It may be summer break, but now is the time for children to continue reading and build their literacy skills. Let’s Read!, the region’s summer reading campaign, is encouraging parents and children to read together each day so students are prepared for the upcoming school year.
Research shows that children who don’t read over the summer lose valuable literacy skills and fall behind in the next grade. This is especially true for children in low-income families. Parents and caregivers have the power to help children learn language and develop an enthusiasm for reading at a young age!
Now in its second year, Let’s Read! is connecting families to helpful resources across the region, such as summer reading programs and summer lunch programs. By working with seven school districts, the campaign distributed summer reading plans and magnets to 12,040 kindergarten through 2nd grade students before summer vacation. The magnets are intended to help keep students’ reading plans front and center on the refrigerator all summer long.
Colorful posters, stickers and postcards are being used across the region to help remind families of the importance of reading. Literacy activities are also being infused into existing summer programming in our region thanks to partnerships with the United Way of King County and the YMCA.
To help parents read with children, the Let’s Read! campaign is now distributing reading tips via its new Facebook page (www.facebook.com/letsreadkingcounty) and weekly newsletter. Here are three tips for summer reading success:
1. Read every day with your child!
2. Find the right level of books for your child at the library.
3. Read anywhere – in any language.
The King County Library System and Seattle Public Libraries are major partners in the Let’s Read! campaign and provide many resources for families. To find your local library, please click here for Seattle and here for other locations in King County.
Additional reading tips, event information and literacy news are available at www.letsreadkingcounty.org. Let’s Read! materials are also available in multiple languages at the site.
