Providing children with access to literature is an important component of remote instruction at Park Avenue Memorial Elementary School in the Amityville Union Free School District. From book clubs to personalized instruction, students are able to continuing their literacy development and gain a love for reading.

Teacher Deborah Ross, who runs a popular afterschool book club for sixth grades, started a virtual book club for all Park Avenue students. Being unable to provide each reader with a copy of the book due to the school closure, Ms. Ross is using Audible, a site with access to audio books. She picked “Alice in Wonderland” as the first selection because it was appropriate for fourth, fifth and sixth graders. 

Ms. Ross created a book club site on Google Classroom, which is the platform Amityville students use for their schoolwork. Teachers spread the word about the virtual book club on their announcement boards. 

The Google Classroom site provides directions on how to access the book and also gives students a place to leave their comments about the story and its different literary elements. Ms. Ross said that sparked great conversations among students. 

Reading teacher Christine Pravata continues working with her students digitally to strengthen their literacy skills. She conducts live lessons with students and shares resources from the Wilson reading program through Google Classroom. That allows her to help her students become stronger readers and thinkers by personalizing instruction for every child.