# Let's Get Duval Reading!
Mayor Deegan’s River City Readers is a citywide literacy challenge for students of all ages. Participants are asked to read 20 minutes a day and to log their reading in Beanstack, a reading challenge app. Readers are rewarded with digital badges for logging multiple days in a row and for completing other reading-related activities. At the end of the year, the city’s top young readers are given prizes!
Click here to learn how to download and use Beanstack.
# River City Readers Bookmobile
As the River City Readers challenge continues into its second year, Mayor Deegan, Kids Hope Alliance, Jacksonville Public Library and others are excited to bring this message of literacy and a love of reading into every neighborhood in Jacksonville via a new Bookmobile. It has already started rolling out, delighting readers at early learning centers and afterschool sites as well as community events.
We also have scheduled visits in Jacksonville schools and at Kids Hope Alliance-funded afterschool programs and early learning centers. These visits include a "Drop Everything and Read" activity with a librarian from Jacksonville Public Library plus a chance for students and teachers to find amazing library books for their classroom library each month.
Please note: The Bookmobile is operated by Jacksonville Public Library and was purchased with generous grants to the Library Foundation of Jacksonville from the Lucy Gooding Foundation and PNC Bank Foundation.
# Elementary School Field Trips to the Library
Library staff will present a fun storytime and tour of the library. Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) will have their buses organized centrally by their transportation office. DCPS students will be able to use their student library cards to check out books at the end of the visit.
Schedule a Field Trip to the Library
# Bring the Library to Your School or Classroom
Library staff will come to your classroom and present a 45-minute, fun, and interactive literacy experience perfect for elementary school age children (up to 30 students per program). Each program focuses on activities that build excitement around reading.
Invite the Library to Your Classroom
# Interactive Afterschool Program
Our interactive Afterschool Program is designed to foster a love of reading in participants. We can accommodate up to 25 children in each program. As a member of READ JAX, we focus on increasing the number of youth reading on grade level by third grade, and we prioritize sites serving elementary students in areas with low reading level scores.
Student Cards = Library Cards
Reminder: All KIPP Jax and Duval County Public School students already have access to Jacksonville Public Library's books and online resources!
Students can use their S-number to:
- Check out up to three physical books/audiobooks at a time
- Get help with homework and projects from online databases
- Watch videos and read e-books and comics on any screen
When asked to log in, students should use their S-number without the "S." They'll also need to enter their PIN number (the four-digit month & day of your birth). Of course, if they have a library card, they can use that to access all the same resources (and more).
Teaching Reinforcements Are Here!
From science projects to homework help and everything in between, our FREE, online research databases provide comprehensive and credible information to get the job done. Plus, don't forget about our Digital Library offerings! You can find age-appropriate e-books, audiobooks and more - all for FREE. Some materials are even available for instant download/streaming. Many of these apps have a "Kids Mode" or kids collections. Pro Tip: On Libby by Overdrive, you can search by Lexile Measures or Accelerated Reader Scores.
You've got a science fair project to do, but now what? How do you get started? Don't worry, the Library has your back!
TumbleBooks features 1100+ titles for grades K-6, and includes unique animated, talking picture books, read-along chapter books, national geographic videos, non-fiction books, playlists, as well as books in Spanish and French.
