SPPS Reads

• Stay tuned for more events in the 2024-25 school year!

• May 18: SPPS families and community members were invited to attend Summer Reading Fest on Saturday, May 18, at Benjamin E. Mays and to get ready to read all summer long! Students and families chose from hundreds of free books to add to their home libraries, listened to story time with local children’s authors and illustrators, enjoyed free snacks from the SPPS food truck, got creative with craft activities and more.
• February: SPPS prepared several fun activities for students to participate in throughout the month of February for I Love to Read Month, including a bookmark contest for PreK-12, a reading bingo card for PreK-8, and a book talk challenge for 9-12. Students and families were invited to participate in daily reading challenges during SPPS Reads Together Week on Feb. 26-March 1.
• November-December: Families and community members were invited to attend SPPS Reads movie nights showing the award-winning documentary, “The Right to Read”. Executive produced by host of PBS’ "Reading Rainbow" LaVar Burton, the film follows the story of the literacy crisis in America as the greatest civil rights issue of our time, and what we can do about it. Events were held on November 29 at Johnson Senior High School, December 7 at Humboldt High School, and December 12 at Central High School.
• December 9: SPPS Reads handed out free books at the SPPS School Choice Fair at the Saint Paul RiverCentre.
• December 8: Two elementary schools (Maxfield and Benjamin E. Mays) partnered with Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood and unveiled their new book vending machines that offer a fun way to get students reading.
• November 20: SPPS partnered with Amazon to celebrate the work of our WINN teachers and give them new literacy resources to bring back to their classrooms.
• September 7: U.S. Secretary of Education Dr. Miguel Cardona visited the district and held discussions around literacy with several families. These conversations have helped inform what SPPS Reads could look like and what our families need to help their students with reading.

Superintendent Gothard and leaders from various departments and schools have formed a District Leadership Literacy Team (DLLT). These leaders will collaborate to accomplish the following:

• Identify areas of improvement within our literacy practices for core instruction, intervention, and targeted support for English Learners and students with disabilities
• Find innovative solutions to address achievement gaps
• Evaluate student data to create district and student focused literacy goals

The Office of Teaching & Learning's literacy department and What I Need Now (WINN) teams have committed to the following:

• Meet the requirements of the Minnesota Reading to Ensure Academic Development (READ) Act that was passed in May 2023
• Provide all educators who teach reading with professional learning on the science of reading and evidence-based reading instruction
• Continue to invest in our WINN strategy, which provides additional reading instructors to all elementary and middle schools

Additional goals of SPPS Reads include informing families about the practices SPPS is using to teach literacy, creating resources for guardians to help students improve reading skills at home, and hosting fun and thought-provoking events for staff, students and families to get excited about reading.