That cute little cottage by the Verona Pool manager’s office is the new home of C.H.I.L.D.’s free summer outdoor reading program and it opens for business today, Monday, June 27.
C.H.I.L.D., which stands for Children Having Individual Learning Differences, is a Verona non-profit that supports a variety of learning programs. It has stocked the cottage’s shelves with more than 500 books and audio books for early readers all the way through middle school. It will also be bringing a variety of authors and reading-related programs poolside, thanks to a very generous grant from the Verona Service League.
Here’s how it works: The outdoor reading room will be open Monday to Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Verona Pool from June 27 through July 29. There will be two staff members, Keri Moran and Kate Percevault, to assist your children with their book selections and run the daily activities. The children can borrow from the book collection while they are at the pool, but all books must remain at the pool and be returned to the book carts at the end of the day. As the children read, they log in what they have read and based on their log entries, they are given gift certificates to Town Scoop, Game Stop, and Watchung Booksellers, and more.
In addition to the reading carts, C.H.I.L.D. has scheduled author visits for June 29, July 20 and July 27 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The first 25 kids to attend will be given a free, autographed book from the author. In support of the summer reading program at H.B. Whitehorne Middle School, there will be “Buzz Book” discussions for grades 5-8 and anyone who wants to be a “Buzz Book” discussion leader will be given a prize for volunteering and writing submissions. In addition, C.H.I.L.D. will have a cartooning class and several story hours, including one in Spanish. The first 25 kids to attend that event will be given a free book picture book on either Roberto Clemente or Celia Cruz. Finally, C.H.I.L.D.’s staff will run a few leveled writing classes for kids, using a technique called Snapshot Writing. Topics will be chosen based on books they are reading.
Get started at the pool today. The first 25 kids to sign up will get a free book. Grades K-2 will get a picture book and Grades 3-4 will get a chapter book. Grades 5-8 will get the “Buzz Book” assigned to their grade. If you have questions, contact C.H.I.L.D.’s Norma Francullo at [email protected].
