We’re happily moving right through plenty of awesomely entertaining books…and we’re only in the middle of June! The
Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge has really motivated Paige and I’m excited to see her racking up minutes in the Power Up & Read challenge powered by ENERGIZER.
Paige had a very, very good teacher and school librarian – they recognized her reading ability and didn’t discourage her from reading what she wanted. That’s not always the case for other kiddos. Getting kids to read in the summer not only keeps them from falling victim to the summer slide, children who pick out books are more likely to find their favorite because they selected them! (Kids & Family Reading Report 5
th edition).
One of my library friends said it best – words come first, then we work on comprehension. This is the method I’ve used with Paige and it’s been super successful! So far, Paige has wracked up over 800 minutes reading! That’s my girl!
A quick refresher, the
Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge started May 4
th, but you can join anytime and it’s completely FREE! Simply sign your kids up and show them how they can log their reading minutes. Plus, kids can enter monthly sweepstakes and earn digital rewards when they complete weekly reading challenges. How many minutes can you ear towards breaking last year’s world record of 304,749,861 minutes? Can it be done?
Part of the challenge this year is to unlock 12 original short stories from favorite authors. The authors included are Blue Balliett, Patrik Henry Bass, Varian Johnson, Gordon Korman, Michael Northtrop, Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pierce, Roland Smith, R.L. Stine, Tui T. Sutherland, Lauren Tarshis, Wendy Wan-Long Shang and Jude Watson. Each of the authors has written a short story and all of them begin with the following:
I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that no one had followed me into the shadowy library, then took a deep breath and opened the glowing book…
The stories have an audio component so children of all reading ages can enjoy. My girl loves writing just about as much as reading. With the printables located on the parent side of the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge, I’m going to ask Paige to write her own short story with the same prompt! I can’t wait to see what she comes up with. Find more Scholastic Resources to keep your kids reading all summer long!
Badges are earned by reaching reading milestones and kids can play the Innovation Machine game – it’s an interactive creative writing game. Plus, there is the opportunity to win prizes there as well!
Parents, you aren’t left out in all of this! Check out The Daily Digest, with daily tips that give readings lists and reading pointers.  I really appreciate the reading lists, I’m finding a good balance between the 6-7 and 8-10 age groups. Watch videos about summer reading, you’ll gain ideas for keeping the challenge innovative all summer long and make sure you check out the printables. Print off your own summer story prompt for your kiddos!
You can also enter the weekly sweepstakes to win a Power Up & Read Kit that features a Scholastic tote bag, water bottle, a copy of Reading Unbound by Jeffrey Wilhelm and Michael Smith, $10 gift certificate to Scholastic Store Online, Energizer batteries, Scholastic books and more! Learn more about the
Energizer® Instant Win Game.
Scholastic on Twitter
Energizer Bunny on Facebook
37 Responses
It’s so important for kids to continue reading throughout the summer! Scholastic is such a great brand. My grandsons enjoy their books.
I remember doing this when I was a kid.
nice program,,all kids need to keep reading during the summers
My son loves to read Scholastic books
I have not joined this summer reading program because my children are all grown and I don’t live near my grandchildren.
Great program! I did it when I was a kid.
i use to love going to the library reading day…cool
I need to sign my son up, he would really enjoy it.
just a few hours left til it begins! i’ve had the page saved and ready for a few weeks.
I would love to join one of these challenges. So many that are going on right now
This is such a wonderful program! Thank you for sharing this information.
My kids are grown but when they were small we took advantage of the summer reading programs at the local library.
I love reading and I want my kids to love it as well. I think one of the best ways to get your kids to read is to be the example and read to them when they are young.
I remember growing up getting those scholastic little flyers with all the books on their and loving looking through them and picking out what I wanted to get next.
As a child I would LOVE when the Scholastic Book Fair would come to my school. Now having children of my own I can’t wait to see that same excitement to buy a new book on their face.
Scholastic Books are the best!
Wow! this is great. Can’t wait to share with all the parents, friends, & family I know. Thanks for sharing
great post! I highly enjoyed doing this as a kid and I looked forward to summer reading each year. Thanks for sharing
awesome program I always incourage my kids to read
I do not have children; however, I will be sure to pass this along to my friends who do.
I should get my niece involved in this summer reading challenge!
I remember visiting the library with my father as I was growing up, and seeing him read voraciously directly impacted my love for reading. He showed me that between the covers of a book is an adventure to anywhere, at any time. In a world of instant gratification provided by video games and hundreds of TV channels, instilling the love of reading in young children can be challenging. Programs like this help to encourage children to join other children in building the muscles of the imagination.
My library has a great summer reading program that I’m in.
I am big on getting my daughter to read during the summer. It is so important to keep them reading!
this sounds like a great program to keep kids reading
This is such a great way to help keep kids reading when school is out. Reading is so important and the earlier children learn to love to read the more prepared they are for the world.
This is a really great cause. Thanks so much for supporting a great cause such as this.
I am a big supporter of children reading and I know during the summer months reading helps with the fall school year.
This is such a wonderful idea/program, kids tend to lose so much knowledge during their lazy summer days! This would definitely motivate mine to read!
What a great summer reading program for kids. I am all for kids on reading. I will have to check this out for the the grandkids.
I will have to mention this to my daughter, she loves to read and a program that rewards her for reading in the summer months is great!
This reading challenge is a great way to get children to read. Our daughter’s school had a summer reading challenge.
This reading challenge sounds very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
This is such an awesome program to keep children reading during the Summer time. I hope they still sponsor it when my grandson is old enough to participate. 🙂
Reading is so important I have my kids read every chance they have
Reading is very important to learning. We’ll be looking into this as soon as possible. Thank you for sharing!
I hope that your drive continues on it’s great course as I have seen it done here. I personally support this to the fullest extent.