8-10 year olds, and 11+ year olds) there is an appropriate challenge for readers of all ages. It’s free to join and every player will receive a small reward for completing Readopoly in addition to the possibility of winning one of the four larger prize packs within each age group category. Parents and guardians can register a child’s interest in person at the Feilding Library on 10 Goodbehere Street or by emailing library.bookings@mdc.govt.nz.