Select elementary students in Berkeley County School District are taking their reading skills into the stratosphere thanks to the 2025 Summer Reading Camp program.
Throughout the month of June, almost 300 rising fourth graders participated in the district’s annual Summer Reading Camp held at schools in every area of Berkeley County. The purpose of SRC is to provide students who scored “Does Not Meet 1” or “Does Not Meet 2” on SC READY Reading the opportunity to receive intensive, all day literary instruction and support.
The camp is the result of the Read to Succeed Act, Act 284, which ensures students receive interventions when they are not yet comprehending grade-level text. The purpose of this piece of legislation is to improve literacy rates of the students in South Carolina. The camp is one of many components to the Read to Succeed Act.
Theresa Berard, BCSD’s K-5 English/Language Arts Coordinator, said students received grade-level literacy instruction, utilizing the UFLI Foundations curriculum, which mostly focused on word recognition and phonics instruction. While all classes were capped at 15 students, students were also pulled into small groups multiple times a day to receive extra support on the specific skills they needed to master to learn how to read.
To spark their curiosity, students focused on reading passages with a space theme throughout SRC. Students would then have to complete a weekly project recapping what they learned about outer space and expand upon it.
For example, after reading about what it’s like to journey and live in space, BriAnna Alexander’s SRC class at Berkeley Elementary had to write a paragraph describing the experience and what type of feelings it would evoke. Completing their paragraph, students then animated a character reading the passage aloud.
Alexander said that she’s seen a lot of her students grow more confident in their reading abilities through the weekly projects and the activities show that her students are really comprehending what they’re reading.
Principal Ruth Butka complimented the district’s Office of Academics and Innovation for purposely planning this year’s camp.
“They planned all the lessons, they created all the activities, and they’ve done a wonderful job keeping the students engaged through the whole month of June,” Butka said.
Following the final iReady Reading assessment, Berard said the district saw a 12 percent increase in students who are now on grade level for phonics when compared to the spring. Overall, the district had a 18 percent decrease in students who were two or more grade levels below.
“Our teachers and administrators worked hard to make SRC happen! During each visit, we were so impressed with how engaged teachers were in their work to help each student succeed,” Berard said. “They made the program enjoyable for the students so that they wanted to come back each day and keep learning!”
