Reading is one of the most valuable skills that a person can acquire, and lifelong readers become lifelong learners.  To promote and encourage reading at home and at school, students can earn points by completing literacy activities, and those points can earn them some fun prizes!  Below are the two literacy activities that students can complete to earn points and prizes:

WBA Activity

This is a short activity that can be completed for every book a student reads this year.  To complete the activity, students have to answer three questions: one from Within the text, one from Beyond the text, and one About the text.  These questions come from the WBA Question sheet assigned to each grade level, and the answers are recorded on the WBA Answer Sheet.  Again, students can complete one WBA Activity per book that they read, so students have the opportunity to earn points every time they read a book!

Monthly Literacy Activities

Each month students will also have the opportunity to complete a monthly Literacy Activities sheet.  There will be a new activity sheet every month, and it will always contain several different literacy activities: reading a specific genre of book, completing short online research, etc.  There are usually between five and seven activities each month, and students can complete as many (or as few) of the activities as they wish; of course, the more activities that they complete, the more points they earn.  Each activity must be initiated by an adult (parent, teacher, grandparent, teacher aide, etc) to show that the student completed the activity themselves, and each monthly Literacy Activities sheet must be turned in before the end of the month to receive credit.

SSYRA Voting Party

In the spring, the AES Media Center will be hosting a voting party to cast our vote for the overall winner of the 2018-2019 Sunshine State Young Readers Award Grades 3-5 books.  To attend the voting party and to cast their vote, students must read at least 3 of the award-winning books from this year and complete a WBA activity (see above) for each one.  Students will still earn points (and prizes) for completing those WBA activities, but they will also earn the special privilege of voting for their favorite as this year's SSYRA overall winner!