The school year is quickly coming to a close, which means that now is a crucial time to help children discover the joy of reading. This starts with access to books.
Findings from the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report™: 7th Edition highlight this importance, pointing out that kids who are frequent readers have an average of 139 books in their homes vs. 74 in infrequent readers’ homes. At the same time, the report also reveals that nearly half of parents with school-age children are unaware of the “summer slide,” the loss of academic skills that occurs when school is not in session and which is attributed largely to the lack of reading.
Why is this significant? The effects of the summer slide are cumulative and notably, the percentage of kids ages 6–17 who read zero books over the summer has doubled to 14% since 2016.
As summer approaches, school districts and community partners cross the country are teaming up to creatively engage kids in reading while helping them grow their home libraries. In Greenville, SC, Dabo's All In Team® Foundation recently kicked off the 4th year of the “Tigers Read!” summer reading intervention program, which aims to prevent the decline in reading skills many students experience during summer, in coordination with Scholastic and Clemson University.
During the event, Clifford the Big Red Dog® joined Dabo and Kathleen Swinney, as well as members of the Clemson University Football Team, to celebrate with 250 elementary school students. Each child received a drawstring bag full of books to keep and take home.
We can’t wait to see more summer kick-off events!
P.S. Looking for more ways to get kids excited about summer reading? Don’t miss out on the first-ever Scholastic Summer Read-a-Palooza!
Images via Clemson University
