Schools out and summer is in full swing! We are loving these warm summer days with varying activities and changing schedules. Every day seems to be a new adventure, many of them involving sun and swimming. After we spend a long day at the pool or water park we always love coming home and relaxing a bit. When we have our down time, the kids love coloring, watching movies, playing with their toys, and of course, reading! We are a family of bookworms and all enjoy getting lost in a story. If we are hanging around the house one of us can usually be found with our nose in a book! Even though the kids are getting a nice break from school, it’s still super important that they continue practicing their skills and even continue learning new things throughout the summer. Scholastic has a fantastic program to get kids excited and encourage them to read through the summer; The Summer Reading Challenge.Now in its 8th year, the Summer Reading Challenge program is dedicated to stopping the “Summer Slide” and getting kids to read throughout the summer months when school is out. Kids can log their reading minutes (online and on smartphones) as they Read for the World Record, enter sweepstakes to win fabulous prizes, and earn digital rewards when they complete weekly reading challenges. This year’s Summer Reading Challenge theme is “Reading Under the Stars” (EVEREADY®). Throughout the summer, kids will read around the galaxy and unlock star constellations as they log reading minutes.
When I first heard about the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, I knew it was perfect for my crew. The kids absolutely love reading. Every morning they snuggle up on the couch before breakfast and Ava will read a story to Hollis; It’s the sweetest daily ritual in our home and I wouldn’t trade listening to them giggle and talk while reading through a book together for anything!We have been logging minutes throughout the school year for both of them as part of their homework, so the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge was a perfect transition into summer reading. Signing the kids up on the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge website was extremely simple; took maybe 5 minutes. After I set up their accounts, I explained the program to them and they both got really excited about keeping track of their reading in this new way. They love using the computer, so logging on each day to their own account to track their minutes will be a reward in itself! Scholastic even has included fun incentives throughout the program; as your children reach specific reading goals, they will unlock badges online as rewards; so cool! Ava loves keeping track of her minutes and seeing her minutes grow. She also loves this Free Timer App from Scholastic to use while she is reading. She gets it all set up and starts it when she begins her daily reading. The Scholastic Reading Timer app encourages reading every day and most importantly, makes it fun! The app allows users to time reading minutes with an interactive stopwatch and track minutes on a weekly log. Plus, parents can check children’s reading activity in addition to browsing daily tips, articles and book lists. If your child’s school is participating, they can even have their minutes added to their school total!The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge is a fun, FREE way to get kids excited about reading! We hope you will join the program so all our kids can fall in love with books this summer. Head over to the Summer Reading Challenge website to get signed up!
