Today is Read Across America Day (March 2)! Established in 1998, the goal of Read Across America Day is to motivate all areas of society to engage in reading. Classrooms across the country will host special guests who’ll read aloud to students, schools will decorate hallways and libraries with images from their favorite stories, and children will happily share their own well-loved books with others. Use today to launch National Reading Month and encourage your students to experience the joys of reading through various activities that highlight what the written word can do! Here are three ideas to start: 

If you have young ones at home, you’ve probably heard something similar to this more than once, “It’s summer break! I don’t need to read!” Yep, for most of our children, summer break is just that … BREAK – a break from getting up early, a break from reading and writing, a break from homework. But you and I know that a total break can lead to a ‘break’ in learning progress. The term ‘summer slide’ is not new to most of us – the loss of hard-earned skills achieved during the school year. This loss can make returning to school much more challenging, especially if peers are on pace. Really, the goal of continuing to read over the summer will help our children retain literacy skills, build comprehension, spelling, and vocabulary skills, and feel more confident and successful overall. Besides that, reading is the foundation for learning in all other subjects (yes, you do have to read in math!). Just reading a few books during the summer can make all the difference!