Welcome to the Reading with the Rays
program!
With
baseball season and summer in full swing, the St. Petersburg
Times Newspaper in Education department has partnered
with the Tampa Bay Rays and the Hillsborough and
Pinellas County libraries for a fun and exciting summer.
Reading with the Rays will encourage you to
read more this summer and to visit the library regularly before
you return to school this fall. By reading books this summer, Hillsborough
and Pinellas County elementary school students in grades three
through five can circle the bases - first, second, third and home
and collect prizes as they go.
Make it all the way around to home and the ultimate reward is
two tickets to see the red-hot Rays in action at Tropicana field
in August.
The Rays are excited about this program. To see what Carl Crawford,
B.J. Upton, Jason Bartlett, Cliff Floyd, Trever Miller, Evan Longoria
and Dan Wheeler have to say about reading, be sure to get your
copy of this publication, which will be in your St. Petersburg Times
newspaper on June 21. If you missed that edition of the newspaper,
you can pick up a copy at your local library.
Click
here to see the Read your way to the ballpark game
rules!
Click
here for the Rays news!
DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Get in the know!
This summer, the Times wants you to get "In the know" by
reading our HOT SPOT feature in the BayLink section every Monday.
The HOT SPOT will include some fun facts and a weekly activity
you and your family can do with your newspaper. Each week will
have a HOT SPOT location that is offering discounts for participants
in the program. Click here to see how
to participate in the Sizzlin' Summer Times Reader Program.
NIE Blogging Zone
Check out the NIE Blog, designed specifically for our younger readers
at http://blogs.tampabay.com/nie/ This
monitored discussion board is a great way for students to have
authentic writing experiences with an audience that ranges far
beyond the home and classroom.
Reading With The Rays Activities
Click under the summary
to receive your assignments!
1. There
is no I in teamwork! Share
your thoughts about teamwork at home, at school and in your
community
here.
Click
to open your assignment |
Close
assignment
Creating teamwork
In the book Challenge at Second Base, Stan Martin learns the meaning of determination and teamwork. Now that you have created your teamwork collage (find the directions in the Reading with the Rays Newspaper in Education publication), discuss the information you learned about the importance of teamwork in a variety of settings. Click here to share your thoughts with Rays fans and students across Tampa Bay.
2. Learning of the
Times. Baseball has gone through many changes.
Share what you have learned about the
history of the official Negro Leagues
here.
Click to open your
assignment | Close
assignment
Learning of the Times
The history of the Negro Leagues of baseball is important and extensive. As you learned in Reading with the Rays, more that 2,500 men and women participated as players, coaches, managers and officials in the official Negro Leagues. Which player did you choose to research at the Negro League Baseball Museum’s Web site? What information did you learn about that player and about the time period in which the player lived? Click here to share your thoughts with Rays fans and students across Tampa Bay.
3. Connecting
the past and the present is important to the future. Click here
to discuss whether or not
history repeats itself.
Click
to open your assignment | Close
assignment
Connecting the past and the present
Author George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." What does this phrase mean? How does this phrase apply to the articles you read in the St. Petersburg Times? Do the articles reflect a changing world? How so? Have the people in the present world learned from the lessons of history? Is history repeating itself? Click here to share your thoughts with Rays fans and students across Tampa Bay.
4. Catching
Rays in the Times.Keep track of the boys of summer throughout
the summer. Chat about Raysball!
Click
to open your assignment | Close
assignment
Catching Rays
You can catch Rays every day on the pages of the St. Petersburg Times. Keep track of the Rays’ travels by reading the Sports section of the St. Petersburg Times every day during the summer. What city were the Rays in yesterday? Where are they today? How was the game yesterday? Who made the best plays? Who is your favorite player? How many games have you seen this season? Do you watch the Rays on television? How has your experience been at Tropicana Field? Let’s talk about Raysball! Click here to share your thoughts with Rays fans and students across Tampa Bay.
5. The
picture of sports in your life. Discuss your favorite
sports and recreational activities.
Click
to open your assignment | Close
assignment
The picture of sports
Baseball is one of many professional sports. Remember, sports is not just about the conventional baseball, basketball, hockey or football. Recreational activities and sports go hand-in-hand. Hiking, swimming, playing golf, bowling, walking, tennis, badminton and bicycling are great ways to have fun and build character. Look in pages of the St. Petersburg Times to find photos of people playing sports and participating in other recreational activities. What type of recreational activities do you enjoy? What are your favorite sports? Click here to share your thoughts with Rays fans and students across Tampa Bay.
6. Poetry in motion. Click
here to share your original poems with others.
Open your
assignment | Close
assignment
Poetry in Motion
The poem Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer is a classic. You can read the poem on the Baseball Almanac’s Web site at
www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_case.shtml. The poem, printed in the San Francisco Examiner in 1885, is considered one of the best baseball poems ever written. Now it is your turn to write a poem about baseball in Tampa Bay. For inspiration, log onto tampabay.com or tampabay.rays.mlb.com, or you can look for baseball articles on the pages of the St. Petersburg Times. Click here to share your poem with other summer bloggers.
7. Rhyme Time with
the Times! The pages of the Times can
be a great resource for inspiration to write poems and songs. Create your own
song, and click here to share it with others.
Open
your assignment | Close
assignment
Rhyme With The Times!
Rays pitcher Dan Wheeler’s son’s favorite book Eight Silly Monkeys by Steve Haskamp has a lot of rhyming words in it. Rhyming words have similar sounds such as chair, stair and cat, hat. Songs are often composed of rhyming words. Often songs are based on everyday observations. The daily newspaper is a great resource for writing found poetry or songs. Choose one interesting story from the St. Petersburg Times and write a song using words you took from the article. Illustrate your song and share it with your family and friends. Click here to share your poem with other summer bloggers. Click
here to share your experiences with other Hillsborough County students.
8. Take me out to
the Trop! Share your thoughts about your Tampa Bay Rays.
Open your assignment | Close
assignment
Take me out to the Trop
It’s baseball season, so what better time to get to know your Tampa Rays than now? Research the team’s players and find out their hometowns. On a map, mark where each player is from. How many states are represented by the team? How many countries? Diversity brings strength to a community. Click here to discuss the ways that diversity brings strength to our Rays team.
Questions?
Contact jpushkin@sptimes.com
News
