March madness! Read, Read, Read!

As a teacher I always promote reading.  In my classroom some students have very little confidence about their reading skills and abilities. At the beginning of the year I told them there are going to be times that they "hate" what I am going to do but I promise they will love it as the year goes on.  Our district participates in Accelerated Reader and I love that i can see the scores on their STAR Test when we take it.  So far this year we have taken the STAR twice and every student improved with the majority going up two grade levels. To say I am proud is an understatement! I love when they volunteer to read or help each other out when reading aloud-I taught the "3try" rule (try it 3 times and someone else can help you out).  It has really improved their decoding skills!  

*As we're sure you are aware, an early introduction to reading is an important part of kids' development. In fact, kids who are read to at home have a substantial academic advantage. These advantages last throughout a child's academic career. Studies have shown that:

• Twenty-six percent of children who were read to three or four times in the last week by a family member recognized all letters of the alphabet. This is compared to 14 percent of children who were read to less frequently.
• According to NCES, only 53 percent of children ages three to five were read to daily by a family member. Children in families with incomes below the poverty line are less likely to be read to aloud every day than are children in families with incomes at or above poverty.
• The NCES also reported that children who were read to frequently are also more likely to:
• Count to 20 or higher than those who were not (60% vs. 44%)
• Write their own names (54% vs. 40%)
• Read or pretend to read (77% vs. 57%)

As a part of the March "Reading Month Challenge," LeapFrog will be partnering with a great non-profit, Kristi Yamaguchi's Always Dream Foundation, to donate 20 books to the foundation's under-served classrooms for every pledgereceived. Through this program, they plan to donate over 350,000 books to children in need.  Families just need to try to read 20 minutes a day... That's it! Visit www.LeapFrog.com/Challenge for more information.  Give a lot of confidence to your children when it comes to reading and they will succeed in school! 

LeapFrog's 20/20

 "Reading Month Challenge" #LeapFrogChallenge LeapFrog.com/Challenge