Texarkana Independent School District’s Tiger Bookmobile is getting ready to roar through Texarkana for their Summer Tour 2019.
The unique, one-of-a-kind mobile literacy unit gets children wild about reading. The primary focus of the bookmobile is to help prevent summer learning loss by allowing students the opportunity to continue their education during the summer through reading. The mobile unit becomes a welcome change to a child’s summer routine and allows for creativity and entertainment, thereby reducing the negative perception about summer learning.
Research estimates that 50-67% of the achievement gap for children living in poverty is the result of summer learning loss. Fortunately, research has also shown that having elementary-aged children read just four to five books during the summer can prevent this loss and help close the achievement gap.
According to the research, summer reading loss is cumulative. Children who are not encouraged to read during the summer don’t catch up in the fall because those children that are reading during the summer are moving ahead with their skills. By the time the start of school begins, a child not encouraged to read has fallen behind. Additional research has shown that by the end of the sixth grade, those students who lose reading skills over the summers of their first through sixth grade years, are up to two years behind their classmates in reading ability and comprehension.
You can’t miss the 48’ mobile unit when it is traveling down the street. With a brightly colored exterior aesthetic featuring children and animals all enjoying reading, the unit has been outfitted with mobile satellite technology, thousands of books, iPads, Kindle e-readers, reading benches and seats, flat screen television, Wii gaming, bean bag chairs and colorful rugs. The look is complete with an additional exterior seating area featuring a canopy, bean bag chairs and more fun rugs.
Open Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., the Tiger Bookmobile will travel throughout the community to various partner sites from June 10 through August 9. A story hour will be featured at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. daily. Children 5 years and under must be accompanied by an adult. Children 6 years and older can enter without an accompanying adult but must live within walking distance of the site location. Checking-out books is FREE. Books can be returned back to the Tiger Bookmobile at any time during the Summer or to any TISD school after August 10.
Tour dates & locations are:
The Oaks at Rosehill – 2100 West 12th Street
June 10, June 11, June 19, June 20, July 1, July 2, July 10, July 11, July 22, July 23, July 31, August 1
Rosehill Ridge – 1201 Stuckey Street
June 12, June 13, June 24, June 25, July 3, July 15, July 16, July 24, July 25, August 5, August 6
Splash Pad at Spring Lake Park – 4303 North Park Road
June 14, June 21, June 28, July 5, July 12, July 19, July 26, August 2, August 9
Pecan Ridge at Rosehill – 2210 West 15th Street
June 17, June 18, June 26, June 27, July 8, July 9, July 17, July 29, July 30, August 7, August 8
Salvation Army Boys & Girls Club – 2300 Buchanan Road
July 18
Funding for the bookmobile is in part through the Texarkana Public Schools Foundation and the Tiger Family of TISD employees during their annual “All-In-One” campaign. Additional donors and in-kind providers are: Texas Pioneer Foundation; Mr. Jack Bruner, Capital One Bank, Altech, Inc.; SHW Group; AEP Southwestern Electric Power Company; Arkansas Community Foundation and the Texarkana Area Community Foundation; Mrs. Donna Chatman; The Bobbie A. Atkinson Foundation; FastSigns; Mayo Manufacturing Corp; Mr. & Mrs. Kelly Tidwell; The Washington Post Company; Mr. & Mrs. Joe A. Norwood, Jr.; THS Class of 1949; and, THS Class of 1999.
For more information on the Tiger Bookmobile and their 2019 Summer Tour, contact: Tina Veal-Gooch, 903.794.3651 ext. 1013 or visit www.txkisd.net.
