Summer is right around the corner and we’re loving seeing how school districts and community partners across the country are preparing to support students while school is out.
Over in Greenville, South Carolina, Clemson University's Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Training Center for South Carolina and College of Education, the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE), and Dabo's All In Team® Foundation kicked off the third annual “Tigers Read!” summer reading intervention program, designed to support first graders having extreme difficulty with early reading and writing.
According to research from the Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report™, while 80% of children ages 6–17 agree that summer reading will help them during the school year, 40% are reading two or fewer books during the summer. Moreover, one in five kids from lower-income families report not reading any books at all during the summer. To increase Greenville students’ access to reading materials, 150+ elementary students at the Tigers Read! event on Thursday each received a Scholastic book pack containing 10 books to keep and add to their home libraries. Since Tigers Read! launched three years ago, Dabo’s All in Team Foundation has provided 34,490 total books to children in South Carolina—wow!
Clemson University Football Coach Dabo Swinney and Kathleen Swinney, Clifford the Big Red Dog®, and players from the Clemson University Football Team joined in the fun at the literacy event, with read-alouds and more. Check out the photos and video below to see the fun, and don't miss this great recap from WHNS-TV!
Don't miss this blog post about the importance of reading year-round from C.C. Bates, associate professor of literacy education and director of the Clemson University Reading Recovery® and Early Literacy Training Center.
Photos by Ken Scar
