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Teachers provide summer mobile library
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Parkside Elementary School teachers are providing a mobile library over the summer to stimulate interest in reading. Pictured from left are teachers Toni Wellman and Megan Cessna. Children enjoying books and ice cream treats are Gisel Reyes in front, Joah Wellman peeping over the books between the teachers, Brynleigh Wellman to the right of Cessna, and David Gomez-Sarmiento and Freddy Reyes in the back. The girls on the right side of the table, from left, are Maria Garcia, Anita Gomez-Ibanez and Joselin Reyes. (Photo supplied)
MONROE - Staff at Parkside Elementary School are trying to beat the "summer slide" by keeping kids reading this summer.

Megan Cessna and Toni Wellman, kindergarten and second-grade teachers at Parkside, were concerned about the number of students not reading over the summer and the effects that can have on reading skills when they return to school in the fall, according to a news release. To combat this, they applied and received a grant for $1,000 through the Monroe Excellence in Education Fund to purchase high-quality leveled fiction and nonfiction books for students in kindergarten through fifth grade. They also received $250 from the Parkside PTO to cover the cost of bins, book envelopes and treats.

Each Tuesday evening throughout the summer, Cessna, Wellman and other Parkside staff set up the mobile library in the parking lot of LPT Fitness in Monroe. The location was chosen because there are a high number of Parkside students who live within in a few blocks and are able to walk to the event each week.

Invitations were sent out at the end of May to 22 children who live in the area. Each week the number of children who attend has grown, and they now service about 30 students.