Vol 1 Issue 6 July 5- July 9

Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge Newsletter

WHAT IS THE SUNCOAST SUMMER READING CHALLENGE? The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is a community-wide effort serving Charlotte, DeSoto, Manatee, and Sarasota counties focusing on School Readiness, Attendance, Summer Learning, Family Engagement and Health Determinants. Research shows that children who do not read during the summer can lose up to three months of reading progress. In response, the Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading sponsors the Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge to encourage each participating student to read! The Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge is implemented by SCGLR and promoted through local summer camps and businesses to encourage children to read, reducing the "summer slide". In addition, THIS BOOK IS COOL! is a series of 100 webisodes to encourage a love of reading. This summer, more than 2,500 children from across the Suncoast region qualified to receive free books thanks to the generosity of The Patterson Foundation!

THIS BOOK IS COOL! THIS BOOK IS COOL! is a series of 100 webisodes to encourage a love of reading. Each 10–15-minute webisode features a selected book, a special guest, new vocabulary words, and a suggested activity that goes with the book.  Click the pictures to access THIS BOOK IS COOL! webisodes!

TBIC! Summer Reading Boys and girls across the Suncoast region are having fun and reading! The Suncoast Campaign for Grade-Level Reading encourages reading with the webcast series, THIS BOOK IS COOL!

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TBIC! Makes Summer Reading FUN! These boys and girls enjoyed reading the book What If You Had Animal Teeth? Check out the fun activity for the book by clicking the picture below! Click here for the What If You Had Animal Teeth? Webisode!

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Join Upcoming Family Engagement Nights By Clicking the Picture to Register! Moments from the Family Engagement Night Event with Cedric Hameed! Over 80 families participated in the last family engagement event! Families came together to create a poem about freedom and family with spoken word poet, Cedric Hameed. Families were led through a series of questions and exercises on the theme of freedom such as "What does Freedom feel like?" and "What does Freedom mean to you?" See what parents had to say about the family engagement night! "Thank you for tonight and your time, it meant a lot to our family!" "This program is amazing, thank you for all you do!" "This was amazing! Going to ask these questions more often to stimulate our conversations." SUMMER READING IN ACTION!

Check out the summer reading action from camps across the Suncoast region!

Above: Campers with Desoto Boys and Girls Club share their Chick Chick Boom Boom artwork! Middle: Boys and girls with Palmetto Boys and Girls Club enjoy a webisode from TBIC! Bottom: These readers with EduCare Learning Center enjoy group reading time.

“There are those that look at things the way they are and ask why. I dream of things that never were and ask why not. ” – Robert F. Kennedy Above:These campers with Bizzy Bee 2 proudly share their rainbow writing activities. Bottom: Boys and girls with The Center of Anna Maria Island engage in independent and shared reading.

Summer Reading Tip! "I can't thank you enough for the books. Very thankful for this program!" -TBIC! Parent

Reading Is FUN Just Ask These Super Readers!

Share Your SSRC 2021 Highlights! We want to highlight your camp or family during the 2021 Suncoast Summer Reading Program. Share with us how your campers and families are connecting, learning, sharing, evolving and strengthening through the Suncoast Summer Reading Challenge! Tweet about each of your summer reading activities and successes using #SummerReading #SummerSlide #THISBOOKISCOOL! @SuncoastCGLR@readingby3rd @ThePattersonFoundation @summerlearning