Last Friday, Asa Messer Elementary School in Providence, Rhode Island, hosted a book distribution event to commence the start of their summer reading efforts. This event is part of a larger, Pre-K-5 district-wide literacy first program designed to provide over 90,000 age-appropriate books from Scholastic for students to take home and enjoy forever!
During the event, 80 second and third grade students participated in activities to celebrate the power of literacy and received their own titles to add to their home libraries. In the coming two weeks, the Providence Public School District will distribute 10 books and a Providence Schools backpack to all Pre-K-5 students in order to encourage each young scholar to stay engaged and fall in love with reading over the summer months.
“To get our students back on track post-pandemic, learning needs to happen year-round. This initiative is designed to help our children gain the necessary literacy skills to flourish in and out of school, while simultaneously fostering an environment in which all students in the Providence Public School District have a love and passion for reading,” explained Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green and Superintendent Javier Montañez in a letter to families.
“We are putting literacy first with a mission to flood our district with books to support students and families in our community,” said Patricia Royal, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Schools. “As a literacy-first district, we understand the importance of reading and the positive impact it can have on a child’s life. Our goal is to build a community where reading is not only encouraged, but celebrated.”
“Scholastic is proud to work with Providence Public Schools to help ensure students have access to books to help keep their reading skills sharp over the summer,” said Michelle Parker, Scholastic Education Solutions. “As the research shows, access to books diminishes for students over the summer, making this work more important than ever.”
One measure that consistently correlates with reading scores is the number of books at home; data from the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report tells us that 41% of kids get most of the books they read for fun over the year from their school, making summer initiatives more critical than ever as access to books diminishes during this time.
To keep up with more education news like this, be sure to follow @ScholasticTeach on Twitter!
