Vail Valley rotary, publisher partner on summer literacy kits for first graders
The goal is to engage local students with books and literacy beyond the pages
Kari Mohr/Courtesy photo
Local author and publisher Nicole Magistro has made it her mission to introduce kids to the world of possibilities found in books. From her inaugural children’s book, “Read Island,” to a publishing company by the same name, Magistro aims to show kids that “books can take you anywhere,” she said.
“You don’t have to go physically anywhere in order to be transported and transformed. You can do that through reading,” she added.
This summer, she’s hoping to keep up local first graders’ interest in reading and books through the break. In partnership with the Vail and Edwards Rotary Clubs, Read Island created and distributed just over 400 summer reading kits to Eagle County students completing first grade this spring.
The idea for the kits came from one of Magistro’s favorite things to do as a children’s book author: visiting schools and classrooms.
“One common theme I’ve heard from teachers, particularly for students who are just getting the training wheels off with reading in first grade, is that teachers see so much learning loss for those reading skills. The kids have finally gotten a click — something like a light bulb has turned on for reading — and then they lose a ton over the summer,” Magistro said.
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Plus, as a mother herself, Magistro has experienced firsthand the challenge of wanting kids to have fun in the summer while keeping learning going.
“One day, a light bulb went on for me: If I could create something that was available for not just a single school or single classroom that I visited, but for everyone in Eagle County, that would be really powerful and maybe that would help move the needle,” Magistro said.
Thus, Magistro had the idea for the summer reading kit for first graders, which is really the “sweet spot” for this type of engagement.
The kit includes a 250-piece Read Island jigsaw puzzle as well as a QR code with online resources — all aimed at keeping kids engaged with reading and books through the summer. The kits were created to be “language agnostic,” offering content and resources for both English and Spanish speakers, Magistro said.
“I’m approaching it broadly as we want to keep up their skills rather than just we want them to be reading over the summer. If you don’t like to read, it can feel like a requirement, but keeping up skills is important,” Magistro said.
For example, a puzzle helps keep up skills of pattern identification, critical thinking and dividing information into bite-sized pieces, she said.
The puzzle — called “Mountain of Books” — is one illustrated by Alice Feagan, an Edwards local and the illustrator of “Read Island.” It features readers and kids in a Vail Valley-inspired landscape. Like many of Feagan’s illustrations, it contains hidden connections to all things literary from books and fairytales to their characters. Feagan created other elements for the kit as well.
“I’m always looking for activities that help my kids make in-person connections,” said Feagan, a mother of two. “I find jigsaw puzzles are great for that because we connect over what we see and build confidence in our problem-solving skills as a family. Everybody can contribute.”
With this puzzle, and with the online activities — including games, word searches, coloring activity sheets and more — the goal is simple.
“We’re really just trying to create interest around books and reading. We’re not saying, ‘You have to go read the book.’ We’re saying, ‘Look, there’s all these ways you can interact with skills that help you with literacy.’ And obviously, books are a component of that,” Magistro said. “I’d love to be able to see that in some way, this helped families connect, and this helped students connect with skills that they can rely on, lean on and access all year round.”
The Read Island publishing team connected with the local Rotary clubs to help with the distribution of the summer kits. Vail Rotary has long been invested in helping with literacy projects, said Penny Wilson, the organization’s impact chair.
“Our goal is really to make our communities and the world a better place,” Wilson said. “So we try to do projects that we can to help serve our community, and helping kids all the way from, you know, the preschool reading programs all the way up through our high school scholarships that we do as part of that.”
When Magistro approached her with the idea of the summer reading kits, Wilson was immediately intrigued and interested.
“I thought it was such a great idea because what kids lose over the summer and then has to be regained when school starts again is always a concern for the teachers and the parents,” Wilson said. “So if there’s anything that we can do to help them retain what they’ve learned over the year and prep them for the next year, that’s a huge win for everybody.”
Wilson and the Vail Rotary helped connect with local teachers and with the actual distribution of the kits.
“My hope is that the kids will keep reading over the summer, that they’ll remember the book, ‘Read Island,’ and the lessons that are taught in that book because it’s such a great book to encourage kids to read and to make reading fun and to give them things that encourage reading and hopefully will encourage a lifelong passion for reading,” Wilson said.
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This message, Wilson added is that “reading can be a lot of fun, and it can take you places that you’ve never been and may never go. Reading allows you to go on adventures without leaving your house.”
Vail Rotary and “Read Island” are looking at this summer’s kits as a kind of pilot program, hoping that it will only grow in future years.
“Hopefully, we can get to every single first grader in Eagle County,” Magistro said.
For this summer, they were able to reach around 400 first graders, but estimate there are probably 450 to 500 in the valley. So, for parents or families of outgoing first graders who may not have received a kit, Magistro said to reach out before June 10 and “we’ll get you a kit.” Interested parents and guardians can reach Magistro at hello@myreadisland.com.
